hmm, had not thought about it, but in Mobile we have the Schillinger's Road Flea Market. A friend has a booth out there and I'll ask him to update me on plants available down here. I hate to get into such crowds with no sure objective to keep me focussed. Maybe one day our Farmers Mkt will revive to the state it was many years ago.

The Birmingham Farmer's Mkt is not what it once was. I remember when it moved from First Ave. and 11th St. North to Finley Ave. I believe it was while BIG Jim Folsom was guv'nuh. Some of you may remember that Big Jim paved roads all over the state so farmers could get their produce to the markets. A little gravel and some tar and you had a farm-to-market road. For the opening, they had huge search-lights sending beams of light into the Birmingham sky which could be seen for miles. The skies looked like those newsreel pictures of the London Blitz. Opening night they had Eddie Arnold to entertain. He sang his famous "Cattle Call". In those days "truck farmers" from Shelby, Jefferson, Blount, Walker, Cullman and other counties would fill the sheds with their vegetables and the outside area was filled to overflowing with those who couldn't get under the shed. Farmers offered bites of peaches, apples, watermelon, canteloupe, honey, peppers and other fresh items for you to taste. The farmers knew what they were selling because they grew it. Now the concrete dock-tables are claimed by year-round vendors who set-up and stay in place winter or summer. Ask one of the vendors if he has any "field corn" and he will tell you it was all grown in a field. They don't know Hickory King from Silver Queen. It seems most farmers bring their produce to the market and sell it to the vendors. Then the farmers don't have to stand around to sell their goods. They put the money in their pocket and go back to the farm. It has lost that farm-to-market atmosphere. And heaven forbid they would sell flowers at the 1950s era Farmer's Mkt. That would have been heresy.

Almost all the products sold at the market are from out of state.

This is for those in the Mobile area: I drove past the Farmers Market on Halls Mill Road yesterday and noticed a large shipment of tropicals being unloaded. I never purchased from this seller before so I don't know if there are any deals but they have a large selection.