Farmers Market Bounty

The 441 Farmers Market is bustling!  Just about everything we can grow here in North Central Florida is being harvested right now.  Plus it’s blueberry/blackberry/peach season!  As much as I hate running anywhere first thing Saturday morning, it is so worth it to get up and go. 

All through the winter and up till this week, Warren and Erika supplied our family and the Breakfast Brigade with fresh oranges at a very reasonable price.  The folks at the labor pools loved them, and I loved getting to see Erika and Warren every weekend.  Erika also sends out a newsletter each week loaded with info about the upcoming market – what’s available, what the weather will be like, etc.  She includes handy updates on farm policies which will eventually trickle down to our local markets and to our family tables.  She sees the big picture while taking care of our own backyard.  She’s great.

We drop off a bucket each week in which farmers can donate leftover produce to “Jubilee House,” home of the Gainesville Catholic Worker.  With it we make week night dinners and delicious soups for the Sunday café.  If we have extras we give them to other folks in need.  Most people appreciate so much the very local stuff, esp. yellow squash, field peas, corn, collards – things their grandmas used to cook.  It’s a kind of comfort food that’s good for body and soul.  And the farmers are so very generous.  Our bucket runneth over!