Sarasota’s Farmer’s Market every Saturday morning.

I went to the Saturday Farmer’s Market. A wonderful selection of vendors.  A really good assortment of vendors without that commercial air to it.

Natural homemade candles, soaps and lotions.

Candles for sale!

Just so you know, I didn’t even sniff them.  I don’t want to know where else folks rub their candles.  I also figure that candles and a boat may not mix well.

Orchids for sale:  Nice display of beautiful flowers.

Orchids for Sale

Vegetables for sale:  A good selection of greens, zucchini, squash, and tomatoes.  Two plants that I have not seen before.   Rambutan?  Someone mentioned they had seen the proprietor cut one open.  According to http://www.rambutan.com, you open the fruit with a knife or your teeth depending upon which is more available.  The inner fruit is sweet from Southeast Asia.  Only $4.99/lb.  I didn’t touch one because they looked like the pods were spiny and brittle.  However, I have learned that the pods are soft.

Rambutan

The other vegetable I hadn’t seen before is Sorrel or rather the Sorrel blossom.

Sorrel

Sorrel can be brewed up into a tea.  Does it taste “red”?  Add rum?  Hmmmm…. a rummy red?!

I decided to look Sorrel up on my little computer.  The plant is really the “Roselle” a hibiscus plant from west Africa.  Oftentimes, this flowering plant can be confused with “hibiscus tea”.  I have purchased hibiscus flowers from an organic food store to make into a tea a long long time ago.  Eventually, the package got a tad old and I discarded it without actually making the tea.  Next time.  Especially, since the flowers in the package weren’t really red anymore.  Not like these beautiful pods.

I did buy several large tomatoes. I hoped they would be tasty. They were meaty and could have used more manure to enhance their taste. But that is my humble opinion after growing tomatoes for 4 years in my backyard.  A friend also mentioned that the taste may have been subtle due to the species I bought.  The sign said “Tomatoes”.  No other information given.  Large slicing tomatoes that we enjoyed eating nonetheless.

Artists – painters, crafters. Normal seaside type crafts…using shells. Painters with seaside landscape. Obviously targeting tourists who have never seen a seashell, boat, beach or palm tree.

I did see only 2 vendors actually selling food to eat.  Some kind of BBQ and hotdogs.  I assume the restaurants along the street prefer visitors to stop in.  There were plenty of chairs and tables for visitors to relax and enjoy their snacks, fruit, and to rub their candles all over their faces.  There was a guy selling seafood on ice but I always worry about how cold the seafood is kept.  I don’t buy any food sold from the side of an unmarked van, trunk of a car, back of a pickup truck nor from a pile of ice on a wooden cart.  Ok, maybe jerky but that is all.  Maybe citrus or an occasional watermelon.  Really….

At major intersections there were guitar players strumming for tips. Good crowd of people and their dogs.  Actually, more dogs than kids.  Good news is that I didn’t actually have to watch my step.  Very responsible humans to pick up after their dogs.

Downtown Sarasota is quite busy on the weekends.   The Farmer’s Market in the mornings usually prelude into some other activity in the afternoon. Sometimes it is an art show. Sometimes it is music. Lots of sound and color to enhance everyone’s senses.

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Went to the Farmer’s Market again this morning.  Still more dogs than kids.  More people now that the Winter Visitors are beginning to arrive.  I saw more food stands.  Baked goods, meat, that seafood guy, and guacamole maker.  Maybe they were there before but I missed them.  Or more vendors selling prepared food because there is more humans.  I was not tempted since I had a scrumptious breakfast at a local eatery.

Here is a nice fall display…

I saw several people walking with these.  Carnivorous plants!!  All you have to do is feed them insects.  These plants will eat mosquitos, “no-see-ums”, and other flying insects.  A little leaf misting and they are good.  Questions that immediately pop up in my mind:  What happens when you run out of insects?  Will these plants get SciFi large?  Large enough to eat a small dog or human?  I had to walk quickly away before I got carried away!

The only other question I have from today’s outing…. Porty Potty Labeling.  One labeled Men.  One labeled Women.  What is the middle one for??  Whomever has the need and can’t wait for a labeled door to open?

I should have peeked but I was afraid.  That SciFi thing…..