Market Day

Back from the Hamilton Market.  The weather was beautiful and traffic was much better than my last visit to the market.  I think absence makes the heart grow fonder, as one woman threw up her arms in joy when she saw me.  She had run out of hand creme and was looking for me last week.  People often ask are you going to be here all summer? and I tell them yes, I will, if the weather is good.   Soap and wool don't do well in the rain.  I saw Bob Adams who made pop corn and Lemon Blizzards for us at the Bouckville festival last weekend.  He was so thrilled with our little show and can't wait to come back next year.  Haven't heard a thing from Pam or anyone else on the committee as to the success of the show.  I had a great time with my friends but money has never been the whole story for me.  Today I had a few people from Brookfield who I would never had met had I not been set up at the market in Hamilton.  One woman reminded me that she desperately wanted a Bundaflicka tote at the Madison County Fair and asked her hubby to buy it for her Christmas present.  He never did and she says she's still waiting.   A young girl about Hannah's age told me about her goats and how she milks them for all the family's dairy needs.  We talked about how goat milk tastes just like cow's milk if you drink it fresh, but a day or two old and yuck.  I  gave her a bar of Lemongrass soap to keep the bugs away when she's working in the barn.  She came back a few minutes later with a big loaf of homemade bread her mother sent over.  I broke an end off for my breakfast.  Anthea from Seattle Washington spent some time with me today.  She's attending a Colgate University Writer's Conference, then going on to a program for senior students at Mount Holyoke in Mass.  I thought about what I would be doing if I did not have this farm.  I'd have much more freedom and money to travel and experience various opportunities.  One has to wonder why I saddled myself with all this responsibility.  Then I go out into the barn and look into the faces of all my little friends and know why.  So many people at work were talking about parties they were going to this weekend, how this one and that one in their families were having picnics and celebrations for graduations and Father's Day.  With no one around to celebrate with, the Farm takes up the slack and keeps me too busy to get lonely.  I got a lot of spinning done at the market.  What a blessing to have something to do with my hands while people are looking at my stuff.  A box fan plugged into the lamp post kept me nice and cool.