Though it’s great for that, too, Blooms & Berries Farm Market and Garden Center is open from mid-April through October for family friendly activities such as strawberry picking (mid-May through early June) and the sunflower bloom (mid-September), as well as delicious, farm-fresh goods for the entire season.
I recently participated in a sort of “supermarket sweep” at Blooms & Berries where I was given free rein to make a dish or meal using fresh, local goods from their Market Barn. And despite not being much of a cook (aside from breakfast), I was so excited for the challenge—partly because I absolutely love supporting local, but I also love being creative with standard dishes.
I showed up to the Market Barn having absolutely no idea what I would make, but as soon as I saw corn on the cob, I googled, “corn side dishes,” saw Bacon Fried Corn, and built the rest of the meal according to what was available to me right there.
The Goods*
Sweet bi-color corn
Candy onions
Baby red potatoes
Garlic
Green onions
Pork belly bacon
Ground beef
The Menu
To start, we snacked on tortilla rounds with Blooms & Berries’ Peach Habanero Salsa. The salsa was excellent. Sweet and flavorful, with a perfectly medium lingering heat.
For the main event, we had local beef burger patties topped with steakhouse onion cheddar cheese and accompanied by Bacon Fried Corn (click here for the recipe) and garlicky-onion potatoes.
Garlicky-onion potatoes
Ingredients
- Baby red potatoes
- Onion soup mix or fresh-chopped onions
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons of EVOO
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450º
- Dice potatoes
- Mix potatoes with EVOO, garlic, and onion/soup mix
- Grease glass pan
- Add potato mix to the pan
- Bake for 30 minutes or until at desired doneness
And Blooms & Berries doesn’t just have produce and local natural meats! The Market Barn also has locally made and sourced jams and jellies, salsas, honey, syrup, desserts, wine, soaps, lotions, and toys, as well as a garden center featuring annuals, perennials, homegrown herbs, pollinator plants, and succulents.
Visit bloomsandberries.com/events for more about events and everything the farm has to offer, or sign up to get email updates on gardening tips, recipes, strawberry picking, and Fall on the Farm.
*I supplemented Em’s Sourdough round buns and Steakhouse Onion Cheddar cheese (Gibbs) from Findlay market.