tomato love.

Sorry to all tomato-haters out there, but today’s post is all about…

Farmer’s Market tomatoes.

Today was market day! Like many Saturdays before, I visited my beloved Waxhaw Farmer’s Market. The Specialty Farmer was selling heirloom tomatoes; I picked up 3 purple Cherokees. Two of them were bursting their seams when I got home, so they were promptly consumed. These tomatoes are sweet with a deep, intense flavor – plus, interesting to look at.

colors of summer. (interlude)

 red and white onions, cucumbers, yellow zucchini, purple Cherokee tomatoes, zucchini

my tomatoes.

I’ve been growing a tomato plant since March. It was already quite large when I got it, and a  couple days ago I picked the first red one. I let it sit on the windowsill for a couple days until it was fully ripe and red.This is the bottom of the tomato—not exactly what you see on, uh, regular tomatoes. Does anyone know the cause of this?

I just cut off the brown, tough part; the rest of the tomato was DELICIOUS. It tastes like summer – so much flavor in every juicy bite. I couldn’t believe how amazing this tomato is, compared to year-round grocery store variety. This is, to me, a real tomato!

PS – There’s a new blogger in town! (She’s really actually in my town! How cool is that?) Read about her own tomato-growing adventure, as well as her chronicle of frugality and creativity this summer, at The Low Ryder.

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Springfest and Yard Sales

Cheap but quality clothes? Kitchen tools? Books? Produce? I know where they are. No, technically I don’t need any of it, but I find it a very enjoyable way to interact with my community. Buy local!

Saturday morning.

7:30 am – bike ride.

Smell of honeysuckles = bliss.

8:15 am – Neighborhood yard sale.

Now I can organize my shoes, among other things.

9 am – Waxhaw Farmer’s market.

I bought rainbow-colored Swiss chard, spinach, and peas, all from The Specialty Farmer.  The passionate growers, Donna and Bill, offer high-quality organic produce. Everything is very fresh, picked either that morning or the late the night before.

This young lady plays the violin for donations, so that she can see Ireland.

9:15 am – Attic sale.

This garlic roaster and keeper from Norpro costs me 50 cents, compared to a retail of $10 and $8 on Amazon. The sellers didn’t even know what it was.

9:30 am – Free kittens.

A lady was giving away a litter of kittens rescued from the floods in Tennessee.

9:45 am – Relaxing at Crossroads.

I read my book and enjoyed a “Salty Garlic Knot” from Flanagan’s Bread (from the Waxhaw Farmer’s Market – also sold at the market in Charlotte). The salt was delicious and obviously high quality, and the soft, white yeast bread hinted with garlic. Rustic.

10 am – Waxhaw Springfest.

The Springfest is a 2-day outdoor family fun festival held in historic downtown Waxhaw. It goes from 10 till 6 on Saturday and 12 till 6 on Sunday. I like the vendors.

Free samples from Sandy Creek Herb Co., producer of gourmet salt, dip and seasoning mixes, rubs, and teas.

Not free… I wish.  Their salts included Himalayan Pink, Alaea Hawaiian, Pure Atlantic, Applewood Smoked, and Hickory Smoked.

Tupperware.

You know I don’t drink soda. But anything homemade interests me… I asked for a free sample of root beer, and this kind man (not Bob, FYI) happily obliged.

Sweet, actually refreshing, mildly carbonated. The carbonation in commercial sodas bothers me. This soda earned a review on a healthy living blog because the man was very kind, thus improving my emotional health.

11 am – Friends of the Library used book store.

Special Springfest storytime. I’ve mentioned this place before; volunteers manage the shop and all the donations help the public library system in Waxhaw.

This particular visit, I took advantage of their BOGOF (buy one, get one free) paperback sale, purchasing The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (possibly this year’s required summer reading) and a book on analyzing handwriting. It costs me a total of $1—they are really giving this stuff away.

11:45 am – Sweet Repeats.

This is a consignment shop in Waxhaw that sells both children’s clothing, and recently, juniors-sized clothing. It’s competitively priced against Plato’s Closet, another re-sale clothing store for teens.

Afternoon – Plato’s Closet

Incidentally, later in the day I visited Plato’s Closet for some spring clothes and “travel jeans” that Teen Missions requires for my missions trip.

I love buying a shirt for $4 that has the original price tag of $24.50!

I highly recommend these stores and products. I am not getting money or exclusive free samples (with the exception of Bob’s soda, but he didn’t know it was for a blog), so this is simply my opinion! Any bias comes from my love of Waxhaw.

Do you enjoy yard sales and local vendors? Does your town host any interesting festivals?

My Beautiful Town

Who says there’s nothing to do around Waxhaw? They’re wrong—one could spend all morning walking around town. I love it!

Here are some ideas for a Saturday morning:

Stop by Crossroads Coffehouse for a warming beverage.

Mine was vanilla chai with steamed milk and a 75-cent banana. They have a million kinds of coffee, though!

Buy local at the Farmer’s Market.

They have everything described in the signs (free-range eggs, grass-fed organic beef, alpaca products, amazing goat milk soap, local raw honey, fresh-cut flowers) and more (dog treats, and many kinds of bread, muffins, and other desserts). Right now the farmers are also selling fresh leafy greens (one farmer had spinach and four varieties of kale picked that morning), strawberries, and seedlings and plants for gardening. Last year they had goat cheese from Bosky Acres. Remember: Buy local and support agriculture, not agribusiness.

They are open 9am till 1pm on Saturdays.

Browse the bookstore.

This is new in town. The library is trying to raise money to support itself, so they’ve opened up shop where the Fresh Market used to be so. Operated by volunteers, this store sells donated books very cheaply. It’s a little chaotic, but I found some popular books (in good condition!) for a dollar or less, including The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. They were giving away magazines, too.

Enjoy the finer things in life at Waxhaw Art and Chocolate.

They sell handmade jewelry, paintings, pottery, handbags, bookmarks and cards, and a variety of gourmet chocolates. One time I stopped in for some of the free chocolate samples, and I met the mayor in there! They are open on Fridays and Saturdays 10am till 5pm.

Antique Shops

Can’t forget all the antique shops! There’s the Antique Mart on Main Street, and several others around, too.

Just thought I’d add that the pictures are from Saturday April 17. I went to all these places (except Art and Chocolate) and spent $22.15 total. You don’t have to spend a fortune to support and enjoy your local venues.

Do you live in a small/historical town? Are there any really neat places to go in your town?

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Searching for Happiness

Happy Birthday!

On March 20, 2010, I turn 15! There are different things you can do at each new number age—I could get my learner’s permit if I had taken Driver’s Ed, but I won’t take it until May because of schedule conflicts.

Trivia about my birth date.

• I share a birthday with Lois Lowry, an American children’s and young adult author (1937). She wrote The Giver.
• In 1727, Sir Isaac Newton died.
• March 20 is also the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the southern hemisphere. The sun will cross directly over the Earth’s equator, and it will be spring here in the USA!

Celebration.

Track’s schedule is my schedule: practice every day after school, and meets—on my birthday! I will be at the 2nd Annual Marvin Ridge Invitational probably all afternoon. I’m racing 800 meters.

After that I plan to go to dinner with my parents at Erin’s Restaurant, a restaurant committed to fresh, local, and organic ingredients. The menu changes each week, depending on season and availability. The website says they “shop local farmers’ markets for the freshest ingredients” and I know this is true; I met the owner at the Waxhaw Farmer’s Market last fall! They support many local growers and farmers. This is cool because March 20 is also National Agriculture Day.

I will have pictures of these events soon! 

It gets better.

I didn’t mean for this to be a post about myself. In fact, I intended the opposite. I am writing about the title of the post. Look for pictures AND some thoughtful writing soon!

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