this permanent sign stands in a parking lot near our neighborhood.
we drive past it all the time. but somehow i never notice it till winter. every winter. dang. like when its snowing i'll go ooohhhhh yeah... farmers market... sad face. there is no farmers market in the winter. this time when the weather started getting warmer, wanting to take full advantage of the good things around me, i paid closer attention when i drove past... mentally double checking the wording. july... ok. tuesday - thursday - saturday... got it. 7 am... um.. noted.
i made a plan in my head... im gonna be a farmers market shopper.
i asked aiden (in a very excited tone of course) if one morning he would like to.... get up reeee-llleee early and ride his bike!! to buy... vegetables!! yay! (what kid wouldnt wanna do that?!) it was the riding the bike further than one block part that reeled him in. lucky for me aiden is not one to turn down an adventure. also lucky for me riding his bike early in the morning still qualifies as one.
his alarm goes off every morning at 6:30. but only on the days there is something special happening does that signal actually waking up. he was ready to go by 6:40.
im not sure what i expected our farmers market to be... well yes i am. i had pictured that it would take up the majority of the parking lot. it would be at least two long rows of tables, side by side with crates full of fruits and vegetables on either side of the tables all under dark green canvas tents to keep everything in the shade. there would be lots of people intently inspecting the produce and the farmers would be old men in plaid button up shirts, cowboy hats and sunglasses... happy to tell you all about how they grew the best okra.
what? it has its own permanent sign...
whatever the case, even having never been there, i didn't think it would be hard to find. we left in time to get there about when they opened. i walked and aiden rode his bike. the weather was cool and a little breezy. it felt like an oasis considering if you're outside around here lately more often than not it feels like that feeling when you open the oven to check on dinner. only no one ever shuts the door. i have realized that living here, there are few times when you're outside that the weather doesn't occur to you. its either so windy you're concentrating on holding your skirt to your sides, so hot that all of your thoughts are about how to cool off, or so cold your brain freezes and you cant think at all. so it was a welcome novelty to walk, breathe in the air and take in everything around us.
it was a quiet walk because aiden was far enough ahead of me that he couldn't hear what i was saying when i talked to him anyways. i found that out when i asked him what kinds of things he wanted to pick out at the farmers market, and he replied by yelling behind him to me 'i wanted to look for a tie!' turns out he thought i had asked him a question about the gap. (ha) so much for conversation.
so we walked and rode. we cut through a back lot, making our way between buildings to get to the parking lot nearest the sign. when we came out on the other side i expected to see my green tents and farmers. but we saw nothing. just an empty lot. that's ok... we rounded the corner and looked again... nothing. we decided to go around all of the buildings and make a complete circle just in case. as we rounded the back side of the furthest building i was chalking our adventure up to just getting some early morning exercise when we spotted it. barely! but i knew for sure when i saw the green tent.
so it was just one short row. just one small tent. and no old cowboys with okra. but i was so happy they were there! the guy under the tent had tomatoes. if you saw these tomatoes at the store you would not buy them. they were yellow to orange in color. not that beautiful bright red. and they looked almost split on the tops. the farmer explained to me that these were field tomatoes, not hot house tomatoes. these were picked 'right outta the field'. he said it like this was preferable and i believed him. natural! i like that. he also explained that the taste of the yellow ones were the same as the tomatoes that had ripened closer to a red. so i bought some. to be honest, i mostly bought them because i really wanted him to make a sale and i wasn't sure anyone else would really buy them (they weren't that pretty) but looks aren't everything.
next there was an organic farmer with really beautiful vegetables and a flyer explaining how they farmed organically. and the last table had bunches of dried wild flowers, swiss chard, and lettuce.
satisfied that we did what we set out to do we made our way back home to put up our veggies.
left: beautiful bell peppers from the organic farmer. right, from top to bottom: lettuce, swiss chard, field tomatoes
then, having started our day doing something healthy, in true contradictionarianism (that's not a word?) or maybe in just keeping the balance, we went to mc donalds for breakfast.
left: lunch. right: dinner.
but for lunch i couldn't wait to try the field tomatoes. (pictured: farmers market lettuce and tomatoes with olive oil, salt, fresh grated parmesan, and a crushed red pepper spice mix that my dad found in taos)
they were sooooooooooooooo gooooooooooood.
i was so proud. i felt like i would imagine i would feel if i had grown them myself.
