I don’t often make it to the Ballard Farmers’ Market until early afternoon. Today I arrived at 10 a.m., and was rewarded with a marvelous feast for the senses. I walked along the market stalls, enjoying the kaleidoscope of vibrant fresh produce and colorful summer clothing. A light breeze carried the scents of flowers and fruits, freshly baked bread and grilling oysters. I bought a glass of citrus-mint juice (a mint-infused tangerine-lemon blend, topped off with sparking water) from a woman who makes and sells bruschetta with produce from the market, and sipped it as I nibbled on a blueberry here, a bite of nectarine there. I fondled velvety apricots, cucumbers still gritty with sand, sleek squashes and taut-skinned but yielding tomatoes. Irish and Scottish tunes from a hammered dulcimer and guitar duo added to the music of laughter and happy conversation.
I brought home a box of those luscious apricots, sweetheart cherries (a very sweet black-red variety that’s new to me), slender green beans, tiny zucchini and golden pattypan squashes, tomatoes that smell like tomatoes, and several pounds of small, sweet, thin-skinned pickling cucumbers. All organic, all picked within the past day or two, all gorgeous.
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MMMM. Tomatoes that smell like tomatoes.!I loved the smell of summer tomatoes. Jersey tomatoes to be exact. You could eat them like an apple. They are just not the same anymore. I miss that aroma.
Michele sent me.
I love places like that!
Michele sent me.
Yum! I can not wait. Do you think there is enough there to entertain little boys while we try and buy food? Three more days! Barbie
It is always best to get to those type of places early. Sounds like you had a great morning.
Michele sent me this time:)
Hi Kimberly, what a nice place you have here. I adore your cats.
Being from Texas, don’t you think it rains to much in Seattle?
That is one of the few places in the U.S. I haven’t visited,yet. A book I am writing was going to take place in the Northwest but I couldn’t fathom that much rain or drizzle.
here via comments at my place.
I am reading this while listening to Loreena McKennit’s “Mummers Dance”.
I can taste the apricots, their soft nuzzly scent tickling my nose; the cucumbers crunch between my teeth with the fresh crisp clean taste of just-picked; and the tomatoes are warm and sweet from sitting in the early morning sun.
Such an outing, indeed. Thanks, Kim, that was a treat!
I love your kitties!
You really made me taste it all, vicariously. It reminded my of the huge vegetable garden my Dad planted when I was a kid. I didn’t appreciate it then