The Market Is Open

The ides of November are upon us. The assassination of Caesar may not be at hand, but the gobblers are beginning to look nervously around them wondering if the tragedy of the past is doomed to repeat…“Et tu Brute?” The forest floor is pulling up her blanket and the trees are slowly crawling down into themselves for another sleep. Yards are receiving their final mow, and the sharp breeze has reminded my children of hot chocolate. The market isn’t sleeping, but still bursting with food thanks our growers know-how in extending the season of warmth into the shadowed chill. Turn on the kettle for a quick brew while you peruse our regional harvest. The market is open.

Updates

1. Little Rock Urban Farming (LRUF) is back in our market with beautiful organic produce. Check out what they have to offer this week. LRUF is an active member of the urban farming community in Little Rock. LRUF and Chris Hiryak are the backbone behind the Southern Center for Agroecology which is a nonprofit that provides workshops and services for the community such as the fermentation workshop last week. Besides checking out their produce in our market, check out their websites: LRUF and SCA.

2. Remember to give Tammy Sue a visit for the Christmas Open House on November 28th from 10:00-2:00. Tammy Sue’s Critters Farm is located at 4 Cheyenne Tr. in North Little Rock.

3. Also, A B C Nature Greenhouse & Herb Farm has new stock of Blue and Golden Oyster mushrooms in the market this week. You don’t want to miss those tasty, friendly fungi!

4. Barnhill Orchards has a special on Swiss Chard this week. The price for the 8 oz and 16 oz are the same! Also, I’m told the frost has sweetened the chard!

Reflection

The time of year has arrived when my kids look at all the bagged leaves and final grass clippings of our neighbors and grin. Over the past few years, I’ve offered a paying job to my kids. They go around our neighborhood with a wheelbarrow picking up the curbed leaves and clippings and return them to our yard. The first year I offered a dime per bag. Last year, we renegotiated and the average price per bag was 15 cents. This year, negotiations are underway. When they are finished, our yard has huge leaf piles I use for various mulching activities. Along with the fall weather, the sounds of raking leaves and the last drones of lawn mowers have reinvigorated a curious interest I have. Every year, I find myself pulling Robert Frost off the shelf during this time of year. And I always read one of my favorites. Here it is:

Mowing
By Robert Frost

There was never a sound beside the wood but one,
And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.
What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself;
Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,
Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound—
And that was why it whispered and did not speak.
It was no dream of the gift of idle hours,
Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:
Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak
To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,
Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers
(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.
The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.
My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.

I could drone on and on about this poem…I once taught American Literature in high school, so you know I am an able torturer. I will not wax, but in the waning hours of green and warmth, I must at least reflect on the sufficient and invigorating life lived with good labor. Fall is a time when labor is visualized. It would seem, the work of this year reaches maturity after toil begets blossom and fall climaxes with the fruit of our labor. With each fluid motion of energy, the scythe’s whispers pile up to make hay. Our mind’s intentions take bodily energy, and we pirouette our labors into the world. What do our swinging arms say as they cut through time and space? Do they pile up into tangible mounds of hope and help? Does our labor make hay that feeds beast and spirit in the wintering hours?

I also like this poem because I have a slightly odd obsession with scythes. On my rocky perch within the eastern-most Ouachita foothills, I don’t really need a scythe…but, jeez, I want one. I think they are one of the coolest hand tools out there. I’m afraid I’ve been guilty of watching YouTube videos of scything competitions with mowers and weed eaters. Like, you have to check out this video: Scythe vs. Weed Eater

Well, may you hear the whisper of your own earthly labors above the modern, metal caucaphony. May there be silence in your fields and whispers of good labor at your feet.

Cheers,

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager