Summer Sunflowers From The Farmers Market

EVERY SATURDAY MORNING BEFORE I GO TO WORK I STOP BY THE FARMERS MARKET TO GET MY WEEKLY FRUIT AND VEGGIE HAUL, AND THIS TIME I ADDED SOME SUMMER SUNFLOWERS TO MY ORDER!

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Do you have a local farmers market in your area? I don’t know what I’d do without ours. I have to be to work at 9 am on Saturdays and the farmers market opens at 8, so that’s when I get there. I’ve found if you don’t get there right when it opens sometimes all the good organic things are all bought up.

Luckily there’s a refrigerator at work that I can store my purchases in but lately I’ve been bringing along a cooler for all the fruits and veggies and a large crock filled halfway with water for flower purchases.

It makes it easier for me to only have to haul it into the house when I get home rather than haul it into work, and then back to my Jeep when my shift is over. The things that I purchase on a weekly basis are grape tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn, green beans, salad greens, sourdough bread, and flowers.

I’m so attracted to the bouquets that are already put together, no fiddling around trying to make them look good in a vase. The summer sunflower bouquet you see here was only $10, that’s an amazing price. For that amount I don’t even bother growing them myself anymore, and I love being able to support local growers.

I had the flowers inside on the dining room table for a few days and then I decided to add them to our outdoor patio set and here’s why. I had female Oriole birds keep running into the French door screen trying to get in. I’m assuming the bright yellow and orange tones of the sunflowers were attracting them and they thought it would be a nice treat to feed on.

I certainly didn’t want them to die crashing into our screens so I thought the better choice was to give them what they want and take them outside. Now the patio set is on the lower level and I have to specifically be down there to see it so if the birds are seeking it out I haven’t noticed, but they did stop banging into the screens.

I look forward to my Saturday mornings alone strolling through the market seeing all the delicious things available, it’s a nice start to my work day and it’s even better when I get home and am able to dive into the goods.

It’s all the more reason to give up gardening in my neck of the woods. I can’t keep the critters out of the veggies so it’s the perfect alternative of shopping the farmers market. I just wish I lived in an area where it was a year round market, but since it’s not I make the best of it while it’s available.