The Farmers Market- DUH!

I went to a farmer's market this weekend for the first time. I'm hooked! All of you who already go to a farmer's market are probably saying, "It's about time, Melissa!" Yes I have finally figured it out. Here's my story: Several weeks ago I had to buy 4 red and 4 yellow peppers for two recipes I was going to make. When I got to the check-out, my 8 peppers came to almost $15!!!!!! I was so shocked I didn't have the presence of mind to tell them what they could do with their $15 peppers! They were almost $4/ lb. I didn't even bother looking at the price when I picked them out because I needed them for the recipe and I would have never even thought they were close to that in price. (That wasn't even the main ingredient so it ended up being a very expensive side dish!) Now back to the farmer's Market. This is what I got for less than $15 this weekend:

-7 eggplants
-6 ears of corn
-5 red peppers
-5 large zuchini
-6 small yellow squash
-2 chili peppers
- 1 canteloupe

-1 very large bag of fresh basil that smells devine

-Not to mention the bucket of blueberries we got for $6 that in a store would have cost 10x that much. I will now buy all my produce, when possible, at a farmer's market. I'm hooked!

This weekend we have had the cousins from Tampa over while their mom and dad are in California. Being parents of 8 kids under the age 7 can have it's challenges. But they have had a great time and been remarkably good! In an effort to think of things to entertain them that didn't cost a lot of money, we have taken them fishing, swimming, blueberry picking and to the Farmer's Market. We have had a lot of fun. Chase was the only one who had the patience to wait for the fish to bite and his wait paid off! He caught a huge fish!

While blueberry picking Grace ate so many (her bucket was empty) she got a tummy ache. I kept waiting for London and Maddie to get tummy aches with the amount of blueberries they were eating but they have stomaches of steal! Maddie's bucket would start filling up, then I would look in it a couple minutes later and it would be empty again! Needless to say, we didn't end up bringing home very many blueberries, but ate penty. We did make a blueberry cake when we got home which was a big hit! The kids will be sad when their cousins go home. Last night in his bedtime prayer, Rockwell started crying when he said, "Please bless the cousins will drive home safely tomorrow... (choked up quite a bit here and had to pull it together) and that they will come back again soon." He just had to finish his prayer at this point because he was so sad. Even though we're far away from most of the family, it is so nice to have Adam and Brita and their kids so close. My kids are family-needy just like their parents!