Sunday, March 3rd: Goat Yogurt, Winter Broccoli, Tasty Tamales, Pretty Pussy Willow & Sexy Spinach!

Baby spinach from Colinwood Farms. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Last week, we featured hearty winter spinach from Nash’s. This week, we feature tender spring spinach, from the greenhouses of Colinwood Farms in Port Townsend. Jessie assured me that this beautiful, young spinach was due in this week at your Ballard Farmers Market, just waiting for you to turn into amazing salads, to toss into pasta dishes, to stuff into pastries, or to quickly wilt and put alongside your protein of choice. Yep, it’s time again to get your Popeye on and nutrient up with delicious, fresh spinach!

Fromage blanc & smoked salmon spread from Twin Oaks Creamery. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Mmm. I enjoyed some of this amazing smoked salmon & fromage blanc spread from Twin Oaks Creamery this past week on a bagel or two, and it made my New York ex-pat heart swell! Why don’t you pick some up this week, along with some bagels from Grateful Bread Bakery, and you’ll be good to go for dinner tonight, breakfast Monday, or perhaps just a nice, post-Market snack. Heck, bring a spoon with you, and eat it here, while you walk around! Oh, and you know, that Colinwood spinach would absolutely rock dressed with some of Twin Oaks’ goat feta crumbled over it. But here’s the really big news: Twin Oaks has goat yogurt this week! Woohoo!

Broccoli from Alm Hill Gardens. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

More exciting news! Alm Hill Gardens (a.k.a., Growing Washington) has some of their amazing over-wintered purple broccoli today, too! Yes, we have indeed turned the corner toward spring. It is March now, and we have months of constantly changing, local deliciousness ahead of us. Over-wintered broccoli, for instance, is especially wonderful. It is sweet and densely nutritious, having weathered the coldest months of the year. Treat yourself. You can thank me later.

Fresh-cut pussy willow from Children’s Garden. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

I probably have the largest pussy willow tree on earth in my backyard. It is 30-40 feet tall, with a canopy that is a good 40-50 feet across, and every winter, I get to enjoy looking out my back window at it in spectacular bloom, as it is right now. But perhaps you are not so fortunate to have your own pussy willow in your yard — and hey, they ain’t easy to deal with either. Lucky for you, though, Children’s Garden has freshly-cut pussy willow blooms for you to take home and enjoy right now. And they dry beautifully, allowing you to enjoy them for months to come!

Daikon radish greens from Nash’s Organic Produce. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Looking for something a little different? How’s about some daikon radish greens from Nash’s Organic Produce? They take to a nice sauté, or you can salad them, too. Nash’s has all manner of goodness for you now, from the tail end of Brussels sprouts season to arugula raab, to turnips, rutabagas and sunchokes. They are stocked to the gills with winter yummies!

Local albacore tuna loins from Fishing Vessel St. Jude. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

It is the first Sunday of the month, and that means we enjoy our monthly visit from Fishing Vessel St. Jude, with all things local albacore tuna, from frozen loins to canned tuna to smoked. This is adolescent albacore they intercept as it swims south out of its North Pacific spawning grounds toward tropical waters to spend adulthood. As a result, it is high in beneficial omega-fatty acids and low in mercury and other heavy metals, and it is, quite simply, the finest tuna you have ever tasted! Stock up today, cuz they won’t be back for five more weeks!

Honey crisp apples from Collins Family Orchards. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

There’s still time to enjoy some of these honey crisp apples from Collins Family Orchards. Harvested this past fall at the peak of flavor, they’ve kept them stored all winter in what the apple industry calls, “controlled atmosphere.” There’s a lot of science involved, but basically, they suck all the air out of the storage room, replace it with an inert gas, and lower the temperature, so the apples stay super fresh for months, allowing us to keep the doctor away all winter long!

Brokale from Gaia’s Natural Goods. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Brokale is a cross between broccoli and kale, favoring broccoli in flavor. Only one farm — Gaia’s Natural Goods — brings it to your Ballard Farmers Market, and generally, only this time of year, as it likes cool, damp weather. It is nutrient-dense, delicious and easy to work with. I just give it a quick sauté with garlic and olive oil. Or use it as you would normally broccoli.

Roasted root vegetable with queso fresco tamales from Patty Pan Grill. Photo courtesy Patty Pan Grill.

Patty Pan Grill introduces its newest “tamale of the month” this first Market of March. This month, they feature a roasted root vegetable with queso fresco tamale that features Nash’s veggies, and cheese from Samish Bay Cheese. Stop by for a hot one at the Market, or grab some to take home for later!

Please remember bring your own bags every Sunday, as Seattle’s single-use plastic bag ban is now in effect. Also, please take note of our new green composting and blue recycling waste receptacles throughout your Ballard Farmers Market, and please make an effort to use them correctly. Each container has what’s okay to put in it pictured right on the lid. Please do not put the wrong materials in, because that drives up the cost of recycling and composting, and it can result in the entire container being sent instead to a landfill. Your understanding and cooperation are appreciated.

There is plenty more local deliciousness waiting for you today at your Ballard Farmers Market. Just check What’s Fresh Now! for a more complete accounting of what is in season right now.

Sunday, February 24th: Swiss Cheese, Daffodils, Stinging Nettles & Spinach!

Smoky peppercorn & chives Swiss cheese from Rosecrest Farms. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

And the hits just keep on coming! Have you met our newest newest farm, Rosecrest Farms from Chehalis? They are a cows milk dairy that specializes in making Swiss styles of cheeses, something truly unique to them in Washington state. And it is some delish cheese, too. This is not your sliced off of a big block and full of ginormous holes at the “deli” in the Big Box store kind of “Swiss” cheese. This is beautiful, rich cheese — the stuff the Swiss produce on steep hillsides, or Wisconsin. It is not the stuff that people who have never been to Philadelphia slap on a so-called “Philly Cheese Steak”, a crime punishable by a serious flogging in Philly, cuz fake Swiss cheese does not belong on a cheese steak. Just sayin’. But I digress. See, this stuff — indeed, the smoky peppercorn & chives swiss cheese pictured here — is cheese I find myself longing for once I’ve finished off the most recent chunk I brought home. And you will, too. So stop by and say ‘hi’ today, get you some cheeseliciousness from our newest farmstead cheese maker, finish it off while you watch the Oscars, and then spend the rest of the week wishing you had gotten more… until you do just that next Sunday.

Daffodils from Children’s Garden. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

As if stomping its feet and demanding that we acknowledge that it is, in fact, still winter, a nice, big, blustery storm blew through on Friday, and snow was being measured by the foot in the passes. And yet, as much as the talking heads on the one-eyed god tried to proclaim it “the strongest storm of the year,” it came and went, and now we seem back into our seemingly winterless winter once again. I’m not complaining, mind you. After umpteen years of watching crops come in a month late, we are actually seeing some signs of some crops coming in a bit early this year. And in that spirit, we celebrate the return of daffodils from Children’s Garden! A true harbinger of spring indeed, they will breathe some life back into your hibernating spirit.

Stinging nettles from Foraged & Found Edibles. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

And yet more proof that the days are getting longer, the temps higher, and that spring approaches, are these wild stinging nettles from Foraged & Found Edibles. The first of the season are in your Ballard Farmers Market today! Just fight the urge to stick your hand recklessly into the bag. They don’t call them stinging nettles for nothing.

Goat milk from Twin Oaks Creamery. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

The other new dairy farm here at your Ballard Farmers Market is, of course, Twin Oaks Creamery, which is actually a neighbor of Rosecrest Farms down in Chehalis. And they are now bringing bottles of pasteurized goat milk to your Ballard Farmers Market. But you know, I can’t help but notice a typo in their cute little goat sign above. I mean, isn’t there an “a” missing from it?

Winter spinach from Nash’s Organic Produce. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

So maybe this winter spinach from Nash’s Organic Produce isn’t gonna win any beauty contests, but it is delicious. And seriously, it’s spinach… in February! It may not be those delicate, tender leaves you get in May, but it is loaded with flavor, courtesy of having to weather cool, dark, wet winter days and nights, and it is loaded with the nutrients your bod is craving right now. So have at it, people. And don’t be so judgmental!

Mt. Fuji apples from Tiny’s Organic Produce. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Your Ballard Farmers Market is still filled with plenty of apples, even if our supply of orchardists has suffered a bit of attrition lately. Tiny’s Organic Produce has a nice selection of certified-organic apples, like these Mt. Fuji apples. They’ve also got dried fruit and apple sauce, too, made from their own fruit. If you’ve seen entirely too much of your doctor this winter, you clearly have not been eating enough apples. It’s time to rectify that!

Bread & Butter pickles from Purdy Pickle. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

And let’s face it. Pickles is just good food. Grab a jar of one of Purdy Pickles’ many varieties of pickles to enjoy alongside your Swiss cheese during the Oscars tonight. Perhaps these Bread & Butter pickles will do the trick. You can thank me later.

Please remember bring your own bags every Sunday, as Seattle’s single-use plastic bag ban is now in effect. Also, please take note of our new green composting and blue recycling waste receptacles throughout your Ballard Farmers Market, and please make an effort to use them correctly. Each container has what’s okay to put in it pictured right on the lid. Please do not put the wrong materials in, because that drives up the cost of recycling and composting, and it can result in the entire container being sent instead to a landfill. Your understanding and cooperation are appreciated.

There is plenty more local deliciousness waiting for you today at your Ballard Farmers Market. Just check What’s Fresh Now! for a more complete accounting of what is in season right now.

Sunday, February 3rd: Milk (Cow & Goat), Eggs (Chicken & Duck), Carrots (Sweet & Delicious), Succulents (Beautiful & Drought Resistant) & Other Wonderful Stuff!

Bottled cows milk from Twin Oaks Creamery. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Did you get a chance to meet our newest farm last Sunday at your Ballard Farmers Market? If not, let me introduce you to Twin Oaks Creamery. Twin Oaks, meet Ballard. Twin Oaks is a small, family-owned and operated dairy farm in Chehalis that manages both dairy goats and cows. And they bring with them to Ballard the return pasteurized bottled milk from both, as well as fresh and aged cheeses, and soon, yogurt. Their milk is whole milk, not homogenized, so it is real milk, and it is delicious! We’ve been without pasteurized milk since September, and we are very excited about the arrival of Twin Oaks. So come meet your local dairy farmers today, and tomorrow, you can have a super bowl of cereal with delicious local milk! (Did you see what I did there?)

Chicken (top) and duck eggs from Stokesberry Sustainable Farm. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

In years past, we’ve been lean on eggs at your Ballard Farmers Market this time of year. But not this year. In fact, our egg producers are flush with eggs right now, and for the first time in months, they actually didn’t sell out of eggs this past Sunday. So, if you’re one of those folks who has simply given up hope of getting farm-fresh eggs on Sunday afternoon, because you just can’t drag yourself down to your Ballard Farmers Market before 1:30 p.m., this is your winter! Fear not. And get thee down here today. These lovely eggs (above) are from Stokesberry Sustainable Farm. The white ones are duck eggs and the brown ones are chicken eggs. And just so’s you know I ain’t just blowing smoke, I took this photo last Sunday at — wait for it — 3 p.m.! Just sayin’.

February’s Tamale-of-the-Month from Patty Pan Grill. Photo courtesy Patty Pan Grill.

Patty Pan Grill just launched at the new year a great new program of offering seasonal tamales that changes each month. Made with great local ingredients, you can take them home to cook or eat them here. February’s offering is Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese & Olsen Farms Potato Tamales. Stop by and grab some today, because February is a short month!

Nash’s Best Carrots from Nash’s Organic Produce. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

There’s a reason why they call them Nash’s Best Carrots. They are really good carrots! And Nash’s Organic Produce has lots of them… but not for long. In fact, I hear that they may only last through next Sunday’s market. But they keep incredibly well in your fridge, so stock up today. Then you’ll have them for soups, salads, juices, root roasts, stews and more for the rest of the winter. But if you dillydally, you’re gonna miss them until the next harvest begins weeks from now.

Succulent chicks from Phocas Farms. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Just up the road from Nash’s, a little west in Port Angeles, is Phocas Farms. They seem to mysteriously disappear from your Ballard Farmers Market every fall, but it is really no mystery at all. Fall is when the saffron harvest happens, and Jimmy puts all of his attention into plucking, cleaning and drying every delicate thread of saffron all day long for two or three months. Then he shifts his attention to transferring the fall’s crop of succulent chicks from their parents into small pots to get all set and ready for coming back to your Ballard Farmers Market… TODAY! So if you are developing a gardening itch already, but you realize it is still too early to plant most other stuff, get you some succulents from Phocas Farms today, get them in the ground, and then they will be all ready to do what they do best come summer, which is to flourish despite your neglect and weeks without rain!

Baby baby bok choy from Stoney Plains Organic Farm. Photo copyright 2011 by Zachary D. Lyons.

From the department of redundancy department comes baby baby bok choy from Stoney Plains Organic Farm in Tenino. These are the most delicate of baby shoots of the vegetable that is correctly known as baby bok choy. See, baby bok choy is not baby bok choy. They are completely different beasts. So, in this case, these really are baby baby bok choy. And perhaps the most fascinating thing is how long I can go on with this inane discussion with seemingly no shame. But never you mind that. Get yourself some of this deliciousness today! Toss in hot pan with olive oil and garlic. Give a quick toss or two. Done. You can thank me later. Just don’t come too late looking for these, as they’ll sell out early. (Oh, and Terry, please save me some, eh? Thanks!)

D’Anjou pears from Booth Canyon Orchards. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Today is the last day for Booth Canyon Orchard for the season. They will exhaust today their 2012 fall harvest of heirloom apples and pears, like these D’Anjou pears, and they will retire to the Methow Valley to prune trees (or, if they’re smart, they’ll spend a week or three in Mexico) in preparation for their triumphant return next September. So stop by, stock up, thank them for feeding us so well, and send them on their way with a hug!

Canned local albacore tuna in a variety of flavors from Fishing Vessel St. Jude. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

It’s the first Sunday of the month, and that means our monthly visit from Fishing Vessel St. Jude with the finest canned, smoked, frozen, dried, and just generally delicious local albacore tuna you’ll find anywhere. Remember, it’s low in mercury and high in beneficial omega-fatty acids, because this is adolescent tuna from the North Pacific. So stock up for the month, as we won’t see them again until March 3rd!

Please remember bring your own bags every Sunday, as Seattle’s single-use plastic bag ban is now in effect. Also, please take note of our new green composting and blue recycling waste receptacles throughout your Ballard Farmers Market, and please make an effort to use them correctly. Each container has what’s okay to put in it pictured right on the lid. Please do not put the wrong materials in, because that drives up the cost of recycling and composting, and it can result in the entire container being sent instead to a landfill. Your understanding and cooperation are appreciated.

There is plenty more local deliciousness waiting for you today at your Ballard Farmers Market. Just check What’s Fresh Now! for a more complete accounting of what is in season right now.

Sunday, January 27th: New Faces, Old Faces & One Great Year-Round Farmers Market!

Heather Howell making cheese at Twin Oaks Creamery. Photo courtesy Twin Oaks Creamery.

One might think January is anything but an exciting month here at your Ballard Farmers Market. One would be wrong! As a year-round market, we shine this time of year, with dozens of world-class food producers lining historical Ballard Avenue while almost every other market in the state is in its winter slumber. Plus, we are actually adding new vendors this time of year. This week, please welcome our newest: Twin Oaks Creamery! Based in Chehalis, Twin Oaks was nearly wiped off the face of the earth by the historic flood of 2007. But they have been working hard to rebuild their dairy farm business since that horrific event, they now have healthy goat and cow herds for milking and a modern cheese-making facility, and they have set their sites on farmers markets for their future. To that end, they arrive today with pasteurized goat and cow milk and cheese. And in the coming weeks and months, they will continue to expand their offerings to include aged raw milk cheeses, yogurt and more! And we couldn’t be more thrilled! While we have a reliable supply of raw milk from Sea Breeze Farm, we’ve been without pasteurized milk, or any goat milk, since the departure of Silver Springs Creamery in late summer. So come celebrate the return of milk to your Ballard Farmers Market, and get to know your local dairy farmer!

Roy Nettlebeck, owner of Tahuya River Apiaries, has something sweet to smile about — honey! Photo copyright 2011 by Zachary D. Lyons.

2012 was a rough year for beekeeper Roy Nettlebeck of Tahuya River Apiaries. Seemingly insulated for many years from the worldwide collapse of bee populations, his hives suffered last year both from high mortality rates as well as historic snows in the Olympic Mountains, and we have suffered Roy’s absence from your Ballard Farmers Market for the entire 2012 season. His bees, which work the steep eastern slopes of the Olympics, pollinating wildflowers and making honey from their nectar, did process a small amount of wildflower honey in 2012, however, and Roy is in the Market today with what he’s got. Don’t expect these big jars, though. He only has small jars of his honey today, as he wants to spread it around to as many people as possible. Stop by and pick up some of this Olympic gold, and enjoy a natural bit of the sweet life!

Jerry Stokesberry of Stokesberry Sustainable Farm holding one of his delicious chickens. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Jerry Stokesberry — namesake of Stokesberry Sustainable Farm — can’t help but smile about his delicious chickens, and neither will you. These birds are unlike any chicken you’ve ever had from a Big Box store. Indeed, once you’ve had one of these, you won’t even recognize what sold in the Big Box stores as chicken anymore. The Stokesberrys sell their chickens fresh and frozen, though both sell out quickly each week. And occasionally, they offer up stewing hens, too. I made the most amazing chicken soup with one of these recently. I ate it every night for a week!

Will Lockmiller of Sno-Valley Mushrooms explaining the process to our own Gil Youenes. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Another of our new farm additions to your Ballard Farmers Market this winter is Sno-Valley Mushrooms. They are cultivating shiitake, lion’s mane and blue oyster mushrooms in their state-of-the-art facility in Duvall. Back in mid-December, our own Gil Youenes and I got to tour their farm, learning a lot about mushroom growing in the process. Here, Sno-Valley’s Will Lockmiller explains to Gil about how their inoculated straw blocks are made, and how they will soon produce many beautiful shiitakes.

Jessie Hopkins from Colinwood Farms sits atop the farm’s antique, horse-draw potato planter. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

It may be January, but it’s peak season at Colinwood Farms in Port Townsend. See, they’ve learned to magnify the natural climatic advantage they enjoy being located in Washington’s Banana Belt, in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, and the incredibly rich, fertile soil on their farm, with a series of large greenhouses that help them grow salad greens, and other temperature-sensitive deliciousness, all winter long. And I just love this photo I captured of the farm’s Jessie Hopkins on their antique potato planter a few years back.

Nash’s Kia Armstrong and Wynne Weinreb of Jerzy Boyz. Photo copyright 2011 by Zachary D. Lyons.

I know I am thin on photos of delicious food this week, but I decided it was as good a week as any to focus instead on our delicious vendors, like Kia Armstrong from Nash’s Organic Produce, and Wynne Weinreb from Jerzy Boyz — two more farms that rock it at your Ballard Farmers Market all winter long. Sure, Nash’s has plenty of Brussels sprouts, kale, rutabagas and cabbages this time of year, and Jerzy Boyz is rich with amazing, heirloom apples and pears, but when it comes right down to it, what truly makes our little farmers market wealthy is our wonderful sense of family, as can be seen on the faces of these two taking a break together. And don’t you come here for this, as well? I mean, yes, you will not find any better food anywhere — certainly not at the Big Box stores — but you also get a good dose of community here. You meet the people who produce the food that nourishes your body and fills your soul, and you meet your neighbors. Here is one place where you are not treated like a number — like a “consumer”. Here, we are people. Enjoy it. And then take that feeling with you throughout the rest of your week.

Clayton Burrows of Alm Hill Gardens (a.k.a., Growing Washington) talks farmers markets with Senator Maria Cantwell. Photo copyright 2012 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Clayton Burrows of Alm Hill Gardens (a.k.a., Growing Washington) has never been one known to mind his manners and keep his yap shut. Like so many of the amazing farmers with whom we are blessed here at your Ballard Farmers Market, he not only grows great food for us, but he is a tireless activist to help make our food system, our communities and our world better for all of us. So needless to say (though by now, you’ve figured out I’m gonna say it anyway), when U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell visited your Ballard Farmers Market this past summer, Clayton availed himself of the opportunity to do a little educating and community building with her — and those Alm Hill berries she’s enjoying didn’t hurt a bit, either. Alm Hill is another one of our anchor, year-round farms here at your Ballard Farmers Market, and right now, they’ve actually got fresh-cut tulips already, as well as some great farm-fresh eggs, too.

Jim Page performing at Ballard Farmers Market. Photo copyright 2013 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Of course, not all of our Market characters are farmers, but what would be the point of eating anyway, if we didn’t have music to fill our souls, too? Week in and week out, we are blessed with an incredibly talented pool of buskers who perform for us at your Ballard Farmers Market — folks like world-renowned folk singer Jim Page, who can be found most Sundays, when he’s not touring, playing his powerful music for us right here. We don’t pay any of these performers. That’s up to you. If you like them, or even if you just appreciate them for doing what they do, toss a little cash into their instrument case, hat or jar, and maybe purchase a CD, a poem, a painting or a balloon animal. Supporting your local street performers adds just as much to the beautiful, vibrant community of Ballard we call home as supporting your local farmers, fishers, ranchers, food artisans and artists at your Ballard Farmers Market, and all the locally-owned shops, bars, eateries and other businesses that line historic Ballard Avenue. And buying a CD directly from a musician, instead of at a store, means that musician gets almost all of the purchase price, inside of mere pennies per unit.

Please remember bring your own bags every Sunday, as Seattle’s single-use plastic bag ban is now in effect. Also, please take note of our new green composting and blue recycling waste receptacles throughout your Ballard Farmers Market, and please make an effort to use them correctly. Each container has what’s okay to put in it pictured right on the lid. Please do not put the wrong materials in, because that drives up the cost of recycling and composting, and it can result in the entire container being sent instead to a landfill. Your understanding and cooperation are appreciated.

There is plenty more local deliciousness waiting for you today at your Ballard Farmers Market. Just check What’s Fresh Now! for a more complete accounting of what is in season right now.