I’m having the best summer this year, staying home to be with Lucy. Most days we are hanging out at the farmhouse, visiting with friends or going for a swim or boat ride with my parents, but I’ve noticed that the days that Lucy is the happiest and gets the best naps are when we’re on the move. As soon as we get her car seat clipped in, she starts to doze off, which means that we’ve been taking lots of day trips when we can.
Going to the St. Jacobs Farmers Market in Southern Ontario has always been on my summer wish list, and this year my parents let Lucy and I tag along for the trip. The market runs all year round, but in the summer months there are even more vendors…and lots of fresh Ontario produce!
We loaded up the stroller with so much good food – strawberries, blueberries, peppers, new potatoes, garlic, corn and a big basket of peaches.
These were the freshest, juiciest peaches I’ve ever had. The basket was gone in no time!
Lucy was such a good sport through the whole day. She slept on the drive there, was awake throughout the market and slept most of the way back. If only I could get her to nap so well on the days I stay home and work on the blog! And I loved getting to spend the day with my parents, walking around and exploring all the goodies.
The main building is huge inside, with vendors all around and lots of food booths too. It was recently rebuilt after a large fire and they did a great job creating the rustic look. We grabbed lots of fresh meats and cheeses for the weekend, and a quick lunch before heading to the booths outside.
They also have a massive tented building with more craft vendors.
St. Jacob’s and the surrounding area is known for its Mennonite community and many of the vendors are Mennonites themselves. It was nice to take the time and talk to them about their products.
How delicious does this tree of macaroons look?
After lunch, we made a stop at Bluewater Creamery to check out their hand-crafted small batch ice cream. I loved checking out all their fun flavours, like Salted Caramelized Honeycomb, Maple Cookies & Cream and Weekend Coffee Break.
I love making Perfectly Popped Stovetop Popcorn, so you better believe I made a beeline for The Popcorn Patch. They had varieties of popcorn that I didn’t even know existed, and it was all GMO-free.
Aside from all the produce we picked up, I also grabbed a few little treats for myself. A big bouquet of local strawflowers, a bag of the Farmhouse Blend popcorn and a small corn broom for our front porch.
I’m drying the flowers in our mudroom now for a fun craft later this fall!
As soon as we got home, I got to work sorting all our produce into what we’d eat now and what to freeze for later in the winter. There is nothing quite like opening your freezer in the middle of January and making a batch of Blueberry Muffins or Peaches and Cream Baked Oatmeal. I’ll be sharing all about how I freeze our seasonal produce in my next blog post!
I’m so glad we made the trip to the St. Jacobs Farmers Market and I can’t wait to go back again soon and stock up on more great food!
My parents often speak of the St Jacob’s market. They used to go when they lived in southern Ontario several years ago. I need to check it out! Those straw flowers are lovely!