Today Mom, the boys and I drove about a half hour SE (1o mi. or so N of the Mexican border) to the town of Bisbee, reminiscent of Nevada City in its architecture and style. Bisbee was a copper mining town, and the damage to the surrounding hills makes Malokoff Diggins look like Golden Gate Park. The market was lovely. At over 5,000 feet, a sweet pleasant breeze replaced the oppressive August heat of the lower elevations. We treated ourselves to delicious homemade tamales, bought local mesquite honey and blueberry/lemon marmalade. The vendor knew exactly where the blueberries and lemons came from! Again two or three ranchers selling grass fed mammals and poultry. One guy had a good friend from Grass Valley, but we hadn’t heard of him. I had a good talk with some women from the Zuni tribe about fry bread, but that is going to wait until a future entry. A woman was selling local pistachios, pinto beans, and nine bean mix for soups. I wonder where the pinto beans I buy at the patch come from…
Also so many veggies: heirloom eggplant, gorgeous peaches, seedless English cucumbers, garlic, tomatoes
At this market, there were many non food items. Jess bought a wooden turtle with a shell that opened. I bought a home made purse with an earth tone peace sign. A Navajo man was there selling exquisite jewelry, but out of my price range.
Live music rounded out the beautiful morning. A folk-rocky band played John Prine covers so realistically I wondered if it were he. We headed home at noon with full tummies and happy hearts.
Loco? Loca? Local?
I saw an article in the Tucson paper this morning about local food there, and they spelled it locavore. So now I’ve seen locovore and locavore here in Arizona, and localvore in California. Isn’t it exciting to be a part of something so new and dynamic that we haven’t entirely agreed on what to call it yet! ?!
More from the airports on Tuesday. I’ll be back in Nevada County in time to hit the Heaven and Earth Farm stand on Wednesday afternoon.
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