Heritage Week - Farmers Market

With the Wonderkid safely tucked away at school, I headed back down to the Georgia Farmer's Market to try and catch up on my canning.  This year, I haven't done nearly as much as I normally do.

This is the Georgia Farmer's Market.

I prefer to buy from these folks.  There are stalls for folks that sell from all over the country but the last three "sheds" are for Georgia farmers and seasonal sellers only.

This is a "shed" for the seasonal sellers. 

I bought tomatoes, peaches and watermelon, today.  The watermelons were huge.  Here are a bunch of them. 

It wouldn't be Georgia without the peanuts.  They sell them in these huge 50 pound bags.  Although you can also Boiled Peanuts from a woman in the Georgia shed.

I like the neighborhood/town farmers market to hang out, check out what is selling and people watch but I find that the prices aren't much better than anywhere else and often times they don't have the quantity I would like for canning.

I enjoy a website called Pick Your Own.org.  When I moved back to Georgia I was trying to find good Farmers Markets.  Ben at Pick Your Own recommended the Georgia Farmers Market.  He was right, it is a great place to get good prices on fresh fruit and veggies.  The farmers from across the state come to this market to do wholesale or retail selling.  I buy from a lot of different farmers.  Today, I bought from a guy just north of Ellijay. 

The other thing I like about Pick Your Own.org is the wonderful, very easy basic recipes for jams, jellies, butters and pickles.  These aren't fancy recipes.  They are the recipes like Grandma would make them.  The final piece of information he covers, where you can do pick your own picking, pumpkin patches, corn mazes and Christmas tree picking.  I don't know what I would do without Ben's wonderful information. 

I've already started making tomato sauce and paste.  This year we are going to make spaghetti sauce and can it also.

Want to guess what else I'm making?  This is what REALLY fits into my Heritage Week theme.

Here is a picture of the first step.

Check back on the progress of these little treats.