Farmer's Market...

My middle brother came up yesterday from Texas for a visit and we went this morning to see his youngest daughter who had brought some of her baby turkeys to our local small town farmer's market to sell, and it brought back childhood memories. If you've never been to a town's farmer's market you have missed a delightful experience. My first remembrance of a farmer's market was over 50 years ago in Oklahoma City. My mom and dad would go on Saturdays to get fresh vegetables and fruits during our growing season. There were other vendors that rented space on a year round basis, but my favorite's were the open air spaces. Not only were there all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes of vegetables and fruits, there were also folks that brought live chickens, turkeys, piglets, baby goats and sometimes even puppies. Mom would pick out her produce that she wanted and dad would usually get a couple of chickens. When we'd get home daddy would wring the chickens necks and those things would run around and flop and carry on until they died. Mom would have a pot of boiling water that she'd bring out and plunge those birds in to make it easier to pluck the feathers. For those of you who are too young to have had the experience of plucking chickens, let me tell you that wet chicken feathers are stinky. That was a job that us little ones would help with, then after we got all the feathers we could, my older sisters and brothers would work on whatever feathers were left, then mom would singe off the pinfeathers. From watching my mom, I can, to this day, cut up a chicken and even get a pulley bone (or wish bone to some folks). All the stinky, nasty feathers were well worth it, because my mom made the best fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy I've ever eaten, but I do have to add that mom and all us kids were really happy when the grocers started carrying already dressed out chickens.

Thanks for stopping by....