One of my favorite things about summer time is the farm stands that open up. While I try to have my own garden, it never seems to produce what I need.

You will find me stopped at Trott's at least once a week for the summer produce. This leads me to Buy Local Challenge day 4.

I first stopped there years ago. My garden had just been destroyed by the groundhogs and I needed some peppers (go figure they ate my bell peppers.) I found all the peppers I needed but there was one that I thought looked interesting. The farmer told me he thought it might be too hot for my liking (he had no idea I live for hot peppers) so he threw it in for free. He told me to come back if I like it. Well he had a customer for life. I spent a lot of time there that summer getting what we needed.

Shopping at the grocery store is quick and easy but so is stopping at a farm stand. Plus they can tell you where it was grown and how. At Trott's, you can see the row of veggies just behind the stand. You can't get any fresher than that.

Plus they are also great at offering suggestions if you need one. For example, Michelle wanted to make an apple crisp. So off she headed to the farm stand. They helped her pick out the apples she would need. It was amazing.

Now on to the challenge of cooking something from Trott's. That's never hard to do. I am going to go with my favorite standby salsa since I have fresh tomatoes, peppers and onions. Sure you can buy it in a jar but fresh salsa is amazing.