A Trip to the Farm Stand

There are two places I like to go in the fall; one is driving up the Great River Road to see the eagles and the beautiful scenery, the other is visiting farmer’s markets and farm stands. Today we did the latter. It was a gorgeous day for a drive out to the country and we were richly rewarded with so many visual delights. Instead of describing everything in great detail, I’ll let you have a look at just a few of the over 50 photos I took today. We came home with bags of fresh produce, a huge mum in a wine color, but nary a pumpkin despite the many displayed.

This charming sign greeted us as we approached the store.  While taking pictures I made a point to try to get at least one that would make a great cover shot for my Halloween cards this year.  I think this one might be it!

It's probably best to have a plan in mind when shopping farmer's markets, but we had none, we just kept wandering, and oohing and ahhing at all that was available.  As usual when I'm without a list, my mind went blank, but I did remember to pick up 5 bunches of scallions to try the new recipe I have for scallion soup.  It's supposed to be a variation on vichyssoise.

Look at the size of these radishes!  I had Jim hold up a bunch to try to give them some scale, but their grandeur still cannot be fully realized in this picture.  The largest one here was about the size of a small baseball.  We bought these.  They were just too odd not to buy them. 

We were sucked in by the gourds as well.  Have you ever seen anything more colorful?  And such variety!  I had not seen some of the unusual types that they had here.  At 3 for $1.00 we bought a dozen.  I'm hoping they'll look wonderful in a bronze leaf dish that resides on the coffee table in the living room.

Look at these pumpkins!  HUGE! Way too big for either of us to lift.  We really liked the oddball shapes and the fact that some of these looked so gnarly and had weird growths on them.  PERFECT for Halloween!  I was really looking for a small sugar pumpkin though, and what they had were more decorative than for culinary use.

When it comes to charm, Thies Farm and Greenhouses in Maryland Heights, MO has it over most of the others in the area, I think.  It is a fifth generation farm that has been in business since 1885.  The "Pumpkin Land" set up for kids took up an area about the size of a football field, and had one clever activity station after another.  Loads of kids were having a blast there today; my ears are still ringing from the squeals of joy.

For more colorful farm stand photos, please see my Flickr photostream. 

Have a great weekend!