The Boise Life: A Boise kind of Saturday

So what is there to do on a Saturday in Boise? Well - what isn't there to do?!? Here is a sampling of some of our Saturday activities:

Farmer's Market

Every Saturday there is a Farmer's Market in Downtown Boise. It is officially called the Capital City Public Market. Great place to pick up an assortment of things from meat, to produce, to crafts, to baked goods.

A couple streets are shut down for it. LOTS of people.

Lots of free range, organic, grass fed meat out here. Good stuff.

Grass fed Bison. My new fave meat. Have learned though that not all Bison is created equal - got some from Costco and it was not nearly as good as the stuff from the Fred Meyer or Coop.

Bison.

It's whats for dinner.

She had fun and really liked all the free samples!

You can even get composting worms!

Of course, no visit to a warm farmers market is complete without a visit to the fountains!

So graceful!

Papa spins around along the border - hopefully not taking other children out in the process.

It almost seems as if it is a year round thing - their website doesn't say when it ends. Not sure how that works in the winter - we'll see!

Animal Farm

One of the meetups through the Boise Babies and Tots group that I am in was a trip to Andre's Animal Farm. It is just a nice little hobby farm behind Andre's house. He loves to let people come and check out the animals, free of charge. He has a great set up but you can tell it is lots of work. He was working away most of the time we were there - being a very nice host and showing us all around, but still running off to tend to the animals, get them water and such. Of course, it was soooooo hot too. I think this is one of the first times Colette got sunkissed and I got seriously dehydrated. It was boiling that day and the sun was shining at it's finest!

Another big difference from Maryland? This "farm" is right in town, within Boise city limits. Also right next to an elementary school. It is also very common to see chickens in people's backyards, or be driving along and see a house with a large side lot with goats, or horses, or even cows. VERY different zoning here - which is great! Of course, if you are in an HOA, it is pretty much the same as MD. :- )

What are we going to see?

Horses!

More horses!

Lots of horses!

Still working on warming up to them!

Goats! I never noticed their eyes had a sideways slit like that.

Well, HELLO Bob.

Tiny horse!

She had NO problem warming up to the tiny ponies. Ran right up to them and started petting them and saying "Hi, little pony" - so cute!

Chris was really into the horses too! Considering he really disliked them when we first met, he has come a long way! Yay!

The goats acted like they really wanted the carrots we brought for the horses - but when you gave them some they spit them out and walked away. Fickle creatures....

Petting goats too!

Andre! He had a French accent - I believe he said he was from belgium. Very nice guy. Seemed to love having people there to check out the animals. People were asking if he sold his eggs, he does during the school year, to friends, but his kids come home during the summer and he apparently doesn't have any extra when they are home.

Chickens!

Not sure what she was planning on doing with that stick.

Hey good looking.

Most of them weren't digging the carrots either.

She enjoyed running around after them.

Going through again to say goodbye to all the animals.

Almost missed the sheep cooling off in the shade!

Looking up to Chris. "We'll miss you!"

Bye Horsey!

Always nice to get a bow!

Bye piggy wallowing in the mud!

Bye Andre - you "Jack of all trades"! Thanks for sharing your farm with us!

Whitewater Park

Boise has built their very own whitewater park! Boise has "more whitewater river miles than anywhere in the lower 48 states." So, they built a park to give people a pretty safe area to learn and practice. The Boise River Park is still in process, but phase one was opened up, so we decided to take a look.