Every October, the Boise Co-op, one of the city's best organic food markets has its Annual Harvest Festival in its parking lot. Several of Idaho's best breweries, wineries, and gourmet, and organic food growers and businesses set up booths on the second weekend of October to hark their wares.

This year, was the first time Mom and I didn't have to work on a Sunday, we were able to go. You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to enjoy sampling some of the best gourmet foods, beers, and wines in Idaho.

If you attend the Boise Co-op Harvest Festival, be prepared to park a distance from the Co-op because parking can be a nightmare. Leslie was lucky to get a spot right in front of the Co-op, which was good for Mom since she is recovering from heart surgery.

Mom and Leslie passed on the salsa booth at the festival entrance, but I decided to give it a shot. During baseball season on NESN, the Red Sox cable station, there is a commercial with Don Orsillo, "Announcer Boy," as he is known to Red Sox fans, and David "Big Papi" Ortiz. Orsillo tries some of Papi's salsa and turns every shade of the rainbow because it is so hot. I tried many salsas at a couple of booths at the festival and didn't get that dive for water effect, but they were good.

Mom and I sampled some Sam Adam's Oktoberfest Ale, which was great. It's too bad they didn't have their Boston 375th anniversary beer, but it must be only for Boston itself. Leslie sampled some of the Koenig Winery's dessert wine, and I had a little sip of this very sweet apple wine, too. We all enjoyed the varieties of potatoes from a local organic farm followed by pickled asparagus and beans from a couple of gourmet shops that were very good. The herb farm that provides the herbs for the Co-op had a booth, and we were very impressed with the smell and taste of the rosemary and thyme, we bought some for $1.79/package.

The Harvest Festival is from 12-4 p.m. in October. It is free to enter, and it is a great way to spend about an hour on a nice autumn day.