Just about everyone loves the new food trucks on Union Avenue on Saturday mornings!

Saturday mornings in downtown Knoxville are just downright fun! You might not think a farmers’ market could bring out the masses, but it does, and for good reason. Even with the bulk of Tennessee crops gone for the season, the Saturday Farmers’ Market still thrives.  We saw vendors with crafts and such, farmers with greens and cool weather veggies, and workmen setting up the holiday ice rink.  And with today’s warmer weather, people were out walking their dogs, strolling their kids, sipping coffee, and buying something local to eat from ood trucks on Union Avenue!

Parked closest to Gay Street was Mister Canteen.  It’s a simple, boxy truck advertising the food of the day on cool chalk boards.  Like Wapsi Valley Grit Bowl: grits and gravy with Riverplains Farm fried egg and pasture sausage for just $10!  And to wash it all down — Mister Tea: organic Earl Grey iced tea lightly sweet for just $2!

Mister Canteen

A sign to the right of the window said that Mister Canteen will be taping a segment for Eat St. on Friday, November 22nd at noon. You may want to head downtown for your 10 minutes of fame — or just to say you’ve been there!

Hoof wasn’t quite as busy at the breakfast hour when we were there, but I have no doubt that lunch will pick up since Hoof advertises grass-fed burgers and farm fresh creations. I’d be tempted to try the English muffin with sweet fennel sausage, cheddar, and an egg for only $6, but I might hold out for lunch so I could eat big on the Smokehouse Burger: bacon, cheddar, with smoked onion jam for $12!

Hoof offers grass-fed beef in their burgers.

Tootsie Truck posted a sign that read Temporarily Closed due to technical difficulties, so breakfast was out of the question. But if you got there for lunch, and they were open, you could try a Local Pheasant Plate for $11, a Pork Belly Plate (with sides of organic blackeyed peas and local turnip greens) for $9, or a Jerk Chicken Plate for $8.  All sounds good.

Temporarily closed?

Savory & Sweet has been around a while, and I’m a fan of their Pork Burrito (coffee chipotle smoked pork, Spanish rice, black beans, jack and cheddar cheeses, homemade salsa, and chipotle crema in a spinach wrap) all for $8! But they also offer Pumpkin Ravioli ($7) and Cuban Lasagna with local grass-fed beef from Strong Stock Farm ($7).

Savory & Sweet

The Cruze Farm Milk Bar was there sporting new artwork.  (Well, new to us.) Those cute Cruze Farm Girls were painted on plywood — one licking a cone and the other sipping fresh milk from a bottle!

Also new was what they call the Dolly Parton duets — double scoops in a cone!  Like salted butter caramel paired with vanilla bean or chocolate chip paired with that same great-sounding salted butter caramel.  Mmmmm. Double trouble!

Cruze Farm Dairy Bar

The Dale’s Fried Pies stand reminds me of a child’s lemonade stand but they offer delicious sweet or savory pies instead of lemonade!  Today’s sweet pie choices were apple, cranberry brie, and candied sweet potato.  In the savory category were sausage, egg, & cheese; chipotle mac & cheese; and turkey pot pie. If you wanted to warm up, rosemary apple cider would only set you back two bucks!

Dale’s Fried Pies: Savory or Sweet?

Last on the row was Good Golly Tamale, a stand under an umbrella where hot foil-wrapped tamales were awaiting your decision.  Would it be the new Strong Stock Farm beef? Or Thai chicken with green chile, coconut and Thai basil? Or butternut squash with spicy maple glazed pecans?  Or maybe black bean and farmer’s cheese on blue masa? Good golly.  Get one of each!

Good Golly Tamale

The food scene in downtown Knoxville has just gotten even more complicated. And there are more reasons than one for coming downtown on Saturday.

So, shop the booths, sip the coffee, and try something new while standing on Union Avenue. There are worse things than being a food truck foodie!

For more information:

Mister Canteen: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mister-Canteen/480897121980922

Hoof: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoofKnoxville

Tootsie Truck: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tootsietruck

Savory & Sweet: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savorysweetfoodtruck

Cruze Farm: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CruzeFarm

Dale’s Fried Pies: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dalesfriedpies

Good Golly Tamale: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goodgollytamaleknoxville

This is post #16 for National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) for 2013.

Even with occasional downpours threatening the festival at the UT Ag campus, Blooms Days 2013 (May 11 & 12, 2013) at the UT Gardens blossomed forth with colorful flowers, eager volunteers, and guests in the hundreds admiring, strolling, photographing, and buying. The event has become a rite of spring!

And I was there, along with all those flower lovers, finding seven (really more) things to do at Blooms Days! Here are my top seven springy things to do.

1. Grab a Garden Shot

You couldn’t help but surround yourself with pretty flowers from purple pansies to pitcher plants. The folks at HGTV Gardens were on hand to share tips for how to ensure good growth and how to combine plants by color for shade or sun.

Neatly mulched beds in full bloom sported markers that helped even the flower-challenged among us identify selections by name.

Casual strolling through the gardens would eventually land you at the koi ponds with their beautifully landscaped stone steps and splashy waterfalls.  It was a favorite place for family photos as most wanted to gather under the arched entrance or near the ponds.

Under the tents, local gardeners arranged their best offerings in photo-shoot-worthy style.  Like this grouping of pink flowers tucked nicely inside a weather-worn cart from Sunlight Gardens.

2. Picture a Bonsai

The Knoxville Bonsai Society set up award-winning specimens inside one building where black backdrops showed off carefully pruned greenery.  By training tender new shoots around copper wires, bonsai enthusiasts coax plants we normally see in much larger versions into miniature “trees” complete with trunks, greenery — even blooming branches.  Amazing!

Who would have imagined a ponderosa pine could follow this graceful form?

Or a normally aggressive wisteria would control its shape so artfully?  (Really?)

3.  Inspect an Insect

Bearing larger-than-life stylized drawings of ladybugs and butterflies, this white tent drew me in.  It was buggy all right.  Laid out on tables and pinned up on wall displays, insects as big as your hand were everywhere. If you had ever wanted to see the stuff of nightmares (OK, some people love these guys!) up close and personal, this was your chance.

4. Drag Home a Dragon

Vendors brought their best — from iron sculptures of garden dragons to cute clay teapots on garden stakes.  In several designated areas of the gardens, you had your choice of take-home presents for garden lovers — rare plants, herbs, baskets, totes, concrete planters, photography, etc.  High quality.  Creative.  And fun to touch and see!

These plantings in old pots appealed to me since I love both antiques and flowers — and together is even better.

5. Line Up for Food

The hungry among us found something other than the typical sandwiches and hot dogs served at most festivals.  The offerings this year came from Asian-inspired chefs, food trucks, and local cooks.  Sometimes the portions were huge like the meatloaf sandwich served at the Savory and Sweet truck.  (Enough for two, said James Newburn, Assistant Director of the UT Gardens.  And he was right.)

So I opted for a smaller but quite tasty pizza pie from Dale’s Fried Pies.  It helped that a former student, Mickey Johnson (talking to Dale below), treated me and paid the bill!  As he said when he placed the order: This is thanks for all that grammar you made me learn!!! (Nice to see those assignments I gave paying off!)

More good news:  Owner Dale Mackey says she’s getting a food truck for Dale’s Fried Pies soon! Yeah!

6. Photograph an Author

You could even meet an author at Blooms Days!  Jean Leigh Claudette was on hand with her new book The Classified Files of Sweet William Farm, the story of a secret-agent raccoon named JD.  Ms. Claudette was hamming it up a bit, drawing attention to her young reader’s book set on a Tennessee farm. These may not be night-vision goggles like JD would wear, but they sure brought a smile to those who passed by her booth!

7.  Hug a Volunteer

And what would Blooms Days be without all those volunteers giving advice on which plants to buy, where to plant, how much water to give ‘em, etc.?  They were a big help to me as well as persuasive, too!  I got talked into buying sedum to use as ground cover in one of my beds and a mixed pot of primarily pink non-stop (They promised, right?) blooming petunias for a sunny spot on my patio.

Two volunteers grabbed me just as I was leaving — Candace Eagle, president of the Knox County Master Gardeners, and Fran Scheidt, curator of the Elmore Holly Collection at the UT Arboretum — and thanked me for coming.

And so it was.  Another glorious East Tennessee day in my favorite garden spot — the UT Gardens, which has now been named the State Botanical Gardens of Tennessee. (Thanks, Gov. Haslam!)

If you missed this year’s Blooms Days, you missed a good time in a lovely setting.  Hope to see you next year!

The University of Tennessee Gardens

252 Ellington Plant Sciences Building

2431 Joe Johnson Drive

Knoxville, TN 37996

utgardens@utk.edu

Mentioned in this post:

HGTV Gardens: http://www.hgtvgardens.com

Sunlight Gardens: 174 Golden Lane, Andersonville, TN 37705; 865.494.8237; http://www.sunlightgardens.com

Dale’s Fried Pies: 865.236.1590; http://www.dalesfriedpies.com

Savory and Sweet Food Truck: http://savoryandsweettruck.com; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Savory-and-Sweet-Truck/283598151693769

The Classified Files of Sweet William Farm: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Classified-Files-of-Sweet-William-Farm-JDs-Adventures-Begin/268268469967649