After nearly four months of living right down the street from the Fourways Farmer’s Market, we finally got around to stopping by and checking things out this past weekend.  The market is across from Montecasino in Fourways and open every Sunday from 10am until 3pm 9am until 2pm.

Fourways Farmer’s Market

Now with a name including “Farmer” in it, you might expect to find a market filled with tantalizing ripe tomatoes, ravishing radishes and loads of unidentifiable exotic fruits but then you would be mistaken.  The only fresh fruit and vegetables we came across in the market was a guy selling lettuce and spinach.  He appeared to be quite popular with people crowding his stand several rows deep, but we didn’t attempt to make our way up to the front.

So what can you find at the Fourways Farmer’s Market if not some fresh fruit and veg ?  Well for starters, there are vendors selling various goods such as cheeses, pâtés, olives and bakery treats with many offering testing samples to assist in your purchasing decisions.  There are also a few vendors selling more crafty-type items such as beaded animals and jewellery.  However it seems that most people visit in order to spend a Sunday among family and/or friends, sipping a glass of sparkling wine or maybe downing some colorful spirits from a large Mason jar, accompanied by a plate of some freshly prepared market finds such as samoosas, falafel or maybe a pulled pork sandwich.  There are quite a few picnic tables (and hay bales!) spread around to kick back and even various bands performing, but be warned, get here early if you want a seat !  We arrived around 11am, strolled for an hour or so through the market and there was very little seating left and it really only started thinning out around 1:30pm or so when we were leaving.

Roast Lamb

Pretty Cupcakes

Menu

So as our quest for fresh veg was squashed, we grabbed a plate of Mediterranean mezzes for me and a grilled lamb pita for the carnivore, circled around the crowd a bit finally finding an empty wood stand to set down our food as well as one seated place on a barrier.  I saved our spots while the carnivore went back in search of drinks and returned with some cold hefeweizen (wheat beer) that really hit the spot on a hot summer Sunday (though I have to get back to try the tempting Mason jar drinks!).

Wine

Enjoying the Day

Lamb Pita

Mezzes

Dessert

Before leaving the market (to go purchase our veg at the supermarket as usual) we paid a visit to the extensive plant nursery at the market. There is a wide range of plants, flower and trees on offer and we decided to purchase some tomato seedlings, eggplant and coriander to test out our possible green thumbs, check back in a couple months!

Nursery

While the Fourways Farmer’s Market wasn’t really what we had expected, it really is a convivial way to spend a few hours, and in fact now after visiting several of these weekend markets, we have found this is pretty much standard for Jozi markets; lots of food, drink, music and fun.  Life could certainly be worse !

My eggplant in his new home