For a good part of the year, much of our food comes from the Silver Spring Farmers Market. Saturday morning we go to Ellsworth Street in downtown Silver Spring where the market is set up. We especially like to buy things from Charlie Koiner – an octogenarian with a vegetable farm just about a mile from our house. From Charlie today we got some tomatoes and a beautiful eggplant.
Other vendors come in from rural Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, with an abundant selection of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Sometimes I’m motivated to try new things. This summer I discovered beets, and found delicious ways to use both the beets and the greens.
A young couple with a farm, who were new to the market this year, promoted turnips as a good companion with potatoes, and I found that to be a good combination, sliced and sautéed.
Often there are musicians performing and a little crowd gathered to listen. Well-behaved dogs (for the most part) are a common sight, and a big attraction to the young children tagging along for the morning shopping.
The available produce marks the passing seasons. A couple of weeks ago we stocked up with as many of the last of the peaches as we thought we could use fresh. Now the market is full of apples – many more varieties than can be found at a supermarket.
In a recent TEDx talk in Toronto, Michael Stone described farmers markets as a series of relationships – the farmers, the community, the rural coming to the city, and the city supporting the rural. Far more than a source of groceries, it is a way for people to connect with the world, at the essential level of the food that we use to nourish ourselves.
Pam and I certainly enjoy the farmers market, the great food we get there, and the sense of community and connection.
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