The community lives in my small town, even though it struggles elsewhere, and I feel it, see it, and photograph it every Sunday at our farmer’s market.

The farmers I know are very good people. I liked them from the first moment I got up here. They work hard, and they care about what they do.

I liked the old Farmer’s Market, but I like this one a lot more. The market just moved to a bigger and more beautiful space. I only take portraits of people I like and love, and there are many people I am coming to like and even love there.

Cindy Casavant, a/k/a the Goat Lady on my blog, is at the top of the list.

She returned to our market today; she has been so busy selling soap and tending to a swarm of baby goats and baking she’s had to ask friends to come instead to sell her cheese and soap.

Today she came with goat yogurt cookies, cheese, and new soap. She is always trying something new, and it is always good.

Cindy and I are becoming friends, we seem to get one another, and I have to say, honestly, her soap is the first soap that I ever wanted to eat; it looks so good.

It’s also the best-smelling and best soap that I’ve ever bought. You can take a look at it here. I don’t generally push products on the blog, but I highly recommend  Cindy’s soap.

The scent of the month is peony.  Many of you have bought her soap online – www.cazacrez.com, [email protected]. and messaged me to thank me for mentioning it. Caz works like a demon; she deserves success and is having some.

Cindy has a great sense of humor. It helps that she is so nice. Her goat yogurt cookies are also great. I’m happy to see her again and take her picture. Her smile is quite genuine; that’s what she is like.

Cindy’s farm is called Caz Acrez.

Anne is the mother of Matt Ross, our farrier. She is a gifted and savvy farmer and gardener whose farm also does welding and builds truck beds. Her flowers are works of art.

Her son Matt, our farrier,  makes some beautiful art out of farm utensils, especially horseshoes. Today I bought his latest creation, a horseshoe sunflower. It’s going in my study. It is beautifully crafted and solidly made. Matt says it takes him too long to make these and won’t charge enough to make it worth his while. He loves what he does and has no ambition to be an artist, but I have to say, he sure is one.

Matt reminds me of Ed Gulley is some ways; he is a lot quieter but is also a gifted creative who uses the farm materials around him to make art.

Matt’s art is very different than Ed’s, and he has little interest in being a full-time artist, but I admire his creativity.  It runs in the family. He is a great farrier as well; the donkeys love him. We are pretty fond of him as well.

Matt’s new sunflower is made out of painted horseshoes.

Hickory Wind is Anne’s farm, where she lives with her two sons. Hickory Wind is a diversified farm. They make heritage grains, sell beautiful flowers ((I bought two today, both perennials), and do welding, among other things.

Annie is an impressive gardener and an authority on grains and oats. I learn a lot from talking with her. I get the sense she’s a pretty great mother as well. She always brings a flower I want to take home. I’ve done that several times.

The sunflower is in my study now.

 

Edwin is one of my favorite farmers at the market. He usually shows up with his daughter, whose vegetable arrangement is the most beautiful at the market. He grows garlic, vegetables, berries, eggs, and popcorn.

We love the food he grows. I’ve seen Edwin at the market but never got to know him  He has a dry sense of humor and appreciates irony- it seems all the farmers do – but today, he was laughing a lot, which I don’t remember seeing. Edwin takes farming seriously and works hard all year without complaint.

I see he looked Hawaiian today. I’ve never seen him dressed so colorfully. His farm is Long Days Farm.

I asked him what was going on with the jazzy shirt.

“I’m re-branding myself,” he said, laughing. I suspect he may be dancing next time.

Katie is not a farmer but one of my favorite people one I love and respect. She used to run the local food co-op and saw it through the pandemic and a restoration project that was necessary and successful. We connect. Her dream is to run a high-class bar in Scotland, I think. If she wants to do it, she will do it. She also teaches dancing classes, and the performances have been excellent. She has a great heart.

We always hug when we see each other – we each have permission – and my soul lifts whenever I see her. She is the real deal, my highest compliment. I love her T-shirt, too; it’s a good and gutsy statement. I am working hard to believe it.

 

A  community blue grass band played at the market today; this is a community in action and the best of ours. Their music was great.

The market has a great tone and feel to it. They’ve changed and adapted, and I imagine I’ve also changed. I didn’t pay much attention to farmer’s markets and never saw one until I moved up here. I wasn’t very open to that sort of thing for many years, too distracted and preoccupied with my work and troubles. I feel feeder and lighter these days, even as the country grows darker and angrier.

We get much of our food here, and it is keeping me healthy.

Things like the Army of Good and the farmer’s market remind me that people are good; they work hard, care about what they do and about other people, and treat one another with warmth and courtesy. That is what America is really about, not what is shown on the so-called news.