Tuesdays 1:30 - 6:30

Next to the parking garage in downtown Northampton, MA

Hi People of Tuesday Market,

It's not a trick of perspective. This tomato is actually as large as my baby's head. And while you can't have my baby's head, the tomato is available for purchase at this week's Tuesday Market. It's an heirloom, which means it comes from seed grown & saved by gardeners and tomato enthusiasts. The variety – it's called a Striped German – was bred for flavor, as opposed to transportability or shelf life (a fact I can attest to by the number of bruised and split specimens that never made it out of the field). It's a yummy, mild-flavored, really-looks-almost-exactly-like-a-brain sort of tomato, and I encourage you to give one a try over the next several weeks.

I also encourage you to ask your Tuesday Market vendors about all the different varieties of vegetables & fruits & flowers they've brought to market. Growers spend years figuring out which varieties work best for their soils & region, which they prefer for flavor & character & reliability, and they always want to hear from their customers which varieies they like the best as well.

At Apex Orchards this week you'll find some incredibly delicious, free-stone, Red Haven peaches, along with three varieties of apple: Paula Reds, Ginger Golds, and Zestars. Word has it that Zestars are Sarah Buttenwieser's favorite apple, and since Sarah Buttenwieser is one of Tuesday Market's all-time favorite customers, and since Wiley is one of Sarah's favorite babies, and since Wiley really wants that tomato, it's like all a perfect circle, right? Right?

Jim at Park Hill Orchard says his Burgundy okra is superior in every way to the rest of our okra. He's not being snobbish or anything (it's hard to imagine Jim being snobbish), he's just saying it like it is, according to him in that purple okra universe he lives in. "It's secret Southern Virginia backwoods know-how that has led to the perfect pod," Jim says, and he has challenged the rest of us to a friendly little okra-duel. Well we at Town Farm are man enough for that challenge (this six of us together must equal at least one man, right?), so now it's up to you to weigh in and let us know whose okra is the best.

Husk cherries are a Tuesday Market favorite. Go see Tevis at Crabapple Farm and grab yourself a paper bag of the delectable treats (along with his watermelons, cantaloupe, and heirloom tomatoes).

And if you happen to be looking for a head of cabbage that's roughly twice the size of your own head yet costs only as much as a slice of pizza did in Queens, New York in the late 1980s (i.e. $1), there's only one place to go: Green Meadow Farms, where you'll also find fantastic sweet corn and great deals on field tomatoes and beans.

That's all for tonight. Take care, everyone. See you at market.

–Ben