Put your eggs in the basket you've got

I have to chastise myself for missing Maine so much...I must have had a temporary lapse, and forgotten about the Stone Barns Farm Market.

For one thing, on Fridays both Red Jacket Orchards and Consider Bardwell Farm are there selling fruit and cheeses (respectively) to go with all the gorgeous produce straight out of Stone Barns' soil.

For another, the people there are friendly, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic about what they are a part of, and make you feel like you are a part of it, too, just by showing up. Among them are Julie at the gate, Joan at the vegetable table who always knows a great way to use what's for sale, and the unbelievably patient woman (whose name I don't know yet) who allowed Anna to refill our egg carton one by one instead of just handing over a new, full carton. And that's not to mention the welcoming and very funny guys in the Blue Hill Cafe, who seem truly passionate about what they've got cooked up each day.

But the best part of all is that I usually run into a friend (today it was Liz) or even meet a new one (like Barbara Scott-Goodman, who sells the cheeses for her friends at Bardwell). And I am reminded that the environment you live in and the connections you make there accumulate over time, and become part of that place you call home.

Or as Alberto in the Cafe said, throwing his hands up when I bemoaned being back from vacation: "well, get used to it, this is reality".

And what a nice reality it is, afterall.

Flush with eggplants and apples, and glad to be home; thanks for reading.

tt