To Market, To Market

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood for the first day of our Farmers' Market:

We have a lot more vendors this year than we did last year, so all those tents on the left of the pavilion make it look so much bigger, which gets us more traffic. I hope they all keep coming back! Especially the sausage people. OMG, they make it themselves from local critters, AND they have Back Bacon. YUM! I'm bringing a cooler next weekend!

I was set up under the pavilion:

What you see here is a minimalist set-up, because (1) I forgot some of my card rack parts, so I had no card rack, and (2) I have so little inventory on hand, it all fit on one table. This is SERIOUS, people. I need to get to work, like every night this week, so I have something to sell!!! People looked around and asked where the rest of my stuff was. REALLY! Gah!

Then, to make things worse, after I got home and fitfully went through my bag again, I found a mysterious zippered pouch that held ... the "missing" card rack parts. Ah, that's okay, since I doubt I had enough cards to fill the rack anyway. But NEXT WEEK I hope to have more.

Enough about me. Let's look at some veggies. For my veteran readers, you know this stuff already. For the rest of you, one of the things I love about the markets is watching the produce seasons. Not that I know from year to year when to expect stuff, but I do know that for the month of May, most of the farmers have plants and very few veggies. Here are some of Farmer Mike's plants:

He also had celery root:

He did quiz me on the celery root. It is a different variety of celery than the stuff we cut up and put in salads, but it's still celery.

He also had some fennel:

... and some basil:

I bought some of this, plus he gave me the un-sold stuff at the end of the market, so I might have to make some pesto. Mmmmm.

And asparagus:

It is the end of asparagus season, so he won't have any more. I did buy one bunch and had it for lunch. Good stuff!

Since Farmer Mike's farm is about 2 hours south of here, his growing season is about 2 weeks ahead of ours, so we benefit by having extended seasons. For example, his strawberries have already started to come in, so today he brought some early strawberries. YUM!

When his strawberries are about done for the year, the local farmers start bringing theirs. See - bonus for us! :-)

He also gets 'shrooms from someone (I think these are from PA):

Our new farmer (I've already forgotten their name) had some parsley plants:

... and Farmer Margie had some hothouse tomatoes:

... and some radishes:

I got some of both, and I plan to have the maters with some basil on my Asiago Cheese bread I got from the bakery.

Enough with the veggies; let's move on. The Rock Lady has some new things. Here is an owl:

... some shoes:

... some feetz:

... and a kitteh:


Since today was May Day, the neighborhood where our market lives had a parade, which is why we needed to be there at 7:30 am. Yawn! They closed the streets for the parade. We knew they were starting because we heard the drums:

Every parade needs drums. I didn't take any more parade pics, so you have been spared.

We also have a new flower vendor this year, and I got some lilacs:

I had to finish my coffee first so I had a container in which to put them with some water. Next week I'll bring my big Dahlia vase (since the Dahlia guy isn't coming back - waaaah!) It's heavy enough to withstand some wind, where the coffee mug is not. I wore the water a few times today.

Also, MaryBeth has a new offering - a key ring holder:

It's green! It is MINE! She has all different colors, and they fit on your wrist. Well, not my wrist, but normal people's wrists. I can't get the thing over my fat hand. I have wide hands.

Let's move on to the dog portion of the show. It was so stinkin' gorgeous out today, plus with the parade traffic, the market was hopping, and it seemed about half the people had dogs with them. I'll just let the pics speak for themselves:
























OMG, I almost forgot! The highlight of the day was the appearance of a wayward group of Maasai tribesmen from Africa. It seems they were off-schedule from the volcano ash episode, and they found themselves in town here with a weekend to kill, so they got permission to set up a table at our market. They were all wearing what we assume was tribal dress, and they were selling beaded stuff. Check them out!

They later came under the pavilion and danced for us. They even came in front of my table and danced. Farmer Mike said they liked me. I sure wish I knew what they were saying...

So all-in-all, it was a banner first day for the Market. I am happy with my sales, and I am panicked over how much I haven't made. It will be "nose to the grindstone" for me this week. I need more City Cards, and those take three evenings to make! Plus I have my Stamp Camps next weekend and I need two more card ideas for them. Oh, and two ribbon shares to measure out and divide and label. Yep - 'tis the season!

Hey, thanks for stopping by!