Saturday, April 17, 2010

one person's pleasure...

If you are at all focused on fresh and local foods and you live in Madison, then you know today is a season’s first: the farmers set up their outdoor market stalls.

This, then, is the beginning of the grand months of good foods and beautiful bouquets.


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But the farmers – are they truly happy to be here, during these early markets? It’s so often brutally cold early on an April morning. And the growing season has just begun.

And today, there was the wind.


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...causing havoc at the Westside Community Market. Forcing vendors to hold on tightly to their tents and wares.


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I’d like to not think too much about how long the hours must be on a cooler, windier Saturday when you’re a vendor, standing at the booth from 7 until 1. (They can, at times, seem very long for me at the shop down the hill, and I don’t have the wind blowing my products around.)

Because for us, the buyers, it was such a glorious morning! A new season, a fresh start. An old ritual: a basket in hand, a walk to the market.

(I did note that some farmers’ kids found plenty to giggle at. In the truck, on a day like today, it can seem pretty darn cozy.)


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[All photos are from today's Westside Community Farmers Market]