The Farmers Scene

 

 

 

      What a scene, what a scene,

what a tradition goin’ of a little community-building scene all its own

      every week takes place here—

Every Wednesday afternoon, you know, it’s the Farmers Market,

      here, downtown, in Santa Cruz style  

—oh, I remember when after the Quake this all used to take place

               on a couple blocks of Pacific Ave itself—,

                         it’s, like, it’s own little world  

                                                                  as you can see for yourself, 

these three modest aisles of primarily white pointy—there’s a few blue

      & a few red—

              canopied booths & back-ended vehicles & tables you see

                             as you approach,

                  snug in the one block back from Pacific Ave, a parking lot here

      that’s back behind Logos Used Books & Toadal Fitness,

                alongside Cedar St—

All the famously, the greater bulk of it, organically grown produce you’ll find here

      as you go booth to booth to choose from—

Small farms from up the north county coast, from right here in Santa Cruz,

      & from south of town Corralitos & Watsonville way,

                    all through that rich agricultural Pajaro Valley,

                                          & from over the summit Los Gatos there,

                           & from Hollister & San Juan Bautista

                                                    down in neighboring San Benito county;

                 from Brentwood in Contra Costa,

                                        from Oakdale, Turlock, Modesto & Fresno,

                             coming in from way out there in the Central Valley,

they all bring to us such delicious & wholesome, directly from-the-farm

      fresh produce—

                                                          Oh, what a scene, what a scene,

to saunter through leisurely as you linger & look & squeeze

& try a sample of this, that, or the other, & run into friends & old friends,

so-and-so you haven’t seen in so long, & those you see here every week;

and it’s quite the casual place & time to plan to meet up

      with someone

                while you’re out doing your weekly produce shopping.

 

Oh, it’s such an abundance we have here,

so much luscious, fresh-from-the-Earth, simply good, natural, organic food here,

      we are so lucky here—

                                                       What is it you want?

Corn on the cob, beans—there’re all kinds’a beans,

—look at that mountain of green beans they got on that table over there—,

      lettuce—oh, there’re bins of all sorts of leafy greens.

You want carrots, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, beets, radishes, asparagus,

      cabbage, cauliflower, celery—?

                                                   What about spinach?

                    Need cilantro, dill, or parsley? Like fennel?

                                                                  Dandelions for your salad?

      Want peas in the pod?

                        Need potatoes? So many different kind’a potatoes here—

What about tomatoes? What about these little cherry tomatoes?

You’ll see that some farms’ll boast about their prized heirloom seeds.

What about garlic or onions—what kind’a onions you want?

      Bell peppers?

There comes the season for chili peppers too—all kinds’a them—,

      how hot do you want ‘em?

                      And broccoli, eggplant, chard, bok choy, kale—

                                 You want brussels sprouts on the stem?                                         

      What about avocadoes?

                                         —Wow, not many left this week.

             Give ‘em a squeeze—

                          Not real hard, not too soft, just right, right?

And don’t forget the artichokes—

                                                      Here we live,

right smack on the central coast of the state,

where almost literally all the artichokes of the world are grown;

      right off the fields, we get ‘em here.

                                              Or you want freshly cut flowers?

      There’re plenty of them to choose from.

What about herbs growing all neat in their little trays?

                                You want melons—all kinds’a melons—,

      what about big hunky watermelons?

What about oranges, kiwi, grapefruit, or lemons?

The season for cherries & blueberries sure goes by fast—

                And what about apricots, kumquats or them loquats?

                                                   And look here—

      There’re nectarines & luscious dark plums,

                   & peaches

                                    Peaches

                                                 PEACHES—!!

You’re handed a wedge of a peach on a skewer, and—

      Wow, they’re the sweetest I’ve ever tasted—

                                               Sweetest & juiciest ever.

                  That’s it, you’re sold.

You wanna try a slice of the oranges? They’re over there—

They got ice cold pomegranate juice too—& it’s good.

                                     Of course, look at all the strawberries—

Baskets & baskets of ‘em,  there’re whole bins of ‘em;

      the whole Watsonville area is famous, you know,

                   for strawberries—

Yep, the best I’ve ever tasted, you don’t get ‘em any better than this.

And here are little baskets too of blackberries & raspberries—

Of course you got deep purple grapes or the light green grapes,

      by the bunches;

               the Central Valley, you know, is famous for their grapes.

                                                                        And you can see,

            it’s just barely starting the season for apples now—

                       Look at them apples, as they say,

                                                                   & you’ll be sayin’,

                                             & there’ll be loads of ‘em too—

Isn’t Watsonville also famous for its apples?

(Though I hear there are fewer & fewer orchards out there every year.)

                                                 And then come in the pears—

           It’ll be apples & pears & pears & apples soon.

Late in the year there’ll be all kinds of wintertime produce.

                                                                       And still—

you walk passed booths of mushrooms, eggs, nuts,

dried fruit & dates, flavored almonds—

                                          Are you into wheat grass? sprouts?

                           What about tofu or tempeh?

Here is a table of dried kinds of crispy sea salty sea plants—

      They’re really quite tasty.

                                    Or want somethin’ special for lunch?

What about nori special rolls at this table here?

              Or these rice paper rolls?

                                            RK (as we know him) sells ‘em

                               at his weekly table here—

      And I’ll tell you,

I know for a fact they’re quite good—oh, they’re actually

      quite quite delicious.

                 And you’ll find really good breads, cheeses, fresh fish, oysters

          —I understand Bill The Oyster Man is well-known here—;

& there’s one booth’s got organic-fed chickens & grass-fed beef.

                                     And you’ll also find

             the sweets of pastries, pies,

                                            —oh, there’s quiche at that booth too—,

       & the exquisitely fine, handcrafted Donnelly Chocolates,

                   a business that’s established itself out on the west side,

                                 I hear has made a world name for itself;

& there’s a whole table over there lined with rows & rows of jars of honey—

Oh, there’re jars & bottles of all kinds’a homemade sauces & syrups

      at some booth or another.

And here’re booths in a row of Indian, Italian & Mexican foods,

      some, all ready to eat, if you want.

 

                                                       Yes, what a scene, what a scene,

it’s a small world of a scene all its own in Santa Cruz here—

Oh, you’ll always run into someone or another here—

                                              It’s certainly a little vortex of its own

within the swirling downtown greater Vortex of the Cruz—

All the organic, alternative green, permaculture, hemp hippy crowd loves

      the Farmers here;

the old counter-culture & rave-going crowd, they all show up here;

      & the side show performance artists are always here,

               at the fringes of it all—

                                    Balloon lady Tarnosaurus this season is here;

                    there’s always some guitarist, or your odd a cappella group

      as you find standin’ here today, piping their voices—;

                   & there’s the drumming starts up come the good weather

      back in a certain part of the parking lot, off to the side,

            it’ll be quite obvious—

Someone’s always bound too to have a didgeridoo, or a sax or violin

      or guitar there;

                            of course you hear the tambourines;

& there’s wild, red-haired Alan “Sitar” Brown

brings out at times his monster of an instrument,

about the only one around town who can play the thing.

 

What it always comes down to, though,

      here, at the Farmers,

is that cornucopia out pouring how it’s happenin’ every week,

this beautiful abundance they provide for us all of fresh, wholesome,

      right-off-the-farm produce

that’ll always be at the heart of it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 2005