"To Market, To Market"

"To market, to market, to buy a fat pig" is a folk nursery rhyme that is based upon the rural tradition of going to a market or fair where agricultural produce would be bought and sold.  The tradition continues today, with maybe fewer pigs and hogs being sold, but at places you know like the Kansas City, Brookside, and Overland Park farmers’ markets.

On Sunday, Cute and I attended the Sanibel farmers’ market which is a once weekly event from October until May. It's been an island regular event since 2008. I was curious to see what they would have, since I didn’t think there are any farms on Sanibel.

Quick research proved that correct. The 1870 census showed only two inhabitants on the island who grew castor beans until their plantation was destroyed by a hurricane a few years later.  But the U.S. government came to the rescue:  In 1888, the island was opened to homesteading. One hundred and sixty acres were free to anyone who would cultivate their land for five years. Soon farmers were growing tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, watermelon, grapefruit and more. The climate allowed that Sanibel tomatoes were the first to reach the New York market each year and were greatly valued. Maybe they even tasted better than the ones today in Florida.  

Anyway, then nature interfered once again: a 1926 hurricane, The Great Miami Hurricane (category 4), produced a storm surge that inundated the island to a depth of at least eight feet, depositing so much salt that farming was impossible for many years. To make a living, the island's fewer than 100 inhabitants turned to fishing and to the slowly growing tourist industry.

In 2023 hurricane Ian, again a category 4, the worst to hit the island since 1926, had sustained winds over 130 mph, producing a huge storm surge that washed over the island with12 -15 feet depths in various locations.  According to National Geographic, the surge turned about 1,300 acres of interior freshwater wetlands into saltwater marshes overnight, killing fish and plants that couldn’t tolerate salinity. Numerous structures are either gone or still in the process of being rebuilt. Many trees don’t look so hot either. We hope they live.

But I digress.  (No, really?)

This market had about 40 “stalls” or trucks and not one of them was selling windows or CBD.  Hurrah.  There were some handmade goods like jewelry or salsa. One man was cutting and emptying more avocados per minute than I can do in fifteen. Lots of food offerings – with people eating at ironing board tables which we thought very clever.

Thankfully there were three bakeries represented. We haven’t been able to find one on Sanibel where we could buy good home made bread, despite Cute’s partiality to Wonder bread.  A yummy baguette, olive oil, and with several fresh seafood sellers plying stone crab, jumbo shrimp, and crabcakes not to mention Key Lime pie – oboy, our dinner menu was complete!

Yes, another ferociously active day in Sanibel.

(No, really, now this video shows us more athletically on another day.)

P.S.  Since I cannot resist: The first complete recorded version of the rhyme appeared in 1805 in Songs for the Nursery as "To market, to market, to buy a penny bun," with no reference to a pig. The American Songwriter website sums the poem up: "It was in the 1800s when the world began to explode. Industry boomed. Pace increased, options amassed. So, it’s possible this nursery rhyme began to come of age in its own right thanks to the increased focus of business, the market, and even the soaring population. With prosperity often comes population. So, perhaps this rhyme is the anthem for that reality.”

The rhyme as we might know it:     

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

To market, to market to buy a plum cake,

Home again, home again, market is late.

To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,

Home again, home again, market is done.

To market, to market to buy a fat dog,

Home again, home again, jiggety jog.

To market, to market to buy a small chick,

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

You wanted to know, right?