Queens County Fair

On our days off, we ditch our tiny Queens apartment and hustle and bustle lifestyle for the farm down the road. Its like a little reminder of what we will someday have for ourselves. The big iron gates, sound of the windmill running, chickens clucking, and smell of freshly cut wood makes me day dream of raising a family on a homestead.

Today was the annual Queens County Fair.

It started with a show stopping blue ribbon contest of all the local produce, crops, flowers, and home canned goods. A tent full of the most beautiful home grown ingredients. I was in heaven.

After that, we moved on to the farm stand. We buy from the Queens Farm stand all year long while its open. Within a ten minute walk from our home you can go to basically everything from the grocery store to the department store to the bank. But maybe the only reason why I haven't completely gone insane in this city is that I can take a short walk to this beautiful farm stand. I am often seen trying to figure out how to carry at least one of everything back home.

Today's Bounty: A big bunch of carrots with carrot tops attached, 7 round red radishes, a container of sun sweet tomatoes (my absolute favorite this year), 2 wacky apples we picked right off of one of the farm's trees, a crunchy kohlrabi, and large watermelon radish. Yum.

The smell of a fair is always so alluring. Sweet powdered sugar coating, food fried in hot oil and smothered in sauce, salty freshly baked pretzels rotating on a warm rack, and huge vats of pickles fermenting in the heat. Yes... I said vats. It is so hard to resist a good ol fashioned pickle when you can smell the vinegar and spices. Am I the only one who craves pickles from time to time? Is that weird?