A Greenhouse Full of Good Food & Great People: Day Nineteen

(Sometimes it’s tough to feel at home in your own city.  Which is why I’ve given myself a challenge:  each day, for forty days, I’m going to find *one* thing I love about this place.  And then I’m going to tell you about it.  If you want to follow my journey, start here.  Today is Day Nineteen.)

I have a little saying:  find a new farmer’s market, and you’ve found a whole new community of friends.

That’s how I felt today, when I visited the winter Farm-to-Table Market at Greenbrier Nurseries for the first time.

I met Ashleigh, who makes tapenades and dips for her company, Cast Iron Catering, and who sells her mother’s fresh breads at the market (we couldn’t help but walk away with a loaf of that beautiful cheddar bread and a package of homemade cheddar-gouda pimiento spread).

I met Thomas from Good Food Good People, who helped us pick out the perfect sopressatta, a truly beautiful sunshine-yellow spaghetti squash, and fresh broccoli.  Here’s my husband T, holding some of the bounty:

And I met Chef Gabor at Back2Basics Cooking, who sent us home with a heaping tray of Hungarian goulash, red cabbage and little complimentary pumpkin mousse.

“Play some Hungarian music while you eat!” he shouted as we left, in an accent so charming I couldn’t possibly do it justice in writing.  “Maybe the violin!”

I can tell already that I’m going to love this market.  It’s beautiful:  bright winter sun streams through the greenhouse roof, and rows of pansies and ornamental cabbages flank the tables of produce.  It’s also just plain *fun,* with a happy, knowledgeable clientele and the happy, knowledgeable farmers themselves — all of whom have a story to tell about how they became a ambassadors for good, local food.

But mostly, I love already the sense of community.

I can’t wait to meet more new faces … and also, eat some more fabulous food. 🙂

Hope to see you there!