This past Saturday in Maine marked the beginning of summer. Not because I had gone swimming in the lake the day before, not because the air smelled like salt and the seagulls screeched, and not because boats were being put into the harbor (although those are all valid markers). No, my friends, Saturday kicked off the summer because it was the first farmers market I attended in Camden in 2012.
The Camden Farmer's Market is more than a market, more than a place to buy vegetables, more than a celebration of the bounty of the earth. It's a tradition, a meeting place, a grounding and important occurrence in the community each week. Saturday morning arrives and everyone rolls out of bed and into the parking lot of what used to be the Knox Mill (and is now condominiums). The farmers stand in front of their wares and produce as people wander across the asphalt, their baskets growing heavier and heavier as they collect delicious and beautiful goods.
The first markets are always a bit sparse. It's the calm before the storm, the trickling in of radishes and greens before the bursting forth of carrots, peas, melons, cucumbers, summer squash, peaches, and countless other round, oblong, and leafy characters. The first markets are also lovely because I get to see the farmers again. We've become friends after so many years; I know their families, I know what goods they'll bring to sell as summer goes on, I know what years were good for lettuce and what years were bad for fiddleheads. My relationships with them pin me to mid-coast Maine in a way that transcends the years and seasons.
This year, I'm going to bring my camera along to each market to document the produce, the farmers, the shoppers, and the dogs. I want to show you how the photos change over the course of the summer months: the colors of the vegetables will deepen and so will the tans of the farmers, the crowds will grow as the tourists come, and the baskets will overflow. I hope you'll follow along...
...because, as Kristin's pants above show, you never know what beautiful things you'll find at the farmer's market.
And now, the first batch:
Radishes galore!
Greens and bok choi at Peacemeal Farm.
Cheese from Hahn's End (whose motto is "the cheese stands alone." Is that good, or what?).
Beautiful wool from lambs at Guinea Ridge Farm.
Mushrooms from Oyster Creek Mushroom Company.
Diane of Hubbard Brook Farm teaches a little girl how to weave baskets, and Kevin prepares eggs for a customer.
Kevin and Diane's rhubarb.
Baskets that Diane wove by hand.
And finally, floral pants day in Camden.