Looks like a beautiful morning, so off I go to spend a nice Friday with our seedlings and annual customers at the Raleigh Farmer's Market, set up next to one of our favorite sellers, E. L. Wheeler.  He and I go back to the very first year we were there, 13 years ago. 


We are under the white tent in the parking lot - same place as two weeks ago.


Last night I made the liberating decision to depart Facebook.  There are many reasons I suppose, but mostly, just part of life simplification!  More on that later....off I go!

I am about to go and select the plants for the market this weekend (Fri and Sat).  Hoping we have lots of good sized Sungold and Cherokee Purple (which we haven't up until now!).  I will update here when we have our spot, and with any varieties that are gone (which there are a few, I know).


Just a beautiful day out there, so rather than type, off I go to enjoy it!

I was just out watering my seedlings, amazed at how dry they seemed to be (it poured here just a few days ago).  Then I came in to find that the relative humidity is only 20% and the wind is blowing.  We are in Wake county - right to our west the frost advisories start...yikes!  And here I am trying to find time to plant the tomatoes and eggplant and peppers.  Glad I waited!

After a packed day at work, I procured some potting mix and finally made a bit of progress on our garden.  Now residing in pots on the deck are Parsley, Cilantro, Salad Burnet, Thyme and Basil (all from seed).  That will provide just a fraction of the basil we use each summer....hopefully I can get the short row of basil transplanted to the garden soon.

but today was one to dislike....


...at least it's nearly Tuesday!

We've decided that a Strawberry Dutch Baby may not work - make the berries too mushy.  So it will be an apple DB with fresh strawberries (from John Farmer) on the side.  Once Sue and Sara wake up, that is.  My brain is already in high gear (typical for our market weekends), so any further sleep was just not going to happen for me.  It's also a perfect morning for a big fat newspaper and the NYT Crossword puzzle - muggy, cloudy, birds in full chorus, and some T Storms due.


So on to Tomatopalooza 2010 - Lee Newman and I decided on Saturday July 31, and like last year, at Lake Wheeler Park in Raleigh.  Many more details to follow.  I will probably create a separate Tomatopalooza page on this site, but that's enough to get us started.


Today is a day to watch the rain fall and ponder our own garden (and transplant some Bird peppers and Mexico Midget tomatoes, along with some other things, in preparation for next weekend).  Potatoes are due to arrive tomorrow, and there are beans, basil, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants to get into the ground or the pot.  Where to find the time, though?


I went through the driveway and now have a good idea of what the seedling supplies are - see the From The Vine page.


GREAT simple dinner tonight.  Saute garlic and sweet pepper in olive oil, add some chopped scallions.  Season with salt, black and red pepper flakes.  Add sugar snap peas, then after a few minutes, some asparagus - then some washed, mixed greens (we used purple and red mustard, red choi, broccoli rabe, chard and red Russian kale, and a few leaves of other Asian greens).  When the greens are wilted, toss with cooked whole wheat linguine - then serve with grated Parmesan.  Very fresh tasting - my variation of Pasta Primavera - all ingredients (except the peppers) from the Farmers market or our garden.  Yum!

Another delightfully tent-less day at the market meeting many of our "annual friends"!  It was surprisingly warm when the sun did break through.  The special order system worked flawlessly - if we didn't have a shortage of Mexico Midget and Sungold the day would have been perfect.  Next week those two should be adequately represented.


So we are dog tired (with apologies to Mocha and Buddy), half way through our spring seedling sales....the plants are back out on the driveway to hopefully get rained on tonight.  


I just walked around the yard (admittedly in a daze) - our iris patch is in full bloom (and nearly exclusively white!), Miss Kim lilac is perfuming our entire yard.  Our greens are thriving and in fact may be the main part of dinner tonight.  


Thanks to everyone who stopped by the last two days.  Now off to cut some greens, string some peas...and chill some Prosecco!

We had a nice pleasant, calm day at the market (Fridays are calm, Saturdays are not, typically!).  Home now and resting up for tomorrow....as usual, we will have a selection of most things, with a few varieties missing (but only a few are completely gone - see the From The Vine Seedlings page - others will be big enough next weekend).

We will be near where we were last week - in between the yellow/white striped and white tents.  If it fits, we will set up our own tent and be under the blue one in the middle!  You won't be able to miss us, either way.  If we can't fit our tent, let's hope the rain stays away Fri and Sat!


Today was a blurry mix of work and preparations for market....somehow I need to find the time to get the rest of my garden planted!

The perfect follow up to a seedling transplant activity is a nice gentle rain.  And here it comes!  (Buddy, our male chocolate lab, does NOT like thunder....the noises being made as he paces around the house are quite indescribable).  Bring on the May flowers as well (we've got Iris in full bloom, as well as Deutzia and a few spider wort.)


When I pack up the truck tomorrow night to go claim our selling spot at the market I will have a better idea of the seedling size and variety availability.