I (heart) my farmer and my farmers market

I absolutely love the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. I have been soaking in all of the goodness that the market provides for the last several weeks. I loaded the kids in the car and we ran down to pick up our veggies. We have been CSA members of Tantre Farm for the last 8 seasons. It feels really good to know who grows your food and to greet them with a smile each and every week.

In our share this week was the following.

Kale
Beets
summer squash
basil
potatoes
green beans
broccoli
cucumbers
onions
carrots

Last week I taught a gardening camp at school and while there were lots of things to do at our school garden (i.e. weeding) I figured the campers would tire of the same old garden rather quickly. I wisely arranged a couple of field trips. Wednesday we went down to the Farmers Market. I had prepared a scavenger hunt and the kids had a great time tracking down all but one thing on the list (gooseberries--they must have just gone out of season, cause they were there just the week before). After our adventure downtown, we came back to school and made a "Farmers Market Friendship Vegetable Soup". The kids gobbled it up and asked for more.

Thursday was our day to visit Tantre Farm. Richard and his wife Deb are just the nicest people around, they truly care about the earth they tend, the food they grow and the community that it sustains. The weather was absolutely perfect and we were able to take an edible farm tour, harvest potatoes, gather chicken eggs and feed some goats and cows. It was so cool to see their faces when they were digging up potatoes, trying to see who could find the biggest, who could carry the most in thier hands and who could fill up the potato crate the fastest. I swear that a couple of them didn't know that potatoes grew underground. The kids had a blast and did not want to leave the farm, even though we were running late for lunch. It was such a great way to make the connection for them, visit the market one day and then go out to the farm the next.

So anyway, back to today. I took my kids down to the Ann Arbor market and we did our usual stroll around. In addition to the veggies from Tantre, I like to pick up a few extra thing: eggs, bread, cheese from Zingerman's creamery and since I haven't been getting any tomatoes yet, I like to pick a few of those up as well. I will be making a caprese salad tonight (tomatoes, Zing's fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh basil). I also picked up some peaches and blueberries. The blueberries for what looks like a beautiful blueberry cake and the peaches for a peach galette.

I wish that the months of July and August could go on all year.