When you live in a town with a population of around 10,000 people, apparently getting a new grocery store is kind of a big deal. So imagine my surprise when I found myself standing in line with gazillion other people to check out the new Main and Vine grocery store this morning at 6:45 am {15 minutes before the official opening}.
You would have thought it was black friday at the mall or something… there were that many people.
Main and Vine sent out a flyer last week with their weekly specials and a little blurb offering a free bag of goodies for the first 250 customers. I hadn’t planned on being there when the doors opened this morning but I managed to get all my {early morning} blog work done and headed down at the last minute.
The first 250 customers went home with a new cutting board, pot holder, insulated cup and a heavy duty spatula. Everyone else was treated to free coffee and cookies. 
Check out the olive bar. The HH is going to love this place!
There’s even a salsa/hummus/pesto bar too. 
And wood fired pizzas. I think I’ll have to bring the HH here for one of our “date days.”
Main and Vine reminds me a lot of Whole Foods in that the focus is on prepared foods and produce with aisles stocked with more upscale brands than you would see in a regular grocery store.
If I was single, and didn’t like to cook, I’d probably get all my meals here.
The store even carries local milk in glass bottles {which I may have to start buying again because I LOVE the little “plug” of sweet cream butter at the top of the bottle}. 
The produce section. Seriously, it’s huge.
I think it’s awesome. 
Oodles of mushrooms.
And the bulk section. It’s pretty awesome too. 
The bulk section was pretty crowded, so I couldn’t snap a whole lot of photos but I plan to go back and check out the selection {and prices} the next time I’m there. Luckily, the store is right down the street from the library so I’ll be able to swing by once a week while I’m running errands and picking up books.
Food wise it takes a lot to impress me these days, but Main and Vine? It’s pretty rad if you ask me. I think it’s just what our town needed.
So what did I buy? Oh please, I bought what was on sale of course. 😉
Tillamook Cheese $3.99
Tillamook Yogurt 3 for $1
Simple Truth Eggs $1.99
Banana’s $0.59 lb
Does your local grocery store have a bulk section?
If so, what’s your favorite thing to buy there?
~Mavis
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Well… where to start?
This season I have been thrilled with the performance of our raspberries! I kept the water up to them as much as possible (before the bore) and put down a layer of newspaper and topped with seaweed to mulch and keep the water in. Every time I went near the patch it was humming with the activity of the bees busy visiting the thousands of flowers.
I tried a little experiment on deep watering using some old soft drink bottles for my zucchini’s. I have had rotten luck the past two seasons for whatever reason so this year I was determined to not kill them all. So I dug in the bottles which has allowed me to get the water deeper into the ground.
They must have liked it because now I have 6 rather large healthy plants that are producing like crazy!! I have cut and frozen quite a lot of bags for future use (altho with a lamb and side of beef and a million raspberries, space is at a premium in the freezers!) We eat a lot fresh mixed into the tomatoes and garlic and slop over mashed potatoes.
The one cucumber plant that survived is the hothouse one and it is trying to take over the world!! We have gotten so many cucumbers from it!! I don’t feel so bad about the others dying as there is a limit to how many I can use!
There was a pause at the end of the last paragraph while we ate dinner and I can confirm that the corn tasted even better than it looked! Best we have ever had! Yay! 🙂
The garden has a big potato patch and we have been ‘bandicooting’ them for a while now. Eventually we will dig them all up and store them in the pantry. Hope there will be enough there to keep us going for about 6 months.
The beetroot and tomatoes are being used in relish and chutney – they are popular on the market stalls. The outside tomatoes are not ready yet – ok I had one, but there is enough other food to keep me out of trouble so I am glad they are a bit slower.
It’s a great little space – two thriving tomato plants, a pumpkin that I am training over the side, a row of rainbow chard for the chickens, some basil and a couple of capsicum plants that have metamorphosed (is that a word?) into some weird chillies!!
As I mentioned before, over the last few years we have had a number of travellers come and stay – to work or sightsee! It’s been such good fun meeting people from all over the world. Often it’s really handy for me to have an extra pair of hands to get through the work more quickly – then we can do some fun stuff, like go to the beach or go hiking!
This year I am letting a lot of plants go to seed. I am telling myself it’s not lazy!
It also brings in plenty of bees which is a great thing in the garden! I have collected heaps of seeds ready for the next season. I have enough broccoli and cabbage seed to sink a ship!
I will keep some of my garlic to replant in a few months, and try to winter some tomatoes.
I had some success with that so I am keen to winter several more tomatoes to get a big head start next year! (Plus I like free tomato plants!) I will definitely winter some of the Black Russian variety and also keep seeds. What a beautiful tomato!!!
Despite the lack of rain we have had a beautiful display of flowers and the usual overload of cherry plums.
$1.99
$0.99
Free
$11.42
Free
Free
$14.72
Free
$1.99
Shirley even stores squash and sweet potatoes under her bed. Seriously, how can you not love a house with squash hiding under the bed?
