Market Season

Hot and muggy has returned to central Illinois. It's not quite "mouth" outside, but it's darn close. On days like this, my inner Northwesterner gets whiny about the weather. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to anything over 85 being anything but super-hot.

But of course there is a silver lining. The warm weather means that it's market season again.
Bloomington has a lovely Farmers' Market that runs from mid-May through the end of October. It's one of my favorite things about living here. The farmers set up around the old courthouse square, which is just six blocks from our house. All summer long, our Saturdays consist of waking up, pouring a travel mug of coffee, and walking to the market. The soil here is rich and more farmers than you might expect are choosing to grow an array of organic veggies rather than commodity corn and beans. We're able to buy almost all our produce, plus our eggs and meat, from the market. Plus, there are really good almond-chocolate croissants made by a Frenchman who now lives in Champaign-Urbana.

We've always brought Mila with us and now Eve gets to join us, too. I have to admit that we haven't quite gotten the hang of the trip as a family of four. The market is growing in vendors and popularity, so with the crowds, plus dog and baby-wrangling, it's a little tricky to actually get our groceries, too. Really though, it doesn't really matter how long it takes, or even if our slower pace means I missed the asparagus yesterday. See? We're having fun!

Note Eve's awesome "locally grown" onesie. (Thanks Girls!)
What I love about our Saturday morning rituals is the way it brings together so many things that matter to me. I am with my family. We run into so many friends and people from church so it's a rich time of connecting to my community. Plus, I get to be thoughtful and deliberate about our food. Someone has put great care into growing this food and I will take care in preparing it, so that we can take pleasure in eating and be strengthened for service. This is the food that fills our table and when we say grace, we pray that God would take it and bless it, "that it might strengthen us to be your people in this world."