The Things We Go Through...

Yesterday was one of those days.

Our local Farmers' Market was set to open early because of the town celebration (River Fest), so we were to open at noon instead of 3:30. Everyone got there, got their booths set up, and wham.... look what happened! We knew storms were coming so I think most of us were pretty well prepared, but man, did it rain! With wind too. I took this shot of the booth across from me (while holding down my own tent, so it's not the greatest quality). It rained for a good long while and then finally cleared, giving us a nice cool breeze on our soaked bodies, which meant then we were cold. No problem, just continue on.

Not much later, it clouded up again and rained some more. There were some shoppers who braved the weather, some had umbrellas, some didn't! I had managed to put a tarp on my canopy ceiling, so my soap was staying pretty much dry, which is good. The sun came back out.

Not much later, it clouded up again and rained some more! Yes, it did that probably 6 or 7 times. I'd put a side up on my canopy to stop the rain because it always seemed to change directions. It would stop raining, things would dry off, I'd take the side down for customer shopping ease, and then it would rain again! Finally around 4:00 it stopped for good, things dried off and the rest of the evening was beautiful. The nice part was that everything was dry to pack up, because packing up in the rain is absolutely no fun.

Today I'm going shopping for a new canopy! My old one is not waterproof at all, and if I hadn't put the tarp in the ceiling, my day would have been ruined. One of the other vendors had a new canopy that I was eyeing all day, and I'm going to go look at that one. It would be nice to not have to worry about rain and soap mixing.

It's nice to see the "regulars" coming out to the market. It's nice to see people supporting local farmers and crafters. It's even nicer when I hear comments like this: "Last week I took a sample of Paradise, and it smells and works just as good as the Bath & Body Works stuff... without all the chemicals." That was fun to hear!

I also picked up a few "new" vegetables for our family to try. I've never tried kohlrabi, but it sounded good when the vendor was telling a customer about it, so I got some too. And fresh beets. I haven't had beets since I was a kid and had to eat the canned ones, so that'll be an adventure too. I'll most likely be the only one in the house to try them, but you never know.

If you are local and haven't ventured out to the market, it's every Thursday from 3:30-7:00 pm behind the Community Center in Monticello. You never know what you'll find there, besides veggies there are things such as fused glass pendants, photography cards and prints, kitchen towels, homemade baked goods, jams and jellies, garden plants, hanging baskets, homemade candies, homemade fruit rollups, stepping stones, salt-water taffy and lots more. Yesterday a group was selling THE best strawberry shortcake with local berries that were the sweetest I've ever tasted. So I had to taste it twice. : )

Bring your kids, your spouse, your grandma! There's something for everyone at the market.