Franklin Farmer's Market

All pictures in this post courtesy of my amazing wife, Sarah Scott. Check out the rest of her photography at frothandaperture.blogspot.com

When some people think of summer, they think of the beach, and tans, and digging their toes in the sand. Some people think of ice tea and lazy weekend afternoons in a hammock. Other people think of road trips and freedom. I tend to count myself among that last group, but living in a city where there are farmers markets everywhere, its easy to imagine that many people here think about fresh fruit and vegetables, flowers and local goods when they think of summer. To kick off what might turn out to be the "Summer of the Farmers Market" in the Scott household, we traveled a little further south than usual to the Franklin Farmers Market this weekend.

Farmers Markets are all generally the same. Fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, honey, herbs, flowers, and anything else that can be harvested, grown, or nurtured, all from local people and local farms. We saw stalks of garlic and heads of cabbage and cauliflower, live bees and no less than three stalls with local honey. The smells of lettuce and cucumber ebbed into the aroma of onions, potatoes, and ginger root. People haggled over fresh basil and swapped methods of growing the best heirloom tomatoes. The handmade cutting boards and wooden utensils were so freshly made that we could smell the sawdust as we walked by, and homemade glycerin soaps looked like uncut minerals in various bright, marbled colors. Thankfully, the freezer on the back of the meat truck was sealed tightly enough to hold in its smells, or perhaps the blueberry stand next to it just overwhelmed the area with the scent of fresh blueberry jelly, jam, and pie filling -- which all looked suspiciously the same.

We were in luck, too, that the Biscuit Love Truck just happened to be in the area, which meant that we couldn't leave without getting lunch from the back of that splendid silver Streamliner. (I have a feeling the BLT is going to be a common thread throughout most of my posts. But I'm ok with that.)

After eating lunch on an tent covered picnic table -- getting just slightly dripped on by the water that had collected in the tent when it rained an hour or so before we arrived -- we made one last pass through the area, wishing we could afford the to spend the money on (and wait in the absurdly long line for) a fresh, handmade doughnut, or a tasty, sugary, frozen Italian ice. Luckily, since Nashville rolls out the Farmers Markets two-three times a week throughout the entire summer, I'm positive we'll eventually have the chance to sample a bit of everything.

For more information about the Franklin Farmers Market, check out their Facebook or their website, franklinfarmersmarket.com