Or we could say a market a day keeps the doc away. Remember when farm markets were weekend gigs? No more. They’re everywhere; every day. It’s great news. We can buy what we need from jus’ picked and carry home the freshest products available. It’s so exciting to see what appears at the market. Actually you don’t even need a market; a farm stand will do.

This summer it seems that every corner or at least a major cross section of town has a little handwritten sign announcing “fresh produce.” Offshoots or siblings of big farm booths are literally popping up everywhere. The bigger farms have figured out they can spread themselves throughout the area, and set up a stand, and the people will come. Yes, there are crowds of people recognizing how different this food tastes. So different from what the bigger grocers are advertising as “local.” Even though the items are local, they still need to get to the store and get processed. Quite different from sun-kissed in the morning and hauled to the stand waiting for your approval.

There’s little to compare these tastes to. They are mouth-bursting fresh flavors that seldom get duplicated.

Buy for the day.

Here’s a simple recipe: Buy a loaf of bread–go artisan, crusty, and put in a skillet with some olive oil and lemon juice. Toast and turn. Top with fresh cut and diced tomatoes (the sweetest multi-colored cherries are a terrific choice), cucumbers, peppers, onions, some basil or cilantro, and a little red wine vinegar. So good. So fresh. So slurpy with flavor.

Lunch.