Farmers' Market Failure
Saturday is Scavenging Day in the House of Felagund, i.e., Bobby and I get our food for the week. We start out by going to the farmers' market, if it's open, and then to the farm where we get our animal products, filling in at the grocery store, Shrewsbury market, and the bison farm as needed. There are two farmers' markets in Westminster. One is held outdoors in one of the town parking lots, about ten minutes from our house. The second is held indoors at the Ag Center on the other side of town, about twenty minutes from home. We've always gone to the first one, the parking-lot market. We have been able to get everything that we need there and, by now, we know a lot of the farmers there that we deal with regularly. However, at Baronial Birthday this year, I noticed that the Tea Guy had a flier for the other Westminster farmers' market, and I asked, and he said that he would be occasionally selling there this year. I mentioned that we had not been to that one because we went to the parking-lot market, and he said that we were missing out; the market in the Ag Center was much bigger and better.
Bobby and I went to the parking-lot market this morning; I told him that, even if the Ag Center market is bigger and better, we know a lot of the people at the parking-lot market and they do nice things for us like throw in extras when the produce is small or they need to get rid of something, so I'd like to continue giving them our business. We bought enough today that one of the farmers asked us if we wanted a flat to carry it all and, when we laughed, said, "I'm serious! I'll give you a flat if it will make it easier." We got it all into our bag, though. Barely.
Then we headed over to the Ag Center market. And were terribly disappointed! It was much bigger--the Ag Center is a huge facility, and they had tables from end to end--but hardly anyone was selling produce! I saw some greens, spring onions, and a couple of tomatoes, and that was it. Most people were selling crafts or baked goods. We kept going from room to room, thinking, "This will be the room with the produce," and found more chocolate chip cookies and afghans and strawberry preserves.
Not that I mean to knock that stuff, but it really isn't what Bobby and I are interested in. And the Tea Guy wasn't there either.
After farmers' market, we drove out to Monkton to have lunch at the vegetarian cafe and walk a section of the North Central Railroad (NCR) Trail. The NCR trail is a "rail trail," meaning that it was converted from an unused railroad. It's flat, so it's easy, and meanders alongside the Gunpowder River, so it's pretty. We went out from Monkton to the Little Gunpowder bridge and back. On our way back, we were both really thirsty, and my feet were starting to get tired. I was thinking, "Damn, I am out of shape if I'm getting tired from the NCR!" When we got home and I checked a trail map, I realized why--we wanted to do only a couple miles and ended up doing around seven!
It's pretty hot today. It's 90F/32C at the house, which is unusually warm. I can only imagine what it's like in Baltimore right now. Bobby is currently in the "air conditioned" part of the house, i.e., the basement. (We haven't put the AC units in yet. Bobby's been very brave about sticking out the few hot days we've had. I think that I should have been born in the tropics anyway, so I'm quite content right now.)
I'm also trying a new ice cream recipe today: cherry fudge swirl. I don't have a recipe; this one is straight out of the wildland that is my head. The cherries are doing their thing in sugar right now. Hopefully, it will turn out well.
Bobby and I went to the parking-lot market this morning; I told him that, even if the Ag Center market is bigger and better, we know a lot of the people at the parking-lot market and they do nice things for us like throw in extras when the produce is small or they need to get rid of something, so I'd like to continue giving them our business. We bought enough today that one of the farmers asked us if we wanted a flat to carry it all and, when we laughed, said, "I'm serious! I'll give you a flat if it will make it easier." We got it all into our bag, though. Barely.
Then we headed over to the Ag Center market. And were terribly disappointed! It was much bigger--the Ag Center is a huge facility, and they had tables from end to end--but hardly anyone was selling produce! I saw some greens, spring onions, and a couple of tomatoes, and that was it. Most people were selling crafts or baked goods. We kept going from room to room, thinking, "This will be the room with the produce," and found more chocolate chip cookies and afghans and strawberry preserves.
Not that I mean to knock that stuff, but it really isn't what Bobby and I are interested in. And the Tea Guy wasn't there either.
After farmers' market, we drove out to Monkton to have lunch at the vegetarian cafe and walk a section of the North Central Railroad (NCR) Trail. The NCR trail is a "rail trail," meaning that it was converted from an unused railroad. It's flat, so it's easy, and meanders alongside the Gunpowder River, so it's pretty. We went out from Monkton to the Little Gunpowder bridge and back. On our way back, we were both really thirsty, and my feet were starting to get tired. I was thinking, "Damn, I am out of shape if I'm getting tired from the NCR!" When we got home and I checked a trail map, I realized why--we wanted to do only a couple miles and ended up doing around seven!
It's pretty hot today. It's 90F/32C at the house, which is unusually warm. I can only imagine what it's like in Baltimore right now. Bobby is currently in the "air conditioned" part of the house, i.e., the basement. (We haven't put the AC units in yet. Bobby's been very brave about sticking out the few hot days we've had. I think that I should have been born in the tropics anyway, so I'm quite content right now.)
I'm also trying a new ice cream recipe today: cherry fudge swirl. I don't have a recipe; this one is straight out of the wildland that is my head. The cherries are doing their thing in sugar right now. Hopefully, it will turn out well.