I am a niche product, and I’m okay with that.

It’s like… tomatoes are a bad example and I’ll get to why later but tomatoes are surface level a good example so I’ll go with it. Like you walk into Publix and there’s a bunch of red tomatoes. Some are hothouse on the vine, some are loose, some are cherry ones, some organic. But almost all the tomatoes are bright red and juicy. And people are buying tomatoes, assessing them against the other bright red juicy tomatoes.

There may be one little basket of heirloom tomatoes and most people will be like ew, wtf is up with these weird ass tomatoes? They’re different colors and they have splits in them and they’re all funny shaped and they cost like twice as much as the other ones. Swerve.

And some people are like oh, these are interesting. Never tried em. Ain’t nobody got $4 for one tomato tho bye.

And some people will be like ah, those tomatoes are fancy but I’m just tryna take something to this cookout so eh on those. Maybe I’ll check them out later.

A couple of people will be like oh nice! I never even knew Publix had heirloom tomatoes! Geez, what a lifesaver. Just what I need for these artisanal crudites. But that number is pretty small comparatively. ?There’s also the off chance that someone will just pick one up out of curiosity but odds are that good tomato is just gonna end up topping a wack 90/10 burger patty and that’s just… y’know?

Truth be told, those heirloom tomatoes just kinda hang out for a while at the supermarket. And if those tomatoes had brains and feelings they may think well damn, why are we always over here getting passed by? Because the only comparison they have is to the variety of conventionally attractive tomatoes that are flying off the shelves regularly.

But at the farmers market, the heirloom tomatoes get mad play. First of all they cost less than in the grocery store, and the shoppers at the market know what’s up with tomato cultivation. Heirlooms are flavorful and unique and their irregularities make them special and desirable. And because people know they’re special, chances are those tomatoes are gonna end up in some fly ass caprese salads with small-batch?mozzarella and handpicked non-gmo basil in a fancy Chastain Park concert picnic setup or something. Those tomatoes are going places. And if the tomatoes have feelings, they’re like, constantly affirmed as valuable because they’re getting chose and they’re surrounded by a bunch of badass fellow unique tomatoes and other produce like chantrelles and shit and everything looks kinda weird and different but it’s okay because that’s what makes them dope.

I am an heirloom tomato.

Tomatoes aren’t the best example because the process to genetically cultivate uniform color and shape into them also cultivated the stuff that gives them flavor out, so basic tomatoes are actually really bland. But as an extended metaphor for humans, specifically women, I’m not trying to say that basic people are generally bland although I kinda am. So let’s cast that problematic piece aside and wrestle with it later. WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY IS don’t sit in the Piggy Wiggly sad that life is passing you by. You are not even a fruit. Go find you a crate of bomb ass pomelos or kumquats or polynesian breadfruit or whatever you identify with on the produce spectrum and build yourself an affirming supportive tribe and go find your niche market. It’s springtime out here. Bloom where you’re planted but plant yourself in fertile ground. Because you have feet.

I’m just saying, if your groove?ain’t flowing like you want, gone head and venture forth from the rivers and lakes that you’re used to. They might be sleeping on you at Food Lion, but you could be getting that work in a CSA box. ?#?grow? ?#?flourish? ?#?ripen? ?#?cultivate? ?#?etc?