La Mesa Farmers Market Invaded by Metal Ants (and Human Decency, Too)

This past Friday, I finally had a chance to make a much overdue stop at La Mesa’s Farmers Market. I stocked up on our usual five pounds of Baba Foods hummus (the whole reason why I must make regular treks to the Farmers Market) and was ready to head back to our car, when my son’s little voice peeped, “Mo-om, key-chains!”

He clearly remembered the fact that we had gotten a spiny spider keychain during a .

And, thus I found myself steering my daughter’s stroller in the direction of the arts and crafts section while my son intently scanned the booths, looking for a tabletop covered with plastic preserved insect key chains. As we walked down the aisle, my son seemed dismayed to find booths with women’s jewelry and hair bows for girls, but no bug paraphernalia.

We were reaching the end of the tents and just as he was ready to lower his head in disappointment, he spied beyond the final tent a display of welded metal and rock ants splayed out on the asphalt. His face immediately lit up in discovering this unexpected treasure.

And, he was certainly not alone. During the fifteen to twenty minutes we spent there—as he carefully studied the arrangement of not only ant figures, but also other animals including dogs, turtles, and peacocks—a considerable number of people also stopped to admire the menagerie.

In just the short time we were there, we witnessed several transactions. One customer bought a small peacock. The peacocks are pretty cool, because the tail feathers catch the breeze, causing the bird to swing from the hip, like a pendulum with its head dipping toward and away the ground.

Another lady eagerly took advantage of the “2 for $10” special on ants. The sale was an easy one after she realized that even the “novelty” ants were included for this price. As opposed to just regular ants, the novelty ants feature accessories including fishing poles, shovels and trumpets.

In fact, in one area, there was a whole arc of ants assembled like a musical ensemble. Besides trumpet playing ants, there were ants performing with an assortment of other instruments from violins to flutes, and even a drum set.

A customer inquired whether or not there was a conductor available since they know someone who is a conductor. The woman selling the items said that while there was not in fact a conductor that day, they should come back next week, because she will make one for them.

Hearing about this custom order intrigued me, because this is not actually the first time that we’ve seen ants like this. My son with his elephant-like memory remembered that we had seen the same type of ants a year ago when shopping along the Venice Beach boardwalk.

Therefore, seeing these once again, I assumed that they must be items that get manufactured and distributed in bulk to different vendors. But, when it was our turn to speak with the seller, who later introduced herself as Erika Bienna, she assured me that she makes these particular figures herself and sells them at a lower price than you can find elsewhere.

Through her broken English, she explained that her brother originally taught her how to weld these animal sculptures and she has been making them for twenty years since. In the distance, I could see a bin full of stones next to her folding chair as evidence of her craft.

It wasn’t long before my four-year-old son had spied his favorite figure of them all: a scorpion. It was one of the few items without a price marked on it, and so I encouraged him to ask Erika how much it costs.

Enamored with the scorpion, he confidently asked Erika the price and she responded, “Fifteen.” After having blown most of our cash on hummus, I only had a five and three ones left in my wallet.

I started to explain to my son that we could bring more money next week to buy the scorpion when Erika interjected that since it he is a little boy who was so brave to talk to her, she would sell it to him for just ten.

I knew I still had some change in a coin purse, and so I was hopeful we could scrounge up enough money to complete the purchase. But then, as I fished around for coins, Erika started repeating over and over that we could just take the scorpion now and bring two dollars next week.

In the end, I managed to find enough loose change to make up the difference. All the same, I was touched by the kindness that Erika had shown my son and the trust she was so generous to extend that we would be good for the money.

Having personally been burned and embittered in the past by people who don’t stick to their word, it was refreshing to encounter someone so willing to open her heart like this.

As my son held his scorpion proudly in his arms, I asked Erika if she would mind me taking some photos of her offerings to post about them on the Patch. She welcomed me to take as many pictures as I would like even though she admitted that she does not use a computer.

As I sit here typing this blog posting, I cannot help but feel some admiration for a life free of Internet drama, building earthy products with your own two hands, and still believing in the goodness of strangers.