A late afternoon breeze lifted the sweat from my back as I bent over the bike trailer, struggling to strap in my two young children. The plan was a peaceful ride along the bay to the Coronado Farmers Market, but we all felt less than serene. The kids were moody and tired, and I was frazzled with all the emotions and preparations for my husband’s return from an overseas deployment the next day.
We pulled out of our driveway, pedaled the first couple of blocks, then crossed Glorietta to hit the paved trail by the Coronado Municipal Golf Course. As my bike slipped past manicured green lawns and tidy sand pits, I felt myself relax. The sound of the bridge traffic faded away. My world shrank to the simple responsibility of biking my children safely along a quiet path.
As rounded the corner under the bridge, the world opened up with the great blue expanse of the bay and the sparkling San Diego skyline. I slowed the bike so the kids and I could admire a gaggle of ducks. “There’s Mr. and Mrs. Mallard from Make Way for Ducklings!”
By the time we reached Tidelands Park, the kids were begging to play on the playground. I lifted them out of the trailer, barely avoiding feet that started running before they even hit the ground.
As they made a beeline for the slides, I drank in the beauty of the bay. Over it, the bridge cut across the sky in a slim, graceful curve. Last week some friends and I were discussing shops and restaurants in North Park, and one of us said, “I sometimes wonder if I chose the right neighborhood.”
“Oh, no, I don’t,” said another, “Every time I cross that bridge to come home, I just sigh.”
We all knew exactly what she meant. We look down from the bridge at that green and blue jewel box of an island and thank God we get to call it home.
As the sun slid close to the horizon, we pedaled the last stretch to the Farmers Market. I caught my breath in the crisp evening breeze and pointed out imperious pelicans scanning for fish over the water.
The Coronado Farmers Market is held in a quiet, spacious spot on the easternmost corner of the Ferry Landing parking lot. We’ve been visiting sporadically since last summer, marveling at the consistent bounty of Southern California produce.There are about twelve vendors, and approximately half of them supply fruits and vegetables. The rest sell flowers, cheese, olive oil, plants, nuts, and pickles.
Slowly we started our loop to examine all the stalls, sneaking sticky fingers out for samples, dipping noses into bouquets of flowers, and admiring the vibrant greens and reds and yellows on every table.
One of my favorite parts of coming around closing time at 6pm is watching the vendors sell to each other. As we stood at the Spring Hill Cheese stall, debating whether or not to indulge in sage cheddar again, the Desert Olives man walked over to request a block of cheese in exchange for some of his oil. I see male vendors leaving with flowers for their wives or girlfriends, and others trading kohlrabi for marinara sauce. It always makes me smile.
We lingered too long in front of the California Medjool Dates booth, and the kids could not stop slipping samples into their mouths. I couldn’t blame them; the fresh dates were sweeter than candy and as large as strawberries. We bought a bag for my husband, knowing it is an old favorite of his.
I remembered I needed radishes for a new recipe, and we lingered over an assorted pile in white and rosy pink, sorting through them to find our favorites. Beside us, a woman pondered a handful of zucchini blossoms.”They’re delicious in salad,” the Valdivia Farms vendor smiled.
“Or stuffed with cheese, battered in beer, and fried!” suggested another friendly customer, and the woman’s eyes widened.
“I’ll take a bag of them!”
At last we had finished our shopping, my kids swinging bags from their wrists. We bid the market goodbye for another week, and then headed home along the sparkling Coronado Bay with the sun setting around us.
As I pedaled home, I rejoiced in the essential Coronado-ness of the whole evening. I was outdoors in March with my home and ocean and neighbors and good food surrounding me. Along with hundreds of other Coronado residents, I had chosen to use my time and resources to make the larger community a better place. I had opted for a bicycle, my family, and shopping local over a hundred other things I could have done at 6pm on a Tuesday.
I loved that so many of my neighbors and I were rubbing elbows and doing exactly the same thing all over Coronado, whether we were supporting local restaurants, cheering at our kids’ sports games, surfing by the Del, or just stepping outside to greet a neighbor.
How are you going to enjoy your neighborhood today? What can you do to help it flourish?
The Coronado Farmers Market is held every Tuesday of the year from 2:30-6pm in the Ferry Landing parking lot by Il Fornaio restaurant. I’ll be there buying more dates!
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“Coronado Living” is a weekly column written by one of eCoronado.com’s staff writers, Becca Garber. She will be blogging about choosing simplicity and practicing hospitality with her family at home in Coronado. You can read more of her writing on her blog.
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
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