Life of Wry

Quite pleased with our little effort today. After maybe a dozen or more years of doing baskets for relatives near and far, we found the easiest way yet to get the job done… thanks to what we think is a newish feature–surely seasonal–at the Davis Farmers Market.

In an area rich in locally grown, organic produce, baskets are a no brainer. The whole thing is kind of bonus on bonus. Buying at the farmers market supports local farmers, the stuff is mostly interesting and hopefully fun, and, not trivially, it’s one-stop-shopping for 6-8 people in one swell foop.

Aaaand there’s pretty good variety: olive oils, honeys, nuts, herbs, dried fruits/vegetables, jams, wines, vinegars, chocolates, soaps, soup kits, nut butters, …not too perishable nor breakable. We’ve bought all of this over the years, or some subset.

Also not cheap, but what the heck, right? The rest is so perfect.

We usually haul everything home (heavy!) and package it all ourselves in baskets and stuffing and ribbons and cellophane we’ve bought at Cost Plus or wherever.. super labor intensive.

We realized a week ago that Farmers Market has a basket packaging station; they do all the packing for free, including the basket and all materials, as long as your basket includes at least three items purchased at the market.

Oh yeah!

So we wheeled Jim’s cart over to the park, bought a millions things, took them all to the booth and let them do all the packing. We then hauled it all home in the cart. Easy peasy.

Here’s Jim wheeling through the market…

Filled up, on the way home…

And here they are: 8 baskets ready for shipping and delivery…

Unrelated but worth a photo, I saw something I’d never seen before.. fresh turmeric.

Hard to believe that something so mutant, so swollen-looking, is actually a natural remedy for inflammation.  But it is.

We did not put turmeric in the baskets.