Vendors and Activities for September 4

As the market hits its 14th week of the season, we’ve got enough new veggies, vendors and activities to keep things interesting!

Squash is already starting to appear. You’ll find delectable kabocha squash (aka Japanese pumpkin) at Song Sparrow’s booth. Vladimir should still have his amazing yellow watermelon too, but be quick. That harvest season is slowly drawing to a close.

We’re also scheduled to welcome a brand new bread vendor today: Common Crumb Artisan Bakery. Their bread is out of this world. Seriously.

Today marks the second and final week that we’ll be hosting two traveling chefs from Portland, Oregon. They’re on the first leg of a cross-country trip and are serving prepared food at farmers markets along the way. They’ll be making Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai and Korean-style hotdogs. Their food got rave reviews last week, so this is your last chance to catch them before they’re off to Missoula! (Uyen and Geneo blogged about their first week on the Spokane farmers market circuit; read it here.)

This Friday our free KERNEL kids activity is … wait for it — make your own potato head! Kids will get to put together potato heads the old school way using real potatoes.

Lau, the classically trained pianist from Denmark, will be back to provide music. He last performed on July 31.

Last but not least, today we’ll have free dump passes worth $20 for Emerson-Garfield residents. Pick them up at the market info booth; please bring ID to verify your address.

Here are all the vendors who are scheduled to join us today. Many of you will be relieved to know that Simply Sweets is back from vacation!

  • Awesome Possum – Handmade all-natural lotion bars and lip balms
  • Common Crumb Bakery – A range of traditional breads and baked goods
  • Country Buddies – Jams, salsas and more
  • Courtney’s Crafts for Costa Rica – Handmade jewelry, scrapbooks and more
  • The Farm Yard – Neighborhood-grown veggies, herbs and more
  • Food for All (aka Vinegar Flats) – Locally grown veggies and herbs
  • KC Creations – Beaded lanyards, leashes, earrings, photos and custom cards
  • Hierophant Meadery – Mead, honey, kombucha, syrups and more
  • Jenkins Java – Cold- and hot-brewed coffee, Italian sodas and honey
  • Mama Torrez Salsas – Authentic salsas, pico de gallo and chips
  • Mary Beauregard – Plastic canvas needlepoint
  • Morning Sun Bakery – Cinnamon rolls, muffins, cakes
  • Orange Thyme – Natural balms, soaps, perfume oils, body butters and more
  • Petunia’s Marketplace – Flavored honey, candies, gourmet pasta and more
  • R.P. Guerrero Farms – Organic fruit (cherries, peaches, nectarines, apples)
  • Rufino Zisumbo – Chair massage
  • The Scone Ranger – Sweet and savory scones
  • Simply Sweets – Confectionery including baklava and brittles
  • Song Sparrow Farms – Locally grown vegetables
  • SouthEAST – Asian-style hotdogs
  • Vladimir Kuzmenko – Fruits and vegetables from the Yakima area

Jenkins Java sells gallons and half-gallons of milk from Spokane’s Family Farm. Petunia’s always carries meat from Ramstead Ranch. Just ask at their booths.

Vendors and Activities for August 28

We’ve got special guests at today’s market. Uyen and Geneo are newlyweds and self-professed “foodies” out of Portland. They decided to pack up and drive cross-country, cooking at farmers markets along the way – and Spokane is their first stop. They’re scheduled to be at our market this week (August 28) and next (September 4) dishing up new twists on a familiar favorite: Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai and Korean-style hotdogs. So please stop in, give them a hearty welcome, and get some dinner in addition to your weekly shopping.

You can follow Uyen and Geneo’s journey on Instagram, their blog (Bacon and Broth), or Facebook.

Our fun KERNEL program with free kids’ activities continues this week with jump roping. Not only will kids learn some jump rope basics (or get to show off their existing skills), they’ll also have the chance to make a jump rope themselves play some neat jump rope games. And, as usual, they’ll get $2 in Fresh Bucks for spending once they’ve successfully completed the activity. For many kids, having the chance to buy their own cantaloupe or watermelon is the highlight of the market.

We’re also pleased to have another round of Farmers Market Nutritional Program (FMNP) vouchers for WIC clients. This distribution wasn’t initially scheduled, but the reception to FMNP has been so fantastic that the West Central Community Center WIC office was able to arrange a second one. If you are current WIC client, please come out and take advantage of these vouchers. Not only does it give you extra purchasing power for fresh fruit and veggies, it also helps out our vendors who, quite frankly, have had to persevere through some pretty tough conditions this summer.

As for music, we’re psyched to welcome back singer-songwriter Wilson Rahn.

Here are the vendors who are scheduled to be with us today:

  • Awesome Possum – Handmade all-natural lotion bars and lip balms
  • Country Buddies – Jams, salsas and more
  • Courtney’s Crafts for Costa Rica – Handmade jewelry, scrapbooks and more
  • The Farm Yard – Neighborhood-grown veggies, herbs and more
  • The Father’s Table – Neighborhood-grown veggies, herbs and starts
  • Food for All (aka Vinegar Flats) – Locally grown veggies and herbs
  • KC Creations – Beaded lanyards, leashes, earrings, photos and custom cards
  • Hierophant Meadery – Mead, honey, kombucha, syrups and more
  • Mama Torrez Salsas – Authentic salsas, pico de gallo and chips
  • Mary Beauregard – Plastic canvas needlepoint
  • Morning Sun Bakery – Cinnamon rolls, muffins, cakes
  • Orange Thyme – Natural balms, soaps, perfume oils, body butters and more
  • Petunia’s Marketplace – Herb-infused honey, candies, preserves and more
  • R.P. Guerrero Farms – Organic fruit (cherries, peaches, nectarines, apples)
  • Rufino Zisumbo – Chair massage
  • The Scone Ranger – Sweet and savory scones
  • Song Sparrow Farms – Locally grown vegetables
  • Vladimir Kuzmenko – Fruits and vegetables from the Yakima area
  • Wild Things – Wild-harvested produce and forageables

Remember that Petunia’s booth has eggs and meat from Ramstead Ranch.

Some of you might have noticed the conspicuous absence of fresh-baked bread and rolls at the market. We’re genuinely sorry for this, but some things are out of our hands. The good news is that we’re in talks for Common Crumb to join us for the rest of the season starting next week!

Vendors and Activities for August 7

It’s the tenth week of the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market — that means we’re smack dab in the middle of our season. But it’s National Farmers Market Week, too, and in honor of that we’re holding our second annual cooking demo with local chef Adam Hegsted of The Wandering Table and The Yards Bruncheon.

Using recipes from the Washington State Farmers Market Association, Adam will be making three tasty dishes with market ingredients. The recipes are below — and you can also pick up free glossy recipe cards of them at the market.

West Central Community Center WIC will also be distributing Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) vouchers at today’s market. WIC clients, please come down and collect yours! We have eight vendors with fresh, delicious, affordably priced produce who can accept these vouchers.

We’ll also have our first-ever mead vendor at the market! Hierophant Meadery will be joining us for the rest of the season. They sell mead, honey, kombucha, cordial syrups and more.

For music, we’ll have Hannah Siglin. She wowed the market a few weeks ago, and we’re thrilled to have her back so soon.

Spokane Hope Christian Reformed Church, the congregation that shares a building with Knox Presbyterian, will have their authentic Korean food to eat in or take out. They swear it’s the best Korean food in town – and many of our patrons would enthusiastically agree.

The market booth will have a new batch of dump passes worth $20 for Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood residents. Stop by and get yours to save some money on hauling yard or household refuse to the dump.

And we’ll also be hosting the fifth week of our free KERNEL kids activity — so bring your children and grandchildren for some games geared toward healthy eating. This week it’s “market bingo”! Kids will have the chance to go from booth to booth, learning about what’s in season.

Speaking of which, it’s close to peak season for local fruit and veg. We had the first appearance of sweetcorn at the market last week, and more and more tomatoes and peppers are springing up at vendors’ booths. Organic plums debuted last week too.

This week — like every week — we’ll have almost everything you need to prepare the recipes Adam will be demoing. Jenkins Java/Alpine Bakery sells gallons and half-gallons of milk from Spokane’s Family Farm. Petunia’s booth has eggs as well as pasture-raised meat from Ramstead Ranch.

Vendors and Activities for July 24

Vermiculture is our market demo this week. (That’s worm cultivation for the uninitiated. See above for a handy info poster.) Jim Wood of Marlé Worm Growers will show you how to set up a bin for worm cultivation, how to “harvest” the worm castings and how to use them in your home garden. Worms are the best friends your soil can have!

Now in its third week, KERNEL’s free kids activity looks at composting. This will tie in with the vermiculture demo, and our younger participants will be able to get their hands dirty by making super soil with the help of their wriggly friends. And not only is the KERNEL activity free, kids get some Fresh Bucks for spending at the market once they’ve completed it.

Spokane Hope Christian Reformed Church, which shares the church building with Knox Presbyterian, will have freshly cooked authentic Korean food for takeout or eating at the market. They call it the best Korean food in town, and their many devotees would agree.

For music, we’ve got Matthew Hughes. He’s playing at the market for the first time.

R.P. Guerrero, our organic fruit vendor, had early peaches and nectarines last week, so we’re anticipating a nice-sized fruit harvest this week. Awesome Possum is going to be bringing some new up-cycled creations to the market too.

Here are all the folks who are joining us today:

Remember that you can get milk, eggs and meat at market! Jenkins Java sells gallons and half-gallons of milk from Spokane’s Family Farm. Petunia’s has meat from Ramstead Ranch as well as eggs.

By the way, each week we post the market as a Facebook event. If you’d like to show your support (or maybe just remind yourself to stop at the market on the way home), please click here and RSVP.

Vendors and Activities for July 17

This week the market has a follow-up to the composting demo that launched the season back in June. Master Composter and Master Gardener Ryan Herring will be demonstrating the process for making both compost extract and compost tea, and he’ll explain uses of each in your home garden. Stop by anytime during the market to learn how easy it is to make rocket fuel for your plants!

We’re also into the second week of our KERNEL program for kids. This week’s activity deals with companion planting. Kids will get to take part in hands-on learning about how to pair certain plants (like tomatoes and basil) to deter garden pests or avoid competition for soil nutrients. Last week’s transplanting activity was so successful we ran out of zucchini starts! We’ve braced ourselves for lots of participants this time.

Our musician today is Hannah Siglin, another market favorite. She sings and plays beautifully.

As most of you know, this summer’s hot weather has sped up the harvest. Our fruit vendors have said that early plums and peaches could be with us this week. We should also be seeing some new potatoes and possibly even the very first locally harvested tomatoes. Plus all that comes in addition to the fruit and veg we’ve been seeing for a few weeks now, such as zucchini, squash, cucumbers, broccoli and turnips.

There are still a handful of dump passes worth $20 each for Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood residents. First come, first served.

Jenkins Java will be selling gallons and half-gallons of milk from Spokane’s Family Farm. Petunia’s will have eggs as well as meat from Ramstead Ranch — and, better yet, Petunia’s will be joining us every week from now until the season’s end!