Monday, December 6, 2010

My Favorite Farmer's Market

On Friday, I had to go into Manhattan for a client meeting.  Fortunately for me, my client's office is in Union Square, so after my meeting I headed straight for the farmer's market to see what goodies were on display.  I like this market because there is such variety.  Vendors selling baked goods, honey, maple syrup, vegetables, fruits, plants, fish, meats, and flowers!  The market is also always crowded.  Can you believe this is a cold December day and not the summer time?  Look at all these people!
This farmer had a nice display of caulflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts.  Yum!  I felt bad for him because it was cold out! 
Of course, I had to check out the plants.  There were a lot of seasonal plants on display, amaryllis, paperwhites, pointsettias, and your ornamental cabbages and kale.
This caught my eye.  Since my husband loves hot foods, I picked up one of these plants to take home with me.  I love hot peppers too!  And at $2 bucks!  So cheap!  This plant so reminded me of Christmas with it's bright red and green colors!  Instead of a pointsettia, I think I'm going to make this Thai pepper plant into a centerpiece for my holiday dining room table when my family comes over for Christmas dinner.  They will love it!
Inside the tents they had the most gorgeous display of herbs. Check out these 4 inch pots of Rosemary.  Since it was also $2, I picked up one of these to take home also.  I tried 3 times to grow Rosemary from seed and it never worked out for me.  Seedlings would start and then perish.  Buying herb plants is definitely the way to go.  No more wasting time and money on herb seeds.
I also spied these succulents.  I resisted picking up a few of those lovely plants because I just bought a succulent last month.  I'm trying to be good!
This stopped me dead in my tracks!  One vendor had his own hoop house with a heater inside.  Totally awesome!  Who would think you could see a hoop house in the middle of New York City!
Right now, there is also the holiday gift fair all month in Union Square.  I didn't even allow myself to go into the holiday market because I'm on a budget and this fair isn't budget friendly.  There are way too many cute things in there, and I can't afford it, so I bee-lined out of there and took the express bus home.
Here are the plants I brought home from the farmer's market.  All of these for a mere $8!  Talk about bargain!
In addition to the pepper plant and rosemary, I also picked up this Pineapple Sage plant.  It's so fragrant and really does smell like a pineapple.  I've never had an herb plant like this before so I tasted one of the leaves.  Surprisingly, it doesn't taste like a pineapple even though it smells like one.  I have to research what type of recipes use this type of herb.  I can't wait to experiment with new dishes!
I failed miserably with growing dill this summer, so I bought this one because it was so big and healthy looking.  I love fresh dill, so this will go on my kitchen countertop!  I was thinking how wonderful it is to have a farmer's market with such healthy plants available in the month of December.  It's so awesome!

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing that!

    Yes, it so isn't what some would expect from NYC!

    I can smell all those herbs now!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I've been to the Union Square market! I took lots of photos and even have some framed in my kitchen (summer veggies though!). It's really a stunning farmers' market, and I've been to a lot of them. Thanks for posting this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I miss growing my own fresh herbs. I think I'm going to have to get for my counters as well!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is a wonderful Farmer's Market right there in the City! You hit a gold mine with those plants for only 8 bucks! I really like your idea of the peppers for the centerpiece. I think that will be a hit! Doesn't it just make you want to run out and dig in your garden?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thats an awesome turnout for a winter outdoor market! How Cool!

    I love Pineapple Sage; isn't it heavenly!! My mom has it growing in her yard.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice plants! love the idea of the red pepper centerpiece. Pineapple sage gets large and woody when planted outside, it also has gorgeous red blooms. I have substituted it's leaves for regular sage in recipes in a pinch, though the flavor isn't quite the same. It smells delicious doesn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great Farmer's Market. I always spend too much when I go to them, want some of everything.

    ReplyDelete
  8. How cool that you have a farmer's market in December. Ours were over the end of October.

    Those are some great looking plants! The only thing I know to do with pineapple sage is make tea with it. I put a sprig or two in a gallon jar with 2 or 3 decaf tea bags. I pour a few cups of hot water from my electric tea pot over them. After steeping from 10 to 50 minutes, I add cold water and take out the springs and tea bags.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great Farmer's Market, you are so lucky! We don't have anything quite like that around here.

    ReplyDelete

We love to hear from you. Thanks for leaving a comment!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Book Recommendations

ad