I know, I know, Minnesota, you’re tired of hearing about how crappy the weather has been. So I won’t dwell on the fact that today, May 4th, the opening day of the 2013 Midtown Farmers Market season, didn’t exactly present us with “farmers market weather.” 35° and rainy isn’t unbearable but it doesn’t make you want to linger outside.

But it did beg for comparison with last year’s opening – which to be fair was a day later, May 5. Minnesota was enjoying a long period of freakishly nice weather at the time, reflected in the market’s bounty: strawberries, asparagus and rhubarb – produce one doesn’t usually expect until later in the month. This year’s produce availability was more typical: we bought the only green edible there, pea shoots from Growing Lots Urban Farm.

We spent maybe 15—20 minutes at the market – less time than it takes to bike there and back – and decided to take our breakfast tamales to go. The vendors who had to set up in the downpour this morning and will stand at their stalls wearing as many layers as they can have my admiration and gratitude. Even though these early markets can be kind of unpleasant weather-wise and don’t yield much in the way of produce – in a normal year anyway – it’s one of the most exciting times to be at the market as, week after week, the land’s bounty begins to ramp up. I can’t wait to see what next Saturday will bring.

4 comments | Midtown Farmers Market, Pea Shoots, weather

This entry was posted by Tom on Saturday, May 4th, 2013 at 9:14 am and is filed under Farmers Market, Minneapolis. You can subscribe to responses to this entry via RSS.