Farmers' Market

We wanted to go to the farmers' market in Sebastopol this morning but our usual walk in the Laguna right next door has been made less than pleasant by the record numbers of bugs, particularly mosquitoes, this year. Instead we took a section of a walking/biking trail through town which used to be a local railroad which transported produce down to Petaluma from whence it was shipped via the Petaluma River and the San Pablo bay to San Francisco. 

Today it is a quiet trail through back yards and vineyards. It's ironic that the Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit (SMART)  is spending millions  to try and build a commuter rail line  along more or less this same trajectory. The leafy suburbs of Sebastopol would probably never have arisen if the railroad had remained, but now that the suburbs are there, it  would be virtually impossible to replace the tracks. Instead new tracks were built paralleling the 101 freeway. 

We took the SMART train once as far south as it goes to San Rafael, but by the time we drove downtown, paid to park, took a shuttle to the train station, paid another $20 each for a return trip ticket and were picked up by our friends in SanRafael and driven to their home in Larkspur it felt like we had been traveling for days. Unless they offer a reduced fare for commuters, it doesn't seem like an attractive alternative to driving...especially since it will probably never go all the way to San Francisco which would either involve a ferry or train tracks across the Golden Gate Bridge....

Commuting, however, is also a nightmare as Will will attest. He has been driving to San Francisco for a summer  internship. It's a good thing he doesn't mind getting up early in order to beat the worst of the commute traffic.I hope he's getting paid enough to cover his parking....

The farmer's market was in full swing by the time we got there and I always enjoy seeing what the local crops are, chatting with the growers, and listening to whatever music is on offer. Today it seemed to be a guy who could whistle just about anything....

There was also a 'health fair' going on which looked to be largely cannabis products, an astrologer and a few massage therapists.

After tasting several varieties of peaches, cherries and berries, we bought a rustic baguette which was meant for dinner but we ate before we got home....