The weather was not so nice, still the farmers’ market in Orleans (Cape Cod, Massachusetts) was busy. Busy in the sense that there was some nice live music and all visitors seemed to be part of a family or of the same vibe. The more than 2 dozen were placed almost like an open corral, the 2 musicians in the center were underlining this.

Since the weather was not so friendly, it was good to have a stand with organic & probably fair trade coffee. This drink is a fair proxy for the rest of the market: focused on organic food, not only vegetarian, almost giving the feeling of a modern version of a flower power meeting – with clean air, instead of the smell of the “good old days”.

In contrast to public markets in general or European markets, the stands did not display their produce in a lush way, there was always a little bit of this and a little bit of that. This almost gave the impression that the producers just had a hobby, which certainly was not the case after having talked to some.

In terms of products all the basics were available: vegetables of all kinds, beef & poultry meat stored in coolers, jelly (e.g. peach bourbon), bakery goods, and so on. One stand also had purslane, something which is rather uncommon. The vendor gave some good tips on how to use it – sautéed in butter and or in small pieces on salads. Sounds good. Surprising was a stand with nice vegetable juices like cucumber mixed with some other nice flavors. Unfortunately the quart (?) was about 12$, so I did not try it. Now I am regretting it as I do not know if it was worth it or not.

Hopefully the live music is always as nice at it was that day, then a visit will always be a pleasant experience.

All in all: A pleasant market with the basics a farmers’ market should offer and some modern flower power feeling, but not on the cheap

A little link list:

• The official website of the Orleans farmers’ market
• A little blog post from Seasonal Chef

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