Farmer's Markets

If you're new to Louisville, which presumably you are, perhaps your last place of residence didn't have farmer's markets. Or at least not like this. Kentucky has a wealth of great agriculture, and it shows at all the farmer's markets here.

Because of my location, I have adopted the Bardstown Road farmer's market as my own. It's in a church parking lot a few blocks from where I

live which is extremely convenient. Now I've been to a few farmer's markets in my day, but this is by far one of the, if not the best I've ever been to. There is a great variety of stalls including fruits & vegetables (of course), fresh buffalo meat, grass-fed beef, fresh eggs, baked goods, flowers, and more. There are also a few places that serve breakfast. Most recently I tried the stand that has fresh apple dumplings, tomato pie and cinnamon rolls, all of which were awesome. There is another stall that does fresh veggie omelets. The quality of food you get at this market (and any in the city I'm sure) is above and beyond what you will buy anywhere, including Whole Foods, and is certainly cheaper than that store. Plus, you're helping the local economy which is very important in my book.

If you want something fun to do on the weekend by yourself or with your family, check out a farmer's market. For more info on farmer's markets of Louisville and to find your closest location, check out their blog or view them all on a map.

*Picture above is a recent meal I made using fresh golden beets ($3 for a bunch) and fingerling sweet potatoes ($1.50/pint) from the farmer's market on Bardstown Road. The salmon was not purchased there.

The rest of KY

So this will probably be a bit of a series, but we've been trying to get out and see the surrounding area and learn more about KY beyond just Louisville. This post will include two things: one that actually required traveling and one that taught me about the state from my own city!

Over the weekend my husband and I took a trip down to Mammoth Cave which is about 1.5 hrs (75 miles) south of Louisville. The Cave is huge...actually the longest cave system in the world! They have discovered around 365 miles of paths through the caves, 12 of which are now on their walking tours. A few more miles can be done on the more strenuous "Wild Cave" tour which takes all day and is truly for those wanting to do some spelunking. We were not prepared for that, so we did the Grand Avenue tour ($24 for adults but well worth it), which was 4.5 hours and 4 miles long. It was really great and I would recommend to visitors they not do less than that tour, for you wouldn't get a real cave experience. Mammoth Cave also has a ton of mountain biking and outdoor hiking trails that are free. We didn't have the pleasure of doing any of these, but I hope to go back and tour these soon. There are also cabins, camping areas, etc for those looking for that type of trip.

My other experience with the rest of the state is the KY state fair that is currently going on in Louisville (ending 30 August) at the Fair/Expo center near Six Flags (combo tix available certain days of the fair). The fair cost $8 for adults to get in (plus $6 for parking) but was a great way to spend the day. Every county had a table so you could get any tourist information you may want. There was the typical competitions going on ranging from baking to livestock to hobbies. There was also a ton of different food, my favorite being the fresh made donuts and more bbq than you can handle. Lots of music and acts made their way to the stage. According to fair staff, KY is the third largest state fair (after TX and CA) and has the largest air conditioned facility in the country. I don't know how the ozone feels about that stat, but it did make the 95 degree day more bearable. In all it's a great way to learn and see more about the Bluegrass state!

Biking in L'ville

After months of discussing buying new bikes, my husband and I finally took the plunge and bought two new mountain bikes! I'm super excited and have been trying to explore the neighborhood more, this time by bike.

The other night we went riding around Cherokee Park and then decided to head over towards Seneca Park. If I have one complaint about the parks here its that there are no maps. We got "lost" per say and had to ask how to weave our way back home. Seneca Park doesn't seem to be as good for riding along trails, but I have also been on Cherokee Park many more times so I'm probably just biased. Overall it was fun though, and I'm excited to get back out and try the real mountain biking trails other than the paved paths.

Another comment about biking here - after having biked around the neighborhood to do some errands and also as a mode of transportation when we went out the other night - is that there are very few places to lock up your bike on Bardstown Rd. People get around this by locking bikes to trashcans, but you would think the city would figure out that bike racks aren't that expensive. Just my little rant... Needless to say, getting along Bardstown Rd anytime of day is much easier by bike and I will certainly adopt the trashcan-locking system myself!

Getting Connected

Today we got our cable connected. That may not sound like much, but I had this great idea: compare DirectTV and local provider Insight to see which would be better. So after 45 minutes on the phone with Direct I decided, "Hey, they're cheaper and offer more. Why not?" And then I went to the Bundle Department. Did you know they can't bundle internet here in Louisville? In other words, AT&T does not service Louisville for internet. How ridiculous is that? There is no competition when it comes to Insight for internet. After realizing this, I asked to be transfered back to the DirectTV satellite providers so I could cancel my order completely. Then I got disconnected. Not once, not twice, but three times! After over 120 minutes of wasted air time, finally it was cancelled and Insight was a go. Just thought you'd like to hear my (and my husband's as I cursed Direct wildly after the second hang up) pain.

Now to Insight. I can only say positive things about the two gentlemen who spent 3 hours at our house today. I can also say I am glad I don't have their job and I'm glad I don't own this house. At least 2 hours of that time was spent drilling holes and running new cable jacks which are now finally in working order. The last hour was spent connecting internet/wi-fi, etc. Not a fun job in my opinion, but someone has to do it, and at least we offered AC on a hot day.

Well, that's it for my rant today. I'm glad we're finally connected and Insight seems to have a great setup. I didn't realize that the HD package also included free DVR which was a nice surprise. The number of channels with our fairly standard package seems nice too. In conclusion, DirectTV may give a lot of channels, but there is a reason why satellite TV isn't always your best option...not to mention I'll never get that air time back on my cell phone.

Exploring

So I'm trying to get out and explore the area right now since we're new. So far I have been jogging through Cherokee Park, which as far as I can tell is probably the best city park I've ever seen. It's huge and has great trails through it. I hope to purchase a bike in the next week or two and I can't wait to explore some of the side trails intended for hiking and biking through the park. I've only ventured along the hard paved surfaces thus far, but I hope to get a bike in the next few weeks and explore the rest!

As for town itself, we've been out all along Bardstown Rd now which is super cool and has tons of bars, restaurants, boutiques and coffee shops. Heine Bros. certainly makes a good cup a joe and Carmichael's is an awesome bookstore. Tonight we're going to go check out what Friday night is like in the neighborhood and I'm hoping it lives up to what we've heard. Free music and $1 beers at the intersection of Eastern Parkway to start and then who knows?

New in Town

So we arrived in Louisville a few days ago and have finally unpacked and managed to host lunch for out of town family today. But now the real game begins...how to meet new people in a new town in a new state, find a job in said location (in a still horrible economy no less), and have some fun? I'm hoping this blog will document what I am experiencing and allow others (hopefully some in the area?) give suggestions or even maybe employ me!

Here's hoping...