.: The Wild Oats Farmers' Market, Sedgefield

On Saturday morning we drove through to Sedgefield to this very authentic weekly market. It is so nice to see real farm vegetables, free range poultry, plants, good bread and other tempting delights. It was very well attended and we went home with lots of goodies, including a new vegetable to us, rutabaga. We recognized it, but did not know how to cook or eat it. Luckily a German customer told us how to prepare it and she said “ you can even peel it and eat it like an apple”. She was right, it tastes just like a large crisp radish. We bought some really good camembert and baked it that evening and used the rutabaga with carrot, courgettes and tomatoes as crutidés to dip into the liquid cheese. Some will now go into soup.

Although rain had been promised, it was a sunny (but cold) day

Rustic tables and chairs and covered stalls

Very responsible rubbish separation

This is a proper country farmers’ market, with lots of fresh produce from the local area to buy and take home to cook

Nice signage

Dried fruit piled high and some local badger friendly honey and jams

We bought the camembert on this stand - made at Ganzevlei

The very tempting (but we resisted) Ile de Pain stand with their amazing bread, sandwiches and botterkoek

A place to have a sit down or lunch

An old friend from Ferian Farm, Ferdi Rowan, selling her olives, oils and tapenades. Long ago, she sold us wonderful geese for Christmas

Just one of the fresh fruit and veg stalls. Prices are very competitive

And another old friend, Karen Shuttleworth-Dames from The Little Herb Garden, with her large range of pickles and jams. We bought one of those enormous jars of rooikappies (pepperdews)

Lots of exceptionally good products for sale

Le Roux Charcuterie had some samples to taste

and we bought some fresh farm eggs here

And the rutabaga

Lovely spring onions

Crisp newly picked lettuce and all organic

White radishes

Another cheese stand giving samples

The crayfish tails were a little, no, much more expensive than we pay in the Cape, but he had lots of fish products to sell

Who can resist fresh juice and yoghurt

A brave statue artist that we encountered the last time we were in Knysna. SO brave for standing still in the freezing cold, not a great way to make a living, but a living it is