Corvallis Saturday Farmers Market

There's a Farmers Market on Saturdays in downtown Corvallis, so I decided to go down and check it out.  I am glad I did.  The farmers market in Yellow Springs was wonderful, but not nearly as large as the one in Corvallis.  Today I had many different vendors from which to choose and it's nice to have the variety.

It was a beautiful day, so of course it was crowded, but not so much that it was too hard to see what the vendors were peddling.  It was nice hearing the people of Corvallis talking about sustainable farming and organic produce.  I love that I am not only buying healthy organic produce, but I am also supporting local growers.  Knowing where I get my produce and meeting the farmers themselves has always made me happy.

The vegetables and fruits were beautiful and I wish I could have taken the time to take some photos.  You can only find those colors in nature.  Every color of the rainbow was represented.  Red Tomatoes.  Orange Squash.  Yellow Corn.  Green Spinach.  Blueberries.  Purple Eggplant.  I even saw some things I had never seen before.  I wonder if I'll ever be curious enough to try the purple potatoes I saw.

There were of course vendors selling fruits and vegetables, but there were also vendors selling bread, honey, soaps, and even wine. The soap was made of goat's milk and I was interested in trying it, but got distracted by a vendor selling fresh salmon.  I don't eat fish, but I have been thinking about it.  It's really good for you and it's soooo fresh out here since I am so close to the coast.  I just looked it over to see what it was like.  Since I have been a vegetarian for 8 years, I would have no idea how to cook it.  I'm sure I could just grill it, but wouldn't know for how long.  I should research recipes before I spend the money.

Since it's Oregon, I had to sample the wine and it was delicious.  I bought a bottle of the chardonnay and gurtzweiler blend.  Not too dry and not too sweet.  The winery is in Dallas, Oregon up the road a bit and the lady gave me some information so that I could visit the winery sometime.  She said there were a lot of vineyards in the area that I could check out along the way.  I'm living in Willamette Valley.  Of course there are vineyards along the way.  I really liked the wine, so I will most likely be going again.  It's on the way to Salem, the state capitol, so I might make a day of it and see Salem too.


There were also lots of fresh cut flowers.  I wanted to buy a bouquet with sunflowers as they are my favorite flower, but since my apartment is still a mess, I decided they would go to waste.  There's really no place to display them and I got rid of all my vases before I moved out here.

What else did I buy?

I bought a good deal of fresh produce and some bread.  I am really excited to cook the vegetables I bought.  I also plan to bust out the Magic Bullet (c) to make some fresh salsa.  I love salsa and think I could come up with a good recipe of my own.  The infomercial for the Magic Bullet cracks me up, but the little appliance looks like it will be awesome.  My friend Tara bought me one as a going away present since I talk about the darn thing so often.  In the infomercial the hosts make salsa out of cherry tomatoes, onion, jalapenos and cilantro.  I found all of these ingredients at the market and am going to bust out the Magic Bullet!  It's going to be awesome.  Maybe I'll make my own infomercial since I am such an advocate for the product!

Once I bought some ingredients for my Magic Bullet Salsa Experiment, I began to look around for some green beans and potatoes.  I have been craving them and was looking forward to a meal like my momma used to make.  I found some small potatoes that would cook quickly without even cutting and some beautiful green beans that looked nice and plump.  Through in some onions that I bought for the salsa and a clove of garlic and I would be happy! 

 

Since I had plenty of vegetables, I thought I would check out the grain food group of the market.  I love bread, especially sour dough.  I was very excited to find some whole wheat sour dough.  I bought a loaf as well as an asagio pretzel from the Pretzel Queen.

 

I loved the Farmers Market and will plan to go back...for Wine and Sunflowers!