Locavores Unite!

Many, many years ago, when mushrooms came in cans and french-style string beans were defrosted and topped with globs of melted Velveeta, my family would drive down to the section of our city known as The Port to take in  the Farmers’ Market on a warm Saturday morning.

Our polite little group would wander past stalls and store fronts, gaping in the windows at headless chickens hanging by their feet, and listening carefully to the fishmonger patiently explaining how to tell a fresh fish by its eyes and its scales. We listened once again to my mother’s stories of  her grandmother in the Bronx, who insisted, to my mother’s supreme embarassment, on haggling  over the price and would tell my mother  never to buy from the first stall in the row. The guys in the middle would be cheaper.

Before we left, we had to have lemon Italian ices made by an elderly Italian man who lived around the corner and had converted his garage to a walk-in freezer.

We came home with big, beautiful mushrooms in wooden baskets, bags of fresh beans of many types, blueberries and peaches from south Jersey whose juicy perfection stays with me decades later, and cheeses that you might not have found in a suburban supermarket for the next twenty years. More important, we came home with a better understanding of the world.

We left the chickens hanging in the window.

Time passes, and the world gets smaller. Two interesting things happen: our eyes ( and taste buds) are opened to foods from all over the country and all over the world. At the same time, the generations whose parents and grandparents were so enthralled by the frozen food revolution have realized that fresh is better and home-grown is best. Of course, most of us have limited time to garden and limited space for our plants. So we grow what we grow best and what we like best. But what about all the other wonderful, yummy goodies? Where can we go locally to find them?

Well! This is the time of the rolling year when the Farmers” Market comes here to Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton. Starting this coming Friday the 10th of June, and every Friday from noon to six until October, join us here for the freshest local produce, cheeses, sauces and seasonings, Italian ices, honey, beeswax candles,and my favorite honey mustard from Holliston’s own Om Sweet Om beekeepers. Try Oma’s European-style cookies or the amazingly sinful Yummy Mummy Brownies. We split them so we can try all the great flavors.

And don’t forget to see Buffy for her pretty, pretty silver jewelry. Stock up now on stocking stuffers.

New for this year: a real, live knife sharpener. Is anyone else old enough to remember when the knife sharpener came down the street in his truck, ringing a bell? Red Barn Coffee Roasters, Primative Inspired Creations, Still River Winery, and piles of other great stuff, both edible and wearable, can be found here on Friday afternoons. You can even buy a plant. Or a tree.

But no headless chickens. We promise.