Season’s end.

This week’s photograph depicts the final Sunday of Callicoon’s 2004 farmers market—scheduled to resume in May 2005, which, in the depths of winter, will beckon like a distant oasis.

Torrential rain that pelted the region the last Sunday of November had us wondering about the chance of finding farm produce in Callicoon, NY. But we donned boots and raincoats, and after a 10-mile drive from Milanville, PA, we discovered seven canopies assembled on a paved road beside the park, which was too saturated to use.

Free-range chicken was still for sale, as were yogurt, goat cheese, preserves and zucchini bread, homemade cider and trays of late fruits and vegetables.

Although vendors soon learned they would outnumber customers, good cheer prevailed under the canopies where we exchanged notes about the summer weather and the blueberries and cantaloupe we’d purchased right into October.

Handshakes and “see you next spring” were a simple denouement—redolent of dulcimer tunes that graced the market and set us humming on a Sunday noon in August.