Saturday, October 11, 2008

Des Moines Farmer's Market

This morning I took my two sons downtown to the farmer's market. It was a blissful experience this morning. Very warm for this time of year... short sleeves, a breeze and abundant sunshine. It was a full sensory experience. I smelled peppers and onions from the breakfast burrito stands, I heard 'somewhere over the rainbow' being played on saxaphone, I saw colorful displays of gourds, sweet babies, embracing pairs of siblings, friends, lovers, family. It's always a magical experience to go to the market and I regret not going more often this year especially seeing how much my boys enjoyed it.

My nine year old was intrigued by the whole farmers market idea... he hasn't been to one in a long time. It was a great opportunity to explain the importance of buying local and how it helps our environment. He's very in to 'going green' right now which is awesome.

We bought some sweet potatoes, Amish cookies and ... YARN! There was a lovely lady selling her handspun yarns. I bought two gorgeous golden purply red hanks of bumpy, beautiful yarn. I'm in love. It's easy to appreciate how special handspun yarn is. I REGRET that I lost the business card that the vendor gave me. I know so many of my local knitting friends would flock to her... this was the first week she's set up this season so it was serendipity. She's going to be at the market for the next two Saturdays and then will be setting up at the winter market as well.

Next weekend we're going again and my son is already talking about the steely gray yarn that he wants me to buy to make him a scarf and hat for winter... twist my arm, son, twist my rubber arm. :D

5 comments:

Margie (and Fae) said...

That's so awesome, Liz. One thing about this area is that we have alot of farmer's markets. Fae has grown to love exploring. None of ours sell yarn, though. That's such a pretty color!

Libby said...

The Iowa City area has a Farmer's Market nearly every day of the week. But none of them compare to the Saturday market in Des Moines. It is my absolute favorite thing to do in the summer. I meet my parent's there often all summer where we buy all the things to make that night's dinner. I LOVE it. Glad you had a great morning!

Monika said...

Lovely handspun yarn. What are you going to do with it? Romney is rather rough for my taste, but nice to spin with.

essjay said...

And that is why I'm at the market nearly every weekend! There has been another lady selling yarn down there too that is just spectacular! Maybe I'll see you there next weekend.

llbdesign said...

Liz

I remember you and your son who loved the yarn. Here is my information. Molly Kotval, from the Farmer's Market staff gave me your blog information.

Linda L Bender

LL Bender Design
1235 Davis Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50315
515-288-7107 phone and fax
llb@raccoon.com