Farm fresh

We walked up to the Friday farmer's market this afternoon. It's part of our new Friday traditions that we are trying to establish. Another part is not using the car, which for today meant a leisurely morning at home, working in the garden, reading aloud on the porch, strolling to the store for fresh bagels, walking down to the park to swim in the kiddie pool. Enjoying the perks of our neighborhood.

After all this I was ready for some exercise and some good food (though actually I was more ready for good food and a nap). We loaded up the stroller with our shopping bag and some water and headed up the hill. The last two trips there we had on our long pants and coats, and Adelaide had her Dora the Explorer umbrella at the ready. So I was especially pleased today to enjoy not only the warm weather but SUMMER produce. Cherries, so many cherries, at stand after stand. A farmer who had strawberries picked this morning, so fresh and delicious that we didn't care that we had to scrape the dirt off of them to eat them. (Okay, I cared, and only let us have 2 each, saving the rest for at home after a good wash.) But the biggest and most welcome newcomer this week were these:A huge table full of them. Organic, from this state, grown in the ground (not hydroponic) and heaven on the tongue. We each had a sample hunk and then I got three huge ones to buy. Adelaide begged for another but I hadn't brought much cash and wanted to be sure I could get plenty of fruit, so I told her three were our limit. The wonderful farmer who grew these beauties and brought them here for us called out to us as we were walking away. She had a smaller tomato in her hand and she handed it to Adelaide, who thanked her and then bit into it like an apple. I was so proud. This kid ate a dozen fresh snap peas from our garden this morning, picking them and then bringing them to me to pull the tough strings off. She had berry juice all over her chin and on her shirt, and nut bread and cheese crumbs in her other fist from samples. I am so happy that we live in a place where she can see and thank the people who are growing her food, and where she can put seeds in the ground and a few months later eat the vegetables she grew herself, right in the garden where she grew them.

My dinner was delicious, too. I didn't need much after the samples but a couple of thick slices of the tomatoes on fresh bread, salt and pepper, and it was the most delicious meal I have had in days.

This is the first year that I have made a point to try to go to the farmer's market every week. I started whe there was just a Saturday market, before the summer season where there is a market in a different neighborhood every day. I was pleased at how much was available even back in February and March (though I wasn't as consistent back then, and missed many weeks), and now the contrast is amazing. I can't wait to see what unfolds this summer and fall. I hope to try some experiments with freezing and canning, to see if I can up our local eating all year and capture a little of this heady experience we're having with these foods now at the peak of their flavor.