Local Bounty

Here's a partial display of dividends from a local farmer's market. The fresh vegetables so beautifully captivated the spirit of early summer that they won out over wildflowers for our evening table bouquet.

Donna threw in a few extra peppers - banana, jalapeño, and a spicy breed of light green bell pepper, I cannot remember the name - as she weighed up two varieties of purple eggplant and some plump home-grown tomatoes. Another vendor's table offered up white eggplant; I couldn't resist. Fresh corn, baby cucumbers, onions and bell peppers rounded out the morning's take, all grown within 25 miles of home.

And of course, Mrs. Douglass, the grande dame of the market, talked me into buying another one of her propagated plants, this time an aloe vera. "It's summertime," she said. "You always need an aloe vera plant for sunburn. And you can wipe it on a little cut and it'll go away." Sage words of wisdom: no charge.