Hello Brattleboro area!
Micah Ranquist, your friendly neighborhood massage therapist playing “blogger” for the 2023 BAFM season here.
Let’s start with the obvious. Could we possibly have had better weather for an opening day? This is my
first year as a vendor and also the first year that I’ve made it to the market on opening day. If any of you
market veterans can think of an opening day with better weather than May 6,2023 I would love to hear
about it! Leading up to opening day a bunch of us vendors spent a few hours on an overcast and
generally dreary day cleaning up the space for the season. I must admit I was feeling a bit nervous about
what opening day might end up being like. Unnecessarily, apparently!
Here's another thing for us to reflect on. Was this an opening day for the farmers market, or a
Brattleboro Area Cutest Kid Contest that I somehow had not heard of?! Parents brought them out in
force! I’m sure this was at least partially for the May Pole Celebration – beautifully captured on video by
one of the vendors and available to stream somewhere soon! One set of kids in particular caught my
attention. I’d like to say “thank you” to the parents of the twins that were NOT dressed alike! I know
that twins often have a bond that most cannot understand and make choices to dress alike and such on
their own, but these two seem to be interested in expressing their individuality and I’m impressed with
the parents that are encouraging it.
I’m very excited about this season. Like I said already, this is my first summer farmers market as a
vendor. However, I’m also excited for the food opportunities’ available to us. I did my thing for a few
weeks at the end of the winter market and had the chance to start to get acquainted with some of the
vendors and their wares. This summers market is presenting even more stuff to me. Maybe I’m way late
to the game, but I’ve never had fresh raw milk before! Abraham with Rebop farm was happy to offer me
my first quart. Full disclosure; I would not, up to this point in my life, consider myself a “milk drinker.” I
use it in cooking and will splash some half and half in coffee in the morning. I’ve just never been terribly
enthused with the taste of just plain milk. Until now, that is! Goodness ‘yal, if store bought milk tasted
like this, I would have become a milk drinker long ago!
During my winter farmers market, I enjoyed buying goods from vendors and then creating a yummy
dish. I would take photos and write up a simple description for other customers to enjoy on social
media. I did it because I love cooking, but also as a way to encourage customers to express their own
creativity and buy an item or two that maybe they had never cooked with before. Here’s a photo of
something I made from a few things I picked up this past Saturday. I hope you consider trying something
similar on your own.
This is braised kale and carrots surrounded by cardimom and duck fat smashed roasted red potatoes
and topped with ginger garlic cured duck egg yolks. If you would like to get some more detail
about what I’ve made and who I bought the ingredients from feel free to come find me nestled between
Megan with cracked An Egg Farm and Mr. Bigan with his wonderful oatmeal soaps.
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