good market saturday

And good weather Sunday. Man, today we had the kind of weather you wish for every summer day—warm but not humid with a good cool breeze. Eva and I enjoyed the porch this morning, I with my coffee and knitting and she with her book. Then we did some good weeding of the vegetable garden, and it was such a pleasure in the clear air. Our first year with the big garden is going along pretty well. The rabbits are ravaging the peas, but everything else is putting up a good fight. Something interesting we noted: We planted several varieties of tomatoes—some heirloom and some newer hybrids. The bunnies took the new varieties to the ground, but they didn't touch the heirlooms. It seems the new ones had their natural defensive compounds (ahem, bad flavors) bred out of them. It's one thing to read about the benefits of heirlooms, but it's another, more interesting one to see them in action.

The farmers market was so much fun on Saturday. I don't go every week because it's not exactly in my neighborhood, but I do go at least once a month to pick up my meat order. I didn't buy any produce this week as we already had lots of greens from the CSA, but I did get some yummy sheep's milk cheese from Prairie Fruits (eaten up above with Finnish gooseberries from the CSA), and our favorite goat's milk soap from Queen Anne's Lace, and I got to try the highly recommended sausage and egg sandwich on a muffin. So good. But possibly best of all, I met another craft blogger. Belle Noelle was there selling her beautiful handmade clothing. I didn't know her before Saturday, but now I do. Her things are so prettily constructed with a sweet old-fashioned/modern mix. I have my eye on the Mia jacket in blue. How nice it was to meet someone, and to make that craft connection offline.