Wow! What a great start to our new Bellevue Farmers Market season! Hope you all signed up for the Frequent Shopper Program mentioned here. One down, seventeen to go. I've heard they're making a movie version of Where's Waldo? because--er--well, I actually have no idea why someone thought this would be a good idea. But, if we're to get in the spirit of spotting things, how many of these goodies did you spot last week on Opening Day?
(Note: if the danged pictures appear sideways on your screen, I want you to know I've tried everything in draft format --where they look perfect, of course-- and the tech gods have it out for me today.)
I saw thin asparagus, I saw fat asparagus. I debated with another Marketgoer over whether thin or fat was to be preferred. We agreed to differ, but the main point is that asparagus is here! (As a bonus "Do You See What I See?" point, did you notice Samantha has migrated from Collins Family Orchard to Alvarez? That shirt with her name embroidered on it proved too hard to resist, I guess!)
I saw the beginnings of a garden! After reading an interesting book on produce grown in public spaces, I'm all for trying it out in ye old parking lot.
It seems the little garden is the "Pop Plot." Further investigation is required... But before I could get cracking, I got distracted by the refrigerator of raw milk at Sea Breeze Farm. I've had a few ventures into raw milk and learned two things: (1) you want to know and trust your farmer, and (2) it's delicious.
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If raw dairy isn't your style, maybe you'd be more interested in Firefly Kitchen's tonics. These beverages are the leftover brine from fermenting their products, and they promise a probiotic shot in the arm with each sip. Not that you'll be sipping necessarily--you may want to ease into it by using it in a cocktail or salad dressing.
I'm going to chat up the Firefly Kitchen folks at some point and report back...
Meanwhile, on with our search.
Welcome to Skylight Farms! These ladies had fresh artichokes, among other items. Or, I should say, they had "artichoke," since they were down to their last one pretty quickly. If you're a fan of steamed artichokes, better get there early.
If only beans stayed as beautiful after you cooked them. Growing Washington had these beauties, along with the first strawberries of the season!
I'll round off this post with a long-distance picture of the new smoothie vendor PureJoy Juicing. Clearly they should have printed everything in a bigger font, if the crowd was going to keep passersby at such a distance. I hope to get a closer look next week--that is, this Thursday!
