I am completely unprepared for this project. I came up with the idea on my commute Monday, and I knew the only way I could pull it off was if I started immediately. I went to the State Farmers Market in Raleigh Tuesday evening and the vendors were starting to pack it up. I was completely overwhelmed. My list went out the window as I eyed the rows of neatly lined tomatoes, baskets of peaches and bunches of onions.

Cantalope Tip

My first purchase was a cantalope. I love cantalope, but I’m spoiled and I always buy the Dole pre-cut cantalope at Harris Teeter. So I pretty much have no idea how to pick out a ripe cantalope. I asked for help, and a teenage girl working the stand started picking up the melons and smelling them. She explained that a ripe cantalope would smell fruity and would be more yellow. Sure enough, when I smelled one of the beige melons it smelled like dirt. The ripe melon the teenager handed me smelled ready-to-eat. I paid $1 for it. And, when I sliced it open for breakfast, it was definitely sweetest cantalope I’ve ever had.

Green Pepper and Watermelon Soup?

As the vendors loaded their pickup trucks and covered their tables, I started to panic. I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to make it back to the market until Saturday, so I needed enough food to feed me for three full days. So what did I do? I bought some peaches, onions, a green pepper, cucumbers and a watermelon. I have no idea how I thought that would be a good foundation for three days worth of breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

I spent $32.72 on my first trip to the Farmers' Market.

Bread that’s too good to be true

I headed inside to find some bread and eggs. I found a baker’s stand with a big loaf of white bread resting next to a miniature coconut pie. I am obsessed with coconut. I eat it almost every day. I ordered the coconut pie and the bread. He rang me up. Total: $1.50. It sounded to good to be true, and it turns out it was. The gentleman explained the bread had been sitting there for a few days and that it might not be good anymore. So he was only charging me for the pie. I tried a piece of bread that night, and it was very stale. Oh well, at least he was honest.

“If we don’t make money …”

The final item on my list was apple butter. I found a stand with rows of jars and hoped one of them had the cinnamon sweet spread. A woman with a big smile and a shiny, sweaty face who was loading green peppers into a box and asked if she could help me find anything. I told her I needed apple butter and she said she would help me find it once she finished loading the peppers to take home for the cows to eat. “If we don’t make money off of ‘em one way, we’ll make money of ‘em another,” she said sweetly.

As she rang me up, I asked her what time she usually arrived at the market. She said between 7:45 and 8:30 depending on traffic. She has a 45 minute commute from her farm in Youngsville, NC, north of Wake Forest. Since it was well after 5 o’clock at this point, I’m guessing she didn’t make it home until 6:30. That’s almost a 12-hour day. One of the things I’m really curious to find out through this project is how much time goes into preparing and selling the crops these farmers harvest.

I spent $32.72 on three days worth of homegrown goodies. Here’s hoping I can figure out enough ways to turn these fruits and veggies into 10 meals.