Grafton Farmers Market

“So what are you going to have at the farmers market, anyway?”

The answer we’ve been giving to that question since we first started kicking around the idea last fall? We don’t know.

Really. We don’t.

That’s all up to our local farmers — every week, they’re going to bring what they’ve been picking in their fields.

It could be carrots. It could be corn (but not this week — the corn crop’s running about two weeks behind due to all that rain). It could be something you’ve never even tried yet, like the white salad turnips that Silvermine Farm talked us into trying.

But in the meantime, want to take a gander at some of the things we saw, and bought, and ate this week?

So if you look up at the top of this post, you’re going to see baby bok choy from Nourse Farm. Bok choy is fantastic. Cut it up to use in stir fries — no doubt you’ve had it in a Chinese restaurant and wondered what the fantastic crunchy vegetable way — and you can also use it in salads and cole slaws.

The veggies in the second photo is kind of obvious — those are some carrots from Silvermine Farm, and we’re not embarrassed to say we were washing them off with water right there and snacking on them at the market.

Also from Silvermine, those white objects are salad turnips. Cut them up to add to salad or saute them in a little olive oil and garlic — they’re slightly sweet and crunchy.

Here’s something a little obvious, too.

Yes, that’s lettuce.

Ruth at Holden Farms was telling us the lettuce is practically exploding in size this season — they love colder weather and wet, and it appears Mother Nature is certainly in the mood for lettuce with the weather we’re having.

And with heads that look like that, who can blame her?

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention some of the non-edible items at the farmers market. Check out these flowers from Sweetbriar Florist.

Everyone was walking around with a flower or two — doesn’t that just scream farmers market? — and some of them were truly otherworldly. You’re definitely going to find something that is a bit more than a red carnation at this stall, we suspect.

Unusual is also the name of the game at Mapel Plants.

They were selling not only ornamental garden plants — we loved that they pointed out their rice loved the rain — but also pepper varieties (there was a really cool black hot pepper plant) and a “three bean salad” combo. If you’re looking for something to jazz up your garden or give as a gift to the gardener who has everything, definitely check them out.

And finally, we would love to show you some of the baked goods from Paul’s Bakery. Really, we would. But they we our first sell-out. Don’t worry, they promise they’ll be bringing even more to the market next week!