just another reminder to stop and appreciate the flowers.
actually, the teeniest strawberries probably grow wild in our back yard…
but i don’t think these are edible… 😉
farm fresh eggs are just so beautiful! and they are so much more nutrient-dense than store-bought eggs!
i hope to have backyard chickens one day in the near future!
i just love all the colours!
and the flavour can’t be matched! farm fresh is the best!
i just love the variety… eat the rainbow!
#eggportraits
fresh from the farmer’s market! 🙂
looking at the different shapes of this asparagus, had me thinking similar to when i looked at all those cool seashells…
—
i love asparagus so much and i only eat it when it’s in season.
did you know that asparagus is loaded with fiber and actually aids in cleansing our gut and also offers awesome detoxifying benefits? i think that’s so cool, considering it is in season in spring and that is a perfect time to prep our bodies for cleansing and switching gears to lighter foods. furthermore, asparagus is a natural diuretic… which may be TMI, but hey, it’s just a fact.
on a different note – i’m so ready for the time change and gaining more evening light! i am so super excited to start a garden this year!!
have you ever seen turmeric root like this before?
i was fascinated when i spotted this at my local farmer’s market. when i go to visit, there is one stand in particular that i like to frequent. the lady who owns it is so sweet and always has a ton of good information on her products and she is always willing to answer my and all of my questions. it seems that the prices for produce at farmers’ markets are sometimes half the price of grocery stores or health food markets, which is just another reason why i love to support the farmers!!!
a few other reasons i choose to put my money into farmers markets are as follows : accessibility, freshness, availability, integrity, seasonality, friendliness, knowledge, willingness, and as i mentioned, affordability.
i had never seen turmeric root in this form, and i couldn’t wait to pick some up to take fotos of. sometimes i’ve seen parts of it broken off into larger and smaller pieces, but not in a huge chunk like this. i have been wanting to incorporate turmeric into my diet more frequently, particularly because i have been experiencing some pain in my elbow lately. and as you may know, turmeric is known for having anti-inflammatory properties. i am hoping that by consuming turmeric regularly, the pain in my elbow will substantially subside.
i thought it would be fun to share these fotos of turmeric, since it is so intriguing to look at! check out all the ‘knobs’ and ‘nodules’ and the funny/fascinating shapes it takes on and how it forms that way. i love all root vegetables, and when i find something in its natural state, i get even more excited about it. did you catch that cool post about ginger-root? i just love going to the farmer’s market and i one day hope to have a nice big garden in my backyard, as to grow lots of wonderful food. i basically want to be a farmer.
one of the things i’ve been doing with turmeric lately is making tea, which i am just loving! have you ever tried turmeric tea? i have been wanting to try it for so long now, but as with anything “new,” i tend to get intimidated until i actually just go for it! and i’m so glad i finally did! i made some tea with this beautiful chunk of turmeric, and i loved it so much that i wanted to share the recipe.
you can usually find fresh turmeric at health food stores. or if you have access to one, check at your local farmers market, as well. some of my research has discovered that you can also use the ground spice to make turmeric tea, however i prefer the fresh stuff. it’s definitely more time-consuming, but for me, it’s so worth it. plus, i just love the creative process. having said that, to be even more economical, you could make it with a mix of fresh and dried root.
super simple health-boosting turmeric tea :
i love finding produce in its most natural state – like this cool ginger root with the actual root still attached. the shape looks like some kind of animal or something, no?! i found it at the farmer’s market {of course} and i bought it mostly because it looked cool, but also because i just like to keep ginger around to nibble on. a lot of times i’ll make it into a tea with some lemon or just shave off a little bit and eat it after meals to accompany the digestion process.
ginger nutritional fun facts :
ginger is great for stomach ailments such as nausea or diarrhea and can be great for helping keep motion sickness at bay. boiled as a tea, it has tremendous healing properties for common cold symptoms. ginger is also {surprisingly} high in b-vitamins. furthermore, ginger has wonderful anti-inflammatory properties, making it a fantastic support for healthy joints.
something i need to write about is how i spent my summer vacation… even though it’s long passed now.
one of the things that took up the majority of my free time this summer was participating in a community garden. it was basically one of the best things i’ve ever done for myself. growing your own food is truly one of the most rewarding things one can do! i would constantly remark, “all i did was put a seed in the ground – and this happened!” because i was constantly blown away at how cool nature is! my cucumber plants literally took over and my neighbours were calling it “the cucumber farm” 😉
the reason i bring this up is because i inherited a small strawberry plant in my summer garden plot. many of my neighbours had strawberry plants and i was fortunate to have one reseed itself in my plot. i didn’t get a lot of strawberries from it, but the few i did harvest looked like these strawberries. they were more cone-shaped than heart-shaped. and i’m telling you – the flavour in these things is just out of this world! SO sweet and SO juicy and SO delicious! better than any store-bought strawberry i’ve ever had!
do you ever compare conventional produce to farmer’s market produce?! the differences kind of blow my mind! the last time i was at the grocery store looking at apples, they were bigger than a softball! that’s just not normal. or fruit so waxy i could use it as a candle?! yikes.
for me, i like things to be as close to their natural state as possible. food, soil, water, me, and everything in between.
and that got me thinking about these strawberries i picked up at the farmer’s market last week. i was looking at them and decided to snap a couple fotos because i was thinking to myself, “i bet there are lots of people out there who don’t even know what REAL strawberries look like.”
these strawberries were SO full of flavour, too! something else that lacks in conventional produce. maybe it’s got something to do with mass producing them and lack of nutrient-rich soil.
anyway, i love that i can still find strawberries this time of year – as north carolina has a year-round farmer’s market and excellent long growing season. i hope to find some more when i go back this week!
this foto is from the archives…
circa 2003 – captured at a farmers market in san jose, california.
…shall i continue?!
i first discovered this beautiful goodness from mudd’s harvest at the arvada farmers market…
i bought two small bulbs after spotting it and trying it… i fell in love with the colour! {and the outstanding flavour!} Continue reading
oh my goodness was this a lovely meal. the whole day was lovely yesterday : there was such amazing energy in the air! that supermoon energy was flowing all around me and through me, it was awesome!!!! did any of you get a chance to see the super moon? it was too cloudy here, so i will have to camp out next year 🙂 but i definitely still felt the energy this weekend!!!!
i took a little trip to a farmers market a little north of me in search of some kirby cucumbers to make pickles with. no luck in that department, unfortunately… however i did discover some amazing things while there! and with most of the ingredients i purchased yesterday, i made this incredible pasta dish!
farmers market pasta.
most everything in this dish was purchased fresh from the market yesterday…
– garlic chive pasta from pappardelle’s {amazing!! family-owned company and they have over 100 kinds of pasta!}
– organic heirloom tomatoes
– garlic scapes
– volcanic garlic {i can’t wait to blog about this!}
– fresh chives from my friend’s yard
– basil dressing, cream cheese, tomato paste, and a little parmesan {not from the market, but perfect to have in the fridge for this dish :)) Continue reading
food & foto 