When I was just a few miles away from home, I pulled behind the Loblolly Creamery truck. The longer I followed them the more excited I became. I was right behind them on every turn and curve all the way to Roland when the pulled off the road. I figured that if they had come that far they must be headed to P. Allen Smith's Garden Home! And indeed they were after they stopped to gather a few flowers!
As I pulled into the driveway of the Garden Home, I knew I was in for a treat. They had an entire Farmer's Market set up in a field and I could not wait to get started. But first I had to pick up my shirt, information and then we went inside for a quick breakfast (watermelon pizza).
Many of the same bloggers from my last event at P. Allen's were there and after a bite to eat, we were sent out to shop and sample. The farmer's market was so much fun (like maybe I should go to one in real life). I stopped at many great places and sampled jellies, jams, fudge, breads, rice, steak, spices, hamburger, kraut and ice cream (along with probably a few other things that I have probably forgotten.)
I will run down a few of my favorite stops today: Dancing Rabbit Creek Ranch, Loblolly Creamery, Pratt Family Salsa, April's Family Kitchen and Our Green Acre Farm. And the two places that I now want to go are the Dogwood Hills Guest Farm and Peach Pickin' Paradise.
Next stop was a tour of P. Allen Smith's home. It was such a treat again and I really do want to have a kitchen just like his. I guess I would take a house like his as well but I might need a few more bedrooms! We toured until lunch time and then went to eat our lunch.
Lunch was delicious-chicken salad, aspargus, salad and crackers but the best part of lunch was the dessert. The dessert was a cookie sandwich filled with cream and fruit. Here is the recipe for the cookies and I will be making them really soon.
After lunch was toured the garden and they were gorgeous. Of course they made me feel a little lacking since I have never grown a vegtable in my life. This man (and his staff) were growing a plethera of veggies all over his 1 acre vegtable garden.
Then we all went through the rose gardens and finally his terraced gardens. By the time we made it back inside, we were all sweaty and hot. There was water on the tables for us and we then learned about Arkansas Grown and Arkansas Made products. Everything was so interesting and I feel pretty compelled to try to buy more local products.
Then it was a walk to Poultryville to see all of the chickens on the farm. I am not a huge chicken fan but they were pretty and noisy (which I enjoyed). Maybe someday I will work up the courage to grow a tomato and have a chicken!
And finally, we learned about the Arkansas Gleaning Project-think Ruth and Naomi from the Bible. It is that just in a much larger scale-huge fields and lots of volunteers and the food goes to feed the hungry in our state. And with that presentation my day at Moss Mountain wrapped up and I was on the way home with a bag full of goodies and a tummy full of wonderful food!
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