Pix From The New Farmers' Market

So I headed out this morning to my city's Farmers' Market with my son. The market is in the process of moving into a new venue from the old one. The old venue is in a local brewery every weekend, but as more & more people go to it, a newer, bigger place was needed. Today was the 1st day of the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market. Because it is still under construction, it will be only open on Saturdays til it is completed, then it will be open both Sat. & Sun. and on Wed.

The place was huge!! There was close to 200 vendors, ranging from farms, to crafts and everything in between. I specifically wanted to go to the Dutchman's cheese booth. His family has been making homemade Goudas for generations and he is the most popular vendor there. He was located smack-dab in the center of everything. I bought a very nice Smoked Herbed Gouda...gold in my house. My son wanted fudge, as I am terrible at making it, so we headed over to a table where there was about 10 different varieties of fudge...we got 1 of each, plus some huge peanut butter balls, dipped in chocolate and rocky road bars. Next up was the Nova Scotia Honey table where I bought a jar of the sticky sweet stuff and a little honey comb for Mark to snack on. We sampled everything from homemade ice cream, to fudge, bread, sausages and even a little nip of NS Whiskey (ok, I did, not Mark). There was even a wall of plants that was 2 floors high. When we arrived we got a free Woolly Thyme plant, another to added to my collection of kitchen herbs.

Looking around, I was a little disappointed in the huge mark-up everything had. Just because it came from a farm outside the city, doesn't mean that you have to jack up the prices. Loaves of bread were selling for $5/loaf, I can make one for cheaper. Pints of highbush blueberries were going for up to $5/pint. I did manage to find some cheaper for $3/pint. I hope I'm not sounding cheap, but after spending the past wknd at Twa Corbies and being there when some of the planting was done, I know things didn't cost THAT much to grow and gas isn't that bad. The majority of those who go to the Farmers Market are the yuppy-types who have money to spend and the "granolas" who won't touch anything unless it's local. Chanterelle mushrooms were $4.50 for 1/2lb and herbs were selling for $20/8 herbs. A bit pricey for a single mom on a budget.

Even though I sound negative, I did enjoy myself. We went up on the mezzanine level & took pictures of the crowds, then went to the old venue where there are some vendors there selling. I bought some really huge bath bombs that were reasonably priced and some more blueberries.