{"id":11369,"date":"2010-06-16T15:49:22","date_gmt":"2010-06-16T19:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=11369"},"modified":"2010-06-16T15:49:22","modified_gmt":"2010-06-16T19:49:22","slug":"hilliard-farmers-market-kicks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2010\/06\/hilliard-farmers-market-kicks-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Hilliard Farmer’s Market Kicks Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hilliard has started its very own weekly Farmer’s Market<\/a>.\u00a0 This is great news to residents and near-by locals who will now have access to farm fresh products that they might not have been able to get before.\u00a0 The market will be a weekly market held on Tuesdays from 4pm to 7pm and will feature local farmers and vendors.\u00a0 Yesterday was the start of the market and thankfully the rain held off although it was still very hot!<\/p>\n

The market is held in downtown Hilliard, the area referred to as “Old Hilliard” on the corner of Main Street and Center Street.\u00a0 There is a parking lot there for the market and customer parking.\u00a0 For those familiar with the area, it is located near the entrance to the Rails to Trails path.\u00a0 Scott and I were out running errands yesterday and had a chance to stop by to check out the goods.\u00a0 I was so excited to finally be able to get to a Farmer’s Market!\u00a0 This was my first market trip so far this season and I have to say that the Hilliard Market didn’t disappoint!<\/p>\n

The market is small compared to other markets I’m sure but for a market that just started this year they are off to a great beginning!\u00a0 There were vendors there selling everything from homemade doggie treats to honey to sausage and everything in between!<\/p>\n

I took a walk around checking out the vendors and the produce first before making my way back and purchasing a few items.\u00a0 I loved seeing all of the produce available and the market was teeming with loads of berries!\u00a0 Strawberries and raspberries being super popular.\u00a0 One vendor even had some black raspberries!<\/p>\n

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This is a picture of some of my goods that I bought.\u00a0 Add in loads more squash to the mix because I stocked up and actually would like some more!<\/p>\n

My favorite thing is the lettuce, red and romaine.\u00a0 To be honest, finding greens and lettuce was my big concern with Farmer’s Markets.\u00a0 Maybe that seems odd, but when I read market reports no one ever talks about greens or lettuce.\u00a0 To me, someone who is new to the local scene and just starting to learn about farmer’s markets, I assumed that no one grew lettuces and only focused on other produce based on other’s purchases.\u00a0 The fact that I found some lettuce, and huge bunches of it, made me extremely excited!\u00a0 The tomatoes were greenhouse tomatoes and totally organic and chemical free.\u00a0 They smelled amazing and I just had to get some!<\/p>\n

The lettuce, zucchinis, and tomatoes came from Wishwell Farms<\/a>.\u00a0 The crook-neck squash was purchased from Rhoads Farm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I also purchase some raw local honey from Honey Health Farms<\/a>.\u00a0 And some ground turkey, and some chicken sausage patties from Carousel Watergardens Farm<\/a>.\u00a0 Pretty nice haul for the start of the season!<\/p>\n

The first thing I did last night was cook up some of the squash!<\/p>\n

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It was late so I didn’t do anything fancy, just roasted it in the oven at 425 for about 15 minutes.\u00a0 I let it sit in a marinade of:<\/p>\n