Jon Crispin's Notebook

Farmers’ Market

Posted in Food, Nature, Plants, Seasons by joncrispin on 14/09/2013

This is white ginger.  It usually shows up at this time of the year at the Amherst farmers’ market and is quite lovely.  We usually buy some to put in the freezer.

I was taken by the produce at Old Friends Farm stand this morning.  Everything looked great in the soft morning light.

Autumn farmers’ markets are the best.

I’ve no idea what these little white pods are, but they look nice next to the tomatoes.

And a question for all you grammarians out there.  When I was writing the title of this post I assumed that the apostrophe in farmers would go after the “r”, but when I did an internet search, many sites had it after the “s”.  Any clarification on which is correct?

15 Responses

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  1. DotRot said, on 14/09/2013 at 11:05 am

    I’m not a grammarian, but I would assume the apostrophe would go after the S since there is more than one farmer participating in the market.

    • joncrispin said, on 14/09/2013 at 11:09 am

      I see your point what with the market being a collective of a group of farmers, but I still could see it as “it is a market for a farmer selling his or her produce”, therefore a market for a farmer (farmer’s market).

      • joncrispin said, on 14/09/2013 at 11:11 am

        DotRot, thanks. This is interesting. What fun.

  2. Celiacelia said, on 14/09/2013 at 11:07 am

    If the market belongs to one farmer it’s a farmer’s market. If it belongs to more than one it’s a farmers’ market. So I think your title is correct.

    Love the blog!

    • joncrispin said, on 14/09/2013 at 11:14 am

      Celiacelia, what is interesting is that the market doesn’t belong to any farmer. It is just a place where they can sell their produce. Which still leads me to think of it as a farmer’s market.

  3. Zafio said, on 14/09/2013 at 11:24 am

    Hi! the little “pods” are Physalis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physalis

    • joncrispin said, on 14/09/2013 at 11:26 am

      There’s the answer. Thanks. Have you eaten them?

      • oifazZafio said, on 15/09/2013 at 5:51 pm

        Yep, it is bittersweet, kind of a mix between tomato and lemon, good stuff.

  4. Erin Bogarte said, on 14/09/2013 at 12:44 pm

    What do you do with the ginger? Wikipedia references no culinary applications…

    • joncrispin said, on 14/09/2013 at 5:57 pm

      Use it just like any other ginger. It is just more tender and super tasty.

  5. antiquarianphotographer said, on 14/09/2013 at 1:53 pm

    Hi John~

    The apostrophe in farmers would go after the “s” because there is more than one farmer there; hence farmers’ market or farmer’s markets, i suppose if they are all separate??

    Judith

  6. kjwx said, on 14/09/2013 at 3:21 pm

    Actually (as a copy editor, I get paid to know this stuff), as we don’t know whether any of the farmers involved own the market in question, it becomes a descriptive phrase – rather than an adjectival one – so doesn’t require an apostrophe at all.
    That said, s’ is perfectly acceptable in common usage and ‘s would also be correct if just one farmer owned the market. Confused again yet?

  7. Katrina said, on 15/09/2013 at 12:39 pm

    The groundcherries are strange tasting to me…A little grassy, a little peppery, a little like a tomato (texture).

  8. […] Saturday I posted pictures from the Amherst Farmers’ Market.  On Thursday I got an email from Casey at Old Friends […]


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