Week 17: The La Mesa Farmers' Market
- elenalilamartin
- Apr 30, 2023
- 3 min read
Week 17: April 23-30, 2023
The weather this week has been awesome, so naturally my instinct is to be outside in the sun at every opportunity. Thankfully, every Friday, near the downtown area, the La Mesa Farmers' Market is a bustling couple blocks of activity. Shayna and I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and visited the La Mesa Farmer's Market for the first time.
I drove so Shayna could check out Harvey Clifford and experience my new set of wheels. It was only a 6 minute drive. We got lucky with a parking spot right on 4th Street and walked over. When we first arrived, we were surprised by the layout of the vendors. Instead of it being one long corridor in the middle, the tents were set up back-to-back, so people could walk next to the existing shops and restaurants while checking out the market. If you want to see the La Mesa Village website with more information about the Farmers' Market - click here. I just noticed the site mentions the "new inverted layout" that "provides a cohesive synergy between the market vendors and our local shops and eateries." I think this is a great change to the classic farmers' market set-up, because the middle corridor set-up sometimes makes the existing shops hard to access or feeling ignored.
We took the time to slowly walk through the entire market before deciding what to get for dinner. I was very tempted to buy an incredibly extra sparkly cowboy hat ("Ok, if it is less than $50, I'll do it!"), but figured my money could be better spent on something else for now (It was $75...)
We sampled fresh strawberries, a bunch of green juices, and checked out a local honey vendor. Both Shayna and I suffer from pollen allergies, so hopefully buying some local honey might help alleviate some allergy symptoms. I bought a bottle of oat milk mint matcha. It was really good, and almost tasted like mint chip ice cream.
One of the greatest additions to any community space is live music, and there were at least 3 different performers. They were conveniently placed a good distance from one another so their music did not overlap or overwhelm. Naturally, Shayna and I also were thrilled by the abundance of dogs. There were tons of families as well, and we were thrilled to also see an abundance of adorable babies. (Of course, babies are always cute from a distance... A FAR distance.)The street was incredibly lively, and of course I had to comment that there were "hella heads," even inside the restaurants lining the street. I peeked my head into some of the restaurants that were playing the Warriors game to get updates on the score. We ended up watching (and being disappointed by) the second half when we got home.
Exploring what the market had to offer was a great way to spend a Friday evening. We even went into a bunch of the shops along the street.
After circling the entire market and making sure we looked at and sampled at every chance we got, Shayna and I decided to get dinner from African Food Kitchen. We also got some lumpia and some cherry apple pie to try, because... well...why not?
I got a delicious medium combo plate with curry chicken, plantains and collard greens.
We left after eating, happy with our full stomachs and the new knowledge that a great farmers' market was only a 6 minute drive from our apartment. I definitely will be returning to get some local produce, and to try all the other food offerings (...and to probably buy that sparkly hat...).
See you next week.
Comments