Food! Glorious Food!
Aug. 25th, 2011 13:24![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redleafMy neighbor told me yesterday that the best farmers market in the area was not the Kitchener market but was instead the St Jacob's one. Let me insert here that St Jacobs is to the north, it is a tourist attraction and appears to be a bit of a gateway to the farmlands that surrounds it (except to the south). It is open 3 days a week in the summer, and today is one of those days.
So, I hopped on my bike and biked up there (~3 miles away?). The rolling hills and stop lights made the biking frustrating, though the cars were respectful and there was a bike lane for about a mile of the trip. But it began to rain.
Anyway, I got there and there was no obvious place to lock up my bike. I soon realized this was because most people drive there and the rest just leave their bike leaning against fences and things.
Being up here is making me realize how tense and alert living in a city made me be all the time. Even in the bike cage I made sure the front tire and frame were secured when I locked the bike . . . here I don't think there are bike cages, just racks. Half the bikes that are locked don't even have u-locks. I am also far more twitchy about nearly everything related to crime then everyone around here - which is odd, because in DC it seemed I was on the other side of the spectrum. I'm going to look into the crime rate here, and try to relax a bit.
Back to the market. It was overwhelming. There were definitely tourists and things geared towards tourists, but there was also so much produce (and affordable too!). I got local peas and carrots, ontario peaches, leeks, and a lavender plant (which will hopefully make my room smell nice before it dies). I also got local raw honey. I am now super excited for my dinner this evening and I haven't even made my afternoon trip to the "Bulk Barn" yet!
The clouds rolled back in (they move so fast here - reading the weather will probably be a steep learning curve) and I managed to snap a picture of the clouds and hop on my bike before it began to rain. By the time I got home, I was soaked.
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*EDIT* The photo won't display . . .i'll work on fixing that.
So, I hopped on my bike and biked up there (~3 miles away?). The rolling hills and stop lights made the biking frustrating, though the cars were respectful and there was a bike lane for about a mile of the trip. But it began to rain.
Anyway, I got there and there was no obvious place to lock up my bike. I soon realized this was because most people drive there and the rest just leave their bike leaning against fences and things.
Being up here is making me realize how tense and alert living in a city made me be all the time. Even in the bike cage I made sure the front tire and frame were secured when I locked the bike . . . here I don't think there are bike cages, just racks. Half the bikes that are locked don't even have u-locks. I am also far more twitchy about nearly everything related to crime then everyone around here - which is odd, because in DC it seemed I was on the other side of the spectrum. I'm going to look into the crime rate here, and try to relax a bit.
Back to the market. It was overwhelming. There were definitely tourists and things geared towards tourists, but there was also so much produce (and affordable too!). I got local peas and carrots, ontario peaches, leeks, and a lavender plant (which will hopefully make my room smell nice before it dies). I also got local raw honey. I am now super excited for my dinner this evening and I haven't even made my afternoon trip to the "Bulk Barn" yet!
The clouds rolled back in (they move so fast here - reading the weather will probably be a steep learning curve) and I managed to snap a picture of the clouds and hop on my bike before it began to rain. By the time I got home, I was soaked.
*EDIT* The photo won't display . . .i'll work on fixing that.