the third annual collard greens cook-off was a blast! it was $10 to participate and you were given a piece of cornbread and a spork and were off and tasting. after trying all of the various greens, there were 15 participants in all, you voted by throwing your spork in the bucket of your favorite booth. we had a beautiful cool spring day, so it was perfect for such a cook-off!

participants included farm burger, no246, bone lick bbq (the bbq guy from p’cheen), home grown, ray’s in the city, the pullman, whole foods, as well as various neighborhood participants, including momma margaret ‘the collard green lady.’

there were lots of tasty greens and some interesting styles we didn’t expect to like. home grown’s was a little sweet and had sun dried tomatoes in it. although i didn’t like it much, gub was a big fan of this one. another booth had cold greens with a basalmic base. it wasn’t our favorite, but it was quite interesting to try. momma margaret’s were hot and spicy and quite good as well.

when all was said and done, we put our spork in bone lick bbq’s bucket. their greens were tasty with a nice kick, mainly from the home-cured jalapeño bacon added. we also tried pulled pork sandwiches from them, which were awesome! these guys have been doing bbq at p’cheen on monday nights for a couple of years and are opening up a restaurant on the west side in june.

we also caught a tomato growing workshop at the market. gub found it quite informative.

one quick note, the east lake farmers market has moved from the concrete parking lot at 2nd and hosea williams to the nice shaded area right next door. the natural environment is much more fitting for the farmer’s market, and is also a heck of a lot cooler from the shade.

we can’t wait for peachapalooza this summer!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

today is the first day of the east lake farmers market, which runs on saturdays from 9am to 1pm. it’s open through october and can be found at the corner of 2nd avenue and hosea williams drive in the east lake/kirkwood area. the market features lots of local farmers selling fruit, vegetables, eggs, salsas and all sorts of other stuff.

to kick off the season, today is the third annual collard greens cook-off! you can sample great collards from both top local chefs and amateur neighborhood cooks.

see you there!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

our japanese magnolia had some amazing blooms this spring, although a late freeze shortened their visit.

– ryan & gub

our cherry blossom and weeping cherry trees had some beautiful blooms this spring! it’s also finally warm enough for clementine to enjoy more outdoor time.

– ryan & gub

a couple of months ago we planted our summer garden! we became quite swamped with clementine shortly afterwards, however, and never got around to writing about it. well, here we go!

back in may, we spent a nice saturday afternoon with gub’s mom getting our garden ready. we weeded and prepped the soil and planted our summer crop. we planted various tomatoes, green & red bell peppers, okra, corn, cucumbers, basil and mint. we can’t wait!

more progress updates to follow!

– ryan & gub

ps…in case you were wondering, our corn is knee high by the fourth of july!

the star jasmine on our front porch is blooming and smells amazing! too bad it doesn’t last all year.

– ryan

we have a ton of red mulberries that are ripe and ready to be picked in our backyard! boy are they tasty! we’ve been known to crush up these sweet berries and make delicious vodka drinks, you should totally try it!

on a funny side note, we originally thought our mulberry tree was just a weed. it was growing out of an old pot left by the previous homeowner and didn’t appear to be much. it started sprouting limbs and leaves though, so we ended up planting it in the ground. a couple of years later it started growing these tasty berries, although they create quite the mess on our sidewalk.

– ryan

the flowers in our front yard are loving the spring weather!

– ryan & gub

there was a beautiful sunrise this morning in downtown atlanta! here is a view from piedmont park.

– ryan

our royal empress tree is blooming these days! the purple blooms are way up there though, so it’s hard to get any close photos. the royal empress is often billed as the fastest growing tree in the world and it totally lived up to its name. ours grew like it was in jack and the beanstalk!

– ryan