Interesting. I don't have quite that same experience here, and where I live is not truly country (at least not anymore -- but then again, you can say that about ANY settled area), and I know only one farmer personally -- and he lives here in Rockland County but has his farm in upstate New York (right near the famous Woodstock, as it happens).
The stores here vary. The marge supermarket-type stores have the same amount of variety that you would find in the average large supermarket in New York City. Most will not have all that variety, except for whatever exotic fruit or vegetable is in vogue at the moment.
But the smaller stores here have all sorts of brands, types, and even fruits that I have never heard of. It can be quite fascinating sometimes. But of course, it isn't alwayseasy finding these stores. However, they are often listed on tourist maps of the area, and on the internet.
I'm actually very into names, their meanings, their origins, and who used them, and so forth.
common name among us, though not the most widely found. I know only one And that is actually her nickname, not her given name.
I have found though, that in the past decade or so, the name Mordecai (without the h in the middle) has been used for several comic book characters, though all of them evil! Or so I am told. The first known usage of the name Mordechai (or Mordecai, in the English versions), as you may know, was for a righteous person, in the Book of Esther. It's from Aramaic, and means "fine myrrh." It is the Aramaic translation of a phrase in the Jewish Bible. Fine myrrh was one of the eleven types of incense that were used in the Tabernacle and the Holy Temple.
Might I ask what your background is, and that of your family in the 17 and 18 hundreds? I'm fascinated by this sort of historic information. Where did they live?
Mordechai
