Picking out produce

Diane and I took William downtown to the Nashville Farmers' Market this morning. I'd never been before, but I love a good farmers' market, so off we went.

Unsurprisingly, it was great! These sorts of places totally bring out the gatherer tendencies buried in my DNA. We loaded up on some early tomatoes, some peaches, a couple of watermelons, some squash and zucchini. I don't know how it came to be that I apparently don't know anyone who is actually growing zucchini and would therefore be willing to foist some off on me for free (hint, hint, if you are such a person), but that's okay. I also bought a small jar of local honey, and Diane bought a gorgeous terra cotta planter. We debated about picking up a small matching planter full of herbs, but we didn't, and now I am starting to wish we had. Oh well.

I also very nearly walked out of there with a blueberry bush...or three...since I love blueberries more than just about any food other than tomatoes. But I resisted. For one thing, I'm not sure I could have fit all three of us, plus our produce, plus a bush in the car. I'm thinking that it might have been sort of mean to cram my son and a big bush together in the back seat of a hot car and expect them to play nicely together on the drive home.

William was a champ. He rode nicely in his stroller and didn't complain. One farmer even gave him a banana as a treat, so he beamed his thanks and proceeded to stuff his face. Later, another man from the same booth gave him two more bananas to take home. That's William's kind of place: free bananas and lots of 'em. Also, he loved looking at everything. Diane gave him a huge sweet potato to hold, and he was fascinated by some of the large zucchini that were as big as his legs. I feel pretty confident in writing, too, that I think he'll enjoy the stuff that we brought home, once he gets a taste of it.

It was a nice way to spend a hot summer morning. It reminded me a little of when I was little, and I'd accompany my mom down to the farmers' market to pick up all the veggies for the co-op she was a member of. It seems like those trips resulted in a lot of purple hull peas, but my memory may be faulty. I have good memories of those trips, but I haven't been tempted to eat purple hull peas in a long, long time. I think I'll stick with my tomatoes and zucchini.

So tonight, we'll be having roasted summer vegetables and sliced tomatoes. And after dinner, we may be total southern cliches and take off our shoes and sit out on the back porch and eat watermelon. Sounds pretty good to me, anyway.