Category Archives: Vendors

Join Us Sunday November 18th for the HARVEST MARKET! NEW -> HAND CRAFTED, LOCALLY PRODUCED, SELECTED ARTS & CRAFTS

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Join us Sunday, 10-3, for the last Mercer Island Farmers Market of the year.  Warm up with cocoa and cider in the hospitality tent.  Many of your favorite vendors are coming this Sunday to help you with your Thanksgiving Dinner and autumn meals.

  • Collins Family Orchard: apples, pears & plums
  • Crown S Ranch: Beef, Lamb, Pork & Poultry (sorry no turkeys left)
  • Little Brown Farm : Assorted artisan goat cheeses
  • Olsen Farms: 15+ variety of potatoes, featuring smoked  ham and rack of lamb for those special holiday meals in addition to their other meats
  • Middlefork Coffee Roasters will be offering: Free coffee samples, All 7 of the regular blends, decaf, and a  NEW HOLIDAY BLEND and Travel Mugs. Pre-order 5# bulk bags of coffee  for the holiday season, $50 each. To order call  206.375.1368,Orders will need to be in by Thursday for pick up on Sunday.
  • Pinckney Cookies & Jonboy Caramels bringing their amazing sweet treats.
  •  Theo Dorres Teas offering a special HOLIDAY BLEND in addition to her unusual hand mixed teas and tisanes.
  • Tonnemaker Family Orchard CIDER!, apples, pears and squash and FROZEN: sweet cherries, peaches, nectarines  dried peppers & tomatoes
  • Not a complete list, more vendors coming

GIFT CERTIFICATES – Stop by the Information Booth to purchase gift certificates for next year’s Mercer Island Farmers Market.  Sold in $10 denominations & good for purchases from any vendor.

ARTS & CRAFTS  - We can’t have berries now… so how about some holiday fun?

  • Artists from MIVAL will be bringing an assortment of beautiful items for gift giving (or keeping!).
  • Artist Leslie West with a love for recycled wares and great style brings containers, bags and other surprises.
  • Artist Joni Johnson is bringing an assortment of her wonderful glass art.
  • There will be more beautifully made objects to discover such such as outdoor garden art & wooden bowls.

LUNCH OF COURSE!

  • Veraci Pizza is shaking it up with a NEW CREATION IN HONOR OF VERACI FANS ON MI! The “Mercer Islander”: Grilled Yukon Gold Potatoes, Panchetta, Parmesan-Chive Ricotta on a Roasted Garlic Base with Three Cheese Blend
  • Other favorites returning are Buns On Wheels, Got Soup & Patty Pan Grill

NEW -> A Gluten Free Prepared Food Vendor - I Love My GFF – with mouthwatering quinoa bowls. Check out the Fiesta Bowl! Quinoa layered pepitas, cilantro, fresh squeezed lime, cumin, black beans, spice rubbed free-range chicken, fresh cut red bell peppers and green onions, topped with avocado, topped with sharp cheddar cheese and toasted pepita.

Almost Very Last Market of 2012 Sunday October 14! Very Last is Sunday November 18th – Harvest Market

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October 14 is Vendor & Volunteer Appreciation Day- We extend our deepest appreciation and thanks to the great businesses and individuals who’ve supported the Pumpkin heads - MIFM in October 2010. (Photo by Julie Sarkissian)market this season.  Without you, there is no market!

  • Breakfast for Vendors, sponsored by the MIFM Board of Directors
  • Volunteers will be treated to shopping discounts by most of our vendors.  Volunteers, report to the Information Booth to get started.

At the Children’s Table: Decorating Pumpkin Heads a favorite of the kids (and some adults).

  • Special thanks to JUDY WITMER who has voluntarily organized and run the Children’s Table for 5 Years!

On the Music Stage: Strange Nails  – Alternative / Soul / Funk

The Harvest Market returns on Sunday November 18th.  You’ll find many things you need for Thanksgiving dinner including cranberries. NEW  this year the vendor mix will include local artists & artisans who create the very highest quality arts and crafts.

New food truck: Fusion On The Run

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Because Big Food will not be at the Mercer Island Farmers Market today, we found a guest replacement food truck. Please welcome Fusion on the Run (Menu), Island inspired food.  

Check out their tropical combinations, including marinated boneless short ribs, Kalua pork, and seasonal veggies with surfer sauce. The taco I keep thinking about is the Coco Adobo Chicken Taco, with chicken braised in coconut milk and vinegar, with hints of ginger and pepper.   Try them all and tell us your favorite!

 

Get Your Peppers at Alvarez!

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News Release for 8/19/12 Market:

The list for Alvarez Farms is as follows; corn, tomato, eggplant, potato, zucchini, beets, onion, garlic, cucumber, and of course we can’t forget what identifies us PEPPERS!

Eddie Alvarez of Alvarez Organic Farms helping a customer at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

Eddie Alvarez of Alvarez Organic Farms helping a customer at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

Free Cake!!

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Not only do we have free cake at our birthday party, (if you come a little early, you might hear Mayor Bruce Bassett congratulate our Market board of directors and the whole MI community for supporting our market for the last 5 years,) and a chef demonstration at 11:30, we keep the party going into the night with a food truck round up at Music in the Park! That’s right, folks, you don’t have to cook lunch or dinner if you don’t want to, just leave it to the pros. (I highly recommend the seared ahi tuna from Big Food, either on grilled flatbread or on a bed of rice.)

My market plan is to drag my friend Lauren, who has NEVER BEEN TO THE MARKET (how can that be?  I don’t understand!) out for a little paddle board in the morning, then over to the market for some cake.

5th anniversary cake and berries?

Not sure we’ll have cream, but we will have cake and berries!

She will be so dazzled by the glistening array of fresh produce and delectable delights, she’ll be inspired to plan a week’s worth of menus.  Some juicy tomatoes, nectarines, bright peppers and crunchy snap peas, a little fresh pasta and salmon, some organic meat and chicken, a little crusty bread and organic goat cheese, a few salted caramels and then some aromatic coffee, she’ll find it all.  She’ll be blown away by the Piccola wine in a bag, and Camp Robber jams, and she’ll have to try some of Purdy’s Pickles.  Lauren is an amazing cook, and will likely appreciate the ease of picking up prepared hummus and salsa and granola.  She will, of course, want some beautiful fresh flowers.  Maybe she’ll be so grateful I convinced her to come, she’ll even buy a bouquet for me!

You should bring a friend along tomorrow, too.  We can all meet up for cake! After we fill our market bags and bellies, we can all go home and take a nap, and regroup later at Mercerdale Park for some pizza or veggie quesadillas or gourmet burgers, and listen to Garrett & Westcott (Garrett and Westcott Home) croon the blues. Afterwards, we’ll dance our way home and sleep like well-fed, happy babies.

  • 10:45 – 11:00 Bruce Bassett  Congratulate the MIFM Board  and the community supporting market for the last 5 years
  • 11:00 – 11:15  Recognition to Aljoya as the Golden Apple Sponsor
  • 11:00   to 1:00 or when supplies run out:   Sampling Berry Shortcake until supplies run out (Kari Fisher and Jackie
  • 11:30 – 12:00  Chef Nathan – Salmon over Green Tea Noodles
  • 5:30 – 8:30  MI Food Trucks & Mostly Music in the Park, Come for Dinner & Music

5th Birthday for our Market!

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We will be celebrating with a special birthday cake with fresh berries which we will share with everyone at 11AM. Please join us!

This Sunday, August 12, is the 5th anniversary of the Mercer Island Farmers Market. To help us celebrate, our longtime friend and supporter, Chef Nathan Zielski from Lilly’s at Aljoya, will show us how to make his sublime Pacific Rim Salmon with Green Tea Noodles. (I’ve eaten this dish at Lily’s, and it is SO good, you’ll want to stop by and learn his secrets!) 

Garrett & Wescott will be on hand to sing some blues, and at the kids’ table, Judy Witmer will demonstrate how to make very berry ink.

If you haven’t been to our market in a while, be sure to check out some of our newest vendors.  I love the salsa from the Seattle Salsa Guy.  I eat his salsa with a spoon, like gazpacho, or put it on scrambled eggs or grilled chicken.

Because I am currently on a gluten free kick, I’ve had to break my normal routine of starting my market day with a cranberry orange scone from Snohomish Bakery (it’s just temporary, Snohomish! I’ll be back, I promise) and check out alternatives. I used to be one of those uninformed haters who disparaged gluten free bread (“Why bother?”) until I tasted Manini’s. It looks good, it smells even better, but still, I was like a suspicious kid, afraid to even taste it. Silly me! Their gluten-free bread really is delicious, soft and pillowy yet firm enough to stand up to a tomato sandwich.

My friends and I rave about Abu Eden’s hummos. Seriously, everything they sell is delicious, and fresh.  I’m also avoiding caffeine for a while, and I found just the thing to pick me up and soothe my head at Theo Dorre’s Tea: an herbal tisane.  Each week she comes up with a new alchemy from the season’s harvest.  Check out what she has this week.

5th Anniversary Fun at the Market

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This Sunday, August 12, is the 5th anniversary of the Mercer Island Farmers Market. To help us celebrate, our longtime friend and supporter, Chef Nathan Zielski from Lilly’s at Aljoya, will show us how to make his sublime Pacific Rim Salmon with Green Tea Noodles. (I’ve eaten this dish at Lily’s, and it is SO good, you’ll want to stop by and learn his secrets!) 

Garrett & Wescott will be on hand to sing some blues, and at the kids’ table, Judy Witmer will demonstrate how to make very berry ink.

If you haven’t been to our market in a while, be sure to check out some of our newest vendors.  I love the salsa from the Seattle Salsa Guy.  I eat his salsa with a spoon, like gazpacho, or put it on scrambled eggs or grilled chicken.

Because I am currently on a gluten free kick, I’ve had to break my normal routine of starting my market day with a cranberry orange scone from Snohomish Bakery (it’s just temporary, Snohomish! I’ll be back, I promise) and check out alternatives. I used to be one of those uninformed haters who disparaged gluten free bread (“Why bother?”) until I tasted Manini’s. It looks good, it smells even better, but still, I was like a suspicious kid, afraid to even taste it. Silly me! Their gluten-free bread really is delicious, soft and pillowy yet firm enough to stand up to a tomato sandwich.

My friends and I rave about Abu Eden’s hummos. Seriously, everything they sell is delicious, and fresh.  I’m also avoiding caffeine for a while, and I found just the thing to pick me up and soothe my head at Theo Dorre’s Tea: an herbal tisane.  Each week she comes up with a new alchemy from the season’s harvest.  Check out what she has this week.

Discovering new products at Grand Central Bakery

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A friend mentioned to me that Grand Central Bakery sells U-Bake chicken pot pies at the market.  The pot pies are single serve size and very popular.  I thought I would buy a couple and bake them for dinner tonight.  By 1pm, Grand Central was sold out!  I talked to the Grand Central folks about other ideas for dinner.  They suggested two great options:  pizza or quiche.  Grand Central sells frozen disks of pizza dough that you can thaw and bake tonight or store frozen for up to a month.  Since, I didn’t want to go to much work for dinner, I decided to try the second option, quiche.  The all-butter pie crust was already rolled out and fitted into a reusable pie pan.  It only took me a few minutes to prepare the ingredients for the quiche and my family enjoyed a wonderful homemade dinner.  In fact, Grand Central even provided the recipe for the quiche!

Other U-Bake products that they sell include:  puff pastry, unrolled pie crust dough and chocolate chip cookies (pre-formed!).  These items are popular, so shop early for a full selection.  In addition, to the U-Bake products, Grand Central sells a variety of excellent freshly baked breads, pastries and cookies.  Yum!

 

The MI Farmers Market’s 5th Season Opens with New Vendors and Big Crowds

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Customers at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

Customers at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

After months of anticipation, the Mercer Island Farmers Market re-opened for its fifth season with dozens of favorite returning vendors, over a dozen new vendors, large crowds, and beautiful blue skies.

Islanders of all ages turned out in force to support Washington State farmers and artisan food producers. One of our state representatives, Marcie Maxwell (D-41st), arrived bright and early for the market’s opening. Our mayor, Bruce Bassett, was there. So was city councilmember, Jane Meyer Brahm, and executive director of the MI Chamber of Commerce, Terry Moreman. So many of our community were there that one patron was overheard to say, “I could come here all day and say ‘hello’ to people.”

Nick from Collin Family Orchards putting out freshly picked cherries at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

Nick from Collins Family Orchards putting out freshly picked cherries at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

The MI Farmers Market welcomed back returning favorite vendors, such as Collins Family Orchards, Selah, WA (with freshly picked cherries), Crown S Ranch, Winthrop, WA (with their much sought-after meat and eggs), Got Soup? Seattle, WA (with Jerry’s made-from-fresh-local-ingredient soups), Island Apiaries, Freeland, WA (who, as always, brought one of their kid-magnet hives), Kittitas Valley Greenhouse, Ellensburg, WA (with their dozens of varieties of heirloom tomatoes), Patty Pan Grill, Seattle, WA (with their healthy and tasty tamales and quesadillas), and Snohomish Bakery, Snohomish, WA (with their artisanal pastries and over one dozen different breads).

Some long-time vendors arrived with new products. Tonnemaker Farms, Royal City, WA, brought apple cider, dried peppers, and fruit leathers. Others arrived with a new name. Farmers Market Preserves, Seattle, WA is now Camp Robber Jams. (Be sure to stop by their booth to ask Rome about the name change.)

Eddie Alvarez of Alvarez Organic Farms helping a customer at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

Eddie Alvarez of Alvarez Organic Farms helping a customer at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

The market also welcomed new vendors, such as Alvarez Organic Farms, Mabton, WA (overflowing tables of organic vegetables, plus roasted peanuts), Grand Central Bakery, Seattle, WA (delicious fresh baked breads and sweets plus take-and-bake doughs), and Jeb’s Wild Salmon (Bristol-Bay-Alaska-caught salmon).

In addition, several of these new vendors have added products offered for the first time at the Mercer Island Farmers Market. Middlefork Coffee Roasters, Seattle, WA, is offering locally roasted, fair-trade coffee. Olsen Farms, Colville, WA, is bringing new cuts of meat, including lamb, as well as their organic potatoes. And Piccola Cellars Winery, Woodinville, WA, is offering wine made from Washington-grown grapes in easy to carry, environmentally friendly totes.

Kira Doley of Olsen Farms talking with customers at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

Kira Doley of Olsen Farms talking with customers at the Mercer Island Farmers Market on June 10, 2012. (Photo by Joel Wachs)

The MI Farmers Market would like to offer a big thank you to our farmer/vendors, our community, and our many volunteers. We couldn’t have started this season so successfully without you.

The Mercer Island Farmers Market is open from 10 am to 3 pm every Sunday from now until October 14, 2012. (The MIFM will be closed on Sunday, July 15th for Mercer Island’s Summer Celebration and August 5th for SeaFair.) We hope to see you at the market!

Missing Mercer Island

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I have been waiting seven long months for the return of the farmers market to Mercer Island – it is one of my favorite things about living here. (Other favorites include paddle boarding on Lake Washington, all the cashiers at the north end QFC, cocktails at Stopsky’s, and the MISD music program.)

So opening day is this Sunday, and I am out of town!

Granted, I am in very lovely Knoxville, TN for the US Rowing Youth National Championships, where things are warm and sunny, but I really want to be back on the rock for Sunday. What I most want is to catch up with all my market friends, those people I rarely see during the rest of the year, but run into just about every Sunday, like Howie and Gina Schneiderman. I want to have a chat with the friendly family from Crown S Ranch, and exchange pleasantries with the cute Italian pasta seller.  I want to reserve my order for 4 orange cranberry scones from Snohomish Bakery and  sample some spiced apple cider from the cider guys.  There are two empty  cider jugs in my garage, taking up space since last Thanksgiving, waiting patiently to be refilled.  I want to dance in the street, or at least tap my toes and enjoy the live swing music, and the little kids who dance with abandon. I want to see what the Master Gardeners have going on, and check out all the new food trucks I’ve been reading about.

The Mercer Island Farmers Market continues to evolve and improve, and each year I love it a little bit more.  You won’t see me this weekend, but look for me in July, pulling my red wagon, sitting on the curb eating my lunch, or socializing my way down the stalls. If you go on Sunday, and you really should, let me know what looks good. I’m thinking of all my favorite summer recipes: bruschetta and spanikopita, fruit crisps and pasta primavera, swiss chard quiche with goat cheese, my kids’ favorite purple potato salad with yogurt and scallions and mint.  Sniff  the flowers for me, hug your friends, welcome back the wonderful farmers and vendors, and tell them I say hello.