As it turns out, there was something at the market that tempted me. Gorgeous, perfect local strawberries. You should smell them - they're just incredible. So after eating a few on the drive home, I decided to be more virtuous and make some strawberry jam. There's a recipe in This Organic Life that I'd like to try. It seems too good to be true - just berries, sugar and lemon juice. The book's author, Joan Dye Gussow, writes that the recipe is "guilt-free" so I figure it's got my name pretty much all over it. Guilt-free is definitely something I can cozy up to. The rest of the book is interesting, too, if a little unfocused at places. A good thing to check out of the library.


I made a complete idiot of myself talking to the guy who sold me the strawberries. I couldn't believe how utterly amazing they looked (and, they're organic!) and told him how impressed I was and that I was never able to grow more than a dozen edible berries per year, but that my plants still made nice ground cover. He looked at me oddly and said, "Well, I do have 50 acres of plants. Some of the berries are bound to turn out nice." In other words: he farmer, me stupid suburban woman. Oh well. I must have turned a dozen shades of (strawberry?) red and assuaged my embarrassment by also buying some beets and onions. I might go back to the market on Saturday, if the weather doesn't suck too badly and I get up early enough. This weekend is UVA's graduation so we're expecting a population surge of about 20,000 people. Doesn't make for good hunting and gathering conditions downtown. I kind of feel bad about it, because it's not like all those extra people are going to go out of their way to buy produce and other farm goods but their presence is likely to keep most of the people who would away. Plus, I really want to see the guy who sells goat cheese as an act of civil disobedience. Yes, you read that right. Looks like I'm talking myself into going after all.