Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Seen in Town: Farmer's Market Fridays

Every Friday afternoon during the summer and early autumn, there is a small farmer's market on my town green. There are 8-10 booths, with organic vegetables, wild seafood, free-range poultry and beef, fresh fruits, baked goods, cheeses, flowers, soaps and the occasional hand-made items. I'm partial to the soaps and vegetables and there are some good buys once in a while. Some of the produce is very expensive, as are the fish and meats, but it's always fun to walk around. There is always entertainment in the form of a guitar player or small band. It's a nice gathering, although there have been far fewer booths since Irene came through. I think some of the farms must have been flooded or otherwise damaged.

Heirloom tomatoes of every color. I've tried at least a couple of each this year, while I was waiting for my own tomato plants to bear fruit. The yellow tomatoes in the foreground have an almost peppery flavor, sort of like arugula, whereas the darker purple tomatoes are as sweet as can be.

My favorite variety at the farmer's market are the greenish yellow tomatoes in this photo. Up close they're sort of striped and called "Green Zebras." They're the sweetest tomatoes I've ever had. I'm going to buy a plant next year from this grower so I can have my own green zebras in the garden.

The soapmaker's booth—she makes all sorts of cool soaps, many with medicinal properties as well as great aromas. 

Some of the soaps from the booth above that made it home with me, lol: Pumpkin Cloves, Happy Hippy Treehugger, Patchouli, Blackberry Sage, Peppermint Twist and a special holiday bar called Frankincense, Myrhh and Gold, which has a gold-lined pattern throughout.

Organic cheeses, meats and fish are available in these booths.

Another great vendor of organic vegetables. June's heirloom tomato plants were from this farm. I'm going to buy a few plants from them next year, too. My "car buddies" will enjoy the fact this vendor owns the bright red Ford Transit Connect in the left of this photo, a very cool European Ford delivery van imported from Europe. That was enough to get me to his stand the first time, lol.

This small country/bluegrass band was the entertainment last Friday.

Standing, and sitting, listening to the band. People play Frisbee and Hacky Sack and little kids run and dance on the Town Green during these "concerts." I don't think it rained more than one Friday all season, so the farmer's market has become a regular Friday afternoon event for many townspeople. I think it ends soon in early October.

This little girl was running circles around this area of the Green, under the watchful eye of her father (in sunglasses) the entire time I was at the farmer's market, lol. She was making me tired watching her! Of course, I had already done two laps around town and one around the beach roads on my racing bike, so I was a bit tired to begin with!

The booths in the background sell fruit and baked goods such as pies, cakes and various breads. Even in the open air, it's a very aromatic line of booths to meander along!

Last week there were these hand-knit items selling next to the raspberries. Small town sellers!

7 comments:

  1. What a treat to wake up to this morning. Gosh it's not even Friday and I have done all my shopping. Seems I came home with a couple of soaps in my shopping bag as well. There's no way I can wait until Christmas to open the Frankincense, Myrrh and Gold soap.

    Love the capture of the wee girl taking her new steps in her little world. What a wonderful place to learn to walk. It looked like a lovely morning.Thanks, Casey.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a pleasant and appetizing selection of photos. Those pies are making very hungry, Casey.
    Let's all have a feast one of these days, lol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. IT'S TWO AND CHAZ AND PARTNER IS IN THE VIEW RIGHT NOW. HIGH FIVE TO CHAZ.

    GRANNY

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'M LAUGHING SO HARD BECAUSE I TYPED SO FAST AND THE ABOVE SOUND STUPID. CAN'T BE PERFECT.

    IT'S PAST TWO O CLOCK CHAZ FROM[DWTS] WAS JUST ON THE TALK WITH HIS DANCING PARTNER. I'M SO GLAD HE GOT TO STAY ON FOR YET ANOTHER WEEK. THEY WERE SO GOOD.NOW ONTO THOSE PICTURES ABOVE. MORE THEN YUM. A GOOD WAY TO START THE DAY LEARNING TO EAT THE RIGHT FOODS. I'M MORE LIKE A SIX YEAR OLD I LOVE THE WRONG KINDS OF GOODIES.

    GRANNY

    PS WHERE'S THE TRASH BIN.YOU CAN DELETE THE FIRST DUMB COMMENT.

    ReplyDelete
  5. the first comment was fine, Granny, I know what you meant. The View is on here at 11am. I haven't watched it in a few years though. Too much arguing and yelling!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh if we were so lucky to have a 'small" farmer's market like this one! I will have to take a picture of this one someday (soon I would guess as the frost is now on the pumpkin here!)
    Thanks for the wonderful walk about the market...(and for a dance or two as well)
    Mare

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mare, have you really had frost already? Oh no! I'm hoping for another month at least without it so my flowers can keep going. It's always such a sad day to walk out there and see that the growing season is over!

    ReplyDelete