This little piggy... went to [Farmers] Market

Every time I think 'market' that song from my chilhood comes to mind.  Not sure if it's my Irish heritage and my love of Corned Beef and Cabbage or what.  But I do love going to local Farmers Markets, and I've had the opporunity to go to a lot of them in the last few months.

Nothing beats fresh ingredients when cooking, that's for sure.  And farm fresh produce certainly has bolder flavors than some of the mass produced foods we find in our grocery stores.  I was even introduced to a few items I'd never heard before like ground cherries, a small fruit that is the cross between cherries and tomatos.  And then there was this leafy green one farmer had me try that was in the spinach family.  But once I popped a sample in my mouth the green leaf began to transition into this slimy substance.  Of course when I said that I was corrected by the farmer who preferred I used the word 'gelatinous' to describe her crop.  Needless to say we passed on that one.  One of my favorite finds was the most amazing blueberries I've ever tasted from a family of Menonite farmers in the Lake Mattamaskeet area of North Carolina.  I had to mentally slap my hand from taking any more samples and my family ended up buying an entire flat.  Needless to say, for the next week just about everything we made had blueberries in it.  

But as a photographer Farmers Markets are an explosion of colors and textures; fun conversations with the growers themselves and even a place to meet some of your neighbors and share some cooking ideas. Tomatoes of every shape and size, colorful arrays of hybrid flowers and even fresh oats that were rolled right there on the spot.

But probably the best thing these fresh markets is supporting your own communtity, or the one you're visiting.  For some reason, that big family meal at the end of the day tastes just that muh better when you've had the experience of being at the Farmers Market early that morning to pick out something truly unique.