I just want to shout out again a very sincere “Thank YOU” to all my friends, family, and clients and marker go’ers for taking the time to come visit me at my first time selling plants and container gardens at the Ellington Farmer’s Market on Saturday, May 12th.

Would you believe, I arrived with my supportive husband, Steve, two hours before anyone else to setup my tent?  And my husband had injured an arm so he was one-handed the whole time but insisted he could do it.  I certainly can not put up those EZ-Up tents alone and not sure how others do that, but I’ve been practicing.  And I still have to manage to learn how to handle my big enclosed trailer.  All in good time, but all my plants and containers made it safely and setup in time for the event which is a very fast three hours from when the market opens at 9:00 am sharp and closes around noon.

Moving containers is kind of like moving cakes, one topple could ruin it all so all were packed with packing materials and carefully unloaded.  Because it was the day before Mother’s Day, many of my container gardens were small to medium sized, but be on the look out for my June showing of large and showy container gardens which I plan to have for the June 16th date at the Ellington Farmer’s Market, which is the day before Father’s Day.  Dads will be on my mind for that weekend.

I think probably the most interesting part of the day was at the very end, when one of the vendors came buy to purchase my special find, a bowl with a wrought iron base, which I refurbished from a consignment shop and filled with Hens and Chics and blinged a bit.  He got it for his Mom and said he had to wait til the end of the day to get it so she wouldn’t know which he picked out.  His name is Greg Hazleton and he owns an organic farming business, called “Earthwise Organic Landscaping” located in West Suffield, CT.  He offered me a dozen eggs for a little discount on the container, and I couldn’t pass up the eggs, nor his optimistic attitude.  He is also on the Board of the market, and I met his mother earlier at my tent.  As she browsed around I hinted that if she told me which container she liked, I could encourage her son towards it later.  But she insisted she wanted to buy a plant herself, which she did.  I just thought it was funny that at the end of the day, I ended up with fresh eggs, enjoying them like a little reward the next morning with my husband as he served them up with toast.  Oh, and by the way, Greg’s mother told me that her daughter, Kimberly, has a Yoga Studio, called “The Revival Room” right down the road at 125 Maple Street.  Hmmm, I thought, I’ve eyed that building before – it is quaint, cute, and local.  She said she has great yoga classes there.

Another great part of the day is witnessing people pick out something special for their mothers.  It comes from their heart.  One guy asked, “Which do yout think Mom would like?”  I quickly responded, not realizing he was talking to his daughter!  Ooops, I sure he found that amusing.  The heart of children, daughters, and sons are revealed at the market, especially on Mother’s Day weekend.  Farmers markets encompass the heart actually because products are made by very passionate people proud of their craft and products.  You can be sure the vendors put alot of time and effort to create something they love themselves and want to share with others.

Collins Compost, http://www.collinscompost.com/friends, located at 9 Powder Hill Road in Enfield, CT was there too.  I barely had a minute to talk to Tracey Clague, a member of the family that runs their business.  She and I have spoken over the phone, via email, and by letters for over 3 years now.  I’ve asked her to send me brochures about their wonderful compost to share with my landscape and gardening clients.  Now finally, we met  in person, but it was brief because she and I were both unloading and setting up in the morning, and we remained busy throughout the day. At the end of the day, we shared smiles as I purchased 3 bags of their compost for myself to take home, asking her coworker to load the bags for us in my trailer, because I was really fearing my husband’s arm would get worse with any lifting.  He has a damaged muscle to his rotator cuff.

There is a band playing every Saturday and usually farm animals are there for the kids, and yes, for the adults too.  One little girl told me there were bunnies at a tent, and I was so tempted to go look to get one for my bunny cage, that has a green roof of sedums mixed from last season, but I could just see the fox that got my chickens last season, staring at that bunny in the cage, and envisioned the bunny shaking like a leaf.  Nope, can’t do that until I can enclose a setup completely from the predators in my woodlands around my house.

Again, it was so nice to see all my friends… thank you Maryse, Lysa, Guillaine, Donna, Denise, Mom and Dad, Jimmy and Nancy, Linda and Kenney, Doreen, Charlotte, Laurie, Dolores, Marybeth and Pete, Catherine, and all the new friends I met at the Ellington Farmers Market on a beautiful sunny day…., and or course, Steve, my helper and supporter – who said this morning, his arm is feeling better.  Phew, Thank God!

P.S.  My next date at the market is Saturday, May 26th.  Located at Arbor Park in Ellington, CT.  Hope to see you there!  Cathy T