Farmers Market Challenge - Charlottesville

I tend to need a challenge at times, to focus or give me that extra bit of incentive. So I'm grateful to @ericvancewalton and @fairytalelife for thinking of the farmers market challenge.

I love farmers markets, I really do. It's the early in the morning thing that tends to make me forget to go. Also, my best friend and I tried for several years to have an herb farm and spent a ridiculous amount of sleep-deprived time prepping and gathering for farmers markets week after week in the summers only to be thwarted by meager earnings, and enough left over fresh herb foccacia bread and chocolate mint brownies to turn a sweet-toothed carb lover off the stuff for years...but I digress.

So, while I've since moved to town a couple of years ago, I have yet to go to the weekly farmers market...

UNTIL... this challenge.

It turns out, I ended up being really glad that I went.

The Charlottesville Farmers Market has been going on for many years and it has grown. It takes up an entire parking lot, and I did not realize how big it had gotten. It was quite overwhelming to be honest; the markets I usually go to are probably about 1/4 the size. So it became clear pretty quickly that I was going to have to just pick and choose when it came to browsing and blogging.

The first booth right at the corner entrance belonged to Twin Oaks. This is a local commune of about 75 people that several of my friends are connected to. They make, among other things, hammocks, tofu, and flower bouquets. Only the flowers were for sale here though.

The bouquets were gorgeous, but a bit out of my price range. Incidentally, when my best friend and I had the farm, our bouquets could have totally rivaled these - just saying.

I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, because I was excited about the fresh baked goods I knew the farmers market would provide. However, since I couldn't carry my coffee, breakfast, AND my camera, I left the coffee in the car and planned to grab something on my way out to eat on the ride home. So for now, I was scoping, and there was quite a selection.

One beautiful booth I came upon was for Cygnet Hollow Farm, and they had skeins of wool, and fancy woven scarves made from the fiber of their alpacas and rabbits.

A few young girls happened by with their family and were drawn to the rainbow braids of yarn, picking them up and prancing around with them around their necks. The owner of the booth was quick to point out that they weren't actually scarves. It was quite adorable.

Music was in no short supply at this market, and it was big enough to have two different sources. One was a local radio station, hosted by my friend and fellow bandmate. He is the dj for the Saturday morning Irish show (which I also usually don't get to hear because...morning).

The other music was a live bluegrass gathering at the opposite corner. Great tunes, and they seemed to be having a great time.

One of the booths I came upon was Blue House Donuts. The sweet scent of fried sugary dough reached out and grabbed me by the stomach, making sure I stopped to check out this small, unassuming display. I got to chatting with the two folks working there. The woman was on a mission to not eat a single donut the entire market season. I admired her conviction in the face of her self-proclaimed love for donuts. I wished her luck, and decided I would be back for a donut myself, however.

As I was explaining to her what I was taking the pictures for, the owner of the booth overheard me referencing crytpocurrency and came over with some questions. Mainly, he was wondering if there is an easy way for small businesses owners to accept bitcoin for payment. I did not know, but promised I'd get some information to him. He doesn't use square or anything like that.

If any folks have info, that would be greatly appreciated by myself, and in turn by him, I'm sure. I haven't found too much in my own research so far. I did mention coinbase, but also that I've heard mixed things about them lately.

As I was making my way down the last aisle, I passed an impressive display of shiitake mushrooms. I looked back at them as I walked by, and suddenly realized the person at the booth was an old friend of mine. We hugged and chatted between customers, catching up a bit. I overheard him explaining about his product to a woman at the booth. She was inquiring as to why there were two booths selling mushrooms opposite each other. My friend responded that at a market this size, there are lots of options for everything, but also that his mushrooms were grown on White Oak logs, and the quality was evident in the taste.

I was impressed enough to want to try some out, so I bought a half of pound. He also had some delicious onion flowers to munch on, which I happily enjoyed. His wife apparently has a great recipe for shiitake mushroom veggie burgers, and if she's willing to share, I will make some, and perhaps blog about them for you all.

Deciding that this was a successful visit, and the start of a wonderful day, I stopped by one more booth to pick up some kale, went to buy my breakfast donut, and headed home. I'm definitely planning to return, and there are other markets to visit as well. Suddenly, getting up early on Saturday mornings doesn't seem so scary anymore.

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Thanks for reading, y'all

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