trail setters: my family started a farmers market

 

My mom and stepdad started a little Sunday farmers market in town. Yesterday was the first day and we were all pleasantly surprised by our town's turnout. We even had a few folks linger in from Seattle. We couldn't have asked for better weather too- bright sunny skies. My parents are calling their baby a "grower's market", meaning the focus of the market will be Washington grown and produced foods and plants. Maybe one or two craft vendors, but that's it. Food vendors will have to use Washington grown food and produce, so, for example, we have a hot dog vendor coming in who will be using locally raised pork. Essentially, their market is what farmers markets should be, but often deviate from. For instance, you'll head to market and only be able to find one or two farmers in a sea of crafts. I'm looking forward to watching this market grow. It's in an excellent spot: in the middle of town near a large grassy area with a playground and skate park. Anyway, below are a few photos I took from opening day. I sold edible and pollinator-attracting plant starts I grew myself. My parents had their awesome tomatoes up for sale (of course). 

 



1. My parents' beefsteak tomatoes.
2. My little plant stand.                                                                                                                        
3. Some of my starts.
4. My big ol' pregnant belly. I'm due August 6th!
5. Blowing the conch shells (old market tradition) at the end of the day. My stepdad's to the right.

our homestead: good things from my week

1. Bienenfreund flowers in full bloom. Seeds from Uprising Seeds of Bellingham, WA.
2. Collecting German Chamomile flowers for winter sleepy tea. Seeds from Uprising Seeds.
3. My mystery duckling. Hatched between clutches.
4. Nesting in my palm.
5. Visiting my parents, Flying Tomato Farm, at the Thursday Snohomish Farmers Market.
6. The "Uglies".
7. Flying Tomato Farm offerings.
8. My niece, Sofie, searching for flowers under an old apple tree.
9. This is what summer is all about.
10. Our homegrown raspberries.
11. Making berry soup with Sofie using raspberries and pie cherries from our backyard.
12. The first of our tomatoes: a Pink Brandywine/Black Prince cross.
13. My tomato jungle.
14. Sunflowers growing taller and taller in front of the bird coop.
15. Spyder Munggins in "outer space".
16. Ghosty Cupcakes taking a front porch snooze.
17. Me and my loyal sheppy, Banjo.

trail setters: hanging at the farmers market

I worked a farmers market today for Frog's Song Farm. In between the hustle and bustle, I was able to snap these photos....

My mom (right) and Adrienne (left), my Fairy Godmother 

My mom's homemade soap

My family's Flying Tomato Farm tomatoes

Flying Tomato Farm Garlic Scapes

Wild morel mushrooms at the Frog's Song Farm stand

The first of the strawberries at the Frog's Song Farm stand

Rhubarb at the Frog's Song Farm stand

Little baby beets at the Frog's Song Farm stand

trail setters: 10 reasons to support your local farmers

1. You support more open space in your area. If a farmer can afford to keep their lands, there's less of a chance that their land will get developed into ranch housing or "paved paradises".

2. You support nutritious food in your community. Locally grown food has higher vitamin content, as it can be picked in the peak of ripeness and brought to you quicker than if it had to be harvested under-ripe and shipped hundreds of miles. Also, food grown here is acclimated to our area- I sometimes wonder if certain food allergies are caused by eating food grown far away and if people could digest local foods easier.

3. You support bee survival in your area via the selection of blossoms and nectar sources farmers can supply to pollinators with their crops and orchards.

4. You support your local economy, especially during this hard economic time our country is facing. One of my favorite things to have happen while selling produce at a farmers market is to be checking out two customers and the first customer hands me what instantly becomes the "change" for the second person. For example, the first customer's total is $12 and the second customer's total is $8. The first customer hands me $12 exactly and the second customer hands me a $20. I immediately hand the first customer's $12 over to the second customer as their change. I know it's a little silly, but that is a true visual of the money that is cycling around the community from people shopping at my farmer's produce stand.

5. You support crop biodiversity. I recently read an article in National Geographic that discussed the extinction of several different types of vegetables (such as heirloom radishes and potatoes), caused by mass production of more generic crops. Supporting smaller farmers can help keep heirloom varieties alive.

6. You support the knowledge of where your food is coming from and have less risks for the salmonella and e.coli outbreaks that seem to occur with mass produced food.

7. You support the farmers for the labor they provide! Farmers work very hard, very long, grueling physical days and a lot of them end up with arthritis from all the minute work they do with their hands. We should show them the appreciation they deserve. It's patriotic.

8. You support better soil. Smaller, local farmers' livelihoods depend on the health and fertility of their soils, so more effort is put in to creating living soils rich in organic matter and nutrients through better growing methods and rotation.

9. You support the maintenance of a unique set of skills. The average farmer's age today is 55 and that average is continuing to climb. What does that mean? That less folks are getting into farming. When today's farmers age, who will grow our food? It's important to keep it so that people can actually make a living and support their families through farming.

10. You support your taste buds. Fresh food tastes better. Enough said!

our homestead: farmers market season begins (and I transplanted my tomatoes!)

I worked my first farmer's market of the season today. I've peddled organic produce for the same Skagit Valley farmer for the past six summers. It's always special for me when market season starts- I get to return to my community of creative, industrious and earthy people. I started coming along to market with my mom when I was about ten or eleven years old, and used to help her sell her handmade goatmilk soap. If I was lucky I'd get $5.00 to spend as I ran around the grassy marketplace in my barefeet with my little brother. Such wonderful summer memories of spending time with my mom with a cold Cherry Bomb Special in hand (an amazing fizzy drink one of my favorite vendors used to make). My mom still comes to market, but she's had quite a lot more to sell these past few years, ever since starting the tomato farm. Along with her awesome goatmilk soap, she'll usually bring all sorts of tomatoes, cucumbers and garlic, dried lavender blossoms and jars of honey.

I've met so many interesting characters over the years...I figure someday I might have to write a book about it. There was the iron worker who was nearly seven feet tall (I'm sure he was only six feet, but when I was little he was ginormous). He had a thick, black beard and a big old belly and would show up to market with an assortment of iron garden art: big, metal black flowers, birds, vines, gates and the likes. To set up his wares he'd just toss them right out of the van, *crash* *clang* *clang* on top of each other. Then there's my favorite honey vendor who always comes to market with his portly australian shepherd (who loves pasta and cheeseburgers). This particular honeyman has a huge heart and a hearty cackle to top it off. He's always sharing stories of his younger years with me (like the time he lived in Panama) and sharing business advice. Right now he's learning how to produce his own Queen bees, and he also raises canaries and pigeons. And then there's the farmer I work for. Anyone who's met him knows he's quite the character. He's notorious for showing up late to market, but that's just because he always has the freshest produce (and probably the best). I definitely have to credit my sleuth with cooking vegetables, and my knowledge of weird heirlooms, to working for this guy. He's chalk full of the coolest recipes and really tries to bring something different to market such as several types of fingerling potato varieties, squash blossoms, wild mushrooms, pickle weed, huckleberries, golden raspberries, striped tomatoes, kohlrabi, celery root, purple basil, lemon sorrel, pink and white striped chioga beets, kale flowers, asian pears and so much more.

Anyway, my first market of the season rocked. My farmer brought along his family, so it was like a little reunion. His daughter even made us all vetch crowns (I'm wearing mine in the picture above). All of the customers seemed happy to see us, and excited to have good food in their neighborhood once more. This spring has been so cold that it was certainly a hopeful sight to see produce out on the tables: arugula, spinach, kale, radishes, leeks, spring garlic and onions, chives, cilantro, parsley, potatoes and plant starts.

Speaking of plant starts, I am also happy to announce that I was able to move out all of my tomato starts to my greenhouse today after the market (I'm holding one of my starts in the photo above). I was also able to plant celery, basil and pickling cucumber starts next to the tomatoes as well. I'll be sure to post a more detailed blog about my greenhouse setup in the the coming days. Now, I'm going to sit back and relax and enjoy some homemade rice pudding I was gifted by the Italian pasta vendor. What a good day!

trail setters: looking forward to farmers markets

Here's a little video I shot at the Edmonds Farmers Market (when I was supposed to be selling vegetables). Just thought I'd post it here, after all, market season is right around the bend...

our homestead: gee, I like fruits n' veggies.

I am absolutely, positively in love with vegetables. And fruits. And mushrooms. And nuts. And all the other nifty edibles Mother Nature has generously provided for us human folk to discover. There is nothing as marvelous as the act of pulling a bright, sweet carrot from the dirt..or brushing one's hand over the rich, green and nutty leaves of spinach. There is nothing as tantalizing as a roasted baby red fingerling potato pierced with a shiny fork- its creamy, buttery flavor but moments from being enjoyed. There is nothing that smells as clean and cool as a just-sliced lemon cucumber or as sweet and tart as a vine-ripened cherry tomato.

In writing this blog, I have decided it would best to share my adoration for produce with others- to grant people with creative recipes, cool facts, and colorful photographs about the gourmet flora I love. Where did this 'love' sprout from? Well, it could be in my nature: both sets of Great Grandparents on my mom's side were either farmers or nursery owners in the "old countries". I might also mention my green-thumb parents: a dad who once owned his own landscaping business and a mom with a tomato farm. On this note, my admiration of veggies also stems from childhood years of eating lesser-known purple potatoes, carving pumpkins grown in a big patch down our hill, picking berries, cherries, and apples galore from our yard, and tending my own mini-vegetable and sunflower gardens. My mom, a talented woman in all things "earthy", began making goatsmilk soap and soon headed to the local farmers market with her creations. This venture to the market inspired her to pursue farming: tomatoes, honey, garlic, herbs, eggplant, basil, cucumbers, eggs...and needless to say I came along and became a "market brat", spending much of my time at the market, meeting local farmers, and learning the "in's and out's" of fruits and veggies. Thus, in a nutshell, I bring this blog to you- a place where I can express how awesome vegetables really are.