I Like This Place

Posted on September 30, 2009
Filed Under Daily, Life in L.A. | 6 Comments

Every week, farmers from far and wide come to L.A., and block off one tiny street.

They set up shop, under these little tents, and they have seven hours to sell what they’ve spent an entire season (or longer) growing, harvesting, and preparing.

I love seeing everyone with their reusable bags, people tasting samples, and chatting with the vendors.
It’s always bustling at the Farmer’s Market.
That must mean business is good.

This is Sam. His brother-in-law is a bee keeper. Sam helps him with his farm, and comes to the Farmer’s Market every other week to sell honey.

Sam said the hives are man-made, and each hive is kept in a special area on the farm, and surrounded by the specific type of flowers they want the bees to use to make honey. That’s how you get all the different varieties: buckwheat, wildflower, avocado, sage, etc. He said bee keeping is an extremely difficult, and strenuous job, and requires a lot of hard, physical labor. Sam said most people throw their back out their first day on the job.

Sam also told me that bee keepers can’t open their farms to visitors, or tourists, or even reveal the exact location of the farm because there are beehive thieves who will return to the property at night, steal the hives, and sell them to other farmers.
What a bummer.
I would have loved to visit a bee farm when I was a kid.
I’m sure there are ways to keep everyone safe from being stung — too bad the thieves ruined it for everyone.

Sam gave me a few samples, and I decided on a jar of wildflower honey for the house.

The colors at the Farmer’s Market are absolutely enchanting. Look at the stunning contrast between the beautiful fruit, and its vegetable neighbor.
Wait, a pumpkin is a vegetable, right? I’ve heard that there is a little bit of debate around this topic. Some people say they’re botanically defined as fruit, but some chefs will tell you that a pumpkin’s most common culinary use is as a vegetable.
I hope I’m not offending anyone who has strong opinions on how pumpkins should be classified.
I’m not taking sides, I promise. I’m a journalist — I’ve been professionally trained not to have a bias in my writing.

But if you call me, I might tell you what I think it should be classified as.
I just won’t write it.

Have I ever mentioned that I love anything pumpkin?
Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pasta, pumpkin…well, you get the point.

Visiting the Farmer’s Market is always so rejuvenating. The smells, the sights, the sounds…
Oh, and of course, the free samples.

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