virgin no more
Confession–until last week I was a virgin. A farmers market virgin, that is.
Yes, I’ve been to the farm stands that line Long Island’s Rt. 27 on the drive out to Montauk. But somehow a farm stand and a farmers market are different. I learned that last Thursday when I met my friend at the one in her town. She’s lived there close to 15 years and this is the first I’ve heard of a farmers market taking over the library parking lot in the middle of Armonk, NY supposedly every Thursday of the summer from 3-5 PM. Is it new? Somehow I doubt it. I think it just hit our radar finally now that she is a health nut and is eating all things natural, or organic, or pesticide-free, or whatever you want to call it.
I have to say this, it was an experience and I feel healthier for simply having been there. There was pretty much anything you could want, from fresh fruit and vegetables, to fresh-baked sweets, local wine, honey and even products made from fresh herbs such as lavender sachets. Every booth offered not only nature’s bounties, but also some pretty nice looking, strapping young farm hands peddling their wares–that was a pleasant surprise, I can tell you.
We walked out with the largest head of cauliflower either one of us had ever seen. It must have been the size of a basketball, but after roasting it with a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper in the oven, we devoured almost every last ounce. The sunflower sprouts purchased dressed up the garden’s yield of arugula nicely. And the olive and sun-dried tomato tapenade made an excellent appetizer when served with Brie cheese and crackers. For dessert we had ginger cookies sold by Big Girl Baked Goods. Good cookies but worth buying just for the name alone.
All in all I would say a successful trip and one I will happily repeat. Donna now hits a few different farmers markets a week in our area since apparently they travel and set up in different towns each day of the week. With our reusable shopping bag, buying locally grown produce from small farmers rather than supporting the big chain stores with imported goods that travel thousands of miles in big, gas-guzzling, carbon-emitting trucks, I really felt like I was doing something good, on top of getting the freshest possible produce, grown without hormones or chemicals. They also freely and happily give out samples of the food.
So find a farmers market near you, grab a nice rattan or canvas bag and some cash and make an event of it. The one we went to even had live music–a singer on guitar. And the hot farmers were pretty nice too.
Until next time, happy marketing.
Cat
You are so lucky. Our farmers’ markets seem to only have tired older farmers! But you cannot beat farm fresh food. If you have a dairy or two participating, make sure that you pick up some local cheese. It is usually fabulous and/or can be an educational experience: quark for instance. Yum.
Hmm… Though I am happy our local market was abundant in hot young farmer flesh, I am saddened that this is not the norm country-wide. I know Westchester County, NY is atypical in a lot of things, such as higher than sane taxes and property values, but little did I know in exchange one of the perks was more attractive farmers! LOL. I will be even more appreciative next visit–perhaps tomorrow!
Anyway… Thanks for your comment, Milinda. I will definitely look for local cheese. I’m a big cheese lover. I know of a local dairy farm. I’ll have to seek out which markets they sell at. And there was local wine tastings too, perhaps the cheese and wine booths will be next to each other for one stop shopping.
Cat
MMMMMMMM you really made the farmers market sound not only appetizing, and fun but attractive and sexy too….. I think I will be hunting down my next farmers market. we have ours every sat but if you are quick enough you can hit several of them in one day because almost every town has one.