getting to the root of things
During the dark of winter, I dream of beautiful fresh mixed lettuce, arugula, green onions, cabbage, potatoes, basil, red, yellow, and heirloom tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes, bell peppers, and absolutely roasted green chiles. Because of an earlier than normal spring, several vendors arrived at the Tuesday Santa Fe Farmers' Market in late April. I am nearly giddy as I approach vendors with their first truly fresh vegetables of the season. A huge variety of vegetables and fruits are arriving weekly now, in increasing numbers, from the small farms of northern New Mexico at the Farmers' Market. We are lucky to have as much produce as we do from all parts of the world, but there is still nothing like fresh from the farm.
Every time I cruise the vendor tents, there are veggies I have heard of or seen recipes for, but which I have never seen in the flesh. One example of that is kohlrabi. Opinions vary wildly about whether it is actually a root crop. My first thought was "Am I supposed to eat something that looks like this?" It is weirdly photogenic.
Farmers Market Santa Fe kohlrabi 2 2026
Even as a somewhat picky eater as a child, I loved radishes. However, the watermelon radish was new to me when I first saw it 2019. Exterior definitely says "root". The interior flesh is a beautiful fuchsia color on white.
Farmers Market Santa Fe watermelon radish 2026
Food - watermelon radish
Roots crops, including beets of different colors, are sold fairly early in the growing season since they are a cool weather crop. These orange beets grabbed my attention in a hurry.
Farmers Market Santa Fe orange beets 2 2026
And the purple beets glowed in the morning light.
Farmers Market Santa Fe red beets 2026
Fingerling potatoes can arrive at the market as early as late July or early August, depending on the weather in any given year. It is astounding how many species of the lowly potato - a new world crop - there are in the world. "The International Potato Center, based in Lima, Peru, holds 4,870 types of potato germplasm, most of which are traditional landrace cultivars." (Wikipedia) The potato is considered a stem tuber, which means it grows underground on the plant stem. Close enough to a root?
Food - fingerling potatoes
Red onions are definitely a root vegetable. Onions are flavor-filled health superstars, but here, the colors of the onion bulb and the stem fibers gave me not only varied shades of purple and red, but shape, texture, and depth to photograph.
Farmers Market Santa Fe purple onions 2026
My appreciation is particularly great for those of you who worked your way through the depths of last week's blog, but also recommended additional reading and viewing about water in New Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Thanks to Christina who sent the name of an article and podcast titled "The Rio Grande is Running Dry - Here's Why" from the World Wildlife Fund. The link is below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArILOYm9jjs
And thanks to Jan for providing information on a podcast featuring Ezra Klein and Bill McKibben (350.org)
I hope you are able to open them and read or watch if you have a bit of time this week. And that you are able to find a Farmers' Market near you if you don't already grow your own veggies.
There is no doubt that more of the food we eat will be part of another blog in the not too distant future!
until next Monday,
DB
a passion for the image©