Every Sunday starting this month, my community hosts a farmer’s market until the fall season. It’s a little on the small side because it hasn’t gained popularity yet, but I have faith it will grow every year…plus, our community is growing like crazy.
What I like about farmer’s markets is I know I am supporting the small, local farms, vineyards or businesses. I know what it’s like to be a small business in a dog eat dog world, so it feels good to help out the local economy. This past weekend I bought some good looking strawberries.
I also visited with the Simply Nut Free Chocolates founder and chocolatier, Maryanne Klank.
Every time my older son comes across baked goods or chocolates, he always asks, “Does it have nuts in it?†And the poor kid asks the question so reluctantly because 9 out of 10 times I have to tell him yes. He has a mild allergy to tree nuts so I try to minimize his exposure as much as possible. So it was nice to find these awesome chocolate covered pretzels that I knew he could safely eat.
- always a ham for the camera
I had a sample of another one of her beautiful chocolates as well and it was delicious. This picture was pulled from her site:
But most importantly, she reminded me of this cool event that we have access to here in Loudoun County, the 4th Annual Food Allergy Awareness Week Fundraising Event. The event is hosted by Go Bananas (neighborhood specialty toy store owned by a family who has children with life threatening food allergies) and the Loudoun Allergy Network and features entertainment, yummy samples that are allergen-friendly, silent auction, food allergy information stations and more. So, I’ll definitely bring my family and I doubt the boys will complain because they will make any excuse to go to Go Bananas! Will I see you there?
Okay, I got a little side-tracked. Now back to farmer’s markets…Deena and I are going to be visiting some larger ones throughout the summer and reporting back on what we thought. If you know of one that is a definite go-see for us, please comment and let us know! Time to google some cute market totes….
