Comus Market

A hearwarming story from one of our longtime customers here at the market...

"Hi David,
This is Nathaniel. Nathaniel is 17 years old. His Mom and I started bringing him to your Squash/Pumpkin/Chicken heaven there in Comus 5 years ago. Living in the city he has never been around animals but likes seeing them on the TV or computer. He likes and is good at making many animal noises.
So... 5 years ago when we brought him to your market it was the first time he had seen a chicken in person. He was scared of them and would not get out of the car. His mother and I bought quite a bit of squash and pumpkin that year. Each of the last 3 years he has become more brave. The second year he managed to get out of the car and walk around back and watched from a safe 50 to 60 feet as long as one did not look his way, and when that happened he high tailed it to the car. The pictures attached are from what was our third venture to the market and as you can see he was getting quite brave. You were really busy this day and at one point you were near Nathaniel and you bent down to do something near him and he saw it as an invite to fluff your hair, which he loves to do to people. He is being taught to keep hands to self, mind you. Last year was our fourth visit and he was eager to follow chickens wherever they went.
Clearly your market has become a growth point for Nathaniel . Nathaniel has not made it to the market yet this fall but we know he hopes to.

FYI Nathaniel has a significant intellectual handicap. He has a genetic disorder called CFC, cardio facio cutaneous syndrome and is also on the autistic spectrum.

It was a pleasure talking with you on Monday.

Here's wishing you the best Thanksgiving.

Mark""

I hope this warmed your heart as much as it has mine.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!

~Dvd

Comus, MD. Sept. 4th. Labor Day Monday. The end of summer for many. Here there is still plenty of summer labor to harvest but the end to many of summer's treats show signs of the coming change in the seasons. I't a great holiday to enjoy the freshness of our bountiful landscape. Tomatoes , sweetcorn, melons, cukes and peppers. peaches, apples and pears
There's one seasonal gem that is missed by many and lost to many more. It's hey day long lost and heading to an end.. It is the Pear trees of old farms of the past. Farms with an assortment of outbuildings and barns all specific in size and shape for their unique purpose. Bank barns, corn crib barns, Free-stall and to***co barns. Smoke houses, Spring houses and chicken houses. In the 1960's and 70's many of these farms locally sat abandoned and over grown.The buildings just skeletons of their gloried past. In the over-grown shadows there were old fruit trees. The apple and peach trees dead or dying but there were always pear trees producing pears late August and September. Tho never a pretty grocery store pear these pear trees all seemed similar in their homeyness yet a bit unique to the bite. Most dropped fruit green,hard and tart. Some stored well and if wrapped in paper, put in the pantry they would be yellow, juicy and sweet for Thanksgiving. I suspect that like many of the old apple trees on farms these pears were mostly for cider.
The pear trees on our farm growing up were known by the barn or building they were closest to so we had smoke-house pears and bank barn pears.

The old farms these pear trees were planted had barns mostly built in the early 1900's to the 1930's so these trees are old. Most of the old barns and pear trees were lost when the farms sprouted houses. I have no knowledge or record of any out building near my tree here to help date it's age or give a name. I just refer to it as my garden pear.
My Garden pear has some big fruit this year. So I gathered a few up to honor it;s uniqueness.... The flesh is medium textured, a mix of tart and sweetness with plenty of pear flavor.
With the Theme being a Labor day cookout I thought to use it in a salad or other side dish. I came up with ...
Comus Market; Tomato / garden pear salsa!!