Busy Weekend at the Market!

Wow! What a busy weekend we have, both at the market and around Slidell. This weekend, we are having the 2nd annual Slidell Memorial Health Fair at the Camellia City Market and that coincides with the Olde Towne Antique Street Fair. Luckily, it is going to be a gorgeous weekend to be outside!

So, what is this health fair, you might ask? Well, I'll tell ya. It's from 8:30-Noon in Griffith Park. Slidell Memorial Hospital will have respresentatives there from the Imaging & Cancer Services, the Sleep Disorder Center, the Maternal Child & Parenting Center, Nutrition & Diabetes Education as well as others. They will be performing all kinds of tests such as a grip strength test, body mass index screening, blood pressure screening and cholestoral screening. Of course, if you want to test your cholestoral, make sure you don't eat anything for 8 hours! We want to make sure it's accurate, right.

And once you find out how healthy you are, you can continue to stroll around the market or through all of Olde Towne and enjoy all of the goodies, including fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade baked goods and of course, antiques at the street fair.

If you are still looking for something to do after all of that, you can enjoy Slidell's annual Crawfish Cook-off at Fritchie Park.

Whew, that's a lot! But don't worry, with some careful planning, you can do it ALL!!

Why Should You Grow Your Own Garden?

April is National Garden Month so I decided to use this time to encourage you to grow your own vegetable garden. Why, you might ask? My, oh my there are so many reasons why…

1. Flavor. There is nothing like the taste of a fresh from the ground vegetable. Carrots, for example, will never taste as sweet as when they are first plucked from the ground. I’ll never forget how delicious my grandmother’s eggplant tasted straight from her garden. I’ve never been able to match it with store bought eggplant. The longer the time from the ground to your mouth, the less flavor it will have.

2. Nutrition. Not only will your vegetables taste better, but they will also healthier for you. According to GardenGuides.com:

Fresh vegetables from the garden will typically contain more vitamins and minerals than their counterparts sold at the supermarket. Commercially grown produce is usually harvested when it is still immature, especially when it is being transported from one state to another. Without fully maturing, the vegetables do not develop their full nutrition potential. Vegetables also begin to lose some of their nutrients immediately after picking. Frozen and canned foods tend to retain more of their nutrients than fresh vegetables sold in the store, because they are processed immediately after harvesting.

3. Healthy Living. If your vegetables taste better, guess what…you will want to eat more. And we all know we need to get more fruits and vegetables into our diets. This is especially true for our kids. Teaching our kids healthy eating habits when they are young will set them up for a lifetime of healthy eating.

4. Safety. When you purchase commercially grown fruits and vegetables, you have no idea what is being used to control garden pests. When you are the gardener, you get to decide what you use.

5. Saves Money. As fuel and other costs rise, so too do the price of fruits and vegetables. By growing your own, you are no longer a slave to the grocery store prices. You can enjoy your homegrown goodies year round (if you can or freeze your surplus) and knock down the cost of your grocery budget.

Convincing, right? So, why are you still sitting there? Go grab your shovel and start digging. Oh, and happy growing!

Of course, if you aren’t able to grow your own vegetables, visit the Camellia City Market every Saturday and buy your produce straight from our local farmers. Who knows, you could be buying your neighbor’s extra home grown vegetables.

Either way, your body and taste buds will thank you!

hattip:www.gardenguides.com