Andy and I used to have a set circuit established to get our week’s worth of food on every Saturday morning when we lived on the State side. Since moving to Windsor, we have yet to find the replacement for that Saturday morning ritual… that is until yesterday. We do not really fancy the big grocery chain stores, so we had decided to check out a farmer’s market near us. After all, we always see a full parking lot whenever we drive by.
As soon as we entered the Joseph’s Farm Market located on Tecumseh Rd. West and California Ave., I was esctatic. Mountains of fresh produce and fresh bread from local bakeries greeted us. I checked the price signs and I was nodding my head incessantly. Believe it or not, it had been a challenge to find good looking fresh okra in this town without paying over $2 a pound. Okras here were fresh, firm and cheap at 99 cents a pound. White mushrooms were abundant and they were the same HUGE ones that we used to get from Joe Randazzo’s Farm Market in Warren/Dearborn. There were also plenty of fresh ginger root to pick from.
Parking at Joseph’s was a bit challenging. There weren’t many spots available for the amount of cars that were trying to get in. Now we know why people flock here. As we delight on the fact that we have found a close replacement for Joe Randazzo’s, we gingerly squeezed our way through determined patrons who obviously knew what they wanted to get from this place. We looked like indecisive, lost Chinese kids who are separated from their parents.
After about 30 minutes of shopping in merry-go-round fashion, we left this place with 2 stuffed bags of groceries for only $24 plus. They do not have paper bags, so we were glad that we had brought our own shopping bags. Meanwhile, the line of cars to get into this place was overflowing to the main street.
As spring is around the corner, I had wanted to start planting some flowers and herbs. Josephs’s did not sell any so I had Andy bring me to a place that was supposed to be near Windsor Crossings Outlet Mall. That place does not seem to exist and an attempt to find out from a nearby convenience store was unfruitful.
We stopped at Fred’s Farm Fresh Fruits and Vegetables on Huron Church Line on the way home. I was delighted to see that they sell fresh flowers and potted plants. The fruits, vegetables and flowers were neatly arranged in the store. This place reminded me of Westborn Market in Michigan. While the items were fresh and clean, they were a tad pricier than Joseph’s. They do have more variety than in comparison, but I will keep this place in mind if I needed something that Joseph’s didn’t have.
We strolled into their greenhouse annex and didn’t find many plants for sale. But they did have potted herbs for sale, along with mini pots of basil. This is too easy, I thought. I was going to plant several types of herbs from scratch but since the work has been done for me, I thought “why not”. For $9.99 the herb plants are grown in a ready for use. I think the basil plant was $1.99, not sure though. I also bought some cut alstromeria flowers for my praying altar. They are so showy, I love it!
Although we have been to Windsor’s Market Square, we found it to be quite far from where we live. We still miss going to Detroit’s Eastern Market. We have yet to find anywhere in Windsor that come close to what Eastern Market has to offer. Perhaps when summer rolls around, we will check out downtown Windsor’s farmer’s market. Apparently it is right downtown and it is in the parking garage. It could be as much fun as going to Eastern Market with it’s open-air concept and local delis within it’s vicinity. We shall see 
I learned about this 
