Loading up at farmers' markets & cycling

[shootingstar]

Hauling only 4 unhusked cobs of corn, bag of hazelnuts, etc., plus other fruits made me feel like cycling bounty queen today. As for bruised fresh local fruits, I'm just grateful to buy local at reasonable prices.

The market that I cycle to weekly, for whatever strange reason does not attract many cyclists. It is located near bike routes and on weekends the roads are pleasantly quiet with indoor facilities, stalls and washrooms. Very clean. It is also within 1 km. of historic residential neighbourhoods. It is in my opinion, the best local market with the widest range of local farmers, vendors with good pricing. It doesn't just have yuppie-like, chic stalls of goods like some other markets. In fact several major vendors/growers are run by immigrants...yes, I will say this that their English reflects a 2nd mother tongue and their stalls are family run operations.

I think I'll have to slowly promote this long-time, working class oriented market through the cycling group and I know cyclists do live close to this market. I am not certain if the city where I live just is not accustomed (still) cycling with a lot of groceries.

[OakLeaf]

Where I usually break down and take the car, is leafy greens. I always make sure I have a plastic bag big enough to cover them completely (or use two), but if it's more than a bag of baby lettuces, they just get beaten to bits in a pannier. Especially if it's anything larger like chard or beets with greens, that sticks half out of the pannier and flaps around in the wind.

What I wind up doing is taking the car to the winter CSA pickup, which I do midweek and is usually heavy on greens, then supplement that with a ride to the market on Saturday for juice, eggs, strawberries, meat, fish and dairy products, and any extra veggies I might need. With the small soft cooler and freezer packs for the fish and frozen meat, it's usually all I can fit in my bags anyway.