Saturday, June 11, 2011

A Saturday Visit to the Puyallup Farmer's Market

We spent a couple of hours at the farmer's market in Puyallup today, and since I've never posted about it before, I brought along the camera and took some pictures, so that I could put up a blog post.


This is actually a fairly large market, the largest in Pierce county, I believe, which takes place every Saturday and Sunday from 9 to 2 at Pioneer Park in Puyallup, WA.

Since it's still early in the growing season, many of the vegetable vendors have slim pickings -- onions, garlic, salad greens, asparagus, a few snow peas. But what they have is beautiful and fresh. And local. Many are organic.


There were also lots of cut flower vendors, as well as small nurseries with growing plants in clever containers.





There are always plenty of produce vendors (and way too many craft-sellers), but I wish there was a wider selection of local meat, fish and chicken vendors. There are only two fish vendors, one beef vendor, one cheese vendor and one booth selling fresh eggs. No fresh chicken, lamb or other meats. Plenty of baked goods and sweets.

There's a bandstand in the middle of Pioneer Park with the day's entertainment, usually playing country-ish music.

There are only a handful of craft vendors that interest me. I love these blown glass ornaments.


 
 Love this nest, but not out in my garden

Last year I bought a cast leaf from this vendor.


Love the simplicity of this birdhouse...

...and the juxtaposition of simple and ornate in this chair

This birdbath flower with frogs dancing on sticks around it made me smile

Also this kitty silhouette with a fish inside it

There are no pictures of the booth selling mass market signs with clever sayings on them like "Come to the Dark Side, We Have Cookies," "I'm just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World," and "Don't Make Me Get My Flying Monkeys." As I raised my camera to take a picture, a stern voice admonished me "No Pictures Please!" I guess they didn't want free publicity. Interestingly there was not a word from any of the vendors shown above, selling handmade items.

And my favorite food vendor is this guilty pleasure: mini donuts cooked fresh.
Nigel wants one of these for our home. Actually, I do too!

Hot, fresh pillows of yumminess!

Can I get a refill please?