Joan and I sit in the living room with mugs of hot, milky tea, discussing the 2006 market season, our growers and vendors, marketing ideas, and projects for linking school groups and communities into the market scene. On the coffee table sits a bowl of mixed chocolates (toffee almond, mint, espresso bean, pretzel, caramel). Quietly, its contents disappear. Tis the season. We don’t feel guilty. Not yet, anyway.

We need this quiet time for turning the proverbial leaves. We’ve already embarked on our market partnership — Common Greens — and we like working and being together. But there is much to organize, qualify, quantify and share. The more we do now, the stronger Common Greens will be. Not that we’re spending all of our time working, of course. All work and no play is definitely not the Common Greens way.

The best thing this time of year is the chance to visit other farmers markets, the ones that run year-round (our hopeful goal sometime soon, when our community can support it). It’s great fun to see our growers “off campus”, meet new ones, enjoy a market without management responsibilities, shop madly, and fill the pantry with the food we love and need. We get inspired by seeing the market network in action and knowing we are part of it, a link in the cooperative chain.

When our season is under way, there is so little time for collaborating and communicating. We are aiming to change this in the coming year and beyond, and we want very much to work together with other markets, growers, communities, educators, chefs — and everyone who believes in fresh, local, nutritious, egalitarian food. There is much to learn and much to do.

We’ll finish up the chocolates then get started on the persimmons.