Hello Hivers the weekend is almost upon us. Before we get there I write again for the lovely 
Apparently everyone else had the same idea as me. I had to park 3 blocks away from the market. It was a cooler day, only 80 degree and cloudy. I couldn't imagine walking around all these people last week when it was close to 100 degrees.
They really try to get you buy. Many vendors and farmers give you free samples. The first free taste I had was some beef jerky. They had about 10 different flavors and there was a swarm of people waiting to try. I tried the flavor jalapeno business not bad but I grew up on deer and elk jerky, no comparison in my opinion. At $11 for a small bag no way, haha.
Well I was handed a bag that had some freebies in it. Inside contained a a 2.5 oz jar of garlic powder, small bottle of hand sanitizer, and two recipe cards. I'll share the recipe cards at the end with you. I picked up others free things as I walked through the market. Not a grocery list of things but it included pens, candy, contact cards, buttons, and a granola bar which is gone. Not to mention I put some things I bought into it💡
Here were are to the vegetables. I always walk through the the whole market before buying anything because many sell the same things and the prices vary. This guy had it going on with the assortment of tomatoes. The best thing is he cut them up and let you sample his crop. I tried two types of tomato I've never tried before they were rainbow and cupid grape. A basket of them was $5, I bought the rainbow tomatoes. I wasn't planning to buy tomatoes and if it wasn't for the free sample I wouldn't have.
I'm sharing this one because a lot of my lovely blogging friends didn't realize there are seedless watermelons. I don't know when they became a thing but there convenient I guess when you cube out the watermelon. I'm old school I guess I like eating a big slice outside with the seeds in it still. They were priced by size. The smallest one is for $5.
I believe there were about a 8 or 9 farmer booths here. I didn't always have the opportunity to take pictures especially the places that offered free samples. Just too many people blocking the view. Other free samples via vegetables and fruits included cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and snap beans.I could have bought many of these fruits and vegetables but there isn't much room at home for them right now.
This was neat to see who doesn't like honey. They sold many honey related items. Honey sticks, chapstick, honeycombs, various honey flavored jars and more. So many different added flavors of honey. Some of the flavors included cherry, strawberry,grape, lemon and even root beer. It would have been nice if they gave samples. I would have been interested in trying a few of the flavors and it probably would have tempted me to buy. I thought maybe they could have snapped a few honey sticks into small pieces. What do you think about that? I think it may have helped with sales
Not everything here is about food. Many vendors here sold merchandise as well. Above is a local guy that sells bird houses. All our made of tin with an assortment of designs. I particularly liked a couple of the fish themed ones. Also they had a bulldog painted one that caught my eye. I don't really have a need for a bird house and if I did I feel like I would need a water feeder as well. All the bird houses were $10 which to me seems like a good price.
Well even some fungi alore here. As you can see in the picture this lady sold a few different kinds of mushrooms. She was very informative telling me how you can prepare them and what's best to pair them up with. On the far left of the table were some mushroom kits to aid in growing your own mushrooms. I thought this was really cool maybe it will inspire some to grow. These kits were $20 and contained information on how to get started. I have to ask my friend across the pond, 
It wouldn't be a complete farmer's market without some delicious baked goods. The first picture had some tasty Danish treats. The guy that handed out the free treats was busy. He gave everyone one of each sample they had. I tried 5 different samples and each was really good but when I heard or seen the prices my sweet tooth didn't overtake me. At $6.00 for a cookie I wasn't willing to eat a full size goodie. I didn't bother asking prices on the other things, haha. Some were labeled some were not.
The second and third pictures were some loafs and muffins. They really look good and they had so many different kinds. The muffins were $3,small loafs $5, and large loafs $9. What's good about being in a market? Well you can negotiate the price. My tactic was easy wait until I was the only person at the table first. Second strike up a conversation and third state what you will pay. Fourth if not accepted walk away before a counter offer.
Well my conversation was small talk. I showed appreciation saying so many choices and they all look really good. I mentioned will the pumpkin bread taste as good as my mothers? She laughed and said they are really good as she looked at me with full eye contact. I felt I have a chance now, haha. So I offered her $7 for the large loaf pictured above and she paused for a little bit but said sorry. I said it's ok, smiled at her, thanked her for her time, and walked away. I got maybe two feet away and she said, "I can do for you." 😁 The pumpkin bread is gone now I brought into work and shared with my coworkers. It was really good tasting 😋
So the street side of the park contained everything I have mentioned so far. The park itself contained many booths of mostly health related things. Things like different services available at hospitals, clinics, and health related shops. I walked around with not so much interest but wore my smile pretending to. Hey I picked up some more free stuff!! Come in slow, listen to them talk to others, grab and walk away, haha.
This is it for me I hope you enjoyed this small farmers market I visited. I hope you all have a great rest of your Friday. It was fun being here and getting a little exercise walking around despite it being cancelled out with the free samples. My best take away is it gives me ideas of starting my own little gardening experiment next year. Take care, be safe, and have a great weekend. I leave you with the recipe cards that are in both English and Spanish.
