I've always loved Farmer's Markets. I mean if it's a good Farmer's Market. There's just something about the fresh air, simplicity of wooden crates of just-picked vegetables and hand-lettered signs stating "Heirloom Tomatoes" that excites me. Add some fresh berries and some homemade booth with about 28 varieties of unwaxed apples. I just love it. Add some local guy strumming a guitar and someone serving up indian tacos out of the back of their camper, and white buckets of cut garden flowers - dahlias especially. It's the epitome of small business. Love, love, love.
When I was growing up in Portland there was a great "Saturday Market" that I would go to sometimes on Saturday mornings. It included lots of crafts and artwork. Not as fond of that type. Some of the best Farmer's Markets I've seen have been in California. Of course they can grow things year-round there. Two years ago, K and I discovered one in Aptos (near Santa Cruz) that was absolutely heavenly - all organic and the most beautiful produce and flowers that you've ever seen. Bluegrass group playing. Someone selling fresh-brewed coffee. San Luis Obispo has a great one too. It's YEAR-ROUND on Thursday evenings and is very popular. They close up main street and it runs for several blocks - fresh produce, homemade candies and preserves, breads, and musicians too. They even have large fire pits where guys are barbequing tri-tip steak to sell in sandwiches.
Last fall K and I and Sean, our oldest son were vacationing in Paso Robles wine country and had driven over to see the Hearst Castle at San Simeon. We were driving back and went through Cambria and I spotted a Farmer's Market set up. "STOP!", I hollered and K had to find a place to park. It was the middle of the afternoon. We wandered through and lucky for me, Sean had his camera along (photography is a hobby of his as well as he's been selling it on istockphoto.com for years). I asked him to take some macro photos of the colorful produce for me. He obliged and later sent the digital files to me.
.I decided to order enlargements and then found simple black frames at a discount store. I love square frames and even though the photos weren't square (they were 8" x 10") I decided that I could "crop" the photos with matts. So I ordered some white matts to fit the frames, and asked the framer to cut the matt openings 7" by 7". It worked! I really like how they look and grouped them along a colorless wall in our family room/kitchen. I really enjoy them and how they remind me of good times at the Farmer's Market. A visual perk for someone who misses having her own garden.
