I know, that sounds really cute.  Gotta get my Farmer’s Market fix?  Or what?  I go postal for want of fresh picked peas?  I go into fits from the absence of perfectly ripe heirloom tomatoes perched, all fragrant and enticing, on my kitchen counter?  Well yes.  Actually.  I realize that that’s just kind of precious.  I live in Wine Country, it’s all about the “lifestyle”, here, right?  So we put on our big straw hats, grab our chic, but totally organic market baskets, and we head to the market to see and be seen by other fabulous Wine Country-lifestyle-types, while we purchase perfectly peeled, dewy produce and feel so good about “doing the right thing”.  Isn’t is just so green to be addicted to the Farmer’s market? 

Actually, that’s not it at all.  Eating fresh, seasonal food, grown or made by people you know and like, is addictive.  Not gotta have my Twinkie addictive, but it becomes a sort of food for your soul as much as anything.  Plus, our Farmer’s Market is just so much fun!   We go to Sebastopol and Occidental.  Western Sonoma County.  The Green Capital of America.  More kids per capita than any other towns anywhere.  Barely even Wine Country at all.  Not to say that Wine Country doesn’t have it’s share of Farmer’s Markets that are more, say, glamorous.  But they’re not over here in West County.

Sunday morning is all about the market.  We roll out of bed, load up the kids and the stroller, grab coffee and a donut at My Friend Joe’s (yes, an actual donut.  Helen likes the ones with sprinkles,

Pink sprinkles for Helen thank you very much

Rod goes for Old Fashioned and Rocco will take anything we give him.  For me, it’s those greasy double-fried apple fritter things.  I know it’s gross, but it’s only once a week… And, we’re on the way to Nutrition Nirvana…) and head for Sebastopol. 

The Farmer’s Markets are a weekly festival.  Music, food, crafts and incredible produce grown by dynamic farmers.  We load Rocco into the stroller/shopping cart  (the super-grubby, falling apart thing that used to be Helen’s) and away we go. 

First stop (always, can’t be missed or skipped) Hector’s stand, for honey sticks.  $.25 each.  Everyone gets two.  Helen is in charge of choosing flavors and passing out.  We also get spring garlic, sweet onions and lemon cucumbers from Hector. 

That's Hector

Next, once the kids are good and sticky, we make our way all the way to the end of the market.  Got to see who’s got what.  And it gives the kids a chance to “check out the scene”. 

While we sort of “troll” the market, we decide the menu for the week.  We have to be strategic- because we’re committed to eating everything we buy.  Before next Sunday.  Beautiful squash blossoms?  Great, what are they going into?  And when?  

This week’s Sunday dinner ended up being our favorite salad of yellow wax beans (the ones tinged with green that are unbearably fresh and sweet tasting) and grilled fresh, wild Copper River salmon with a sorrel aioli. 

Full Circle Breads

The salad is one we live on in the summer.  My grandmother made it religiously every Sunday for my uncle. When she had beans in the garden, anyway.  We called it “Cuncia”.  I’m not sure where it got the name, but it’s basically tender green beans with sweet onions, olive oil and red wine vinegar.  The trick it tossing the beans with the oil and vinegar and salt when they’re still warm.  They get the most amazing flavor.  In my family you could add canned tuna- the really good Italian stuff packed in oil, you could add potatoes, starchy ones, so the potatoes break up and coat the beans, pesto (that’s from my great grandmother, who put pesto on everything), and that’s it.  End of the line.  Can’t add anything else.  Well, we do.  Tomatoes, olives, cucumber, you name it, it all works and is really good. 

The sorrel aioli or mayonnaise is also a basic at our house.  Pretty much every Sunday Rod makes some form of aioli from whatever herbs we find: nettles, sorrel and basil are standard for us with our eggs and some McEvoy olive oil.  We smear it on everything all week. 

Jill from Crescent Moon Farm

Anyway, back at the market… We make our stops at Crescent Moon for all of our hot fresh and dried ground chili peppers (we use a lot of peppers) and heirloom shelling beans, Laguna Farm for lettuces and the sweetest carrots you’ve ever had-their corn is fantastic too.

Then we head over to see Mateoat his Yucatan Tamale cart for “Farmer’s Market Huevos Rancheros”.  Fresh duck eggs, housemade tortillas, fresh salsa, peppers from Cresent Moon.  You get the picture.  And an agua fresca- this week was peach and thyme. 

We eat while the kids dance in the fountain with the other jillion half naked, tribal toddlers and pop in for occasional bites and slurps.  There’s always live music.  Sometimes its great, sometimes it’s not, but the kids always love it, and actually we do too.   The Farmer’s Market, like the seasons themselves only lasts a short while.  We anticipate its arrival, we mourn its departure and we sure make the most of  it while it’s here.