Visiting the Farmer's Market

One of my favorite things about European cities are the bounty of outdoor food markets. I got up early on Saturday to visit my local market, just down the hill from my house at 17th Street near Richmond’s old train station. This area is called Shockoe Bottom and is a foodie destination, as there are several cool restaurants lining either side of the Farmer's Market. A few years ago, this whole low-lying neighborhood flooded badly, but now it's back and better than ever.

It’s a fairly small market, and it’s early in the season, so not all of the booths were filled. In addition to freshly picked strawberries, tomatoes and squash, there were several vintage dealers with treasures from the past to peruse. I bought my veggies for the week, some of the sweet strawberries to make that Southern classic…strawberry shortcake...and also scored a great deal on a 9 x 12 Karastan rug. Forget going to the M-A-U-L, I was in shopping heaven!