A bit disorganized at the farmers’ market today, with beet greens and radishes in piles instead of bunches. (The cosmetically challenged flea beetle-bitten bok choi, although tasty and well-received, didn’t help.) The harvest is bigger this year than in the past, and yesterday, even with Conall, and Erin for a few hours, it got a little ahead of us. An afternoon thunderstorm break didn’t help, and the mud splashed up from the rain made for extra rinsing. Because there is no cooler here, everything is straight to market and the Fridays can get crazy, till well after dark (I have to think this no-cooler thing through again—the advantage is, the veggies are absolutely fresh). In any case, we were up at 5:30, rinsing spinach and radishes, and bagging mesclun and spinach at the market at 7:00. I did most of the morning alone, bunching on demand, which is about the slowest way to go. It also probably hurts sales a bit, when everything isn’t neatly prepacked, and there’s little time to keep the veggie presentation neat. In any case, this is still runthrough time. There’s one more weekend to go before the CSA shares start and 25 or so shareholders will be picking up at the market—by then, Friday harvest will really have to be sorted out!
farmers’ market
Found onions
There still wasn’t much to take to the farmers’ market today, mesclun and radishes both weren’t ready, so it was baby spinach, the last harvest of early lettuce, and this surprise crop, volunteer green onions sprouted from a few dozen of last year’s cooking onions that had been overlooked in the field. I made a last minute decision to harvest them at 6:30 am, just as we were about to leave. I pulled them up—no time to dig—and filled a bushel bin in just a few minutes. At the market, I explained how they were grown and that they’re stronger tasting than regular bunching onions grown from seed. They were snapped up in no time. One of the great things about taking fresh veggies that you’ve grown yourself to market is that you’re not forced to conform to standardized tastes and sizes and appearances. So long as quality and freshness are consistent, unusual offerings provide a cool extra bit of variety and freedom all around!
First day at the farmers’ market!
Up at 5 am, in the greenhouse at 5:30 to harvest more early lettuce and arugula. On the road by 6:30. Set up right at the 7 am opening. The photo is OK, though I find farmers’ market snapshots tend to look so stark and literal, they usually don’t capture the FEELING. Markets are fun because of the goods, you don’t expect a slick and snappy shopping mall presentation, your focus is on the food and crafts, and chatting with people. In pics, you see the mish-mash of basic tabletop presentation, but you don’t get the…experience. This one is a small market, 7 am-1 pm Saturdays, around 25 vendors, a dozen with fresh veggies, and usually about three hours of fairly packed traffic during the summer. Not like a big city market. I’m the only “certified organic” guy, and only one other stand has salad greens and a good selection of veggies beyond the standards. My stand is first on the right of the pic, with the newly repainted chalkboard and sharp new collapsing metal sawhorses debuting this season. I like the really basic display and circus-on-the-road feeling of setting up at 7, gone by 1:30. It was a good day, I was there mainly to show up, with only about 30lbs of the five-lettuce-and-arugula mix to sell (the first field crops won’t be ready for another couple of weeks). It was quiet, the cloudy, chilly weather didn’t help. Chatted with lots of regular customers, handed out some CSA flyers, and sold out by around 11… Fun!
First market!
First day of the year at the local farmers’ market. It’s held Saturdays, 7am to 1pm, from May through October. Today, there are four varieties of the early lettuce, only around 30 units. At this point in the season, it’s mainly being there that counts.