Farmer's Market Day

It was an extremely quiet day at the Farmer's Market. Who guessed that there would be several fall festivals going on at the same time as the market the first time we attended in our new town? Well, actually, everyone knew, that's who. Even us if we're being honest about what was lurking at the back of our subconscious. A quiet day at the market is a day for reflection and getting to know the others, your new peers. Sure, it's also a day of frustrations and not much of a confidence builder if I’m telling the truth, but, let's look at the sun shining through the clouds on this quiet day.

The day was beautiful and fall-like which should have been our first clue in retrospect. But I digress. It was cool enough for a sweater over my sundress and my husband contemplated wearing pants. I kid you not. In the end he stuck to his guns on the shorts and short sleeved shirt. We set up our meagre table with the last of the valiant sunflowers, a ton of aromatic basil all made into bunches and bouquets in recycled tin cans, somehow managing to look majestic if I do say so myself. Accompanying them were paper bags full of slender dainty purple bush beans just waiting to be part of our customers' culinary masterpieces. We were smiley faced and hopeful. Unfortunately it was not to be. Sorry to insert a spoiler so late in the story but don't be fooled because with every disappointment there is learning to be had.

The market was not only quiet with the lack of customers but also with the lack of other vendors. It is, after all, the end of season. But, oh what vendors there were who came.

Let us begin with the bread man who was there accompanied by the most delightful red headed sprite you could imagine. She danced around and under the empty tables enchanting everyone with her giggles and youth. The breads, encased in perfect packaging to highlight their glory flew off the table. Obviously, this was a favorite of the customers fall festivals or no. We watched as people came in seeking the yeasty delights and quickly left with a satisfied look on their faces while the sprite continued to delight us beyond expression.

Not to be outdone was the lady of eclectic talents. Her tables were a myriad of items from delicious looking home canned goods, to gourds turned into hummingbird abodes to dried soup mixes to hand made hot pads and everything in between. She was full of knowledge about the local mason bees for whom she made tubes to lay their eggs, what other vendors usually frequented the markets earlier in the season and what things she had success with. As she welcomed us we felt the wonder of a small town mentality and it was like a hug to our senses.

The two ladies to our left had tables just covered with tomatoes, peppers and chicken eggs. Beautiful pasty romas to make into sauces and lovely small seeded tomatoes for salsas. Obligingly they cut one open to show us the beauty of nature inside. We were inspired. People came and bought. The one lady told us of her chickens complete with many photos, shared with us about other vendors who weren't present, shared with us of her farming journey, produced knowledge of local flowers again with many photos, enchanted us with stories galore all in between produce sales. When we asked her about the peas the couple to our right were selling she immediately obliged by taking us over to see them. She took one out opened it up and showed us the beautiful peas inside even as she popped one into her mouth. We said hello to the vendors and exchanged stories in between customers. They were genuinely serious about their business and it showed on their table in their beautiful produce. Okra, green beans, peas and more.

Somewhere in between the greens man showed up with five gallon buckets filled to the top with, well, greens. The eclectic lady immediately greeted him and did a taste test. It made us smile. People showed up and bought the greens by the bucket full and soon he had nothing left and went home. Our mouths dropped open. There was much we needed to learn about the culinary tastes in our new environment, what to grow and what not to grow. For certain this was not a typical market day but we were still taking it in as people walked past our table and commented politely how pretty our bouquets looked.

Our goal this year is to produce enough veggies to get ourselves through until the next growing season without having to buy a ton of stuff from the grocery store. We had many setbacks but they have taught us a lot. We had a very late start as it rained non stop and we couldn't break ground. What we learned from that was that we had to add some fill to our garden area so it wouldn't flood. Our next problem was the heat that came right after the rain and burned up a lot of our seeds that had just been planted. We also learned that some things won't grow in the soil here due to the high acidity so more researching to do for next year. Are we producing crops to feed ourselves? Absolutely. I certainly won't be buying any green beans this year. There is still lots of food coming along so our story isn't done. The season here is LONG and bountiful. Are there weeds? Yes and way more than there should be as I had to have surgery just as we got going and haven't been able to do anything in the garden since. My husband has been working two jobs. Next year will be bigger, better, more organized and we'll be a ton wiser. This winter we'll be looking for poop and as much of it in as much variety as we can get. Our soil right now is crappy which is no help to the seeds trying to sprout, but it'll get there. All things considered I'm proud of us.

A last thought about the first day at the market. It was a beautiful thing to see people chatting to each other and us with so many words of encouragement, non self-consciously tasting each other's wares without hesitation, sharing their stories and just being small town lovely and welcoming. Sure we only sold $8 worth of beans but we still left with the feeling that this is a wonderful community to be a part of and the image of a red haired sprite laughing and dancing to keep us smiling.

#farmersmarket #homesteading #growingfood