Saturday Market in the Rain

It's raining on the farmers' market. That's different. All summer, it has rained maybe twice on the market, which I didn't realize until we were walking down to the park this morning in a light, gray, drizzly sort of rain. I know it rained at least one other Saturday morning, because I do remember clomping around the market in rain boots once, but almost every Saturday has been sunny.

We went kind of late, too. We're usually there at 10 a.m. when it opens. We didn't make it there until around 11 this morning, after cleaning the kitchen and making room for the new groceries.

Here's the list:

Lots of small white potatoes
Large bunch of broccoli
3 pints of okra!
1 quart of green beans
Lots of maroon carrots
3 bunches of kale (you'll see exactly how much in a minute)
2 bunches of leeks
2 ears of sweet corn
3 yellow onions
A small head of cabbage
6 tomatoes
5 apples of different varieties
1 loaf sourdough bread
1 loaf multi-grain bread
2 brownies

Total spent: $53.44


The theme this week was green. With okra, broccoli, green beans, and all that kale, we'll have no shortage of protein, calcium, or iron (the three magic nutrients people tend to worry they might not get if they don't eat animals).

We bought dry beans last week, so we have plenty of those. This week, we were able to stock up on green veggies and still spend the same amount of money as last week. See what I was saying? It all evens out.

We're going to get back to juicing, which we've been neglecting for weeks and weeks. We have a perfectly good Omega Juicer sitting in the kitchen taking up space. Juicing is a perfect way to get nutrition from greens, so that's why we loaded up on kale this morning. Carrots are finally here in bulk (they've been scant), including maroon carrots, which have extra nutrients, including anti-oxidants. Anything purple or blue is pretty much good news, nutritionally.

We spent quite a bit on the greens. The curly kale is $2.50 per "bunch." We got three bunches, so that was $7.50. The maroon carrots were kind of pricey too, I think they weighed in around $9, but we got a ton of them. Because of our lack of resolve regarding juicing lately, I had reservations about getting so much kale.

I'm doubting. You can see the doubt there, can't you? But that's a lot of protein, calcium, and iron on that tray, so I'm just going to calm down. Those are onions on top, there. There's also a tiny head of cabbage, for the stew, underneath. Everything else on the tray is kale.

We spent $9.25 at the Slow Rise Bakery table, for a loaf of sourdough, a loaf of multi-grain, and two brownies.

$6.59 at another table for the white potatoes, apples, and broccoli. Two bunches of leeks and a quart and a half of okra added up to $8. We were psyched to find okra, which has been scarce this summer. Okra is a staple for me.

$3.50 for tomatoes. $1 for two ears of corn (we still have two more in the fridge). $3 for a quart of green beans.

Now, here's the scary part. I still don't know how much those maroon carrots were per pound but with the carrots, all that kale, three yellow onions, and the head of cabbage, we spent $22.10 at that one table. Worth it if we juice. Wouldn't be worth it if we don't end up juicing. Therefore, yes, we must juice. But that means I'll have pictures and perhaps even video of juicing, and we're talking about maroon carrots here, remember, so it's going to be quite pretty. (At least until we mix in the green.)

Milling about in the rain, with lots of people and tents and mud, with expensive equipment on me (camera, in this case), and a pen and soggy folded-up paper in my hand as I shift things around trying not to drop anything as I record information and capture images... reminds me of being at the radio station, going out on a Saturday to cover stories, festivals, parades, talking with local vendors.

I wish I could get some of the carrots from my parents' garden. Their garden is far away in West Virginia, where they are, but my mom sent pictures of the latest haul of carrots. Oh my god. Biggest carrots I have ever seen. I mean, these are fat carrots. So much goodness in there for juicing. So many sweet carrot bites for stew.

I regret that I wasn't vegan when I lived in the country. It's great that the farmers' market is a few blocks from my apartment and that all these farmers bring their good food to the city for me to buy. All those PSA's I did promoting various farmers' markets in Pocahontas County, WV, and Highland and Bath Counties, VA, for the radio stations, and I never took full advantage of what was available. Better late than never, but don't repeat my mistake: Over on the right side of your screen, there's a link where you can go and look up local farmers' markets in your area.

I'm going to go put some things away and cook something. I don't know what I'll cook yet. I like to get out a plate and a knife, heat some oil on the stove and start cutting things up, whatever looks good. I'll start with blue potatoes and we'll go from there.