Summer’s Bounty

One of my favorite parts about this time of year is all the delicious, locally grown produce. I am a big believer in supporting your local farmer and agriculture so I visit a farmer’s market at least once a week (now sometimes more as I am lucky enough to work a block away from two- one on Mondays in Pioneer Square and one on Wednesdays in the South Park Blocks) to buy some of my favorite produce. I especially love all of the seasonal berries! At the Monday market last week I ended up buying a half flat of mixed berries (6 pints) for only $12!! That was a great deal! I had strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. They were gone in a few days.     I am very happy to report that Eli loves all these tasty, sweet treats! He has eaten strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches, and now sugar snap peas that I have brought home to him. I’m happy to finally see him break out of his banana and apple (no skin, of course) rut and try something new. I’m hoping these better than supermarket fruits and veggies will hardwire his brain at this young age into actually enjoying fresh, raw produce. So far I think it is working! He is more willing to try new things, in fact, he tried a kiwi for the first time the other day (which came from Costco and was grown in Chile, but still).

Pioneer Square Farmer's Market

The half flat of blueberries, strawberries and raspberries I bought.

Other items I find myself buying at the farmer’s market are locally made cheeses and meats, all of which are “grown” locally as well (as in the cows/goats/pigs/chickens/fish/buffalo are raised within the Pacific Northwest). Eli liked the special cumin and orange flavored salami/sausage I let him try (the hogs were fed those ingredients to make their meat taste like it!). It cracked me up because his picky father would not even try it and yet little Eli couldn’t get enough of it! He definitely likes his meat! LOL! This Wednesday I bought a very authentic chorizo andaluz (a spicy Spanish sausage/salami) and I am excited to see how he will like it.  

I am planning on taking Eli to the big Saturday farmer’s market (at PSU) with me this weekend so he can see and sample all the fruits and veggies himself. I think he will have a lot of fun seeing all the people and trying everything! Then we will probably go enjoy one of the fountains downtown before heading home for his nap.  

Eli sitting on a stump seat by a garden at the Edgefield- 6-6-10

This Sunday I will be babysitting my best friend Jessica’s two boys (Noah is 10 and Calvin is 4) while she and her husband shoot a wedding. I decided this morning to take all three boys to Blue Lake Regional Park not too far from our house to play in the water spray park. I will have to post some pictures of that next week, but I think it will be a blast! Even this mama will probably end up getting soaked!

Calvin and Eli in a shopping cart "car"- 5-21-10

(P.S.  Just in case anyone is wondering about the dates on the photo captions, I should state that I’ll be posting some older pictures of Eli since I haven’t blogged much this year and would still like to share some of the cutest ones.)

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