Settling Down

Attending a Farmers Market provides an opportunity to sample some new food preparations,

some not-so-new items, and

some new food-related products.

A recent stop at the Lafayette (LA) Farmers Market reminded me of the work and joys of planting a vegetable garden—attributes of that hobby that I miss. Being on the road full-time means no opportunity to anticipate the arrival of the seed catalogs in January, plan a garden of heirloom vegetables that would feed a small village, start the tomato plants indoors with the last snow still lingering….

Those memories of activities around a home base are some of the reasons that we are planning to start a new life this fall. We have spent the past twelve months looking at housing opportunities and living routines in a handful of communities around the country.

Without going in the positives and negatives of each area under consideration, we have decided to settle in Lafayette, LA. So, with this decision made, we spent much of this recent visit to Cajun Country visiting our favorite restaurants, meeting business people we have come to know, selecting a bank, and looking at furniture.

In the course of our furniture hunt, we met Mr. Harry, an old-school cabinet maker. Our request was a rather simple one: would he take on an unusual request to build a modular bookcase that would double as a climbing structure for our cats. He talked about wood with a passion for excellence—the mark of a craftsman. I think it was part intrigue and part curiosity as to where this unusual request would lead that led him to agree to give us an estimate of the cost for the project.

And like so many other people we’ve met during the course of our visits to this area, Mr. Harry covered topics ranging from restaurant recommendations, stories of his camp in the Atchafalaya Basin, and changes to the area over the years. But throughout the conversation, the knowledge of his craft and his commitment to producing the highest quality work possible was evident.

We still want to keep the RV so that we can go on month-long trips two or three times a year and think that it would be easier to be gone for awhile from an apartment rather than from a home. And our search for an apartment has been very successful.

However, apartment living means no gardening opportunity. So, where better to pursue the possibility of gardening than at a Farmers Market. And who better than Mark Hernandez.

He is the "Mark" in Mark and Mary's City Farm, located on 7.5 acres in Lafayette. Since 2001, they have been committed to growing the old-fashioned way, without the use of synthetics or pesticides. Their fresh harvest is currently available through seasonal Farm Share Memberships.

He also gave me a few other leads to farmers who may have space to rent and community garden operations.

Time to make sure I'm on the mailing lists for seed catalogs.