Good people at farmers market

It was an absolutely beautiful day today at the farmers market.  Temperatures were in the mid to upper seventies with a light breeze.   I baked up a storm with fresh pies, cookies, breads, and cannolis.  Fresh vegetables from our neighbor’s garden graced our table; our garden is still several weeks behind schedule between the lack of rain and our late planting.  Preserves of an unusual nature, Dandelion and elderberry jellies accompanied by radish relish - I never said I was normal folks. 

A couple of weeks into the market, we now have several regular customers.  We have met a nice couple in their early sixties who come every Tuesday and buy our day-old bread.  Our ingredients are sourced locally whenever possible and we try not to sell anything that wasn’t baked that morning or at the most the evening before market.  Sometimes we have bread that doesn’t sell the day of market and instead of having a freezer full of bread; we decided to offer it at half price the following market day.  People are thrilled to get our day-old bread and often look for that over the freshly baked stuff.  Although when we get to market and the bread is still warm to the touch, that is a fantastic selling point in and of itself.

Another woman who is a nurse at a local nursing home comes after our fresh produce.  She has lost over 115 lbs and loves the fresh fare from both our booth and other farmers at the market.   Each week we hear tales of how far she has walked and what new recipes she has found to keep the weight off and still enjoy delicious food.

Then there is the man who walks his dog through the park.  Enosburg has a leash law so he very dutifully carries the leash in one hand and walks with the dog, unrestrained in front of him.  She is a fantastic dog and rarely strays more than two or three feet from him.  He hasn’t purchased a thing from us or any other vendor at the market, but he is and his canine are a pleasure to visit with each week.

Moms with children in tow (one little boy who goes nuts over our maple glazed donuts on Saturdays), folks going to see the town band play, a lovely woman from the local assisted living facility who comes to market on Saturday always looking for cookies – the characters abound, but each is a pleasure to speak with and often they are happy to relate a new story to us.

The family dairy farm is in danger of extinction and small hobby farms are popping up, but if the few farmers present at our market is any indication, there aren't enough.  I am happy that I will be able to teach little man just a smidgen of my farming knowledge and can only hope that he will love this life half as much as we do.