are one of my favorite things in summer. Going to one on a sunny Sunday is such a great tradition; I should make it a tradition. There's a marketplace between our house and A & O's, that means within walking distance. It's been there at least from the Soviet times and I suspect the non-farmers' part that is has is a leftover from the end of the Soviet times. The non-farmers' part, which is not strictly separated from the produce section, consists of vendors selling unknown label (as in opposed to all-known Levi's and Ecco and Guess and such brands represented in stores) apparel at Target prices. Such clothing market in Tartu used to be my go-to place for most of my outfits back when store shelves were filled with emptiness.
Anyway, whenever I go to the market and see the abundance of strawberries, blueberries, apples, plums, cranberries, cauliflowers, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, leafy greens etc., etc., I just want to buy a little bit of everything. When they're in season and you take the word of the merchants that claim they're locally grown, the fruits and veggies taste so much better than the supermarket kind. I trust my local growers to provide food as safe as if I got it from Grandma's but the problem with having lived in a city too long is I don't know when to expect which veggies. Did peas ripen before beans and were carrots already available then? And is 3 weeks after Midsummer Day too late for strawberries but too early for black currants?
So it's a good thing we got this new, upscale market open now that keeps a blog where they let all city slickers know when to come for what produce. Added bonus of course is that the said market is pretty much behind our apartment building. This market is quite small though as I think its purpose is to serve more as a cute tourist attraction rather than a welcoming meeting and bargaining grounds for smart shoppers and old timers. And it can't make me lose my mind that easily.
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