Beautiful, beautiful produce

I enjoy Farmers Market. I like displaying vegetables and stacking crates and arranging baskets so that they tier just so. I like turning baskets on their sides so it appears as if the cucumbers are spilling out onto the table. To fill bins with romaine and Boston and leaf lettuces, each with their own textures and ruffles and curves. It’s pleasurable to mix the colors on the tables to attract they eye: purple and lavender eggplants, orange carrots, yellow squash, and magenta radishes.

Among the most beautiful is the red and white Swiss chard- brilliantly massive in their stems and puffy leaves. Peas and garlic and broccoli add texture to an otherwise leafy green display. Leeks and scallions add height. Beets and new potatoes dimension. Zucchini a little pizzaz with those stripes. Currants add a sort of feminine curiosity that intrigue.  Herbs bring abundance and fragrance and consistency. They sit neatly in their bins, stems still in water, beside a list that I compile each week: Basil, Thyme, Oregano, Cilantro, Garlic Chives, Dill, Lemon Balm & Lavender. I like to draw a line through each herb as we sell out each week. (Usually that would be Basil, Cilantro and sometimes Dill.)

And front and center on our market table you would find the most popular item of the week. Usually a newcomer. First, it was strawberries red and ripe in their quart containers and currently, the first tomatoes of the season. Large pink beauties. Cherry tomatoes in orange, yellow, red and purple shining in the morning sun.

Many shoppers comment on our display (which is nice), but when they take out their camera and snap photos of our gorgeous veggies it is the highest compliment.

I know it’s a bit of my OCD and perfectionism and public relations background, but I do enjoy setting up at Farmer’s Market. And I hope it matters at the end of the day. That we are a Farmer’s Market vendor worth visiting, worth searching out, worth coming to week in and week out. 

Just this last weekend two women exchanged recipes over the basket of zucchini and the crate of eggplant– pens and paper pulled out of purses and everything- and it made my heart happy. Without people willing to buy fresh, local, organic produce all of this would be in vein.