It was difficult to find, but the Tuesday Santa Fe Farmers Market was a nice little gem that was worth the effort. It may not have the expanse and star power of the ones we visited last week in Hollywood and Sana Monica, but there was a nice assortment of growers with local produce. We were told the Saturday market (held in the back parking area of a shopping mall) is three times the size and has three times the attendance. Definitely worth seeing next visit.

 

 

Well. It’s not Marin County’s Farmers Market or the one at Union Square in New York, but the Okaloosa County Farmers Market in Northwest Florida features some good produce. To be honest, it’s a farmer’s market as opposed to a farmers market, as only one vendor showed up on a Tuesday (it operates Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). Ruth’s Produce (I think it’s Ruth & her son) had cukes, tomatoes, radishes, potatoes and a bunch of stuff that’s rather foreign to a Yankee like me. It’s about 30 minutes from Destin as you snake you way through Ft. Walton Beach and Mary Esther. Actually, I think it’s close to the Okaloosa Airport (which is the airport we will fly to next time we come here).

One of the highlights of our trip to the UK in July was a visit to the Borough Market, a spectacular farmers market and food mecca. We returned this trip, but this time with a better videocamera.

Back in March, when we attended the World Baseball Classic in San Diego, we happened upon the great Hillcrest Market. We are in town to see Dylan perform, so we went back to the market and were entertained by the 7^th Day Buskers. And we were pleased to see pluots still are in season.

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We were totally wiped out on Friday morning, but gathered enough steam to hop on The Tube and make our way to the Borough Market. It's similar to The Ferry Plaza Market in San Francisco with a mix of permanent vendors and temporary stalls. We'll be back!

Ah yes, life (and video) is more than baseball. Really. On our quick trip to Cleveland, we took the RTA out to the West Side Market. While it’s supposed to be at its peak on Saturdays that might be a tight squeeze as we head home late tomorrow morning. In addition to the produce stands on the outside portion, there are permanent stalls inside the building that contain bakeries, meat and poultry markets, spice shops and even more.

Ok, call me a homer, but while Cleveland’s West Side Market is great, I have to say I like Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal a bit better. Where else can you find chocolate-covered licorice and world-class sticky buns?

We cannot visit California without a trip to a farmers market. This one, San Diego’s Hillcrest Farmers Market, is open 9 am-1 pm Sundays, rain nor shine. We liked it even better than the ones in Ocean Beach and Carlsbad in terms of variety of produce and assorted food products.

 

In addition to blood oranges, radishes and other transportable fare, we purchased tea and spices at Conscious Cookery, a small yet stellar stand with a variety of spices, teas, beans and dried corn products. I see that the owner of the stand also has a blog that is very well done.

 

We’ll be back—and next time we'll bring more money.

At the Town & Country Farmers Market, I was able to spend a minute talking with Ronny Lepore of “My Niche Gifts” who talked about how he makes the beautiful melted bottles for sale at his stand.

For more info, email them at Bonny3@cox.net

 

After visiting the Farmers Markets in Carefree, DC Ranch and Downtown Phoenix, we landed on the best one, that being the Wednesday “chef’s market” at the Town & Country Shopping Center at 16^th and Camelback along the “Camelback Corridor.”

Here’s a quick tour of the market; there will be a separate video of a few of the cooler vendors.

We ended our vacation (more like what the Brits would call a mini-break) with a trip to the Marin County Farmer’s Market. It is, hands down, the best farmers market in the country. The Sunday one is huge and has been written up in all major newspapers and food magazines. We never missed a Sunday at the market when we lived in Marin County and went quite a few Thursdays as well.

I think, under new rules, everything at the Marin market must be organic. It all looked great, and it gave us a twinge of sadness for our old stomping grounds. But then again, we sure didn’t miss the traffic.

Not to rub it in to those shivering masses, but we wandered down to the farmers market in Central Phoenix (Central & McKinley Sts. To be specific) in 75-degree weather. Forgetting to move my new JVC camcorder from picture mode back to video mode, all I captured with my new gadget was one picture. Luckily, I pulled out my Sanyo Xacti and shot some footage of a a duet performing at the market.

You will notice my conversation with an admirer of my cool Xacti. Pays to have multiple video cameras on one’s person

This weekend (Oct. 7^th and 8^th) marks the grand opening of the Carefree Farmers Market. As you can see, it’s a small gathering of vendors so far, but one of the sellers told my wife more vendors will be at the market once the market in Cottonwood is over.

 

Almost as much as our mania for baseball, is our passion for Farmers Markets. Here's the one in New York's Union Square. Quite wonderful, and the perfect time of year to sample its bounty--summer stone fruits, tomatoes, greens, etc... Also, some wonderful handmade pretzels from the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. The market compares favorably with its California counterparts.