The happy produce buzz first thing in the morning . . .

I shopped for my produce at my local farmers market ‘Howard Wong Farms’ yesterday. ‘Wongs’ is a bit of a drive out and there have been other produce markets that have sprouted up all over town and much closer to home but I do the drive and go to Wongs. The lettuce is the crispiest and the basil is always sweet and fresh.

It’s fall so that means stacks of fresh picked apples of every variety. I walked up to the piles of apples, where a woman was filling her bag, and I asked her which apples were her favourite. We chatted about our favourite apple varieties and she told me all those apples made her want to start baking . . . apple pies, crisps . . . oh, to make the house smell of apples and cinnamon.

You know that juicy, sugary, caramelly, appley bit that always leaks from the crust of the apple pie and when you bite into that slice the perfect mixture of apple, crust and the candied bit that sticks to your teeth? Elixir of the gods.

Back to my shopping.

I started to fill my cart. A lovely butternut squash: homemade ravioli filled with squash or a big pot of soup. Pie pumkins: Pies for thanksgiving just around the corner and lots of ornamental gourds to throw haphazardly around my house in an attempt to decorate for the fall season.

Next, I walked into the large market and the intoxicating smell of fresh produce and herbs hit my senses. It was hard to stop this crazy and immediate impulse to throw myself onto the fragrant greens, earthy potatoes, sweet peppers and scoop it all up, inhale –and possibly nuzzle.

I contained myself. I was picking out some fresh dill when the same woman I chatted with earlier, walked by me and whispered, “ I just want to buy everything” I smiled, nodded and said . . .

“Me too.”