Farmer's Marketing

I'm reading an article in this month's Vegetarian Times (I'm not a vegetarian anymore, but I was for about 13 years) and there's a nice article about farmer's markets that I can't link here because they apparently don't have it posted on their site. Boo to them. But if you have it at your library, read it.

Yesterday was my first visit to the farmer's market this season. We bought some very bright yellow squash and a zucchini, as well as a bunch of really cute carrots with all of their greenery attached. We also pet some baby goats, which was fun, until the goat guy started to abruptly pack them up. Another farm market person said, "I know why you're going" and the goat guy nodded. I find farm people to be totally confusing. They are usually either hot or scary, depending on age, length of time in the sun, and level of tooth loss, and always quiet. I'm not quiet, so this freaks me out. Anyway, at first I was all offended, thinking that they meant our kids were the reason they were packing up the goats, but then I noticed the sky, and realized that wet goats probably smell a lot worse than wet dogs, and I was glad he packed them up. But they were cute, little, and kept eating the hair of one of the little girls we were with.

I like to buy weird things at the farmer's market. One time we bought a purple pepper, and a couple of times we bought these gigantic striped fava bean pods that were really neat. I always, always look for sour cherry things like jam and pie, because that's my favorite.

My town's farmer's market starts July 9th, and I'll be there every week. I'm hoping to take some pictures, but we'll see. Those farm guys are a bit scary.