Farmer's Market Finds

Today is Saturday. I look forward to Saturdays in the summer the same way I used to in high school. YIPEE! Saturday is Farmer's Market day. For the last four years I have been going to the Capital City Market in downtown Boise to either buy some yummy foods or just to browse and enjoy the environment. There are a few markets on Saturdays in the Treasure Valley but the one in downtown Boise is by far the best and biggest of them all. It grows every year too! Today we didn't need much, thanks to my garden, but we still bought a couple things. The first was honey.

Honey is one of those things that I have started to use more of recently. There are benefits to honey. When you are coughing and sick take a spoonful of honey every hour and it coats your throat so that you don't cough as much. (My mom taught me that! Except she used to try to make this concoction of aloe, lemon juice and honey and make us drink it.... bleh!) This has become a life saver with a child. I try not to turn to cough medicine right away with a young child but I can give her honey when she's sick and not worry at all! (Although remember not to give honey to infants under 12 months due to possible allergies.) Today I bought some honey from a local Beekeeper who makes all kinds of honey treats! Visit www.idahohoney.com to read about them. It is said that if you have allergies you should eat some local honey to possibly help relieve your allergies and you might build a resistance to them. (This is because the bees use local pollens to create their honey!) Talk about natural remedies!! Today London got a special treat. Honey comb on a stick. Genius idea for children and adults alike! A small piece of honey comb, dripping with honey and a popsicle stick. The owner was even nice enough to give us a moist paper towel in case someone were to get sticky. I used it. :) We also bought a bottle of honey.

The second thing I bought was an eggplant, I bought one of the longer skinny ones. This is London's favorite food, better believe it! I figured I would roast it along with some carrots or parsnips tomorrow or the next day. You should try to use eggplants as soon as you buy them as they go bad fairly quick.

Along with the benefit of directly supporting my local economy, going to the farmer's market is just so fun. This week the smell of roasting peppers was in the air. A local farm called Peaceful Belly roasts them every year around this time. So every Saturday there is a line of people patiently waiting for their roasted peppers. London and I could smell them two blocks away from the market. It made my heart, and liver, smile. (Read Eat Pray Love and you will understand.) Maybe next week we will wait in that line and buy some.

I will try to post some pictures every Saturday about our Farmer's Market experience just to make you want to live here in Idaho. ;)

Namaste!