It is September, month of great harvest for all farmers and great eating for those of us who love food. There are so many good things to cook, bake, freeze, can and EAT!
I bought some corn and decided to head home. I had a camera full of amazing pictures, a brain full of wonderful ideas, and I knew dinner time was right around the corner....time to eat again! HA!
As we were leaving we noticed on the other side of the highway people were fishing in the river. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen! People were standing waist deep, in the middle of the river, in a row that stretched about 200 feet. I have never seen that many people standing in a line fishing next to eachother. I wish I would have gotten a picture of that!
So this weekend I decided I needed a little more inspiration to help drive me through the end of the market season. And I wanted to see what other markets were doing, who the vendors were and what kind of tasty treats they had. :)
Saturday I got up early-ish (not so much a morning person anymore), made a pot of coffee and threw Lucas and the dogs into the car for a little farmers market adventure. My goal was to visit 4 Saturday farmers markets, Gig Harbor, Proctor, Federal Way and Puyallup.
Gig Harbor Farmers Market was the first stop. We arrived around 10:30, time for breakfast. Lucas and
I needed a treat to get our adventure going. Morning Side Bakery to the rescue. A cinnamon roll is the traditional breakfast for Lucas on market day. When he was a baby and we lived in Ventura, Ca, it was hot and steamy tamales and fresh pressed apple juice, with a side of kettle corn. So back to Morning Side Bakery, they are amazing! Yum. We ordered a cinnamon roll slathered in butter cream frosting and a pizza bagel, to make sure we got our protien. Then it was onto Jake's Brew for a cup of iced coffee to complete the meal. We cruised around the market munching on our treats, checking out what Gig Harbor had to offer. It was a quiet morning at the market, a few customers floating by. Gig Harbor is unique in the fact that they offer pony rides for the kids for $5. Not just any pony rides, no boring riding around in a circle, they actually get to walk up and down a path right outside the market. Pretty sweet idea. 
There were lots of crafts at the market, some really creative bird houses made out of driftwood, quilts, beautiful pottery (I really need on of those coffee mugs I saw, good reason to go back!) and much more. There were a handful of farmers, mostly local small farms, I didn't see any of the big boys like Tiny's or Martins out there. All in all it was a nice well rounded market, fresh produce, flowers, bakery, fresh fish, kettle corn, crafts and a couple of hot food vendors. With bellies full and caffine flowing through our blood it was time to move on down the road. Next stop Proctor Market in Tacoma.
Saturday I got up early-ish (not so much a morning person anymore), made a pot of coffee and threw Lucas and the dogs into the car for a little farmers market adventure. My goal was to visit 4 Saturday farmers markets, Gig Harbor, Proctor, Federal Way and Puyallup.
Gig Harbor Farmers Market was the first stop. We arrived around 10:30, time for breakfast. Lucas and
I needed a treat to get our adventure going. Morning Side Bakery to the rescue. A cinnamon roll is the traditional breakfast for Lucas on market day. When he was a baby and we lived in Ventura, Ca, it was hot and steamy tamales and fresh pressed apple juice, with a side of kettle corn. So back to Morning Side Bakery, they are amazing! Yum. We ordered a cinnamon roll slathered in butter cream frosting and a pizza bagel, to make sure we got our protien. Then it was onto Jake's Brew for a cup of iced coffee to complete the meal. We cruised around the market munching on our treats, checking out what Gig Harbor had to offer. It was a quiet morning at the market, a few customers floating by. Gig Harbor is unique in the fact that they offer pony rides for the kids for $5. Not just any pony rides, no boring riding around in a circle, they actually get to walk up and down a path right outside the market. Pretty sweet idea. 
There were lots of crafts at the market, some really creative bird houses made out of driftwood, quilts, beautiful pottery (I really need on of those coffee mugs I saw, good reason to go back!) and much more. There were a handful of farmers, mostly local small farms, I didn't see any of the big boys like Tiny's or Martins out there. All in all it was a nice well rounded market, fresh produce, flowers, bakery, fresh fish, kettle corn, crafts and a couple of hot food vendors. With bellies full and caffine flowing through our blood it was time to move on down the road. Next stop Proctor Market in Tacoma. It was Kid's Day at Proctor! Complete with kiddie music, a bouncy house, little crafty things for the kids to make and a cooking demo by Europa Bistro. It was a perfect sunny afternoon. I brought the dogs down with us thinking it would be nice to stroll down the market with the dogs. We wandered through the market and after getting distracted talking to vendors, Chloe (our golden retriever) started getting weird. Having to walk two dogs at the market, while talking and trying to shop was a little much for me. So I moved the car to the shade and put the dogs back in the car for a little nap. Back at the market, it was time for a snack. Martins Family Orchards nectarines were calling to me. I bought just one for eating while I shopped around and chatted with the vendors. 
Mmm...it was juicy, sweet and amazing! Kids day was fun the market was beautiful and it was warming up. I bought some honey and chatted some more, then decided to keep the adventure going. So it was time to move on to Federal Way. I had decided to pass up the Puyallup Farmers Market because I was reminded by Kathy at Great NW Popcorn in Gig Harbor that the Puyallup Fair had opened this weekend. The Puyallup Market is right down by the fairgrounds and I wasn't really into dealing with crowds today. So it was Federal Way Farmers Market for lunch!
The Federal Way Farmers Market is in the parking lot of The Commons Mall in Federal Way. It was around lunch time when we got there and were ready to see what Federal Way had to offer. They had two hot food vendors, Lumpia World and Miro's Secret of Europe. Miro's makes classic Eastern European dishes and Lumpia World make Filipino lumpia. I had never heard of lumpia until they applied to be a vendor at my market. To me Lumpia sounds like some sort of fish, but it is not fish at all. Lumpia are spring rolls deep fried, filled with meat or vegetables or fruit. Sounded like a nice light lunch to me. We ordered two chicken and two vegie with a little rice on the side. They are super tasty and slathered with sweet chili sauce is the way to go. They also make a dessert lumpia that is filled with plantains and topped with chocolate sauce, killer treat! As we ate we chatted with one of the volunteers at the market who
told us all about the Chili Cook-off they have at the end of September. The Federal Way Police Department and the Fire Department compete to see who makes the best chili. They bring out all the police motor cycles, cars and fire trucks, have a band and even battle it out with sirens from the cars and trucks to see who is the loudest. Sounds like tons of fun! And all of the funds raised from ticket sales go to local charity. We cruised around the market after we filled our bellies with lumpia and found many great vendors. Organic farmers, flowers, crafts and more. It was a great market and in such a commercial area it was great to see all of the farmers out there providing a great selection for the community. Next it was onto supposedly our last stop for the day, Duris Cucumber Farm Stand in Puyallup. We cruised on down the highway and a few yards up the road from Duris I noticed Terry's Berries Farm. They had a cute little farm stand so I decided we better check it out. Terry's Berries is an amazing organic farm and they attend my market so it seemed like a good idea to stop and see what the farm looked like. 
Mmm...it was juicy, sweet and amazing! Kids day was fun the market was beautiful and it was warming up. I bought some honey and chatted some more, then decided to keep the adventure going. So it was time to move on to Federal Way. I had decided to pass up the Puyallup Farmers Market because I was reminded by Kathy at Great NW Popcorn in Gig Harbor that the Puyallup Fair had opened this weekend. The Puyallup Market is right down by the fairgrounds and I wasn't really into dealing with crowds today. So it was Federal Way Farmers Market for lunch!The Federal Way Farmers Market is in the parking lot of The Commons Mall in Federal Way. It was around lunch time when we got there and were ready to see what Federal Way had to offer. They had two hot food vendors, Lumpia World and Miro's Secret of Europe. Miro's makes classic Eastern European dishes and Lumpia World make Filipino lumpia. I had never heard of lumpia until they applied to be a vendor at my market. To me Lumpia sounds like some sort of fish, but it is not fish at all. Lumpia are spring rolls deep fried, filled with meat or vegetables or fruit. Sounded like a nice light lunch to me. We ordered two chicken and two vegie with a little rice on the side. They are super tasty and slathered with sweet chili sauce is the way to go. They also make a dessert lumpia that is filled with plantains and topped with chocolate sauce, killer treat! As we ate we chatted with one of the volunteers at the market who
told us all about the Chili Cook-off they have at the end of September. The Federal Way Police Department and the Fire Department compete to see who makes the best chili. They bring out all the police motor cycles, cars and fire trucks, have a band and even battle it out with sirens from the cars and trucks to see who is the loudest. Sounds like tons of fun! And all of the funds raised from ticket sales go to local charity. We cruised around the market after we filled our bellies with lumpia and found many great vendors. Organic farmers, flowers, crafts and more. It was a great market and in such a commercial area it was great to see all of the farmers out there providing a great selection for the community. Next it was onto supposedly our last stop for the day, Duris Cucumber Farm Stand in Puyallup. We cruised on down the highway and a few yards up the road from Duris I noticed Terry's Berries Farm. They had a cute little farm stand so I decided we better check it out. Terry's Berries is an amazing organic farm and they attend my market so it seemed like a good idea to stop and see what the farm looked like. 
Terry's Berries has a CSA and members can pick up vegies and fruit or go out and pick their own on the farm. It was nice to get to be on a real farm, it's been a while. When I lived in Portland I used to go out to Sauvie Island all the time and visit some of the farms when I was needed to get in touch with the earth and settle down a little bit from the city life. Just being at a farm gives me a sense of peace and makes me feel at home.
The day was getting shorter and the dogs needed a break from the car so we made the stop quick, walked around a bit, took a bunch of pictures and moved on down the road to Duris Cucumber Farm Stand. I had heard that Duris had a pretty neat farm stand and that it was completely dedicated to canning and pickling. It was so cute! They had decorated the inside with old farmy cabinets and cupboards and it was definitely Canning Mecca. They had every canning supply you could ever need, including jars, spices, cookbooks, cheese cloth and every type of fruit and vegetable that you would ever want to can!
I bought some corn and decided to head home. I had a camera full of amazing pictures, a brain full of wonderful ideas, and I knew dinner time was right around the corner....time to eat again! HA!As we were leaving we noticed on the other side of the highway people were fishing in the river. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen! People were standing waist deep, in the middle of the river, in a row that stretched about 200 feet. I have never seen that many people standing in a line fishing next to eachother. I wish I would have gotten a picture of that!
It was a good day! We had fun!
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