Welcome to week 4 of Weekend Farmers’ Market Blogging. This weekly series is about promoting the joys of eating locally — both through farmers’ markets and by growing your own food.
Happy Sunday! This week I have lots to share about our adventures in local eating, so without further ado …
Garden Update
Sometime magical happened in our community garden plot … it grew! And, more importantly, we harvested our first veggies! I’m still riding the happy cloud of success here … so excited! These French breakfast radishes were delightful thinly sliced and enjoyed on toast with brie cheese and a sprinkle of salt.
But let’s back up a second …
When my kids and I initially planted the garden, I wasn’t confident that it would produce anything — especially not the seeds we planted. I’ve been tending gardens for the last 10+ years and have had way more failures than successes. Frankly, I often refer to my gardening as with a black thumb.
I’m only half-serious when I say that. Despite many lackluster years of growing, I had a few successful years too. In my most successful years, when I was planting in a soil-compost mixture in my raised bed garden boxes, things really grew. This time, taking part in our community garden, a volunteer helped us get started, and it’s stuck me how much that one small thing — nutrient rich compost mixed with soil — helps the garden grow. Also helpful: a very thorough turning over of the soil.
When the first shoots of our radishes appeared in a thick, lush row, the kids and I were ecstatic. Our garden was really, truly growing! And they continued to grow and grow and grow. Last week, we thinned out the plants a little, replanting them in another few rows.
Still, we weren’t prepared for what we’d see this week …
The transplanted radishes didn’t seem to take (bummer). But holy cow — everything else is up and coming. And some of the radishes (lower portion of the photo) were ready to be harvested. Bits of red and white were protruding from the soil, just begging us to pull them from the ground … and we did.
But the best part of it? My kids’ reactions — they were so pumped to have grown food, and so thrilled to eat it. That made every expense and effort we’ve put into this garden so far 100 percent worth it.
Farmers Market Closeup: Bangor Farmers’ Market
When: Sundays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Abbott Square, Downtown Bangor, Maine
Farmers’ Market Recipes from Around the Web
Weekend Farmers’ Market Blogging is open to anyone who wants to blog about eating locally. Find out more here. No one submitted this week, but I did find a few worthwhile recipes around the web …
- The Rustic Hideaway shares info about her local farmers’ market and a recipe for Crock Pot Green Chili.
- Kalyn’s Kitchen has a recipe for Low-Carb Grilled Greek Chicken Packets that could totally be made with farmers’ market finds.
- And in my newspaper column, Maine Course, I share my recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie … which also was my birthday breakfast this week.
Kate
Monday 3rd of July 2017
Your radishes are great! I think we have "wild" tomatoes growing in our backyard. Wild as in we didn't plant them. We're keeping an eye to see if they end up fruiting, but I don't have high hopes with our gophers.