In order to wear her the heck out so I can get some work done, take advantage of The Little Empress’ school vacation, I’m trying to fill the days with fun, low-cost outings to pass the time. One of the outings I decided on was to hit up the Concord Farmers Market in Todos Santos Plaza.
I try to hit up a Farmer’s Market or farmer’s stand at least every week or so, to take advantage of the fresh produce we have in this area. There are at least three Farmers Markets within ten miles of us and a countless number of family owned farm stands. (Antioch may be maligned for being way the hell out in nowhere land but it does have its advantages.) The Concord Farmer’s Market isn’t one of the close by Farmers Markets but it is my current favorite due to its location. Todos Santos is a beautiful city square with a park, kids play area and is surrounded by a good selection of shops. These shops include Half Price Books and Peet’s Coffee which is damn near my version of heaven already. Adding a twice weekly Farmers Market on top of it is just icing on the cake! The location is full of mature trees for shade so after meandering through the Farmers Market, you can sit on the grass and let your kid play while you enjoy some fresh produce and whatever hot food happens to be at the market that day.
The Little Empress and I wandered through Half Price Books for a bit before hitting up the Farmers Market. While I’m not nearly as much of a bibliophile as other folks I know, book stores and libraries seriously make me happy and I can stay there for hours. TLE is still a bit young and got restless and I was getting hungry so I decided to head out to find something to eat. There were a bunch of great hot food stalls to choose from, including Argentine Empanadas, tamales, wood fired pizza, gourmet hot dogs… yummy. I decided on a gyro which I thought TLE would like but she didn’t. Alas, no photo of the gyro as it disappeared into my gaping maw way too quickly. It was delicious.
We relaxed on the grass for a bit. Next week, I’ll have to remember to bring a good blanket to sit on as well as a ball for TLE to kick around. I’d thought that she would have wanted to play on the play structure but she was (surprisingly) uninterested. (Lucky for me. The play structure is meant for kids 5+ rather than the toddler set. That usually doesn’t stop TLE who is a total daredevil.) Instead, she entertained herself by watching other kids and running around on the grass near me.
TLE dancing on the grass
Soon enough, she tired of the grass and signed frantically for “apples” which is her way of asking for fruit. It took some convincing to get her back in her stroller. I normally don’t take a stroller anywhere but Farmers Markets are SO much easier to navigate with a stroller rather than carrying her on my back while carrying groceries. (Plus, have you ever had a toddler eating a plum while in a back carry? I personally find the sensation of dripping plum juice down my neck to be decidedly NOT PLEASANT.)
We wandered up and down the aisles of the Farmers Market, looking at all the yummy and delicious fruits. I like to make at least one round of the offerings, to see what’s being offered at what prices. Summer farmer’s markets are always the best, full of stone fruit, delicious berries and awesome vegetables. Plus, fully circumventing the farmers market means I get to pilfer samples from everyone. BWAHAHA. (These samples kept TLE satisfied for quite awhile!)
Free samples? YES PLEASE.
I saw some really lovely tomatoes and a bunch of Asian herbs that I desperately wanted but knew I had no time to really enjoy properly this week so I passed. Seriously, check out these tomatoes!! The heirlooms next to the Early Girls were even more gorgeous but I didn’t get a really good shot of those.
Tomatoes... gorgeous, aren't they?!
After my first round, I stopped at a vendor to pick up a few pounds of naturally sweet, stone fruit goodness. TLE was very happy to get her chance to dig in to a sweet-tart pluot.
Yummy pluot!
Nomilicious indeed!
Copyright
Text and photographs copyrighted by Michelle N unless otherwise noted.