~If you asked me to name favorite places I have been in my life…a great many of them would be farmer’s markets. They truly are my happy place…a coming together of two of my most favorite things, gardening and abundant, fresh good food…all laid out for you in an inspiring, visual, fragrant, sensual feast. They recapture the joy, simplicity and spirit of community found in the color-full ancient marketplaces of our ancestors in a way that modern, soulless shopping malls at best only vaguely hint at.
I have been blessed with the opportunity to frequent some pretty special ones…the oldest… Lancaster Central Market in Lancaster, Pennsylvania….and arguably the most spectacular… Pike Place Market in Seattle…Union Square …Santa Monica. One of my favorites was a smaller, but no less exceptional market in Camarillo, California. You could smell the heady scent of stock and tuberose from the flower seller drifting through the air as soon as you got out of the car. My favorite vendor would be there with a spectacular, customized gypsy vardo that would be laden with carrots, radishes and beets in as many vivid, desert sunset shades of pink, gold, orange and purple as you can imagine.
The Coos Bay, Oregon one is pretty special also; especially when the berries come in and table after table is laden with luscious blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and salmonberries. I once bought a twenty- pound box of lusciously ripe, sauce-bound tomatoes there that included a free little garter snake trying to take a quiet nap down in a bottom corner. Now that’s what you call organic! Luckily I saw him before dumping the last few tomatoes into the boiling water and was able to relocate him to a much better home in the backyard.
If you have a Farmer’s Market near you please go. Be supportive. Smile at the volunteers, tip the musicians, accept all flyers. Enjoy the riches that are plentiful and regional…mangoes in Englewood, chilies in Tucson, artichokes in Monterey or apples in Lancaster. Most importantly, meet the people who grow your food. Ask them questions and listen to their stories. Encourage the vendors that are growing organically with your enthusiasm and give extra kudos to the ones that are converting their land from non-organic to organic and sustainable. Show them with your attention and dollars that their choice is appreciated and economically feasible.
Buying locally-grown produce from a transitioning farmer will do more to reduce your carbon footprint than buying organic produce that has been shipped across the country ...or the world. Plus I think there is great aesthetic pleasure that comes from knowing that the green beans you are enjoying for dinner spent yesterday soaking in the last bit of golden magic from the sun rather than being piled in the back of a reefer truck somewhere on interstate 40.
P.S. If you do go to the Coos Bay Farmer’s Market…I suggest you hit the chanterelle mushroom guy first…he is usually sold out by 10:00.
From "Deep Roots: The Soul-full Grain, Virtuous Vegetable and Enticing Egg Recipes of and Evolving Vegetarian." Available on Amazon.com
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