Take a look at our lengthy list of what’s fresh at the Vashon Farmers Market.

See you Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Village Green; your local farmers and artisans are standing by?

 

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 Issue No.  095

May 18, 2012  

In This Issue – Click headline to jump to topic
What’s at the Market this Week!
Market Music

A little food for thought from Rebecca, the market manager:  

I got dressed up this week for a trip to Seattle, and as I sat in the ferry line I was momentarily horrified to see half an acre of dirt under my fingernails. I’d been working in my garden earlier, and too lazy to find my gloves. So there I sat, sporting a brown accessory that clashed with my black dress. But the people I was seeing in the city know this dirt-under-the-fingernails part of my life, so I wasn’t concerned about harsh judgments. The grubby fingernails boarded the boat and went to the party.

 

I have always secretly loved the look of dirty fingernails. I think they signify a healthy relationship with Mother Earth. Growing up on the farm, we gave cursory scrubs to hands freshly black from the garden. We ate carrots right out of the ground without a moment’s thought to washing them. I watched my dad wrap his filthy mitts around his harvest sandwich in the summer fields, and I now believe his longevity (91 and going strong) proves there were as many benefits in the dirt as there were in the sandwich.

 

The blacker the dirt, the better the crop. That’s the refrain I grew up with. The memory of manure being spread around the hay pasture to this day brings a smile to my face. Beautiful rich soil made even wealthier by deposits of nature’s fertilizers.

 

Food retailing in modern times has taken a lot of the fun out of dirt. In fact, people who’ve never raised their own carrots – or anything else – harbor an aversion to the idea of dirt. To the majority of eaters, dirt is a dirty word. Worms are disgusting. Poop is nasty. They have no understanding of the nurturing universe down below their feet. I think we need to turn that around. Let’s spend a moment appreciating dirt, and passing that appreciation along to the next generation of food consumers. If people understand the role dirt plays in the arrival of their next meal, they’ll connect more viscerally to the kind of food they should be eating. Not food that has been processed to death, but food that is whole – a single degree of separation from its native soil.

 

Come to the Farmers Market this week and find food that isn’t a distant, overprocessed memory of its original self. Find whole nutritious food, separated from its native soil just hours before its arrival at the Village Green. And as you prepare your feast that night, think about the beautiful black dirt that helped make it all so delicious. And as you give thanks, save a shout out for the worms.

Here’s what’s on offer this week at YOUR Farmers Market.

  • Fieldstone Flowers returns this week with his beautiful viola starts and dahlia tubers, along with other plant and flower starts for your garden and landscape.
  • Colleen James rejoins the market with her usual bag of tricks: plants the deer don’t eat!   Also, lots of Salvias and unusual garden delights, along with a fresh batch of Colleen’s Healing Hand Salve for those rough and sore gardening hands!
  • Sun Island Farm will bring a bounty of butter head lettuce, sweet turnips, salad greens, raab Broccoli, colorful crisp radishes, tender green onions and “gassy sunchokes” for an extra thrill.
  • Judd Creek Nursery will be there with a wide assortment of native plant starts and elegant handmade crafts and jewelry.
  • Island Meadow Farm arrives with Leeks, Radishes, Wild and Fancy Salad Mix, Salad Turnips, Spinach, Rhubarb, Arugula, Sorrel and Vegetable Starts.
  • Pacific Crest Farm will have lots of greens: Salad mix, Kale, Chard, Spinach, Sorrel and Head Lettuces, along with fresh radishes, rhubarb and an aromatic assortment of fresh herbs.  
  • Calypso Garden comes bearing sugar snap peas, broccoli raab, tangy sorrel, kale, collards and chard, fresh mixed sprouts and salad mix with over 25 greens. Holding court over all that are Zilla’s beautiful mini and large spring bouquets and her exquisite Pine needle baskets.
  • Langley Fine Gardens will have starts starts and more starts! Your garden isn’t full yet, is it? Yoshi doesn’t think so…
  • Hilltop Garden will bring gourmet salad greens, spinach, and some plant starts for your garden.
  • Greenman Farm will bring mixed salad greens, spinach, arugula, mizuna, rainbow chard, radishes, farm fresh eggs, and plenty of recipes to go with them all. For farm crafts, they will have upcycled “feed” tote bags, adorable organic cotton produce bags, and beautiful veggie watercolour greeting cards. For those who want to enliven their walls with gorgeous art, Will’s beautiful veggie watercolour portraits will be available in the booth this week. 


  • Pacific Potager is bringing “hardened off” and ready to plant squashes – 48 varieties of summer,
Wolftown
Hand-knit wool shawl from Wolftown

winter and pumpkins! Pink Banana squash, Oregon heirloom Sweet Meat, however you like them, smooth or dry, sweet or chestnut… Favorite heirlooms and zukes with stripes… Knobby warty pumpkins for carving and Winter Luxury Pie, plus more for eating! Also, 60+ varieties of ready to plant tomatoes, multi-branching sunflowers, too many broccoli types to make any sense at all:) and lots of flowersfor your kitchen table bouquets! Love Lies Bleeding in crimson, chartreuse, and coral… Get a jump on the summer with well-grown starts.

  • Quality Seafood will be there with tasty salmon and halibut from nearby waters, to anchor that perfect weekend feast.
  • Vashon Winery (which for all intents and purposes is also a FARMER, growing their own apples for cider and harvesting several acres of grapes for their wine) is sampling their 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (new release), 2009 Grenache (fruit forward), 2009 Pinot Noir (cool character), and the ever popular NV Tramp Harbor Red #10.
  • Midlife Crisis Farm will be bringing USDA lamb, grass fed ground beef and more of that delectable ginger pear pork sausage. The perfect companion to a Market fresh over-easy fried egg!

DELICIOUS FOOD AND TREATS

 

  • Cliff’s Beer is the coolest new brew in town. Delicious handmade beers that always sell out early. Raise a frosty homegrown brew in celebration of Craft Beer Week!
  • Tease Chocolates is joining the market this week with treats that give new meaning to the words “to die for.” Try their Geisha’s Pleasure chocolate bars, with matcha green tea powder & puffed organic brown rice. Or how about the manager’s favorite, Salty Mermaid – a bar with rich dark chocolate, butter crunch toffee and fleur de sel. Made with love and all the right ingredients on Vashon Island!
  • Anu Rana’s Healthy Kitchen is a hit with their gluten free, and guilt free, cookies and snacks. Try a sample! Buy a week’s supply!
  • King Caramels sets the bar high with Hedy’s latest connoisseur caramels. These caramels practically shout, “Oh Baby!”

 

And FROM THE STUDIOS

 

  • Art by Lotus brings lovely photo cards and artwork that perfectly captures the beauty of life on Vashon.
Issie's Lavendar wands
Issie’s Lavendar Wands
  • Issie Sime brings back her delightfully fragrant Lavender Wands and Terrariums. Wave some sweet smelling magic over these sunny days! 
  • Suzanna Leigh has the perfect accessory for Spring: enchanting handpainted silk scarves, including ones in a silk/wool blend with new spring colors!
  • Rogue chicken has what every young Mom needs: a fun distraction for the little ones… BUBBLES! Bubbles for kids – in all forms, from bath to blowing. 
  • Cosmic Cove conjures up the Age of Aquarius with their kaleidoscope of tie-dyed fashions.
  • Rosie Bones will have many delectable treats for man’s best friend, including grass fed beef liver, organic sweet potato and chicken feet along with their regular bags of Rosie’s Choice and Chicken Livers and Gizzards.
  • Empty Nest Studio brings a unique, eclectic collection of gemstone and Vashon beach glass jewelry, for the Vashon-bejeweled look.
  • Christine’s Feathers has something to tickle everyone’s fancy, with her captivating feather creations and accessories.
  • Mariposa organizes your garden, which could also mean your LIFE, with her brilliant Garden Journals, and invites folks to come by and turn the crank on the paper automata–especially the amazing leaping orcas!
Cathy and her Paper Automata from Mariposa
  • Fabric Focus will be coming with beautiful table runners, as well as tote bags, lavender sachets/dryer bags, eye pillows, checkbook/business card wallets, coffee cozies and other fabric creations. Don’t miss Jeanne’s potato baking bags!
  •  Bliss Organix features a fragrant Lavender Mist Spritz made with Vashon lavender to refresh your body, linens, home or office environment.
  • Falcorations Odyssey will be coming this weekend with wacky purses, including some fun new bags, made from repurposed album covers!
  • KB and Paula offer elegant glass and metal vases to hold a cheery Spring bouquet, handmade woodcraft works of genius and gorgeous drums.
  • Rex Morris will be happy to put a razor sharp edge on your knives – and those pruning clippers you accidentally left out rusting over the winter…
  • Recycled Birdbaths is back with three-dimensional beauty for your garden – mosaic tiled birdbaths!
  • And Catholine Tribble will be at the market again, selling raffle tickets for the most stunning Community Quilt ever. WE think it’s the most stunning ever because it’s all about the Vashon Farmers Market.
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Vashon Farmers Market   
 
Saturdays, 10 am-2 pm

     on the Village Green 

 

17519 Vashon Hwy SW, north of Bank Rd.

Click for map and directions

Market Music! 

Cami Lundeen

This week, it’s indie-folk performer, Cami Lundeen.

A California girl at heart, but raised across the U.S., Cami has a vast array of life experience that permeates her music. She is a singer-songwriter from Vashon Island, Washington with a unique and inviting voice. Her style, best described as Indie Folk-Pop, ranges from soft and intimate to boisterous and fun. Both passionate and authentic, Cami’s songs about life, relationships, hardship, and hope are easy to relate to. Her abundant passion for music and life is evident as she pours her heart and soul into her songwriting.

Our SUN Sponsors, whose logos appear below, help underwrite the things that make the Market special each week: Live music, educational and outreach materials, SUNSHINE every Saturday…. You wondered how we were able to afford all those Sunny Day orders, didn’t you? Well, now you know. And that’s why we call them SUN sponsors.

Puget Sound Energy

Artisan Electric Roasterie Child's Garden
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Vashon Farmers Market | The Village Green | Vashon Hwy and Bank Rd | Vashon | WA | 98070

 

 

 

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