Rensselaer Adventures

This blog reports events and interesting tidbits from Rensselaer, Indiana and the surrounding area.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Farmers Market in June

The farmers market now has enough vendors and shoppers showing up to be interesting. There still is not a large selection of garden vegetables, but there is signage that catches people's attention.
 In addition to the pork, beef, shrimp, baked goods, and knives that were there a few weeks ago, there were strawberries, lots of them.
There was a lady selling wild flowers for the Nature Conservancy and I had a nice talk with her and another shopper about plants. I discussed health and hospitals with the lady who sells goat milk soap. I have been wondering if Franciscan Alliance will follow up their acquisition of JCH with the purchase of other small hospitals. Consolidation has been a trend in medicine during my life time. My father was a pharmacist trying to run his own drug store when I was a kid, and entry of a small chain into the town we were living in drove him out of business. Then he went to work for a large drug store in St. Paul and wondered why he had not made that move years earlier. Today an independently owned drugstore is a rarity. Doctors with their own practice are becoming less common, and perhaps independent small hospitals will also soon be a thing of the past.

It is always fun to chat with the vendors and others shoppers. I do not buy much (division of labor leaves that to the other member of my household), but I like to look at the prices. When I saw rhubarb for $3 a pound I felt a little richer. I have harvested at least ten pounds of it from my garden to make crisps.

In the afternoon I braved the cold water of LaRue Pool. It only took me about seven minutes to get totally wet--I am not one who just jumps in and gets it over with. I take my time and prolong the suffering. Once in the water I was fine. I was surprised at how many people were there given that it was not that warm today.

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