Tomorrow my favorite harbinger of summer returns when the Montavilla Farmer’s Market reopens for the season.
Growing up in the concrete jungle of New York City, visits to the farmers markets were like a trip into another world for me. My understanding of farms at that point were the orchards where my parents took me apple picking, my Fisher Price Barn and my See and Say that every time I pulled the string told me that a cow says “moo.” What I knew for certain was that farms were in the country and I lived in a city and ne’er the twain shall meet.
Once a week the farmers would take over a stark playground on the upper west side (everything was metal in those days, no brightly colored plastic) and lay out their produce on folding tables. We ate a lot of fruits and vegetables when I was a kid, but they all came from either from the Korean market on the corner or Fairway. Looking at food that had so recently been on a farm kind of blew my mind. I had no idea where other vegetables came from, but even as a child I was able to understand what fresh-picked meant. It was something I could taste.
After making our selections, we would make our way home with plastic bags, heavy with our purchases, cutting into our arms and hands. But once we got home we would tear into the bags and polish off a couple of pounds of green beans or, if we were really lucky, a huge bag filled with peas.
I still feel giddy when I walk into any farmers market. We were recently in Berkeley visiting a friend and we went to go visit her local market. I stopped at nearly every stall to admire the produce (and get tastes whenever possible) even though I knew it was completely impractical for me to buy anything fresh. I find it incredibly hard to leave a farmers market empty handed. Fortunately for me, I was able to find some amazing almonds, dried peaches and persimmons for the drive home.
Tomorrow I should be able to buy the first strawberries and sugar snap peas of the season. Given this year’s weird weather, I have no idea what other produce I will find at the market. What I do know is when I turn the corner and see the market, I will get that familiar sense of anticipation in my stomach and I will have to suppress the urge to run.