Residents of the coastal California town of Santa Cruz enjoy a colorful and plentiful downtown Farmers Market each Wednesday afternoon, rain or shine. Summer is especially bountiful.
Organic red-leafed lettuce is $1 a head. Vendors offer sweet, juicy slices of their peaches, apricots, plums, and nectarines on toothpicks and challenge shoppers to compare subtle flavors. Banjo music accompanies the gritty voice of an old-timer, singing under the shade of a gnarly oak and sharing his funky lines with passersby. In front of a vegetable stand loaded with giant zucchini, pattypan squash, heirloom tomatoes, green onions, Japanese eggplant, and fingerling potatoes, a hand-painted sign reads, Grown only 8 minutes from here!
Summer Fun
And, of course, there are flowers. Buckets of them. Ready to be snapped up and placed in a favorite vase and room. Amid the zinnia, dahlia, and lily bunches were several varieties of sunflowers, big-faced and small. These two brassy jewels smiled for a picture I knew I would caption: Summer Fun.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the description of the Banjo player in the second paragraph!
Brings back fond memories of lunches at the oyster stall when I was working in Santa Cruz.