There’s nothing like a good farmer’s market to make you hungry. Just across the state line in Chattanooga, there a really good farmers market, where Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama produce, as well as crafts, soaps and artisan-prepared food are offered.

This is not the place for pick-up trucks from Florida full of watermelons buzzing with flies. The produce is arranged appealingly. The Chattanooga Market has rules about the seller being the maker. You’ll find produce reliably labeled certified organically grown, sustainably grown or locally grown.  Crafts must be handmade, grown or gathered by the seller or a family member. There are also products with the  “Harvested Here” local harvest certification, which takes in a 100-mile radius of Chattanooga – again including Georgia and Alabama farmers.

Chattanooga has an active local food organization, Gaining Ground, which works to help people to learn who their local providers are. This is the ten year anniversary of the market and from May through December a number of events are scheduled. The market is open on the weekends, with a smaller Saturday River Market at the Tennessee Aquarium Plaza, one at Miller Plaza on Thursdays and on Main Street on Wednesdays.

I brought home locally made goat cheese from Alabama, sun-dried tomato cheese made in Tennessee and salsa from Georgia. There were candles, cakes, soaps, jewelry, hot sauces, herbs, tapenades, sausage from Link 41 and many other things I tried and wanted to bring home.

What inspired me to tell you about it was that I toasted the last piece of my Healthy Bread that I bought from the Bluff View Bakery booth at the market. This wonderfully dense bread has just a touch of sweetness, but is made of whole grains, including oats, flax seed and a number of those other grains that you feel guilty because you’re not eating enough of them. And really, it is (was) SO good. The head baker is Alou Niangadou.  Born in Mali, he was raised in France and now lives in Atlanta. He baked for Buckhead Bakery during the Olympics in ‘96, but now comes to the Bluff View Bakery weekly to create bread masterpieces.

If the idea of healthy bread left you cold, you may be interested in the Ciabatta, sourdough, Challah, croissants, or the sun-dried tomato foccacia. Me, I’m planning my next trip to the market. This time, I’ll bring a cooler.