The 4th of July

Our Fourth started early. Christian, Collins, and I met at 5:30 to begin harvesting for Farmer's Market. The field is particularly gorgeous at that hour. The light highlights perfectly the wide range of colors in the field, and the plants have not yet taken on their wilted appearance that happens later in the heat of the day. At that early hour, all our vegetables and flowers seem particularly robust, vibrant and healthy. 


This day, it was tricky to determine the amounts to bring with us to West Tisbury: we had all agreed that because of the holiday, the market was either going to be slammed or completely dead, no telling which. We erred on the optimistic side and decided to harvest fairly heavily in hopeful anticipation of a crowded market. 


We picked: two brimming boxes of huge broccoli crowns; 27 bunches of our sweet sugar beets (we sell out of them every market); 3 dozen heads of lettuce; many bunches of chard, kale, mizuna, and arugula; 15 bunches of scallions and spring onions; a bushel of new potatoes and one of shelling peas; and just a few bunches of our new baby carrots. 


Around 6:30 it started to rain. Rain on market day causes a farmer's heart to sink. It creates a nervous, nauseous feeling for all growers who are dependent on a market for their week's income. Rain means customers stay home, choosing to hole up with take-out pizza or leftovers rather then adventure out into bad weather to buy local produce. For us (and many farmer's) rain means we end up composting a majority of our early morning harvest.

As we drove to West Tisbury, I just kept thinking "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no," my hopes of a busy market being pushed down by a continuous drizzle. We could see the same disappointment on the faces of other vendors as some chose to set up inside the Grange Hall, protected from the rain. On a friend's iphone, we watched the radar as a swirl of green and yellow patches representing rain moved rapidly across the image of Martha's Vineyard. Oh no oh no oh no oh no.


We set up the stand on the porch of the Grange, hopeful that we would have a good spot for the few customers who showed up that day. Our table looked the best it has ever looked, with all our veggies piled up high.

The bell rang, signifying the beginning of market....

... fifteen minutes went by and, despite the rain letting up, hardly a customer wondered over to our table....

... and then.....

we were suddenly SLAMMED! The Market was packed with people picking up produce, flowers, jams, meats, and shellfish for the holiday. We watched as our piles of produce quickly diminished and then entirely disappeared. We sold out of everything. All those beets. All those potatoes. All that broccoli. All those peas. Gone! Just a very few heads of lettuce left at the end of the day.

So this post serves as a big thank you to all those customers who, despite a little drizzle, made it to market and made our day.