Vendors are selling a variety of local fruit and produce as well as plant starts, fresh cut flowers, processed foods, crafts, and BBQ. See you Thursday!
Vote for Bremerton Farmers Market: American Farmland Trust, whose mission is to preserve farms and farmers, has a “Best Farmers market” contest going on right now. We’ve entered BFM and need your vote!!!!
To vote:
Log onto the following site www.farmland.org/vote
Enter our zip code – 98337
Once the market info is displayed, click on the “Vote” button and proceed from there!
Let’s vote Bremerton Market #1
WIC/SENIOR COUPONS: Now being accepted at market!
VENDORS AT MARKET THIS WEEK
Farmers:
Gregory Farm – Paul has Yakima Valley fruit -peaches and apricots (tomcots). WIC/Senior vouchers accepted.
Harlow Gardens – Harlow Gardens will have vegetable and herb planters/hanging baskets for the deck or patio, ripe and green tomatoes, cucumbers, greens, blueberries, and ask about loganberries.
WIC/Senior vouchers accepted.
The Old Wheelbarrow – Plants, locally grown produce, and fresh cut flower bouquets. WIC/Senior vouchers accepted.
Start Now – Start Now announces the beginning of the tomato harvest! We’ll have some eggplants as well, and more zucchini, basil, lettuce, fava beans, peas, kale, raspberries, escarole and parsley.
WIC/Senior vouchers accepted.
Sylvan Floral & Garden – David & John have fresh Yakima valley produce this week to include: pickling cucumbers, zucchini, walla walla sweet onions, fresh green & wax beans, handpicked Duke blueberries, bing and rainier cherries, along with pie cherries, apricots (tomcots), peaches, fresh asparagus, rhubarb and dill, along with bi-color corn (first of the season). WIC/Senior vouchers accepted.
Yun Lee – Bonsai and Lucky Bamboo
Pheasant Field Farm – Get your Farm Fresh Eggs and locally grown produce. WIC/Senior vouchers accepted.
Sanzalone Greenhouse – Come and visit our booth, we grow unusual plants specifically breed for the Northwest!
Lilliputs – Sandy returns this week with beautiful perennial flowers, roses and hanging baskets.
Crafters:
Dianes Dezines – Your summer attire will be complete with that perfect pair of earrings, necklace or bracelet designed by Diane. She has something for everyone, stop by and visit.
Candles by Edree - As always, all candles by Edree are 100% soy with all cotton wicks. Support farmers, burn soy. Stop by and see Edree!
Luli Girl – Dress those little ones in the cutest homemade summer outfits crafted by Amy. This will be Amy’s last week until August, as she will be giving birth to her little baby boy!
Made in Manette – Carolee handmakes aprons, soaps and children’s caps. Having that summer BBQ? Then you need to be outfitted with the perfect apron!
Sunnyslope Soap -
New soap this week, by popular demand, Fisherman’s Soap. Made with anise essential oil (smells like licorice), takes the human smell off and is irresistible to fish (so they say). Also, a new supply of French Green Clay. The scent is heavenly!
Food Vendors:
Humming Bird Hill Soda – Homemade soda by Mike & Dee. They have that homemade soda for you to take a six pack or individual bottle home tonight.
Vann’s Mini-Donuts – Vann’s Mini-Donuts will be there making fresh hot mini-donuts right before your eyes.
Bavarian Bratwurst & Roasted Nuts – Two extra lean Nuremberg brats on an organic roll. Served with a white kraut or a red sweet cabbage. There are no fillers in the pork and they are only 6% fat. We have our roasted nuts along with lemonade and other drinks.
Cap N Kettle Korn – Get your fresh popped Kettle Korn!
CJ’s Evergreen General Store: Honey, Williams Family Salsa – this salsa comes in mild and hot varieties, Hamburgers, Hot dogs, Salmon Burgers, Veggie Burgers and Hot & Mild Sausages along with water & soda make the list. Want someone else to cook and prepare for your special event? Talk to CJ about her new catering business.
Crimson Cove -
Crimson cove will have Smoked Swiss cheese. Come by and sample some!
London Maid Crumpets – Crumpets are wonderful toasted with ricotta cheese and your favorite jam or jelly on top!
Non-Profits:
Kitsap County Master Gardeners – Stop by and visit with the Master Gardeners, you can even bring them a sample or picture of your ill plant for diagnosis.
Bremerton Farmers Market Booth – Support your local farmers market by buying one of our eco friendly market bags for $5, or how about becoming a community member of the market for $30 a year? Stop by the market booth and talk with Kim our market manager for information!
Kitsap Food Co-op – Have you ever wondered what exactly the Kitsap Food Co-Op is all about? Stop by and talk to Laura and her crew, they also have homemade aprons and tote bags for sale.
Bremerton Urban Garden Society (B.U.G.S.) – BUGS is a nonprofit organization and member supported group located in Bremerton, Washington. We believe in creating organic gardening opportunities by inspiring people to connect with the earth, their food, and one another.
Vendors Out This Week:
Sundown Ridge Farm
Jane’s Handmade Treasures
Snooter-Doots
NEW TO MARKET
Schwerzlers’ Natural Creations -
We are brand new to the market! My husband, Kirk, & I make walking sticks and teacher’s pointers/wands. I, Linda, am an author and photographer. And Cynthia, our daughter, has prints of her drawings. You are in luck, I have just lowered my prices due to the recession, by 20%! Please stop by to meet me. I love to chat.
Schwerzlers’ Natural Creations, more easily known as, SNC Art and More.
Storybook Tea – Wendy Daniels owner of Storybook Tea & Boutique brings her magical and whimsical face painting to market. Visit her in the shared booth with Luli Girl.
Pat’s Handmade Crafts – Pat brings her cool tie dye shirts, beaded spirit dolls, natural body and bath products. Stop by and visit.
MARKET SPONSORS
The following have provided amazing support for your market this year:
Former Mayor Cary Bozeman
City of Bremerton
Bremerton Patriot
Kitsap Sun
So I’m confused…
Here you are touting Yakima valley produce on your “local food” website, but when I get to the farmer’s market tonight, I find the local farmers are on “strike”. A lady was walking around handing out fava beans and flyers that explained that the local farmers object to the non-local produce. According to the flyer, the reselling of non-local produce is against market rules. The promotion of Yakima produce here would seem to go against the local food theme.
The reason we went to the market was to pick up our CSA share from a certain farm that we eventually found out was on strike. When we got to the market and failed to find that farm’s stand, we were a little panicked about being able to pick up our food. While we eventually found the lady with the flyers, they didn’t explain how we would get our share, there were no signs posted, and our farm didn’t bother to call us to let us know what we had to do. That adds up to poor customer service on the part of both the farm and the market. The only ones that benefited from this “strike” were the stands selling Yakima produce. They had lines streching across the parking lot.
I would call on the market to follow its own rules, and for both the market and the farms to learn some basic courtesy and customer service skills.
An Open Letter to the Bremerton Farmers Market and the Vendors who are Striking
I’m confused too. I don’t buy the CSA shares for one reason only – I cook for one, and even a small share is way too much food, plus includes produce I don’t care for.
But I AM a consumer – and a BFM customer. I was there for the 3rd time last week and was shocked that most of the produce vendors were not there. Later some of them came around handing out free lettuce and their flyers which I read later. I always believe in fairness but I think the strikers are dead wrong in this case.
I know no one associated with the market altho, being gregarious, I’ve introduced myself to and shmoozed with the vendors I liked and intended to buy from all summer long. But last week only the Yakima vendors were there. The rest were striking!
I’m only interested in one thing – I want the freshest and best tasting produce available. And if that includes produce from Yakima, including fruit not even available in Western WA last month, I’m all for it. From what I understand, I think the Yakima vendors live in Kitsap, but go over to Yakima every week to pick produce fresh for the Bremerton market on Thursday. Well good for them! And obviously other customers agree – they always have longest lines.
I detect a bit of sour grapes here. The other vendors should learn from them, not try to get them thrown out. I first came to the BFM 2 yrs ago and was surprised at how little produce was actually there. I decided it wasn’t worth returning to shop there because of the lack of variety.
But the Sun recently wrote an article about the market and how it had grown so I decided to try it again 3 weeks ago. To my delight I loved the increase in vendors and the variety available.
Markets thrive on competition – the most successful have the most vendors and the best variety. You have to make the customer want to keep returning. So by trying to get the Yakima vendor thrown out, in my opinion, you are being very short sighted and “throwing the baby out with the bath water.” You need to understand the big picture.
So here’s what happens. Yes, I bought some blueberries and tomatoes from them, But then, and this is what the strikers are overlooking, I went over to Pheasant Farms and bought some of your wonderful lettuce, scallions, and radishes. And then I went to a smaller vendor who had the wonderful varieties of squash and eggplant you never see in the supermarkets! I got local strawberries from another vendor. I hoped to buy from ALL of you all summer long.
But you’ve decided to strike! You must understand that you need each other to succeed! If you indeed strike and boycott the BFM the rest of this summer, then I’ll probably decide somewhere along the line that it isn’t worth my time to return each week. And you can be sure I won’t return again this time.
Do you want your market to thrive and succeed in our wonderful community? Or do you want to continue this nonsense nitpicking over what constitutes “local” and create a lose-lose situation for everyone. If you do, then soon there won’t be any Bremerton Farmers Market.
If the famous Seattle Farmers Market excluded produce and arts and crafts that wasn’t made or grown in King county, they’d go out of business too. We want your Kitsap produce AND the Yakima produce. There’s plenty of business to go around! Please reconsider!
Carol Cohen
Manette resident
All farmer’s markets are organized by local boards of directors who decide how to conduct their market and what rules the farmer and craft vendors are to follow. The Bremerton Farmer’s Market is no exception. In general, most markets are created and organized to benefit “local” farmers, giving them access to local consumers. The board can adopt any set of rules it pleases but if they wish to be part of the Washington State Farmers Market Association their rules must conform to certain standards. The rules and standards of the association distinguish among farmers (a.k.a. “producers”), processors and re-sellers. The WSFMA strives to maintain that a majority of the produce sold is grown and sold directly by local farmers. Experience has shown that this is what most market consumers want and will support the best.
As an organization, KCAA is dedicated to building a local food network. Farmers markets are a critical element of this network and we work to support them in any way we can. As such, we publish newsletters submitted to us by the market managers, write stories about the people that create the markets and generally attempt to create greater awareness among the public about the value and importance of buying local food at the markets. The Bremerton Farmers Market is one of the markets that we provide this service for among others. We do not attempt to influence their rules, operations or decisions about how they conduct business.
Some members of the KCAA are members of the Bremerton Farmers Market so we have heard from them about what is troubling them. We have not as of the date of this comment had any communication with the manager or the board as body so we have not heard all sides of what appears to be a question about how the rules are applied for produce resellers versus local producers. In general, the KCAA welcomes the many eastern Washington farmers that do bring their wonderful fruits and vegetables to share with us at our markets. Some local farmers augment their income by selling eastern Washington fruit and I for one really appreciate it.
Probably most consumers of produce at the farmers markets have too little appreciation of the amount of work, investment, risks and planning that any farmer must undertake to deliver our local food, whether it is through a farmers market, a CSA or other distribution channels. It is critical that farmers are able to sell everything they grow, at a profit, in order to continue delivering the healthiest, highest quality food for all of our tables. It takes literally years to develop a farm producing vegetables, fruit and protein to reach a stable condition. This requirement is at odds with the idea that as consumers we like to show up to buy our local food when we want to and not share in the effort and risks undertaken by the farmers to deliver the product at a price that we can afford.
The rules adopted by the local markets attempt to balance the needs and desires of consumers with the conditions that farmers face to help them get into and stay in business. Speaking just for me I observe that the lack of a conscious connection between farmers, processors and consumers is the source of this problem and is something that the KCAA is working to correct.
The real problem is that “the local guys and gals” including our brothers and sisters from eastern Washington have too small a slice of the consumer pie to sustain themselves. Sales of all local food at all the Kitsap markets still amounts to less than 1.0% of the purchases made in our community. If this figure were increased just a few percentage points there would be plenty of income and opportunity to go around for our Kitsap farmers and our friends from east of the Cascades.
We remain an ardent supporter of the Bremerton Farmers Market and if asked will do what we can do to improve conditions that are causing the conflict.
Thank you for your comments, Paul. I appreciate your explanations. I’ll be out of town this Thursday but hope to return on the 23rd to see more local vendors back at the Bremerton Farmers Market.
Dear Carol and Paul:
Please understand that there are issues you are unaware of that has created local farmers to boycott the BFM and it’s a list of issues that has been steadily growing over the past few months. I will not publicly air those issues, but they became intolerable and I ask that you trust the judgment of the farmers in why we have chosen to take such extreme action.
Pheasant Fields Farm joined in on that boycott rather late last week and was not able to contact all of their CSA customers. As an oversite, our farm sign did not arrive at the market until after 4:30 pm to identify a pickup point. I apologize to my customers if I caused inconvenience.
It is not our intent to anger our valued customers – far from it. We have worked hard to try to build the market and please our customers and we are now working very hard to correct problems so we can move on and get back to what we like doing most. Please hold your judgments based on limited information and have some trust in your local farmer’s decisions.
Nikki Johanson
Pheasant Fields Farm
I don’t have an opinion here because I don’t know enough about the difficulties. I can speak to my own experience.
I am signed up for delivery and was asked if I preferred local produce.
I signed up and joined here in support of local farmers. I would not have done it for out of town farmers.
That said: The more vendors and variety at local Farmer’s Markets, the better for the shoppers. As already mentioned, the Seattle Market is world renowned for the variety of vendors of excellent products.
My first delivery included a container of cherries. I washed them and found a cherry with a stand-like mold on the bottom.
Living with mold is not an option and they went into the garbage. Those cherries couldn’t have been local and no one wanted to sell moldy cherries, but it happened.
The produce also included the most delicious little squash I’ve eaten in years – wonderful flavor!
Some of the fruit was rotted in spots…but overall the produce is tasty, without problems.
They do a great job of delivery of flavorful produce.
Local, fresh produce ‘should’ have noticeable more flavor than the store bought and I noticed the celery didn’t have the slight bitter taste I’ve gotten used to eating from our local stores.
Again…the more variety and vendors attract customers, local and visitors. The freshest and most attractively set out items will sell first…and competition offers the consumers the BEST choices.
Farming is fun and hard work…and will go away if we don’t support our local farmers first and those farmers who bring good, fresh, organic produce to us.
Personally I am sick and tired of buying and chewing flavorless, dry, chewy carrots – I want the taste of yesteryear – flavorful and juicy.
Thanks to those farmers who work hard to grow food for the rest of us…and to the craftspeople who offer a part of themselves with every item they make and sell.
Thank you.
Sharon O’Hara