The Seacoast Growers Association is celebrating its first ever Farmers’ Market Senior Appreciation Day in Portsmouth Saturday, Sept. 24. The event will feature a 10 percent discount for seniors, and a group of teen volunteers will be available to tote bags. Also on hand will be local harmonica legend Seth Ames.
Ames has worked as a strolling musician for over 40 years, playing festivals, fairs and farmers’ markets throughout New England. He plays what is known as a chromatic harmonica, which has a slide apparatus attached under the mouthpiece that enables the musician to play all of the half notes that are missing on the more common diatonic harmonica.

Knowing that I might not make it to the market on Saturday, I asked my roommate, Michelle, to spy for me. I should have known better than to rely on someone who refers to it as the “flower” market, rather than the farmers’ market. When I asked if there were any shell beans, her response was, “There were vegetables?” Instead I got an enthusiastic dissertation describing in great detail the colors and sizes of all of the flowers at the market. I think she even dropped a few Latin names.

There is, of course, no way to compare the rise in gas prices with the devastation experienced along the Gulf Coast. For many of us, a rise in the price of gas means being more mindful of how often we put our butts in the driver’s seat, and will perhaps even motivate us to get our butts out of the driver’s seat and onto a bicycle seat a little more often. But for the farmers who rely at least partially on fuel—to work the land, to transport goods, and to heat greenhouses—I wondered if this could mean the difference between profit and loss.  

This week, I cheated on the fruits and vegetables. It wasn’t that I was unhappy with them. I walked passed the pallet of musk melons from Barker’s Farm, with their sign that reads “picked ripe, ready to eat,” and I was certain they would be delightful with fresh blueberries and whipped cream ... But alas, these beautiful offerings were—like Sienna Miller to Jude Law—not enough for me.