Harvest & Hugs

The Farmer's Market is really beginning to blossom. It's been fun to watch the weekly progression, from early in the year when there were more crafts than fruits and vegetables. A few more treats pop up every week, and that which sold out early a month ago is available in abundance now.

Yesterday's green-bean harvest was shocking; this booth wasn't even at the market last weekend:



Berries were popular yesterday too; the line for these yummies was verrrry long.





A weekly bouquet is in order. The proprietors of this booth are about an hour or so North of Champaign. I hope to make time to drive up and photograph their fields sometime soon; it's a trek I plan every year, and never get around to. I WILL do it this year!


The hanging baskets are breathtaking. Mine always look a bit more limp than these, no matter how much attention I give them. I'm doing something wrong, maybe these folks can give me a few tips.

This focaccia bread looked amazing, but I opted for a delicious cookie bar called "Kermit's Hermit." The older couple at this table have a van-full of pastries, cakes, and home-made breads. The label on their baked goods gives a home address, and I wonder about their at-home assembly line. Are they just baking and baking and baking in their own home for 2 days before the market? Shouldn't I just have asked them this before I wrote about them? I'll get the scoop next week.


And look, we ran into one of my best friends, Diane! Di is one of those best friends that "best friends" doesn't sum up the friendship appropriately enough. We met 25 years ago, working in a printing factory, and didn't like one another at ALL. Despite the fact that she didn't much care for me, one day she stepped up and rescued me from a tyrant, and we've been tight ever since. We're both putting our new homes in order, she works nights and weekends, and we don't see each other as much as we'd like to.

We ran into her yesterday, and she immediately had us in stitches regaling a tale from the night before, of her crawling into bed with a good book and a bag of goldfish crackers. She was reading and nibbling away only to find herself and her bedsheets covered with nearly-microscopic sized bugs...that were pouring out of her cracker bag. She was still a bit traumatized, so we comforted her by...laughing and laughing.

Di showed us a necklace she picked up at the market, and we insisted she wear it. Here's Marcy fastening it for her:



I also ran into my best-friend-in-high-school's mother, and gave and received a few hugs from her before we parted.

Good food, beautiful harvest, great friends. Who wouldn't crawl out of bed on a Saturday morning for all that?