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King Street Market, Alexandria VA, there has been a market on this square for 270 years. |
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Street Musicians Playing at the Market on King Street, a very civilized place. |
I was raised on an 80 acre funny farm. There were a few large fields rented or sharecropped with neighboring farmers. My grandparents around the corner always had a large and successful garden. My parents largely gave up on gardening by the time I was old enough to understand what it was all about. I planted a small garden for a few years, then moved to helping my grandmother around the corner, as my grandfather sank into dementia. There were tomatoes to be picked the day he died.
Three of my four grandparents grew up on farms. During the depression gardens and farm work, kept a roof over their heads and food on the table. My father's -father was a great gardener, at one time on the farm he had ten-acres of tomatoes, and a stall on the Eastern Market in Detroit.
Growing up on a farm, surrounded by working farms, I am a farmboy at heart, and always will be.
My image of a US farm boy somewhat matches my image of Huckleberry Finn. Of course he must wear a straw hat and have a piece of dry plant stalk sticking out of his mouth. Farm boys in cold areas did not exist in my mental picture. Is my mental image a match to you?
ReplyDeleteNot much of a hat wearer, blue jeans didn't enter my life until after I left the farm.
DeleteI spent the first half of my childhood on a 1/4-acre funny farm. No crops.
ReplyDeleteBut you can make the cactus grow.
DeleteGardens are a ton of work alright. I'm off to the farmers market this morning, hoping that the Hutterites' table will be selling rhubarb. And fresh peas in the shell!
ReplyDeleteRhubarb has been out of season here for about a month, I should have bought more and frozen it.
DeleteWe're off to our local Farmer's Market again today. Lots of great fruits and veggies and everything else you can imagine.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice thing to do even on these hot days.
I was out first thing this morning
DeleteI'm a city girl but both my mother and my grandmother had city gardens. My mom's was just a small patch but my grandmother had a very large garden. She grew tomatoes, green beans, peppers, rhubarb and all kinds of herbs. She even had some corn. What she didn't eat was canned. I do miss her delicious tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteThere is something special about a tomato warm from the garden.
DeleteMy grandparents lived on a farm in Illinois. I loved visiting, especially in the summer when we could pick tomatoes, beans, asparagus, and peas. I loved sitting on the porch shelling peas and stringing the beans, Living on a farm is such a learning experience, one that teaches so many life lessons that stay with you no matter where you end up.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised by people who have no idea where food comes from.
DeleteIf I can get something at a farmer's market I try to stay out of grocery stores as much as possible. I always love the sense of community that farmers markets too. I've done numerous posts on that.
ReplyDeleteSome of the farmers here, are from 100-150 miles away.
DeleteI do like gardening.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on and stay safe