Farmers' Market Day and Farmer Chris Day

Last night, Doug said he wanted to go to the farmers' market the next town over this morning. Sounded good to me! I woke up at 8, and he was already outside drinking coffee and reading.  We eased into the morning with a couple cuppas and headed over. We're not sure how late they run, or what their schedule is through the year, but it is nice that they are there. 

The Farmers' Market is very nice. Small, not overwhelming like another local town just south of here. And we like the offerings. They have great produce vendors, local cheeses, a butcher, usually at least one of the local breweries, knife sharpening, a tea vendor, fresh crepes, and a really nice fishmonger but their prices are ridiculous (37 bucks for a pound of scallops. I don't think so.) 

I know you pay a pretty penny at most farmers' markets to get really high quality food. Things aren't cheap right now, they never were at the Farmers' market. 

We don't go every week, but the crux of this visit was that our tomatoes are not ready and Doug wanted some fresh big fat pretty ones. We've been getting small cherry or grape tomatoes at the market and he wanted something that would kick ass on a sandwich. We had a nice chat with the farmer that we bought the tomatoes from, and he gave us an extra one "to hold us over until ours are ready to eat." 

At the grocery store, the produce manager isn't going to just hand you an extra giant tomato after you have a nice discussion with him about drought, growing conditions, farming, that kind of thing.

When we first moved here, Doug visited the cheese vendor, sampled cheeses, picked out a bunch to bring home. The usual.  Half pound of this, half pound of that. 

When the cheese guy told him the price and stuck out his hand for payment, Doug almost died. Turned out he bought 70 bucks worth of cheese. 

Seventy. Dollars. Worth. Of. Artisanal. Cheese.

It was all very nice but .... seventy dollars nice? I'm not sure. Sort of like I won't pay 37 bucks for scallops. 

We went back today and like a moth to a flame, there he goes to the cheese guy. He had told me he was never going to "fall for THAT again!" 

Well. This time it was only 40 bucks. 

He showed some restraint, but we walked away and he said "man. I did it again, didn't I?" I said "eh, twice in almost 5 years is okay. If you were doing this every weekend, I'd be mad." It is good cheese. We love us some good cheese. 

We came home with apricots (all gone), big huge tomatoes, zukes and squash for the grill, a four pack of the 321 Gose from Waredaca brewing for their 2022 Strawberry Rhubarb release (nice!), and some infused olive oil. We didn't go to the butcher, he had a huge line but I would have loved a little something for the grill as long as it wasn't pricey like the scallops. 

I do really want some scallops. 

In the DC area the thing to do is go to the Maine Avenue Fish Market at the Wharf. It is impossible to park anywhere near there for free but I think if you get there early enough there are some hour long parking spots just for going to the market. I think mostly for restaurant workers to go buy the daily catch.  

The Wharf is a nice place to visit but if you go down, it's best to actually spend time and enjoy it. Go for a walk, have some food at Rappahannock (oysters if you like that sort of thing), cocktails, pokemon go.  Doug mentioned we are due for a visit. Last time we were there was around Thanksgiving with our friends Michael and Jon. They were actually staying at a hotel at the Wharf. The place has grown and expanded a lot in the few years we've been here. 

I wish I knew someone with a boat on the river there. That'd be fun. 

Doug has a marinade going for the chicken thighs we had in the fridge. I'm sending Geoff to the market for milk since he wiped out my half gallon enjoying some with the cookies he made last night. It's super hot out, but I may just go sit on the patio before the weather comes. We're supposed to get walloped later this afternoon.

They promise it all the time, but it rarely happens. 

As of this writing, 6:30pm, no storms. Allegedly they are going to happen sometime by 9pm. Radar map shows all sorts of spotty pop ups, but no clear line of things marching this way. 

I tried to take a nap at 3 but couldn't fall asleep. Doug had taken a big nap and I heard him go outside at some point. The dog and I were lounging on my bed but I just couldn't make the sleep happen. I got up to charge the phone and noticed Doug had gon outside in the yard and was weed whacking the spots where Geoff missed when mowing yesterday. 

I went outside and putzed around without any sort of attainable goal. It was not too brutally hot. Very comfortable. I then decided to weed the planting beds which had been totally taken over by weeds and grass due to our not being good at stuff. Like basic maintenance. 

We only have 4 sunflowers, even though Doug planted dozens of seeds out there. Our Cosmos never came up, sadly. Tomatoes are doing great which is nice. The pepper plants are nice, and we've got a lot of little wee babies starting to come out. Looking forward to them. Doug put stakes out for the tomatoes but just thinks by magic they'll climb up the stakes. Nope. I decided while weeding that I'll go out tomorrow and use some twine and get them up off the ground a little better. Lots of little green wee tomatoes happening. Very exciting.

I may start a few more sunflowers in a pot, just because. And the Morning Glories are just wild.

I pulled and weeded and got filthy dirty for about 90 minutes.  The ground was willing to release most of the weeds and growth but there are patches of deeply rooted grass that will not allow me to pull. I'll head out tomorrow or Monday and give it another go when I go out to twine the tomatoes.

Pictured here: the first of the morning glories (oh, hello), some really happy marigolds, and the beer from Waredaca. Doug and I split this.  Digits down below.

Digits

exercise: not a lot but I left the house and the farmers' market was a nice walk about and worked in the garden so a lot more fitbit movement than in weeks past.

Blood Glucose: 
8am: 192 (still super high?) 
5pm: 174
10pm: 280

Food: 
coffee
iced coffee 
water
3 small slices of cheese to sample
an apricot
bowl of yogurt and blueberries
chocolate chip cookie (shut up)
3 chicken thighs & salad
a couple cherries
2 truly hard seltzers
trail mix (with raisins)