Monday, May 26, 2008

Need-a-Bag? project update, 05.17.08 and 05.24.08

Note: The Need-a-Bag? project was created to promote sustainable bagging at the Hwy 441 Alachua County Farmer's Market each Saturday morning. We supply reusable tote bags reclaimed from thrift stores and garage sales. The Need-a-Bag? project also utilizes old tank tops as tote bags by sewing up the bottoms (these are called t-totes). We invite you to read the other posts on the project by clicking the "Need-a-Bag? Project" label at the bottom of this post.

Here's the update for 05.17: We put out 12 new bags and Virgo has been adopted! A "thank you" to the kind soul who found it in their hearts to make a place for little Virgo.

My brain must be still damaged from all the information I stuffed into it over the last semester, because I am still not hitting a summer stride. I have a 6-week lag, I've decided, where it takes me that long to settle into any new routines.

Anyway, the farmer's market is hopping right now! Last week they opened up a second aisle of tables but they were sparse; this weekend it was packed with farmers and shoppers. There is a tendency to get all hopped up and in a "me-first" mindset at these things. I have to remind myself that it is all good food, there is no "perfect 10" eggplant (unless you live in Japan where they are all about the Chisan Chisou). I bought a bunch of corn and, to be honest, this is my first experience with farmer's market corn. No one told me there would be worms. Or big fat caterpillars. I had to find this out on my own, to my consternation and chagrin. Is this what life will be like in a peak oil world? Being reduced to buying farmer's market corn and fighting off the pestilence that afflicts those lovely ears of delicious, farm-fresh deliciousness? Is this the trade-off? Or am I just an idiot and do not know how to choose un-wormy/caterpillary corn? Perhaps a little bit of both.

Pictured above: Tote bag offerings for next week's market day.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you find the answer, please post it. A friend gave us a sackful of homegrown corn last year, and it was full of very happy worms. We were nice to the worms and took them outside. The corn required a lot of cleanup before it was finally edible for us, though.

Mistressmybae said...

Whew. Okay. It's not just me. I've got 6 ears left of the Saturday haul that I'll probably cook up tonight and think I'm going to just chop off the tops immediately since that's where they like to congregate.

I guess, from a purely elementary observation, it's better to have worms than not, because that means the corn wasn't sprayed with a whole lot of chemicals. Conversely, it could mean that the worms have adapted to the chemicals and will soon mutate into radioactive, giant, corn worms.

Anonymous said...

So who had the corn, anyhow? I think it's a little early in the season. The serious corn people usually show up with an entire truckbed full of it, and it's never wormy.