Maybe I should change the name of this blog to What People Gave Me.

Today was the kick-off of the co-op's winter farmers' market.  We celebrated with a pancake breakfast

and live music and even a dancing cat (or is she a mouse?).

Of course this required a lot of volunteers, which got me thinking about the gift economy again, and how Fiddleheads is a place where the market and gift economies not only coexist, but support each other.  As a vendor I was part of the market economy.  I was also a shopper, buying the usual: almonds and dates to make almond milk, apples and bananas for breakfast smoothies, and (wait for it) sweet potatoes.

But it was the gift economy that made the day so special. First the vendor next to me gave me some of her homemade coconut granola.  Then one of the Fiddleheads volunteers gave me some vegan minestrone. (This was part of the farmers market celebration; she was giving it to everyone.)  Then Anita gave me this beautiful bok choy:

And Janice gave me her homemade raspberry jelly.  This is extra special to Jake and me because we used to rent an apartment where Janice lives now,and we remember picking raspberries from those same bushes.

And then when I got home, I realized someone had anonymously tucked into my bag yet another gift: more sweet potatoes!!! One of them is my favorite sweet potato ever.  It looks like a big inch worm or a little Lochness monster, and up until today it was perched on a shelf over all the other sweet potatoes, where it made me smile every time I saw it.

I gave a bit away as well today, but I have a long way to go before I am giving as freely as the people around me.  And although I don't think of myself as a sentimental person--I actually get angry at sentimental movies--this kind of sweetness brings me just this side of tears.

In other consumption news, after the market Jake and my former writing instructor Glenn and I went to the Dutch, where I consumed a baby Brooklyn ale. :)

Today's Consumption Totals:
Food: $13.47
Entertainment: $3
Gifted to me: granola, soup, bok choy, sweet potatoes, raspberry jelly
Miles Driven: 1.5