Produce of the early fall: cucurbits

With the end of the summer and the beginning of the fall, pumpkins, zucchinis and other kinds of cucurbits are ready for our tables. I visited a small farm with a self-managed market and took some photos to share… then I kept thinking about how these markets work and what it all means regarding the human values of honesty and trust.

Pumpkins in the farms

Fields all around here slowly turn orange. And it’s not so much the leaves yet, but rather the pumpkins -among other types of cucurbits. The opening photo, for example, is in a small farm just around the corner.

Let’s walk (very carefully of course) inside the plantation to give a closer look at the fruits. These ones look ready to eat:

Others are still green, but luckily for them, they have some weeks of good weather ahead, to ripen:

Others are almost there:

On a side fence at the edge of the farm, a plant deposited its growing fruits on a seat:

Self-managed markets

Behind the house, I found that the farm has a self-managed market. This is a concept based on trust and civilized behavior that I haven’t seen anywhere else, although I’m pretty sure it exists in other well-developed countries too (do you know any such markets in your country?). Basically, you just enter the store, pick what you want, and leave the money in a small box (or, in many stores, you can nowadays pay with electronic means too). Nobody controls you, and very few have cameras to check if people are honest.

And the concept seems to work: I’ve seen around the region self-markets selling all kinds of products: season fruits (I particularly like buying tomatoes and apples), potatoes and onions, green leaves, also jams, honey, and other jarred products, flower arrangements, liquors and other drinks, and even milk and its derivatives.

Here’s the self-managed market behind the farm of the opening photo. It is of course dominated by cucurbits by this time of the year. Apparently, the farmers had already harvested a few other kinds of fruits besides the pumpkins:

Here are some more. The yellow one in the middle makes me think about flying saucers -not sure why, it doesn't really look like one, does it?:

And two more. Do you see the costs? That’s about 4–5 USD per kilo. You have to weigh the fruit you picked (there’s a balance on a table), do the maths, and then just leave the money or pay online.

A concept that seems natural here, but was quite unexpected to me when I arrived as an expat almost 10 years ago. Even some big cities (by Swiss standards) have this working out, which would be (today) nearly impossible in the other countries where I’ve lived.

I hope this will someday be common everywhere. A simple thing (literally making life simpler for the seller who doesn’t need to stay at the market and also for the buyer who can just go for fruits and veggies whenever s/he wants) and a set of acts that I think reflect four major human values: honesty, trust, fairness, and respect.

I hope you have liked this story, which started with pumpkins and ended up talking about self-managed markets and human values.

If you liked this story I recommend that you also check Diana Lotti’s special connection with pumpkins, a super interesting read with a stunning opening photo:

If you want to see another self-managed market, check out the one I saw in my last bike ride, selling flowers and honey:

I am a nature, science, technology, programming, and DIY enthusiast. Biotechnologist and chemist, in the wet lab and in computers. I write about everything that lies within my broad sphere of interests. Check out my lists for more stories. Become a Medium member to access all stories by me and other writers, and subscribe to get my new stories by email (original affiliate links of the platform).