"Local" has been a fashionable buzzword lately, code for a whole host of positive attributes such as "environmentally sustainable," "high-quality" and "economically viable."

And entities don't get much more local than the country farmstand: often crops available there have traveled a matter of only a few miles... or a few feet.

Like anything, farmstands have their own language, their own accepted standards, their own way of doing things. They represent a unique blend of vibrant display and small-time commerce. But the variations on the theme are endless... at times it seems that the smaller the stand the more its own distinctive personality emerges.