farmer’s market!!

one of the downsides of so much traveling these past few weeks has been that i have been unable to go to the farmer’s market downtown on saturday morning. this wouldn’t be quite the tragedy, except that it also means we’ve been pretty much out of fresh produce (because who wants to buy grocery store corn hauled in from who knows where if you know there’s “just picked today” corn somewhere just around the corner?) and we’ve been limping by on peanut butter sandwiches and cereal and not at all taking advantage of the delicious seasonal foods available this time of year.

i did visit the southside farmer’s market last tuesday and made quite a haul there, acutally. it’s much smaller than the downtown market (there’s only about 6 stalls at the southside market and … dozens? over a hundred? vendors downtown) but i was pleased to discover a new southside vendor with some fantastic looking raspberries as well as my favorite, cheerful vendor who pulled up as i was about ready to leave (i got there a little earlier than the official opening time) with a pick-up truck full of melons. but i basically left that market feeling like i had just about enough to get by until saturday.

yesterday morning, despite the fact that i had to be at work by 8:45 and stop to pick up donuts beforehand, we crawled out of bed early to get our farmer’s market fix. it’s so much less crowded at 7:30 than at 9:00! (almost worth waking up earlier for …) we got some awesome tomatoes and corn, cherries and apricots, zucchini and bacon, and beautiful sunflowers. a lot of people around here have joined csa’s (community supported agriculture–basically, a subscription to a farm where you get a box of veggies every week), but at this point, i love going to the market each week too much to let someone bring veggies to me. it’s one of the reasons i wanted to move here. i love the smells of dill and basil as you walk past stalls, i love seeing all the different heirloom varieties of tomatoes, i love the gorgeous flowers, i love to support local small farmers. it makes me feel connected to my community, and i am more aware of the different flavors that are truly in season.