My Pursuit for Parsley

     I believe this post may read more like an advertisement than I intend, but at least it is going in the right direction of what or rather who it is advertising and it will have links if I have one!!  We,  Bartlett Funny Farm have been blessed with being part of the fantastic Farmers at the Market event at Cafe DiCocoa's in Bethel on Wednesday evenings from 4-7 (see it is happening already;-)). We vend our goods there along with a growing number of other local famers, there were nine of us last week!  Beautiful food, beautiful folks- just a great event.  So anyway, for some bizarre reason that we have no parsley growing for ourselves, I forgot to grab some at the market, usually from Anna's Greenhouse and Gardens, who we co-share a tent with, while I was there for 3+ hours!  Silly me! So on our weeklyish journey to Rumford to hit the grocery store for an ever decreasing number of items,  we took the back roads to hit the one particular farm stand I knew of, No View Farm.   Lo and behold, about 3 minutes into the trip we passed the Turkey Eggs sign that I see sometimes, always wanting to stop and never do.  Today was different, I could feel it the hot sticky air, with seeing a body outside filling up a waterer we turned around and pulled in! What a great decision and hidden delight!  There we met a kind woman and her son, their handsome Tom turkey and his ladies and left a half an hour later with new friends, a dozen turkey eggs, new information and a warm heart.  Great Job McBain Farm, keep up the good work!

     So our journey continues down 232 to the Rumford Road.  Now we have our goal in mind and we reach No View Farm.  I head inside, this time I left the kids in the car, and just ran in to grab some parsley.  I saw Annette in the kitchen baking away like crazy and we lamented for a moment at how I forgot to get parsley at the market and how she doesn't have any either or rather ready.  I helped myself to some great freezer deals of her yummy bread and on we went.  Oh and on that funny side note, the mailman that had just waved to us at the McBain farm now saw us here, with an even bigger smile and wave.  We were on the same route...

     Wonderfully to our surprise was another garden and beautiful farm stand up on the right, Roy's Family Farm.  We pulled in and this time my daughter decided she'd run in so I wouldn't get caught chatting and see for parsley.  Well guess what, no parsley, theirs wasn't quite ready yet either and the not sending me in trick didn't work... the farmer herself came over to chat at the car and tell me so, and 20+ minutes,  a whole new wealth of information and connections and a new friend later, we were again on our way.  But I have to say, "Wasn't it so worth forgetting the parsley this week!" Oh and we saw our new mailman friend too- really, really big smile this time;-)

       I guess what my point is, if I had not forgotten the parsley, I would have driven the same route as mostly usually and passed by all these gems of farmers and friends.  It also happens that I am blessed to be part of this great group The Local Food Connection (an organization dedicated to educating and connecting the public to local food)  and we have a side agenda of locating all the local farmers, farmland and farm stands as a way to not only send people that way, but dive into a deeper study of our local food system and see if we can evaluate whether our community has the capacity to feed ourselves in the long run...so cool.   So a Win, Win, Win situation everywhere- I was making new friends, shopping locally, doing research and accomplishing a bigger task at hand. Yeah me!  Next, on the way home via Route 2,  I was able to stop at the potato farm around the corner and grab some local potatoes, because I knew it was there.  Weird how you can hardly ever find Maine grown potatoes at the local grocery store...things that make you go hmmm and what the???
     So to tell it like it is... I LOVE what is going on around us!  More and more people growing food, raising food and making it available to their neighbors and community.  The coolest trend around.  It amazes me how much food we actually eat and how many farmers we actually need to feed us all.  Even when we do grow for ourselves, we don't grow it all and it is a sure benefit to have the other farmers around us.  Well all links and good words for these farmers aside, I will be sure to get some parsley this week and even plant some seed for ourselves... hopefully.  I will be back to visit my new friends and take my new route to Rumford now, why not, I like circles, they are fun and I want to be connected.  My pursuit for parsley may have left me ironically without parsley, but it was a huge success.

Other Farmers at the Market-maybe we will see you there or get to your own local farmers market!
  Allium Farm
  Back to Roots
  Maine Lobster Boys