CSA + Farmer's Market = Bliss

A Saturday in mid-August with a temperature of 85° is a gift, if ever something so public could be considered a gift.

In the "Victorian" hamlet of Bellefonte, PA (last I checked, the U.S. was never part of the Victorian Empire) today is ArtsFest. It's a good day for the town: people are walking, rather than driving, up and down the hills. The sun is sparkling in the sky, and the light plays off the leafy trees along the town's streets. For a day, at least, business is booming in the local restaurants and coffee shops. And this is in spite of the myriad kettle corn stalls, gyro stands, and pulled-pork sandwich carts that arrive with the fair.

Today is also market day in town: there's a growing farmer's market in Bellefonte, which takes place in the center of town every Wednesday and Saturday. It seemed to struggle a few years back, but recently it has benefited from an influx of patrons and dealers alike. There are even a few new farms; one, Setter's Farm, is a tiny acre or so outside of town that specializes in salad greens.

For lunch, minutes ago, we had a salad made from the farm's specialty green mix-- a combination of lettuces, herbs, baby greens, and edible flowers-- served with sliced heirloom cherry tomatoes and quartered hard-boiled egg. Alongside it was a secondary salad of micro-greens, dressed simply with a walnut oil vinaigrette.

How easy it is to forget that salads have flavor. But what a pleasure to be reminded. When a salad is more a bouquet than a bed of greens, this becomes increasingly possible.

What's more, there are still plenty of vegetables left over from our weekly CSA box, too. Thus tonight we're having P2 and S. over for a garden barbecue: I have fresh basil and tomatoes for a salad, and, for the grill, sweet corn and summer squash, as well as various shapes and sizes of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. I also picked up a round loaf of dutch oven bread; sliced, grilled, and rubbed with garlic, it might make for a nice accompaniment to all those grilled vegetables.

P2 and S. will bring some pork chops and-- they claimed, mysteriously-- some vegetables from their own garden. I didn't know they even had a garden. A miracle!