04 Experiencing Nature Through "Gardening": The Clearfork Farmers Market, Fort Worth TX

As I’ve grown up and gone through life I have discovered my passions, established new interests, and gotten involved with many hobbies. Many of these activities take place outdoors, as I’ve come to love walking, running, hiking, biking, kayaking, traveling, and more. However, when thinking back to my childhood and how I first came to love the outdoors, my earliest memories come from one activity that has been constant throughout my whole life: gardening.

Ever since I was old enough, I can remember helping my mom plant, care for, and harvest vegetables in our backyard garden every summer. My mom’s love for gardening was passed down from my grandfather, and she later passed the same love down to me. 

With a passion for gardening established, a new passion also began to grow: cooking. Being that my grandparents immigrated to the US from Italy, it makes sense that food and its preparation has always played a big role in my family. Some of my earliest memories entail traveling to my grandparents house, helping my grandfather pick vegetables from the garden, cooking them with my grandmother, and sitting down at the dinner table with the whole family to enjoy a meal. 

Being that gardening and cooking are two of my biggest passions, and ones that have brought me closer to nature and taught me to enjoy what the Earth can provide for us, I only felt it was right to dedicate one of my blog posts to this. I was faced with only one problem… that I was thousands of miles away from my garden at home and that my backyard here at TCU consists of a concrete parking lot. Because of this dilemma of not having access to a garden, I found the next best thing: a local farmers market.

My plan for the blog and the overall experience was to visit the farmers market, bring home lots of fresh ingredients, use them to create some amazing recipes and dishes, and ultimately, to get the chance to enjoy a few of my favorite passions, gardening, cooking, spending time outdoors, and appreciating nature. 

I am not usually a morning person, however, last Saturday I sprung out of bed and headed to the Clearfork Farmers Market promptly at 8am. It was a perfect morning, the sun shining and the Texas heat still mild. Of course, my first stops at the market entailed fueling up with some iced coffee and purchasing a reusable bag for all of my produce. 

We took a lap around the market to check out all the vendors and booths, seeing what they had to offer. We stopped, chatted with some of the sellers and other patrons, and relaxed and enjoyed our morning outside. I was happy to see how many other people there were shopping at the farmers market and how friendly everyone was; it was a whole new community of great people!

When it came down to purchasing some food, I settled on items from a couple different vendors. I purchased a variety bag of produce (consisting of zucchini, squash, beans, assorted peppers, and basil), lots of tomatoes, and some homemade bread. 

With all of these delicious, fresh ingredients, I was able to make a few different dishes. 

1. Zucchini and Squash Summer Stew (made with the fresh zucchini, squash, tomatoes for the sauce, basil, and served with the bread)

   
   

   

2. Pasta and Beans (a household favorite) (made with the leftover homemade tomato sauce, beans, and more fresh-picked basil; also served with roasted zucchini and squash)

   
   

   

3. Assorted-Pepper Salsa (made with a variety of the assorted peppers I received and the tomatoes) (I served the salsa as a dip and put it onto tacos!)

   
   

   

Overall, this experience was super beneficial and enjoyable for me. Not only did I get to partake in some of my favorite activities but it was also very rewarding. Shopping at the farmers market and getting to interact with the vendors and sellers there was so much more personable than shopping at any grocery store. It was cool to hear their stories and know where my food was coming from and the care that went into growing/making it. Subsequently, cooking with said food was even more fun (and delicious!!) than I ever experienced before. Everything I made tasted fresher and was just that much better than meals I would make with ingredients from the supermarket. I also felt connected to nature and like I was using what the Earth can provide for us in a great way. I am so glad I was able to take a day to recreate the hobbies and passions I have loved all my life and enjoy them here at TCU. I will most definitely be frequenting the Clearfork Farmers Market again in the near future.