A date at the farmer’s market.

You’re familiar with the phrase, “Those who can’t do TEACH.” In gardener’s terms, those who can’t grow BUY…at the farmer’s market.

Our first year of gardening at the new house has led to many salads of homegrown greens, regular harvesting of Sungold cherry tomatoes, and constant fresh herbs in my recipes. We’ve munched plenty of tiny, sweet zucchini and have a significant number of heirloom tomatoes ripening on the vine, but SO many other things are in peak season now. Luckily, Park City has a fantastic farmer’s market every Wednesday in the parking lot of the Canyons Resort. This week, John and I spent a lovely lunch break browsing the produce stands, picking up beautiful fruits and veggies to supplement our own garden’s yield. The sky threatened to open up in yet another late summer storm, but the sun shone on us for the hour.

The rainbow of produce was gorgeous. I love visiting every farm’s stand, each with their own personality. This one might have music playing and people dancing. This one might be manned by two sweet, older farmers in overalls. A man walked around with peaches and a knife, slicing off bites for passers-by, saying, “This is not a sample. It’s a temptation.” Many stands offer ~~samples~~ temptations, and the tactic totally works on me. After our standard once-around stroll to check things out, we started filing our bags with goodies.

There’s more than produce at the market. There are stands with homemade jewelry or purses. There’s a truck where you can bring all of your knives to be sharpened. Usually, there is an Italian ice vendor and a fishmonger, but the market was slower this week due to the State Fair in Salt Lake City. I did swing by one of my regular stops for a stunning wildflower bouquet.

We bought farm fresh eggs. We bought peaches. We bought a giant heirloom tomato. We bought mozzarella cheese and fresh buttermilk butter. I gravitated toward a glorious pile of blackberries while John went diving for habanero and Serrano peppers. Our last stop was the bakery truck for a loaf of roasted garlic peasant bread. And then it was time for lunch.

John snapped a shot of me hungrily sniffing my giant slice of veggie pizza before I headed to my very favorite part of the Park City farmer’s market: the limeade stand.

Remember when I first tasted this heavenly limeade last year? I went right home and tried to duplicate it. I came close, but it’s hard to beat freshly-squeezed limeade, shaken right there in front of me. It was unbelievably refreshing in the temporary sunshine.

When we got home, I examined our take. John’s planning one of his hot sauce batches with the peppers, and I’ve got something delicious in mind for the berries and peaches.

With such fresh, yummy food on the counter, we decided to keep dinner simple. John sliced up the roasted garlic bread, the tomato, and the cheese while I gathered herbs from the garden. We greedily devoured our favorite summer-season meal: tomato toastettes, farmer’s market edition.