We Love the Winter Garden Farmer's Market!

Last winter while in Winter Garden, we religiously walked to the downtown farmer's market every Saturday, about two miles each way from our campsite.  The tradition continued as we visited the market on our first Saturday back in town.  This also happened to be their holiday market, with extra vendors selling art, food, and interesting creations.  Since we were last here, the market has expanded, and a large parking deck has been built downtown, bringing in even more vendors and shoppers.

But some things never change:  the main pavillion was still filled with rows of yummy fruits and vegetables.  Are they all local?  Unfortunately not.  But everything is clearly marked, making it easy to chose only Florida produce if desired.  

There are not as many organic growers as conventional selling here, but since I was unable to find parsley in the main market, we found it at an organic stand outside the main pavillion.  We never saw this stand last winter so assume they are new to the market.  From now on, we'll check here first, since we prefer to buy organic when it is available.  

After filling our packs with a variety of veggies and herbs, we explored the rest of the market. There was plenty more to see and some delicious aromas from the various food vendors.  Best smell award goes to the cinnamon nuts booth:  Mmmmmmm!  I'm still not quite sure how we resisted those.

For those shopping for Christmas gifts, the market hosted a plethora of interesting choices. Living in a motorhome, we only have room for so much "stuff", so most of our purchases must be consumable.  But it's always fun to look around and see the sights and colorful, unique items for sale.

​Here's some of what we saw, starting with beautiful (and inexpensive!) orchids.  I sure would love to have one in Pearl, but I don't want to have to worry about it getting damaged when we travel. And the one time I did have an orchid, I could never get it to bloom again after the initial blooms finished up.  

Cool tikis!

This charming restored truck is associated with a vegetarian/vegan restaurant that makes unique cold-pressed juices, thus the name "Press'd".  Could be good!  I just might have to try one of these some week.  

These vibrant garments are from Africa!

While this booth made us feel like we were back in Mexico....

The live music added to the festive atmosphere at the market.

Shopping was just all too exhausting for this little guy.

On the other hand, I was rather energized by it all!

Tomorrow's market coincides with the annual Winter Garden Christmas parade, so you can bet we'll be there and will report back.