The locations of farmers markets around the suburbs of Melbourne and in particular ones that are a ten minute drive away from home were a total mystery to me until rather recently. I had always been under the impression that they were too far away from my house and fitting in this type of weekend ritual on a weekly basis would eat into valuable time. I came across a website one day which has a listing of Saturday and Sunday markets on rotating weeks of the month but other things kept getting in the way and sleeping in didn't help much either.
When we rescued our little guy Ollie 3 months ago there was no more sleeping in for us and as he had been confined to a house for his whole life we wanted to get him out and about as much as possible. We started going to farmers markets the week after we got him and have been going about twice or three times a month since.
Our favourite one location wise is the Wheelers Hills market at Jells Park (3rd Saturday of the month), which is where all of these photos were taken. It has a good selection of fruit and vegetables although there aren't any organic stalls here. We entertained the thought of falafel wrap today before finding out that the bread wasn't vegan. This market is also a fun day trip for us as we put the bike rack on the car and head off for a ride with Ollie on one of the many scenic trails afterwards.
The best one we have been to as far as the variety of stalls and produce is opposite Glen Eira College in Caulfield (2nd Saturday of the month). There is a big organic fruit and vegetable stall and plenty of other non-organic produce as well. We have also been to a smaller market at Monash University in Clayton a few times (4th Saturday of the month) and Ashwood College once (3rd Sunday of the month). The fruit and vegetables we have been buying at the markets is so much fresher, tastes better and lasts longer so I really notice the difference when we miss the odd week at the markets.
My "haul" was tiny today as I'm still a bit unorganised with my theme cooking for the coming week and we got to the market later than usual. I was hoping to include a photo of a more interesting mix from a month ago but I must have accidentally deleted this! Hope you are all having a great weekend!
