Quieting Life

Farmer's Market

Memorial Day weekend marks the annual start of the farmer's market here in town, the West River Farmers Market. One of some 75 markets in Vermont, 'ours' has 50 vendors set up on an idyllic triangle of shaded grassy park along the banks of the West River. I pedaled up on my grocery bike Saturday morning to do a little shopping, take some pictures*, and schmooze. * Dumbass parlor trick: I'd left my camera in a custom setting meant for nighttime/indoors and took a lot of unsalvageably blue pictures before realizing my mistake. Some of them made for fine duotones (quadtones, actually), though. Plenty of pictures in color after the jump.

Organic herb plants from Itsy-Bitsy Farm.

I can't find any reliable documentation, but to the best of my knowledge, this market was started in 1993 with 12 vendors, most of them craftspeople. As the market has grown, the balance has shifted towards agriculture and food, thanks in large part to the resurgence in small-scale farming and the growing interest in locally grown and produced foods.

Planting Day

Current Vermont folk wisdom says you should wait until Memorial Day to plant out warm-weather crops. I've been monitoring the long-range forecast on Accuweather, and temperatures looked to be on a warming trend, with nighttime temps in the low 50s and daytime in the 70s and 80s. When Saturday broke with clear blue skies and promises of temperatures close to 80, I decided to go ahead and plant.

In other years, I haven't had the time to get an early start on the garden, so Planting Day would mean a full 8 or 10 hours out in the sun and dirt. But I already had onions, spinach, cabbage, celery, peas, lettuce, and arugula in the ground, so I could afford to be a little leisurely. It was such a gorgeous day, I decided we should have a late breakfast out on the deck.

Woodland Walk: May

I finished my latest work project yesterday and celebrated by taking my camera and the dog out for a prolonged wander in the woods. It's the height of wildflower season, and magical little beauties are everywhere. It's amazing how different one season is from the next; last year, the hobblebush (viburnum) was in riot mode, with abundant bloom like I've never seen before, and the Pink Lady's Slippers were shy and scarce. This year, I found one single bloom on a hobblebush by the creek, but the Lady's Slippers are prolific. Perhaps the hobblebush needs an extended period of cold to initiate bloom – and we certainly didn't get that this year.

I'm still learning my woodland plants, and have identified those I know in the photographs. If any of you can help identify the unknowns, feel free to school me in the comments. Pictures galore after the jump...

Golden Cream Rhubarb Tart

I offered to bring dessert for a dinner we were invited to, and I thought that with all that beautiful rhubarb in my garden, I should make use of it. Rhubarb pie was a possibility, or rhubarb crumble, but both seemed a little homely, even though I wanted to keep it simple. One of my favorite quick desserts is this Apple Custard Tart, which manages to be elegant and simple at the same time. But rhubarb gives up a lot of liquid when cooked, so I couldn't just add it to the tart raw.

Garden Report: May 11

Most of us gardeners here in the northeast got punked by the unnaturally warm weather in March. Part of me knew we'd probably pay for the heat with a long stretch of grey wet chill (and we did), but the optimistic me went ahead as though the planting season had begun. I started some peas indoors, scattered spinach seed across a bed, and expected to get salad greens and root vegetables seeded in short order. Almost two months later, I've only just gotten lettuce and arugula started – no carrots, beets, or parsnips yet.