Slim Pickins

The Dane County farmer's market has two seasons. This is due to the producer-only requirement that most other farmer's markets don't have, and which makes the Dane County farmer's market such an example of local sustainability. Anything sold at the Dane County farmer's market has to be grown and created in Dane County. Although some things like meat and cheese can be produced year-round, everything else, especially that which falls into the "vegetation" category, is only available during the spring and summer seasons.

The Dane County farmer's market is insanely popular, as can be witnessed in the farmer's market and the faces of the farmer's market tags. I was quite surprised that on the farmer's market opening spring weekend for the 2011 year, only one-third of the vendors showed up.

The chefs for the local high-end restaurants shop early in the morning. They can always be identified by the wagons they pull behind them carrying the produce bought at the farmer's market. One of these chefs was from Graze, Madison's hottest new restaurant

Granted, it was cold and wet, and because it was Wisconsin, all that was mixed with snow despite being well into the period of time most other states would call the spring season. This particular day also featured 35-45 mile an hour wind gusts, quite unusual for this state. For those of you who follow the news, this was the focal point of the triple-front weather system that devastated the mid-west and middle America.

The tea party had its annual post-April 15th rally in Madison this weekend. Because Madison is Madison, there was also a huge counter-protest to the tea party protest that dwarfed the actual number of tea partiers in attendance.

That's no reason for the vendors to stay away. If anything the protests have been incredibly profitable to many local businesses, something that has been reported ad-nauseum in the Wisconsin press. You'd think if there was a guaranteed 10,000 or so number of potential customers around, the farmer's market vendors would use that to their advantage, regardless of political orientation. Thus, I was surprised to see only a third of the normal number of vendors on this particular day; maybe 50-55 instead of the normal 150 for opening weekend.

The vendors which did stick around despite the miserable weather seemed to be rewarded for their determination, relative to the disproportionate numbers of the crowds in attendance. I never saw a single tea partier buy a single thing from the vendors.

I bought some spinach, burdock root, sunchoke, red onions, and because I don't care what my breath smells like anymore, ramps. All organic, of course.

All organic except for the prescription testosterone cream. When I first became chemically injured my hormones were tested several times in an effort to find the source of what would eventually be diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome co-morbid to multiple chemical sensitivity/chemical injury. At that time, all of the hormone levels were normal. Now that the crazy chemicals and metals in my body have come home to roost, normal hormonal levels are out of balance because the chemicals and metals have taken the place where the body would normally absorb nutrients, telling them "The club has closed. Go home"

One by one, be it pituitary hormones or the male hormones like testosterone, I have to find pharmaceutical supplementation for things my body is no longer capable of producing or absorbing.

It's not a good position to be in. I hope nobody else finds themselves in this situation, but until all of the American or other worldly societies are aware of the dangers they face, one by one, they will join this unwilling fraternity.

Update: the lower number of vendors is probably due to the extended winter in Wisconsin this year. Today is April 18th and we are expecting more snow tonight. It's not uncommon for regions this far north to get a springtime snow every now and then, but the temperatures have been consistently lower than normal for this time of year. Because that affects the crops, if the crops aren't growing some of the vendors will not have anything to bring to the market. The vendors which did show up Saturday, those who sold produce and not just meat or cheese, were the well-established farms that had a highly diversified selection of crops, especially the tubers and root variety that can handle a winter-like spring. These farms also built their own greenhouses, whereas smaller farms are less likely to diversify or make capital investments like greenhouses. Not yet, anyway.

Update II: I made a vegetarian omlette with the spinach, ramps, and onions and it was pretty good. Something about the ramps worked well with the flavor of the eggs and spinach, I might try a quiche or casserole with them next. The sunchoke and burdock will be going into a stir fry. Burdock is a starchy root without a lot of flavor but which absorbs spices very well. It is believed to have medicinal benefits. I normally shred or julienne it, mix it with some chili powder, ginger, and lime juice, and then pan fry it. Occasionally I'll splash it with some Worcestershire sauce as well. After that, you can put it on just about anything-tacos, fish, burgers, you name it.