The sight of the potato stand brings a smile. It harkens back to a more innocent time, when you knew everyone in your community, relied on and trusted them. Now, traffic goes by with people from all over Prince Edward Island and beyond, from outside the neighbourhood and those one would know.
Traffic is so busy here, it is treacherous to stop and take a photo from the car. Yet, this potato stand appears every year when the harvest begins. The stand is opposite a farm on a two lane highway without much of a shoulder.
Such stands are an island tradition! Along the roadways or at the end of driveways, farmers place their produce in stands, often as seen here, a wooden box with shelves. People stop, take a bag of potatoes and put money in the metal box. It is an honour system. The farmer is saying, "I have implicit faith you will leave money if you take the potatoes I have worked for months to grow.”
And it works.
On the rare occasion when it doesn’t, we hear about it on the evening news. Over this past summer, someone stole money and honey from a stand in Canoe Cove. No honour there. Still the practice continues and for the most part, without incident.
The world today is unsafe for many due to natural and man made disasters and tragedies. No wonder the stands make us smile.