Laurel Farmers Market

I just got back from the Laurel Farmers Market.

The take, all organic: rainbow chard ($1.50 a bunch) broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes ($1 each) potatoes (3 for $1), kale, honey and organic eggs ($5 a dozen). I had to read the honey labels carefully for the local California stuff - some of it was from Brazil.

For lunch we had steam-sauteed chard with garlic and lemon juice; leftover lentil soup.

Stay tuned for Moroccan and Middle Eastern recipes for our seasonal greens. I want to try cauliflower with tahini/garlic sauce. Also beets with yogurt sauce, and stuffed artichokes.

The dry goods counter is part of the information booth - they're selling dried beans, popcorn, and spices.

Adina Sara, the Imperfect Gardener of the MacArthur Metro newspaper, was buying greens too, and told me she has a memoir coming out this week! Titled, The Imperfect Gardener - life and the garden. I love her column - gardening for those of us who are NOT Martha Stewart.

Farmers Markets by Bus

The Grand Lake farmer's market is only a few freeway exits away from me, but it's such a hassle to park there that I don't go very often. Lucky friends who can walk to it on Saturdays!

Sometimes I have walked the four miles there, shopped, and then carried my groceries home on the bus. AC Transit 57 and N will get you back to our neighborhood.

You could take the N to downtown Oakland, get out at Broadway, and walk eleven blocks - the Friday Old Oakland farmer's market has organic foods, Asian produce, bamboo plants, a chicken roasting truck and tamales stand. And before you load up on goodies to take home, walk down the street to the Friends of the Public Library store and get a used book to read over lunch! The 14 bus will get you to 12th and Broadway, leaving from the heart of our neighborhood.

The 54 bus goes to Fruitvale BART, where the Thursday afternoon market has a few stalls; Sunday has been looking pretty sparse these days, but it may get better in the summer. I like to go to the area for the Chavez library branch, tacos, and hand made ice cream in the Fruitvale Public Market. More on this in a separate post.

The 18 bus goes up Park Boulevard to Montclair - I wouldn't call it convenient for a Sunday farmer's market visit, but if you live near the 18, why not? 20 minutes from Park Blvd. and MacArthur up to Medau Place. You won't have to find parking!

Ice Cream Expedition

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday and we're celebrating tonight with a family dinner with my mother-in-law, after which he and I will go to Mills College for a concert.

This afternoon I needed to walk for exercise and my husband needed a break from the kids. Come on guys, I said, let's walk to Loard's and buy ice cream for Daddy's birthday dinner! They scrambled to put on their shoes.

We live about a mile away, since Loard's is technically in the Bret Harte neighborhood. Junior high students from our area walk there daily to the school across the street. In my childhood, everybody above the age of five was expected to walk such distances as a matter of course, to go to school, to visit friends or the library. Now we think it's "too far for the kids," but if we were on a family hike we would expect them to walk two miles. We took side streets, avoiding MacArthur Boulevard almost entirely.

If you're local, you know Loard's. The MacArthur @ Coolidge location is funky, even ratty-looking, and quite bare in decor at this point. But the ice cream... mmmmmm. Some Yelp reviewers claim it's better than Fenton's. I don't know, but it's good.

If you are in Orinda, you can enjoy your ice cream in a more refined atmosphere - the Loard's there has kept its 50s pink-and-white decor spiffy; it's probably what the Oakland location looked like fifty years ago. Whatever. We burned some calories and got some fresh air on our walk, and my kids enjoyed the time with me.

When you walk through the neighborhood you see the flowers in bloom: daffodils, plum and magnolia trees, irises. One neighbor's snow peas are heavy with pods that hang out of the fence over the sidewalk; many neighbors are blessed with abundant orange, lemon and even kumquat trees.

Also, more benefits of walking to the store - we met two children selling candy bars for the Laurel School, and ended up springing for three chocolate bars. I figure the kids deserve some chocolate at the end of such a hike. They each got a square on the walk, a square at home, and we're saving the rest for another day. I'm glad to contribute to the Laurel School's playground equipment fund.

Community happens when you take a walk.