When my husband came home from the hospital, the day was cool with the first touches of autumn in the air. We sat for a while in our little snuggery, listening to the crickets outside the window. We have these little rituals, these quiet little ways of marking time and events.
That night we had our first caramel apples of the season. Each year, like Christmas decorations, they show up earlier in the grocery stores. We don't mind. Since then, we've probably consumed a dozen. I like mine in small doses, with some nuts or a sliver of cheddar as a counterpoint.
I've made my first apple crisp, and we've purchased apple cider from the farm stand. The smaller growers who sell at the farm market have had a tough season, but the larger farmers - the big three families with German names - offer everything imaginable.
I shop at both venues. My CSA box has been skimpy this year - lots of potatoes and greens but little else. Still my husband and I talked it over and decided we'd continue with the program next year. Lovely Lucy, the grower who started our CSA and by force of will, created a small farm market where there was none, deserves our support. She is strictly organic, tending to the same small farm she grew up on. She is married to D., one of the boys from my childhood "hood." It feels good to support her efforts.
Lucy shared with me some plans for an open market structure. She would like to see it in the park along the water, but probably faces an uphill struggle since the city demanded a fee for using the park this year, as I noted in an earlier post. I'll do what I can to be supportive; the park was a visible spot while the parking lot being used this year is off the beaten path, and sales are down, say the vendors.
Meanwhile, don't you love the colors in this photo, taken in Cahors in 2008?
