What $40 will get you at Findlay Market

1/2 lb raw milk gouda 

1 dozen farm fresh eggs

1 loaf harvest bread (with polenta. rye and buckwheat)

1 green pepper

2 yellow peppers

basket orange slicer tomatoes 

2 lbs heirloom tomatoes

1/2 of a monstrous watermelon (the other half will be my friend Jenny's) 

bundle of sage

bundle of tarragon

bundle of parsley 

bag of spinach

4 small knob onions

That made last night's dinner. I made a batch of pesto, added two tomatoes to the remnants still in the blender and pureed. Cooked up some whole wheat shells, to which I added the sauce and briefly cooked. Chopped another orange tomato, some basil and a 1/4 yellow pepper. Served alongside creamed spinach. 

Yesterday's brunch, again from my market bounty. 

Two slices harvest bread with a poached egg, a slice of gouda and one tomato sprinkled with tarragon. There is also a sad example of an egg cooked in the cast iron skillet.  

I lived in Athens for four years, but I rarely left campus and only left the city limits on my way home. There is an entire world beyond the four greens of OU, a world of organic, local farming, a rich agricultural history and plenty of quirky foods. (Schnuckelputz and pawpaws? Only in Athens County.) 

Until today, I hadn't tried a paw-paw, and I mistook them for plums yesterday.