We've Seen This Before

One of the major events here in the Amish Country of northeastern Indiana is the Shipshewana Flea Market, held each Tuesday and Wednesday. We wanted to be sure to see it. Tuesday, after we checked out our new RV, we drove a few miles to Shipshewana. The Flea Market is huge. The parking lot was filling quickly--until we looked and saw it could accommodate twice the number cars that had already parked. Standing in the center of the market at the intersection of two aisles, I took this photo in one direction. Each direction we looked, the booths stretched just as far as here.

During our winter stays in Mesa, Arizona, we always check out the Mesa Swap Meet once each year. We thought it was large. This flea market is two or three times larger. We expected to see lots of local crafts and products, as well as a good selection of vegetables. We weren't disappointed. There was a full aisle of produce, including lots of fall-blooming mums and apples. We don't see either of those products in Mesa in the winter.

Do you remember the lines from a song, "I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck"? I seem to remember learning that a peck was half a bushel. Tuesday, I bought 1/4 peck of apples. If you look closely at the baskets of apples above, the smallest is 1/4 peck, the mid size is 1/2 peck, and the larger baskets on the floor are each a peck. I will make the apples into a cobbler for Sunday dinner.

We saw homemade ice cream in freezers run by a gas engine.

And heavy jackets for children. Those are not sold in Mesa.

There was rusty stuff for Diana.

And a shop selling upholstery fabric.

There were also lots of knives, kitchen gadgets and tools, leather wallets and cell phone cases, t-shirts and socks and "As Seen On TV" products. Those are just like what we see in Mesa and I didn't take any pictures of them.

Great Veggies

We headed out to the grocery store this morning (actually, to the Super Walmart). On the way, we stopped at the Woodland Park Farmers Market. We have had several bad experiences with such events, but one of the rangers was eating a beautiful tomato she bought there last week, so we decided to give it a try.

Just look at these beautiful vegetables! At this stand, we were given a sample taste of their tomatoes. We returned on our way out to buy some. As a matter of fact, look at all we bought. The peaches are from Palisade and the corn from Olathe--both tops in Colorado-grown foods. We ate the corn this evening and it was wonderful.

There were booths for everything from beauty products to birdhouses to music, as well as garden produce. Even duck eggs.

Look at this cute gift shop we spotted when we parked out truck.