Brandy Trekkers: FARMERS TO THE MARKET

June 25

Hey there Campers;

We went to a Farmer Market in Charlotte. This was totally different from all the things and people we have seen all week. The place full of true country folk. They made us feel right at home. These folk are the real growers of the USA.

They had home grown jams and jellies. VK, you could bring your jellies and be a huge success.

One of the growers was Mr. Fat Boy. Don't ask me his real name because he did not give it. His hat and shirt said Mr. Fat boy. Leave it alone. He and his 4 sons work a farm in the southern part of South Carolina. They grown beefy steak tomatoes, (Now, ya'll know how I love me some beef steak tomatoes) watermelon, corn, etc. He has many other fruits like cantaloupes, peaches, apples that he brings to market for smaller farmers.

One of his sons offered us a sample of a sweet cantaloupe and sweet watermelon. Heck yeah it was goooooood. We decided to buy both. You know the farmer in Lo came out. He talked up a storm with Mr. Fat Boy. We got a lesson on how to be able to tell a ripe watermelon by the sound. Don't ask me to help you pick out one because they all sounded the same to me. I did learn that a watermelon must have a curly tail like a curly pigtail to be ready to pick. If it is straight leave it alone because it ain't ready yet.

I was looking for collard greens. Mr. Fat Boy told me to go down yonder to Mr. T's since only he would have them. His real name is William T. Robinson. He is over 80 years old. 5 years ago he was retired. His brother and sister-in-law had the stall. Mr. Fat Boy use to take some of his produce to market. After both died Mr. T was left with the produce. Mr. Fat Boy started hauling all of Mr. T's produce. He felt it was his christian duty to help each other out. The one thing that I liked about the farmers market was the sellers all seem to work together. If another seller has an item that was better than yours for the day you were referred on. There was no malice. We could really learn from this humble folk.

I went back in to buy okra at Mrs. Fat Boy's stall. (Yeah he has a wife). She told me not to pay because we had already "bought a lot". Obviously, this is not Safeway. This is just down home goodness.

When Charlene quit working we went to the Goodwill store to look for clothes for her Africa trip. OMG this store is like going to a upscale consignment store. Items were color coded and sized correctly .Lo even found a couple of items. Maggie, you would love this store. The homes that these items come from are called the Ballentine area. It is like Blackhawk on steroids. You can find any kind of items and reasonable.