The end of summer

Tomorrow will mark the official beginning to my favorite season: Autumn. I look forward to the new adventures that a change in weather and pace will bring us. However, the end of summer hearkens the end of other traditions. This upcoming Saturday will be the last Cotton Mills Farmer's market of the season. I've enjoyed getting to create a family tradition out of visiting the market on Saturday mornings. We haven't gotten to go every Saturday this summer (often because the desire to sleep has complete overpowered the desire to eat healthy). However, the days that we've made it have been, well, wonderful. Ardis enjoys the freedom of the farmer's market- looking at the produce, asking questions, seeing friends from school, etc. I've learned to enjoy watching her explore. While at the beginning of the summer, Jesse and I did most of the shopping, we're ending the summer with Ardis doing most of the shopping. As we've tromped through the market, I simply make sure that we save money for each stall while she has been telling me what we "need." Last weekend, we needed apples, itty-bitty potatoes, strange purple beans, and shittake mushrooms "for dadoo." The result is rather incredible: she'll eat most anything she purchases there. Jesse sauteed the mushrooms in butter and olive oil. She ate at least 1/4 of the pint we purchased. We baked the itty-bitty potatoes with butter. She ate them with sour cream. The purple beans? She ate those, too- sauteed with a little bit of olive oil and tossed with orzo pasta. The apples? Tiny, toddler size apples? We keep finding her sitting on the couch, chowing down.

Saturday will be her last official shopping spree of the market's season. We'll continue to shop at the CSA and other places the local farmers might set up their stalls. I'm sure she'll continue to point out to me in the weeks to come where the farmer's market is, as she has done for most of the summer. She knows the location no matter which direction we approach it from, or how fast we go by. I wonder what we'll have for dinner Saturday night?