Fresh Newsletter for August 24th

August 24, 2012  

Here’s food for thought from Rebecca, our market Manager. 

The highlight of my youthful social life (geek alert, I warn you…) was always the County Fair in September. It was one glorious week – after months of effort (and maybe a little procrastination) – of showing off our completed 4-H projects; of waiting to see who would be crowned the new Wheat Queen; of trying to catch the eye of some handsome farm boy; of trying to keep your hotdog and swampwater down on the carnival rides; of watching silly politicians hold forth while their wives suffered in hideous red, white and blue outfits. It was the tableau of life all rolled up into one intensely compressed experience, a place that inspired me without fail every year.

The Fair Building was alive with creative energy, with rows and rows of impeccably (or horribly) stitched garments, huge or unnaturally perfect treasures from people’s gardens, and jars of preserves that looked like they’d popped out of the future pages of Martha Stewart magazine. Red, White and Blue ribbons adorned the crème de la crème of the thousands of fair entries, and some people’s ribbon count after “judgment day” was akin to modern Olympic Medal tallies. The Michael Phelps of the jam division was both revered and reviled, and rarely shared her recipes. Out in the 4-H barn, animals looked like they were ready for the prom – or Jenny Craig, depending on which end of the barn you were visiting. I loved the otherworldly chickens the best. I felt sorry for the girls who were snuggled up to their perfectly groomed steers, sobbing in anticipation of the livestock auction.

I wax reminiscent about the County Fair every year at this time, and have long wished we had one here on Vashon. But short of turning K2 into a giant Fair building, I’m content to start small. That’s where the Farmer’s Market Harvest Celebration comes in. It’s a petite county fair fix, just the right scale for our little community, and the perfect reminder of how much we can accomplish with Mother Nature’s raw materials.

The Harvest Celebration is just two weeks away, which is still plenty enough time for you to get your creative juices flowing. The fruit for preserving is ripe and ready to put up into quilted little jars; the vines throughout the garden are loaded with their fat bounty. The contests are set, and we want YOU to bring us your best: PRESERVES, PICKLES, TOMATOES, and for a really big dose of fun, SCARECROWS.

In the next few days, all the details about these contests and all the other fun events of the Harvest Celebration will be posted on the VIGA/Farmers Market website, vigavashon.org. Please pass the news along to anyone you know who would enjoy participating – especially kids. (Consider doing a Scarecrow as a family art project!) And if you just aren’t the jam and pickle making type, or a scarecrow artist or tomato grower, remember that every art needs its patrons. Come support – and be impressed by – the amazing things your island neighbors have wrought. Who knows – you might finally score a wink from that handsome farm boy!

Here’s what on offer this week at YOUR bountiful Vashon Farmers Market:

• Pacific Crest Farm (featured at right)will be there with lots and lots of tomatoes and beans – in all shapes and sizes! What better way to celebrate summer? They’ll also have more varieties of summer apples, plums and strawberries, along with their first harvest of husk cherries. They still have plenty of the regulars as well…salad mix, head lettuce, radishes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, onions, garlic, potatoes, cabbage, kale, chard and lots more!
• Fieldstone Flowers is a riot of color, with beautiful summer flowers of many textures and varieties. Sunflowers and dahlias, and the market manager’s personal favorites, Rudbeckia, for a resplendent summer bouquet.
• Plum Forest Farm will have luscious Blueberries, Mirabelle Plums, Basil, Green and Yellow Beans, Cilantro, Carrots, New Potatoes, Purslane, Swiss Chard, Cucumbers, Summer Squash, Eggplant, Broccoli, Piracicaba, Beets, Tomatoes, and Kale.
• Greenman Farm (featured below at right) will have farm fresh eggs (get there early – they go fast!), heirloom tomatoes, tri-color mixed snap beans, broccoli, rainbow carrots, Asian cucumbers, chartreuse green cauliflower, heirloom cabbage, mixed salad greens, summer squash, zucchini, new potatoes, mixed kale, rainbow chard, beets, spring onions, and plenty of recipes to go with them all. For farm crafts, they’ll 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, they’ll also have Will’s gorgeous veggie watercolour portraits.
• Calypso Garden comes with elegant Garlic and Shallot Braids, Broccoli, Kale, Potatoes – Desiree and Yellow Finn – Orient Express Cucumbers, Summer Squash, Salad Mix, Chard, Red Cabbage, Fresh Onions, and Fresh Sprout Mixture. Holding court over all that will be Zilla’s Mini and Large Summer Bouquets and those exquisite Pine Needle Baskets, with some new additions!
• Langley Fine Gardens will feature produce from the farm, including four varieties of eggplant, sweet peppers, new potatoes, new garlic and even some tomatoes, in addition to Fall veggie starts.
• Hogsback comes bearing Cherry Tomatoes, Red Slicing Tomatoes, and various Heirlooms as well. Multiple types of string beans, onions, early wonder beets with stellar greens, carrots, two types of heirloom radishes, red and green cabbage, and a few peppers.
• Hilltop Garden will come to the market this week with lots of beautiful string beans and onions, beets and carrots, potatoes, kale, and cha-cha chard.
• Island Meadow Farm (featured at right)arrives with Arugula, Basil, Cabbage, Chard, Cucumbers –  Lemon Cukes and Slicers – Garlic, Kale. Mixed Flower Bouquets, Potatoes — Mixed Bags of Red and Yellow Tates – Pickling Cucumbers, Radishes, Red Onions, Sweet Gorgeous Walla Wallas, Summer Squash — Green Zucchini and Costada Romanesca – Sunflower Stems, and Tomatoes — Cherry and Slicers!
• East West Produce will have yellow and white freestone peaches, yellow and white nectarine, blueberries, a few apples and pears and some specialty Dahlias.
• Sun Island Farm will be coming with elegant Shiro plums, Strawberries, cherry tomatoes, Regular tomatoes, lots of basil, Cilantro and some sweet and hot peppers. Of course they’ll also have zucchini (ask Celina about pickling those!) and lots more.
• Quality Seafood will be there with tasty Columbia River salmon, Spot Prawns from nearby waters, Red Snapper and Alaska halibut, and delicious Smoked King Salmon for the best imaginable hors d’oeuvre.
• The Farm Coop Booth  is always a place to find lots of surprises.  This week, get your fix of rhubarb, plums and green beans along with many other delicious items of Vashon Grown produce, and maybe even a few flowers.
• Midlife Crisis Farm will be bringing USDA lamb, grass fed ground beef, lean and healthful bison plus Swedish potato sausages for the grill, more of that delectable ginger pear pork sausage as well as brats and German sausages.
• 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, 2009 Merlot, Tramp Harbor Red, and also our popular hard apple cider: Irvine’s Vintage Cider is classic European-style cider, not too sweet, lightly carbonated, complex and refreshing. And a HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS to Ron Irvine, named by Seattle Weekly as the best Winemaker of 2012 in their Best of Seattle awards!
• Anu Rana’s Healthy Kitchen is a big hit with their gluten free, and guilt free, treats – including Almond Basil Pinenut, Almond Dark Chocolate chip Cookies, Coconut Pistachio Brazil nut and Quinoa Date Nutty bar, in addition to their regular Almond Brownies, Almond Sesame Seed, and Almond Peanut butter cookies. Don’t miss their amazing Savories: Crunchy Chickpeas and Spiced Cashews with Hempseed. Try a sample. You’ll want a week’s supply!
• Tease Chocolates is bringing three fabulous Chocolate Bars: 3 bars: Salty Mermaid, Spicy Mayan, Geishas Pleasure; Lots of Pistachio Buttercrunch and Ginger Lips; Honey Goat Truffles, Lavender Butterflies, Summer Mint, Purple Sea Stars, Carol’s Little Black Dress, Hazelnut Praline, Blueberry Cordials, Giant Peach, Cardamom, Coffe and Dulce de Leche, The Mandarin, Champagne Truffles, and Hand-dipped S’mores. World class chocolates, and made on Vashon Island.
• Cliff’s Beer (featured at right) is the coolest brew in town. Delicious handmade beers that always sell out early.  Choose from equally popular Alder Smoked Porter and Bitter Ale. And Cliff has launched his American Pale Ale – think American Bitter, but hoppier. Hop off with a bottle of that!
• Zamorana is with us with more of their mouthwatering south-of-the-border cuisine. Hankering for eggs? Try their delicious Breakfast Burrito, starring fresh eggs from Langley Fine Farms. Or how about those swimmingly awesome Fish Tacos! Mui bueno!
• LaBiondo Wood Fired Pizza returns with the Taj Mahal of mosaic-tiled pizza ovens, featuring this week’s special Fresh Pesto Pizza, along with Pizza Fresca, made with freshly harvested tomatoes and basil from island farms, and sausage pizza made with locally grown Italian sausage.
• The Luna Lavender Lemonade and Coffee Stand is your “rejuvenation station” after all that  VIGArous market shopping
• Rosie Bones will have many scrumptious 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.
• Annika Fae returns to bring her elegant Henna designs to adorn our cheeks, arms, fingers, ankles, toes and…?
• Mik Kulman – aka The Ball Girl – joins us this week to work her magic on the knots in our bodies.
• Rex Morris  (featured at right) will be happy to put a razor sharp edge on your knives, clippers, a treasured machete’ – and anything you might have left out rusting over the summer… And if you’re lucky, he’ll also have some of his smokin’ hot “Face On Fire” hotsauce to share.

FROM THE STUDIOS

• Empty Nest Studio (pictured at right) brings a one-of-a-kind, eclectic collection of gemstone and Vashon beach glass jewelry, including a new product line – Necklace Scarves. It’s a scarf that comes with jewels attached! Tres chic, mon ami!
• Julie King brings her Willow Street Woodworks to the Market this week, with enchanting signs, birdhouses and much more made from found objects, repurposed wood and souvenirs from the sea.
• Bliss Organix brings, in addition to many elegant products for body and skin care, a new Bliss Spritz called Summer of Love with patchouli, orange and lavender. Earthy, spicy and sweet! Spray on body, bedsheets or use as a healthy, fragrant air-freshener. Carol is also featuring her Orange Hemp Mint Lip Balm for $9.
• Reap-It Products is bringing more of their wildly popular 2-beer totes, specially designed for Cliff’s beer! This adds to the 4-beer totes already for sale. Both will be sold at Cliff’s stand. They are both practical and make great gifts! Jill will also have aprons, bibs, wallets, some new, more efficient car trash bags, and lunch bags with room for multiple containers.
• Rogue Poultry will be blowing bubbles in the sunshine, and featuring all things bubbly bubbly bubbly, in full celebration of Summer.
• Julie Anderson is a new and very clever vendor. She transforms discarded spray paint cans into ever-colorful flowers for those corners of the garden that need a little year-round jazzing up! She’ll have single stem flowers, small garden fences with 3 flowers, 10-15 tea lights, little fences, a lantern and a wreath of flowers.
• Made in Paradise captures artistically one of our most enduring island symbols:  The Rock! Stones collected from seven states are used to make rustic stone vases and lamps with a Zen quality. The obsidian (volcanic glass) in their winsome wind chime is sourced from their very own mine in Southern Oregon. The chimes are not only beautiful to look at but have great tonal quality, from a delicate soprano tinkle to a deep vibrato. Their jewelry is made from collectible old trade beads and fossilized ivory thousands of years old, and beautiful leather work is all hand cut and braided, for key rings, necklaces and rattles.
• KB and Paula offer beautifully crafted gifts, including KB’s elegant stained glass feathers, Paula’s balancing wine bottle holders and rare wood letter openers, and those beautiful little vases that would be the perfect receptacle for a petite summer bouquet. Paula has a new array of colorful french rolling pins all made of food safe natural woods, including one exceptionally gorgeous redwood rolling pin that is from a redwood burl milled in the 60′s. This style of rolling pin is great for rolling out that flakey, melt in your mouth pie crust and is often preferred by bakers who want their hands closer to the dough or who want to drape dough over the length of the barrel.
• David Earle brings the most amazing turned bowls you’ll ever lay eyes on. Ask him how he gets  them to change shape after he makes them. And have you ever spun one of his colorful little tops? Bring the kid in you to the market and play with David’s darling tops.
• Eileen Mackinson aka The Bird Lady joins us, bringing her beautiful collection of plumage from all kinds of feathered friends.
• Cosmic Cove conjures up the Age of Aquarius with their kaleidoscope of tie-dyed fashions. Rainbows aplenty, and something for every age in this colorful array.
• Blake Clark will be bringing her signature jewelry pieces, always handmade with love.
• Falcorations Odyssey returns to the market with a some new awesome upcycled bags made from album covers, vinyl clocks and jewelry made from the LP’s, along with a few of Patty’s new Medieval critters!
• We host two Non-Profit guests this week. Please stop by and chat with the folks at the Partners In Education booth, as well as the Food Bank booth. In addition to those wonderful folks, there will be a group doing voter registration on the Village Green. We are blessed to be part of a community that rolls up its sleeves and puts their time where their passions lie.

Vashon’s legendary bluesman John Browne will perform this weekend.

Coming Up:

Sept 1st – Watermark