Every Saturday in Boston, hundreds and possibly thousands of people pass through what is known as the farmer’s market at Haymarket. It is a well-established, 3-block food fest. There’s anything and everything you can imagine from fresh produce to freshly shucked oysters on the half-shell. This has become a tradition for myself as well as most Bostonians. And to top it all off, it is ridiculously cheap.

When you first arrive, all you can really make out are white-top tents lining the roads and people everywhere. Most of the time, large crowds in Boston just annoy me. Not here though. I find comfort in the fact that everyone is there for the same reason: to get amazingly fresh food at an amazingly inexpensive price. Take that Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods! I don’t need to worry about the food being organic because it all comes from local farms.

I find so much inspiration going to the farmer’s market. All of the different foods around me just makes my foodie-design brain go crazy with ideas (especially for this blog). It’s a great way to refresh after such a long and cold winter, where half of the time cooking felt like too much effort too little energy to back it up. Well, Spring, it’s just me and you now, and this fresh food that I and so many other people have access to will be bountiful. Not to mention the very small version of this farmer’s market located in Kendall Square on Wednesdays Spring-Fall. At this small market you can find local honey, artisan bread, baked goods, cheeses galore, and my all-time favorite: Q’s Nuts.

I have yet to make it to SOWA to check out the food trucks, arts, and of course, the fresh food. That will be for a different post. In the meantime, this photo includes everything I bought today (minus the meats) and all for $15 dollars. The list includes: 2 artichokes, 2 pounds of broccoli, 2 pounds of mushrooms, 1 huge bag of spinach leaves, 6 oranges, 5 fuji apples, 1 bag of garlic heads, a box of strawberries, and 4 zucchini.

For more farmer’s markets near you (if you live in New England) check out this website at http://newenglandopenmarkets.com/sowa/.