Fresh Food: Growing and Buying

Today it is pouring rain again. Luckily, yesterday it held off until night. I took advantage to go to the Arlington Farmer’s Market, only a short walk from my home. I needed some asparagus for a dinner party and two vendors had it. I also bought spring onions, bread and cream. I didn’t need much because I’m getting a few spring crops from the garden, such as chard, kale, radishes and lettuces.

The sign at the entry to the farmer’s market.

The farm market sells meats, cheeses, eggs, breads and pastries, dairy products and of course, vast varieties of vegetables, herbs and garden plants. There are even stands with honey, maple syrup, and mushrooms, not to mention cut flowers.

Good looking stuff, eh?

You could, if you didn’t care about your grocery bill, get most of what you needed there. I am pretty judicious. I can make my own bread, and often do, so I usually don’t buy it. To give you an idea, though, the asparagus, for a seven-person dinner party added up to $12. It was beautiful stuff, fresh, with that blue tinge it has when just cut, and a reasonable size, not that tasteless pencil thin stuff (Am I opinionated about my food? You bet.). Still, if I had room for an asparagus patch, I would grow my own.

The first strawberries are also here.

The farm market is still a good bargain if I’m careful, because the produce is so fresh. Years ago, when it first came to Courthouse near where I live, it was a true bargain, with prices lower than the grocery store, what with the elimination of the middle man.

This is where I walk into the market. There’s even a ukelele player.

To make sure I don’t have to go there for much this summer, I finished planting the garden, as the rain continued to hold off.

It still astonishes me that live plants can be mailed. I bet these were happy to be freed from this cramped box.

On Friday I received my plants from Territorial Seed: three tomatoes, three peppers and three eggplants. They are all different varieties and I am going to see how well they do this summer. One of the eggplants is supposed to be resistant to flea beetle, which resides in my garden and turns their leaves to lace at some point each spring. The peppers are varieties that are supposed to be prolific, earlier or longer bearing. We’ll see. The tomatoes are heirloom varieties grafted onto resistant root stock. There is a fungus in the soil that makes the tomatoes turn yellow and wilt, usually pretty early in the season. Given I’d like to have more tomatoes for preserving, that has not worked well for me. I hope you have a week of good eating ahead of you!

I harvested more lettuce and radishes, replanted radishes, and put in squash seeds.