Friday Market Is Community

The first Friday Market of the season kicked off yesterday and what a great day it turned out to be.  After near record rainfall and a soggy and gray start to the day I feared it would be a poor start to the Market season that had already been pushed back due to cold weather and a late spring.  But as market time approached the sun broke out and awakened not only the beautiful common, glistening with raindrops, but also the community who came out to shop and visit.

I love to do our local market.  It is one of the highlights of my summer.  I love the foundation of what it means; shop local, eat well, support your local agriculture and small business.  But mostly, I love the sense of community.  I love seeing my friends and neighbors, visiting and chatting about the weather (seeing as we are New Englanders, we must talk about the weather), I love meeting new people and hearing their stories and questions.  And I love to bake.  Total win-win for me.

In this current society of fast paced jobs, technology, organized sports and playdates for our children it feels as if the sense of community that I loved as a child has all but disappeared.  People are simply too busy or too tired to engage in community activities and the attendance of such events seems to dwindle until the events stop happening all together.  The local market is a great way to draw people in.  To entice them with fresh vegetables,  eggs, meats, breads, baked treats, coffee…and then once you’ve got them there, they are inevitably drawn back into that “community”.  Seeing a neighbor they haven’t seen for awhile or asking a farmer a question, and they walk away feeling good.  We need so much more of this.

Yesterday we had a special guest at the Market.  Spin, a therapy ewe in a wheelchair, and her owner Deb came by.  Spin has limited mobility in her hind legs as a result of a birth defect and has a custom made “cart” to aid in her mobility.  She and Deb visit schools and hospitals so that children can meet Spin.  She is the sweetest of animals and was a great attraction.

At the Market yesterday I brought strawberry rhubarb muffins, they were a big hit and I almost sold out! I had to hide a few to bring home to my husband.  Here’s the recipe:

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins

Topping:

1/2 C chopped pecans

1/3 C raw sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsbp butter

1. cut butter into pecans, sugar and cinnamon until it resembles fine crumbs, set aside.

Muffins:

2 3/4 C whole wheat flour

1 C raw sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg (preferably duck)

1 C buttermilk

1/2 C lard, melted and cooled

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 C sliced strawberries

1 C rhubarb, cut

1. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Whisk wet ingredients together in a medium bowl.  In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients (except berries and rhubarb).

3. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

4. Fold in berries and rhubarb.

5. Fill paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full, and sprinkle with reserved topping.

6. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!