Longmont, Colorado: Another City, Another Farmers Market

 

Arranging the asparagus. Longmont Farmers Market, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

No kettle corn.

Several vendors offered big ol' fat, soft, chewy, yeasty, pretzels. I felt tempted, but no, I am saving my caloric debauch for kettle corn. 

 

Soft pretzels. Longmont Farmers Market, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

This vendor is clever; made me smile, although I didn't even notice the name or claim - The Off Beet Farm - the Gayest Little Farm - until I looked at the photos later. What pulled me in was how the sunlight played on the leafy colors. Maybe my mind was also distracted by my hopeful search for kettle corn.

 

Gayest Little Farm at Longmont Farmers Market. Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

Gayest Little Farm at Longmont Farmers Market. Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

The mountainous backdrop with its crown of clouds lent drama to the occasion. 

Mountainous backdrop at Longmont Farmers Market. Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

Apparently, I am not the first person (or even the second or third) who initially misread the banner of this pie vendor. 

Human pie? Oh. No. Longmont Farmers Market. Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

The bird nest outside the pupusas booth enchanted me. Also, the "Pupusa Family" took me back to Mexico City, when an El Salvadoran family from one of the Central American caravans made pupusas to share. 

Pupusas and bird nest at Longmont Farmers Market, Colorado. Credit: Mzuriana.

Other farmers markets: 

2010: Kansas City: Travels With Carol: Day 3: City Market, et al

2011: Color in Harar [Ethiopia], Day 4

2011: Last Day in Gonder [Ethiopia]: The Market, Gold, and God is Calling

2011: Rustavi, Caucasus Georgia: At the "Big" Market

2012: Istanbul: Larceny and Spice

2012: Alamogordo, New Mexico: Farmer's Market

2013: Las Cruces: The Not-So-Farmerish Farmers' Market

2013: Lafayette, Louisiana: Farmers' Market at the Oil Center, Winter

2016: El Paso: Downtown Farmers Market

2016: Antigua, Guatemala: Municipal market stories here and here and here. 

2016: Outside Antigua, Guatemala: The Sunday Blues

2018: Mexico City: New Housemates and the Saturday Market

2023: Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts Market

#30

 

 

Las Cruces, New Mexico: Scenes from the Farmers and Crafts Market

Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts Market with the Organ Mountains backdrop. January 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

During my current sojourn in Las Cruces, I go downtown on Saturdays to the Farmers and Craft Market. I go for the kettle corn, mainly. It's not often I'm living in a place where I can get it in the wild, regularly. 

Las Cruces seems to have three kettle corn drug dealers. There's Uncle Banjo, Southwest, and a third one, as yet unseen and untried by me. 

My preference is Southwest Kettle Corn. I can taste all of the fat, crunch, salt, and sweet. Uncle Banjo's is too dry for my taste. And the folks at Southwest know how we are, "we" being persnickety partakers of the popcorn crack. As in: If I ask for more salt before I carry away my bag, I'm asked in return: "In layers or on the top"? And always, we users are asked: "Do you want your bag open or tied?" 

The market is long and large. 

On Christmas Eve, my eyes widened at the probable deliciousness of the mushrooms on offer. Oh, mushrooms, how I love thee.

Mushrooms and brilliant smile at Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts Market. December 2022. Credit: Mzuriana.

Mushrooms and brilliant smile at Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts Market. December 2022. Credit: Mzuriana.

On another day, I bought a stash of bright artwork from Alyssa Trujillo. Along with mushrooms, I do fancy lizards. I'll send the work to worthy recipients. 

Artist Alyssa Trujillo at Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts Market. January 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

A slide show of the Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts Market, which includes photos from my first-ever visit in 2013: 

This and other markets: 

2010: Kansas City: Travels With Carol: Day 3: City Market, et al

2011: Color in Harar [Ethiopia], Day 4

2011: Last Day in Gonder [Ethiopia]: The Market, Gold, and God is Calling

2011: Rustavi, Caucasus Georgia: At the "Big" Market

2012: Istanbul: Larceny and Spice

2012: Alamogordo, New Mexico: Farmer's Market

2013: Las Cruces: The Not-So-Farmerish Farmers' Market

2013: Lafayette, Louisiana: Farmers' Market at the Oil Center, Winter

2016: El Paso: Downtown Farmers Market

2016: Antigua, Guatemala: Municipal market stories here and here and here. 

2016: Outside Antigua, Guatemala: The Sunday Blues

2018: Mexico City: New Housemates and the Saturday Market

El Paso: Downtown Farmers' Market

 

El Paso's Downtown Farmers' Market. El Paso, Texas. September 2016.

September 2016.

Confession: I've been to a farmers' market or twenty, in various parts of the country (indeed, different parts of the world, too), and, well, they're pretty much the same. That's not a condemnation, mind you, because lots of folks obviously love farmers' markets and they go every week. Just isn't my thing except when it suits my utilitarian purposes to go to one.

But I did my due diligence and visited El Paso's Downtown Farmers' Market. (There are other farmers' markets in the area, and maybe I'll get to them and maybe I won't.)

It was perfectly nice (except for this). So I'll just shut up and share pics.

El Paso's Downtown Farmers' Market. El Paso, Texas. September 2016.

El Paso's Downtown Farmers' Market. El Paso, Texas. September 2016.

El Paso's Downtown Farmers' Market. El Paso, Texas. September 2016.

El Paso's Downtown Farmers' Market. El Paso, Texas. September 2016.