I have managed to get to four farmers markets so far this week, and if I had been more industrious and wealthier, I could have made two more. I missed Felton on Tuesday and the afternoon market on the west side today, but I did have a great trip out to Watsonville for the last hour of the Friday market. (Have I mentioned before how much I love going to Watsonville? I have, and I do.)
Located right next to the town square (complete with a cannon and a statue of George Washington, for whom Watsonville is presumably not named), the Friday market runs between 3:00 and 7:00 p.m., at the corner of Main and Peck Streets. (Take the Highway 129 exit off Highway 1, at the Redman House, and go inland. Turn left on Main and go down a couple of blocks. If you pass the town square, you've gone too far.)
Having Googled for directions, one of the first links that came up for the market is a story by my new friend, Nancy Redwine, which ran on March 31 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel: "A market and more: Watsonville Farmers Market has an international feel." I was looking forward to getting some roasted corn, and was delighted to find fresh oysters as well, along with several other food booths offering Mexican, Vietnamese, and other ethnic foods. The farm I was most familiar with was High Ground Organics, pretty close to home here. I made the acquaintance of a "gentleman farmer," by day an accountant, who sold beautiful baby beets and a lot of other varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs at his Déjà View Farm & Vineyard booth. (I bought beets and tangelos, both of which were dirt-cheap, so to speak. That's him, at right, above.)
I spent most of my time taking in the variety and color: from the little nun crocheting to the Senagalese vendor with a dazzling smile selling his beautiful woven baskets. I also saw Mark, of Savoury Foods,
whose imported foods we often pick up at the Sunday swap meet at
Skyview Drive-In. It is very Not Local (and thus I refrained), but
we're nuts for the Zergut,
a Bulgarian eggplant spread that we literally buy by the case. His
selection for the Watsonville market was more rustic than what I
usually see, and included jars of pickled okra and butterbeans, along with the usual selection of Italian, Spanish, and other continental foodstuffs. Another table was piled high with squash blossoms and peppers that looked like a giant crayon box had broken open.
I squeezed in a chat with market manager Nancy Gammons. She remembered me from the Saturday market at Cabrillo, and also from my seven years in the Mount Madonna Choir. Nancy runs her Four Sisters booth at Ferry Plaza Market right behind my buddy, Señor Rancho Gordo. We had a great time and I look forward to returning.
I left with two bunches of baby beets, two tangelos (for Logan), and two ears of roasted corn, which I gave The Treatment: butter, cayenne (on only one), lime juice, and some parmesan. Logan took pretty good care of an entire row of a big ear, and we'll be doing that again. Next time, I'm getting a roasted chicken: those things smelled insanely good.
EAT LOCAL CHALLENGE
Okay, I made my own graphic, above. I saw a
pretty banner for Eat Local that someone on a knitting blog had done,
and thought, "Why not?"
The challenge is going pretty well, unless I have to count beverages. But last night's dinner was as local as you can get. Heidi at H&H Fresh Fish sold me a slab of wild salmon, and that was dinner and lunch today. I've been making lots of pasta with shallots sautéed with fresh tomatoes and olive oil, and into which I will throw some bits of my homemade pesto. I'm going to try to make a pesto with almonds and/or walnuts soon, since I don't think pine nuts are local.
(Above, all photographs were taken at the Watsonville Farmers market. Below, all were taken at the Capitola market next to the ocean on Thursday afternoon.)
I've been giving a lot of thought to this Eat Local Challenge, and I will tell you one thing: it can be expensive. It's not expensive to buy fruit and vegetables from my farmer friends, but the eggs and dairy and meat and cheese? That stuff adds up big time. Local wines are readily available: we've got so many good wineries and vineyards within a few miles. I don't participate in the Wine on Wednesday thing that so many other food bloggers do, because I can't afford to keep up with them. My closest winery would have to be Bargetto, and frankly I prefer the wines of the Bargetto twins, up at Soquel Vineyards, but those are about $25 a bottle. For now, I am fine with what's on sale (and a lot is on sale) at the best wine store in the county: K Wines & Spirits at 708 Capitola Avenue, kind of next to Gayle's Bakery.
But I confess: this week, I bought some organic beef at Safeway, doubting that it's within my 100-mile foodshed. Why? Because I got a helluva good deal on it: with the purchase of two bottles of wine, they offered a $5 discount on any $10 purchase of meat. Well, I also want to support god-awful, politically-wretched Safeway in offering better products, and so I plunked down for the wine and the meat. (They aren't making much money off me, ever since I modified my grocery buying from learning that they give 92% of their political contributions to the Current Occupant of the Very Very White House. Nawsirree.)
I have read some food bloggers who declined the Eat Local challenge, reluctant to take it up because they didn't think they'd do a good job and blahblahblahblah, which I think is rather like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I knew I wouldn't be like the organizers, and look for sources for local flour, and like that. I knew I'd keep using my imported spices. I don't intend to stop buying things from other countries: I happen to like white sugar, jasmine rice, and plenty of things from Italy. But being aware, as I walk through any food store, of the question, "I wonder what's from around here?" has been a really good thing for me to think.
It's important. I know it's important.
So Saturday morning is one more farmers market, and it's my favorite for sentimental reasons and because it's so big and open and clean. And the musicians are there, too. The Farmers Market String Band is a wonderful group whom Logan loves, as do all the children who stand and dance there. Catherine Barr, who runs the market, is flat-out wonderful. I'll see my farmer friends, and the Kellers at Malabar Trading Company (Annaliese's chai beats everyone's), and Bill the Oyster Man (that is his creation above: the oyster on the hibachi—it's his newest offering at the markets), and so many other friends. The baker, the chocolatier, the Thomas Family, Ronald and Kate at Windmill Farms...whoops, I better remember to bring her Cold Mountain to read.
I'll have Logan with me, thank goodness, and we might even get up the road to see our friends, Kirsten and Jasmine, at Everett Farm.
If Logan even hears me say "farm," he starts imitating a chicken.
Thanks for stopping in.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Legacy
Whatever I do, the responsibility is mine,
but like the one who plants an orchard,
what comes of what I do, the fruit,
will be for others.
Lalla, 14th century Kashmiri poet, translated by Coleman Barks
(with thanks to my Readerville friend, Gayle Brandeis, who included it in her book, Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write)
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