Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market

Lil and I needed to pick up vegetables for dinner yesterday and decided to visit the Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market.

The market is held on Wednesday afternoons at the corner of North State and East Home streets. It is a small market but highly selective about vendors, choosing the best vegetable growers, meat farmers, and quality producers. We appreciated that in the compact space we didn't have to sift through crafts or junk to find good, real food.

On this particular Wednesday in early May, Lil paired bread samples from Dan the Baker with Sweet Thing Gourmet jam. I picked up asparagus from Flying J Farm and asked for radishes from Bird's Haven Farms, though they didn't have any yet. We checked in at the Swainway Urban Farm tent where we will work every other week starting in June.

We easily found free parking less than a block away from the market.  If we had more time, we could have explored the many shops and small eateries in uptown. It is a good idea to pack a cooler or insulated bag to keep your purchases chilled if you want to tour uptown Westerville.

The crowd was friendly and full but not uncomfortably crowded. Like most seasonal markets, I expect Uptown Westerville will attract more shoppers as farmers are able to bring a bigger variety of produce. It's a great little market with plenty of real, local food.

Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market

Wednesdays weekly May - October 3 - 6 pm

N. State & E. Home in Uptown Westerville, OH

Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market

Lil and I needed to pick up vegetables for dinner yesterday and decided to visit the Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market.

The market is held on Wednesday afternoons at the corner of North State and East Home streets. It is a small market but highly selective about vendors, choosing the best vegetable growers, meat farmers, and quality producers. We appreciated that in the compact space we didn't have to sift through crafts or junk to find good, real food.

On this particular Wednesday in early May, Lil paired bread samples from Dan the Baker with Sweet Thing Gourmet jam. I picked up asparagus from Flying J Farm and asked for radishes from Bird's Haven Farms, though they didn't have any yet. We checked in at the Swainway Urban Farm tent where we will work every other week starting in June.

We easily found free parking less than a block away from the market.  If we had more time, we could have explored the many shops and small eateries in uptown. It is a good idea to pack a cooler or insulated bag to keep your purchases chilled if you want to tour uptown Westerville.

The crowd was friendly and full but not uncomfortably crowded. Like most seasonal markets, I expect Uptown Westerville will attract more shoppers as farmers are able to bring a bigger variety of produce. It's a great little market with plenty of real, local food.

Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market

Wednesdays weekly May - October 3 - 6 pm

N. State & E. Home in Uptown Westerville, OH

Tiny Turtle

Guest post today by Lil!

We found a tiny turtle at Magee Marsh along Lake Erie this weekend. It was so cute I wished I could take it home.

I observed that it had a very orange belly and some stripes on its shell. It looks like its shell was layered like shingles. It was trying to jump out of our hands.

I observed that it had a teeny tiny sharp part on its beak. I thought it was an egg tooth. I put the turtle in a safe area near the marsh.

When we got home, we looked up breeds of turtles in Ohio and identified it as a painted midland turtle. We also confirmed that turtles do have egg teeth to help them get out of their shell.

Tiny Turtle

Guest post today by Lil!

We found a tiny turtle at Magee Marsh along Lake Erie this weekend. It was so cute I wished I could take it home.

I observed that it had a very orange belly and some stripes on its shell. It looks like its shell was layered like shingles. It was trying to jump out of our hands.

I observed that it had a teeny tiny sharp part on its beak. I thought it was an egg tooth. I put the turtle in a safe area near the marsh.

When we got home, we looked up breeds of turtles in Ohio and identified it as a painted midland turtle. We also confirmed that turtles do have egg teeth to help them get out of their shell.

Cool Stuff From Friends {Friday Five}

It's been awhile since I've posted a Friday Five but my friends go on being awesome and you need to know about their projects: 1) Clintonville writer Sally aka Real Mom Nutrition just published a fantastic book, Cooking Light Dinnertime Survival Guide: Feed Your Family. Save Your Sanity! It contains tips, hints, and lots of recipes for feeding your family real whole food every night in Sally's very approachable writing style. Stay tuned to her website for a local book signing event.

2) Several fellow gardeners are part of the organization team for the Central Ohio Plant Swap coming up May 17 in Hilliard. Though I've never been able to go, this FREE event gives you a chance to infuse your gardens with new varieties. I've heard it's especially good for sourcing perennial flowers.

3) Homeschooling mom and licensed professional counselor Dawn Friedman is teaching Parenting for Attunement this June. Dawn is a grounded, thoughtful, open-minded counselor and her parenting classes will help you solve parenting challenges with respect to your needs and your child's. Register using the code 'harmonious' for 20% off registration, making the two-class series just $100 per pair of adults - can be couples, friends, or any two people who want to support each other to be better parents.

4) The fine folks at Clintonville Farmers' Market are holding a canned food drive for the Clintonville-Beechwold Resource Center at the market tomorrow. The Worthington Farmers' Market moves outside this week and collects produce donations weekly for the food pantry too.

5) Finally, our friends at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association are coming to our homestead as part of their farm tour series! Mark your calendar for June 22 at 1 pm to visit the chickens, gardens, hoop house, and orchard.

What coming events do you recommend? Leave links in the comments!

Cool Stuff From Friends {Friday Five}

It's been awhile since I've posted a Friday Five but my friends go on being awesome and you need to know about their projects: 1) Clintonville writer Sally aka Real Mom Nutrition just published a fantastic book, Cooking Light Dinnertime Survival Guide: Feed Your Family. Save Your Sanity! It contains tips, hints, and lots of recipes for feeding your family real whole food every night in Sally's very approachable writing style. Stay tuned to her website for a local book signing event.

2) Several fellow gardeners are part of the organization team for the Central Ohio Plant Swap coming up May 17 in Hilliard. Though I've never been able to go, this FREE event gives you a chance to infuse your gardens with new varieties. I've heard it's especially good for sourcing perennial flowers.

3) Homeschooling mom and licensed professional counselor Dawn Friedman is teaching Parenting for Attunement this June. Dawn is a grounded, thoughtful, open-minded counselor and her parenting classes will help you solve parenting challenges with respect to your needs and your child's. Register using the code 'harmonious' for 20% off registration, making the two-class series just $100 per pair of adults - can be couples, friends, or any two people who want to support each other to be better parents.

4) The fine folks at Clintonville Farmers' Market are holding a canned food drive for the Clintonville-Beechwold Resource Center at the market tomorrow. The Worthington Farmers' Market moves outside this week and collects produce donations weekly for the food pantry too.

5) Finally, our friends at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association are coming to our homestead as part of their farm tour series! Mark your calendar for June 22 at 1 pm to visit the chickens, gardens, hoop house, and orchard.

What coming events do you recommend? Leave links in the comments!

All The Details #diykitchen

The flooring, appliances, and cabinets are all set in our DIY kitchen project so now we're left with the little, annoying, time consuming details. I focused, measured, and drilled the fourscore drawer and door pulls so now the doors are functional. Alex has two of five zinc-covered counter tops installed. I replaced outlets and switches so they all matched in color and replaced all the switch plate covers. Together we cursed our way through installing a light fixture with too many moving parts over the island.

What's left? Cover panels for the sides of cabinets, toe kicks under cabinets, those three pieces of counter top, a couple more light fixtures, and all the accessories like shelves, magnetic knife bar, and artwork. I suppose I should finish painting some day too.

We are distracted by so many other more appealing tasks like working outside in the garden and cooking in our shiny new kitchen. But we'll work through the details soon and post reviews about the major elements in the kitchen.

All The Details #diykitchen

The flooring, appliances, and cabinets are all set in our DIY kitchen project so now we're left with the little, annoying, time consuming details. I focused, measured, and drilled the fourscore drawer and door pulls so now the doors are functional. Alex has two of five zinc-covered counter tops installed. I replaced outlets and switches so they all matched in color and replaced all the switch plate covers. Together we cursed our way through installing a light fixture with too many moving parts over the island.

What's left? Cover panels for the sides of cabinets, toe kicks under cabinets, those three pieces of counter top, a couple more light fixtures, and all the accessories like shelves, magnetic knife bar, and artwork. I suppose I should finish painting some day too.

We are distracted by so many other more appealing tasks like working outside in the garden and cooking in our shiny new kitchen. But we'll work through the details soon and post reviews about the major elements in the kitchen.