Farmers Market Sunday

Today was a real farmers market in Castel di Ieri. The difference is that all the items had to be produced by the people selling them.

The first thing I saw was a women wrapping wire around clay pots. We had seen pots like this last summer at our friends’ mountain home. We had thought they had been wrapped with wire to hold them together after they broke. I still think that, but Jim thinks maybe they wrap all the pots because they probably will get broken. I got a bean pot for 20E. I didn’t really care what it cost. How long will old ladies know how to do this? She hardly looked up from her work and twisted and pulled the wire for hours while her daughter sold the pots. Next to her were some people making olive oil infusions. Next was a cheese maker. When he unloaded the cheeses the smell filled the air, then the baker, who was selling different kinds of flour for different pastas, bread, cookies for dipping in wine and tarts and a vegetable truck.

Outside the official market was a man who had made shoes out of tires. They do not look too comfortable. He was willing to sell me an enormous pair for 10E, no 5E as I walked away. As my friend said, this guy could sell sand in the desert. In the end I bought two toy pairs of shoes for Christmas tree ornaments. He wanted 5E each for those so I said only one. He had amazing baskets. You could see that all the twigs had been hand whittled with the bark stripped off. I got a largish bread basket for 8E. When I gave him the 10E bill he handed me the other pair of shoes. I guess this meant we were even. I did not get any change. Next he gave me a blue plastic little fan that said “Raid” on it. It is to blow insect poison into the room while you are sleeping. It was my present, even though I pleaded with him not to give it to me.  As we walked away he was still trying to convince us to buy more stuff...holding things up and calling out the prices. If I could have bought a pile of baskets, think what I could have sold them for. When was the last time you saw a hand made basket for $10? Or a pair of shoes made out of tires? I was 15 and in Mexico.

My basket

This is the bean pot and honey made from the flower I talked about before. The flower is tall and has a spike covered with yellow flowers. There were so many bees on it that I thought it was a motor somewhere.







And that was today before noon. Rain is forecast for the next two days. Since our friend has lost his internet, we may be off line for a few days, maybe I will have time to get some work done. Jim is talking antenna and wireless router now that we are deprived a close internet connection. It is either that or make new friends.