Farmers Markets

Just about everyone I know plans their Saturday around a trip to the farmer’s market. Not just here in Cape Coral where we have a fabulous one for sure, but all over the country. My friends don’t ask if I’m going to the market on Saturday, they ask me what time I’m going. If I have to miss it for some reason, I give a list to a trusted shopper who knows just which vendors I like.

Aficionados of the market know that it’s much more than picking up produce. It’s a total sensual experience. There are fruits and vegetables in every color of the rainbow. Smells from the fresh flowers and food vendors waft through the throngs of people and their dogs. Yes, dogs. Fortunately, our market is dog friendly, and we get to watch them greet each other and wag and greet us as we stop to pat their heads or join in a petting frenzy. And music. A beautiful background of steel drums or acoustic guitar or songs we love to sing along with fill the air.

My first trip to a farmers market was in the 70’s in my home town of Flint, Michigan. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were fresh eggs and home made pies and all kinds of foods cooking as this market is indoor/outdoor. The flower vendor was a bearded guy with one hooked arm. A bright posie was always in his beard and abroad smile completed the picture.

The market was a must stop when I would visit my mother in the years after I left Michigan. We would buy all the things my daddy used to grow in his garden, and go home and prepare a nostalgic dinner. Growing up with parents from Mississippi, our summer dinner table was resplendent with turnip greens, black eyed peas, fried okra and crooked neck squash, fresh bright yellow sweet corn, with  brilliant red sliced tomatoes and small scallions on the side. My mom’s hot corn bread fresh out of the iron skillet turned upside down on a plate, was a staple.

When I visited a friend in Eugene, Oregon last summer, I discovered a most unique farmers market. Every vendor had organic produce, and all meats and eggs (even those sold in the walk-up restaurants) had to be from family-owned sustainable farms. Everyone seemed so rosy cheeked and healthy in their North Face and Patagonia Saturday clothes.

Yes, it was special, but I have a deep love for my market at Club Square. It has grown from 16 vendors in 1994, to more than 85 currently. Every square inch of the huge lot is filled as the parking spaces become fewer and fewer. Claudia St. Onge of the Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce is the force behind the exponential growth of our wonderful market. She told me that they estimate that there are 5-6 thousand of us passing through every Saturday.

If you’ve been, you’ve noticed that even when there is a long line, or many people vying for a vendor’s attention, that everyone is smiling, patient and polite. Much of the trade is done on the honor system with people rattling off what is in their bag as they fumble with their money as the vendor adds it all up.

It’s about more than filling our refrigerators. I believe these trips also fill our souls. We get a little closer to the earth, to our neighbors and to our communities.

By the way:

•According to the US Dept. of Agriculture, there were 3,137 farmers markets in 2002, and 7,864 by 2012.

•There’s a vendor in the southernmost row who sells passion fruit. If you’ve never tried one, you must! You eat them seeds and all, and they are too delicious to describe.

•In the same row is a vendor who sells fabulous coffee with steamed milk and beignets. Totally worth the calories.