Market Update

Yesterday was another GLORIOUS day for a farmers market. People actually wore long pants and sweatshirts. Well, some did. I run hot, so a polo shirt was fine for me.

Our little market was hopping!

Early in the day, something very weird happened. See this corner? -->

Looks normal enough, right? This is one side of the three-way stop we have in front of us, and it provides endless entertainment. Yesterday, a woman stopped her car IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET, got out and started talking with Farmer Mike about watermelons. By "middle of the street" I mean something like this:

She didn't even attempt to get near the curb. Cars were stopping, driving around her car ... I'm telling you: RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. The only thing we could think of is she really wanted those melons. Fortunately it was very early still, and there weren't a lot of cars out yet. Sheesh.

Let's get started with today's pics. My traditional first mater shot, which yesterday included some mums:

Here's some maters:


and some more:

Gigundo cukes:

... bell peppers, in much smaller quantities than usual:

It's getting colder, and things aren't growing as fast. I'll get back to that in a sec.

Zukes:

Oh, dear GOD, we still have okra:

Since I was sitting on the other side of this bin, I quizzed a few of the people scooping up the stuff. Mostly: so how do YOU prepare this, er, vegetable? Two ladies who were scooping up all the small ones told me they saute them in with onions and your meat of choice. They throw the okra in at the end of the cooking. I'll bet they still taste like okra, though, Still not gonna eat any more, on purpose, anyway.

Eggplant:

... and more eggplant:

Back to the "it's getting colder and things are growing slower". Farmer Mike said we won't see many more mutants this year. The mutants happen at the height of the season when things are growing fast and furious(ly). Since the nights are so cool now, and growth has slowed, the veggies are behaving themselves. So sorry, no more mutants until next summer.

These are Sun Spot Squash:

A very vibrant orange color!

This is (are) Waterleaf greens:

It's a southern thang. But these also make a nice addition to green salads. The leaves have a sortof citrus-y lemon-y taste to them.

Basil:

People fondled this all day long and it smelled heavenly!

Squash:


Those big mamas behind the butternut squash are Grey Hubbard squash:

They're about the size of a football. (American football, not soccer.)

Farmer Margie had peaches:

... and some beautiful bell peppers:

Farmer Katie had quite the fruit spread:

... and on this side - APPLES:

... and her usual cut flowers:

At the flower tent, we have ... Monkey Balls:

(hee hee)

... sunflowers:

More pretty flowers:

Zinnias? Maybe? Love the speckled ones!

And Zinnias:

I just love the centers of these:





... and more sunflowers:

Then my camera memory card alerted me that it was full. DRAT! I would have to delete pics one at a time instead of on my computer a whole folder at a time. So I grabbed my Crackberry and used its camera instead. Note: My Crackberry camera's resolution sucketh, so I apologize in advance for the rest of these pics.

As I was buying my basil, Farmer Mike had these HOT HOT HOT peppers next to his scale:

Pretty, but deadly.

A new kitty rock at the Rock Lady's table:

Because someone asked: she does NOT have a Web site, but if you email me, I can hook you up with her through email.

ETA: Forgot to include this handsome guy!

He is such a well-behaved dog!

As soon as the bakery peeps arrive with their van, there is a mob scene. People usually wait around for the tables to be set up and the goodness to be brought out. Then it looks like this:

I told you! Mob scene!

Here are my flowers for this week:

A fun doggie encounter:

And a VERY cool-looking bulldog:

For our Nature segment, I bring you "Encounter with a horn worm". This branch with peppers still attached to it was hanging from Farmer Mike's tent:

Farmer Mike said he took it from his brother when he was done using it for something else, because it still had those peppers attached. There was a resident:

Yeah, it's blurry. Let me try this:

See the worm now? I've circled the reason it's called a horn worm. He said it would turn into a moth later. Speaking of later, I deleted a few pics from my camera and went to take an in-focus pic, and he was gone! Don't know where, just gone. Don't you just love nature?

I took a few more pics of the sky because it was SO BLUE:

Then I went to my usual spot out behind the farmers' vans and trucks to take a shot of the sky over the town houses. I thought it was all scratchy, but it turned out I'd caught some of the sun's rays:

Cool, huh?

I went back later to take a real pic with the camera, and I couldn't duplicate it. Fooey!

That's it for the market pics. Sales were decent - I can't complain, and just being outside all that time was amazing. I wish it could be like this all year long.

Today I hope to be somewhat constructive, even though the day is half over. If anything crafty comes out, I'll be sure to let you know!

Thanks for stopping by!