A farmers' market is not a grocery store. You can't make it through successfully if you keep your mouth shut. It necessitates interaction, but there are unwritten rules to these interactions, such as when to start a conversation, when to not start a conversation because the salesperson is busy (and that's what he or she is, in addition to maybe being a farmer - a seller), when it's time to buy, and when it's time to leave. There's also the issue of whether or not it's okay to not buy something if you've eaten a sample, which is kind of along the same vein as, "If you get her pregnant, you have to marry her."

With all these rules that can easily be avoided at supermarkets (how many people start a five-minute chat with the cashier? And how angry would the person in line behind them be?) why go to farmers' markets at all? Maybe because there's something addictively wholesome about meeting the farmers of the produce you're buying face-to-face. When you have a conversation with them about their farm you feel a connection to their lives and you feel good about both supporting them and eating their food. Then there's the less "holier-than-those who shop at Provigo" reason that I feel good: because I can convince myself that I'm a little closer to nature and the quaint idea of farming by buying this fresh food even though I never touch a rake or kneel in a row of manure. I'm not a princess, but I just don't have a garden. Really all these reasons to shop at farmers' markets are second to the fact that I know I'm getting top quality produce that wasn't shipped halfway across the continent before being stored in a warehouse for way too long and making its shelf-life-reduced, non-organic way to my local grocery store.
The fact is I really know nothing about these farmers' lives. The market isn't year-round, so any relationships you build at the market might seem a little superficial. I can happily ask a million questions about what kind of soil they use, how the muffins are made, every ingredient in the honey-dijon vinaigrette, and then take a sample of cheese and wander to the next stall without making a purchase. To many this is poor farmers' market etiquette, but I do try to karmically balance the scales. For example, the PepperMaster stall at the Plateau Market (Sundays 10am-3pm, 4265 Laval, west of St-Denis, south of Marianne) offers about 20 different samples of hot, spicy, sour and sweet in the form of vinegars, tomato salsas, and sauces. I tried them all, and I burned accordingly, but I wasn't in love with any of the hot ones. "Peppermaster" though he self-proclaimedly was, I think he's better with non-heat-packing peppers. In this case since I'd tried an entire line of products I really felt obliged to buy something, so I bought a blueberry vinegar with black pepper. In theory you don't HAVE to buy something, but unwritten farmers' market etiquette says you should. The nice thing is that despite the self-imposed pressure to buy, this guy uses as many local and organic products in his vinegars, salsas, and sauces as possible and everything is fair trade and you can at least feel good supporting that.

Now the trick is to come up with something to do with the product. I didn't like any of the suggestions on the peppermaster hand-out, but vinegars are pretty interchangeable in recipes. Since the vinegar was so pungent I thought it should be diluted with yogurt to make a good vinaigrette. So I made a blueberry miso vinaigrette that goes nicely with a green salad with something sweet on it, like grapes, beets or oranges.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp miso
1 tbsp blueberry vinegar (or apple cider, or rice wine vinegar, or other vinegar)
3 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tsp honey
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
2 tsp olive oil

Because of the yogurt in the recipe you don't need a lot of oil. I just give it a splash. Actually I'm pretty loose with most of the ingredients. As long as you taste it after to see what it needs more of, you're golden.

First mix the miso and vinegar to get the clumps out of the miso, then add everything except the oil. You can shake it or stir it or whisk it to combine. Then add the oil in a stream as you stir to emulsify it. The vinaigrette only lasts a few days in the fridge, so use it up fast or make a half recipe. It works really well as a dip for vegetables (especially carrots and tomatoes, or any sweet vegetable), and it worked especially well for raw, shaved beets with a tiny bit of orange juice on salad.

More farmers' market etiquette lessons to come...