Niel (567 & 655)

I thought I recognized Niel when he pulled up with his wagon. “You look like you come here a lot,” I said. “I’ve been coming here every weekend since December 2010.” It sounded familiar. I had just posted on Instagram about a market regular who I met in October 2021 who had told me the same thing. It was his 567th time at the market that day. I showed Neil his seed. “I think this is you,” I said. And he confirmed his signature on the back of the seed. He calculated that on August 4, 2023, it was his 655th time at the market. I shared the Filipino concept of “suki” to him. He thought about it. “That’s a term for the importance of social interdependency.” It’s not a noun, or a verb, or an adjective or an adverb. It’s all of them. It describes this dynamic relationship between two people. While at the stand, Kara from Old Line Plate stopped by, and Niel shared a recipe for eggnog.

To read more about the suki relationship, see the "Suki" chapter in Story Seeds: Growing Home at the Farmers Market.