'Just to be is a blessing, just to live is holy,' a famous rabbi once said. It was one of those days, sky-blue and bounding with life, when I drove out to Stellenbosch to visit the Organic Farmers' Market. The first thing I smelled was vanilla pods; the first thing I tasted was freshly juiced carrot and ginger. How much of life lies in the details, in getting off the train track and opening up to what is before us.

New-age markets, farmers markets, slow food markets, and true organic markets.