Farmer's Market opened today!

Farmer's Market opened two weeks early. What a joy it was to go back and see old friends and new faces. I was thrilled to see so many growers having eggs this year. They are very popular and people go to their favorite place very early in the morning, chin down, walking fast with great determination to get their eggs! One grower who lives near me said he has 100 chickens, all laying. So, my haul was a bag of beautiful mixed lettuce (my new crop goes in the ground tomorrow) a bag of sugar snap peas that taste like candy, four -inch pot of French Tarragon, Early Girl tomato plant, and a beautiful plastic, terra cotta looking oval tub and saucer filled with bright green and red lettuce. It looks great as a center piece on my patio table and will serve me well until mine comes up.
Green garlic, green onions, spinach, cilantro, dried herbs, fresh herbs, nuts, fresh breads, two booths of fresh tamales and so much more. I was the first customer at the newest of the tamale booths today and ordered a hot chicken tamale with pico de gallo and fresh tomatillo salsa. They told me to come back next week and pick up 6 fresh tamales - FREE for being their first customer today. Yea! I went back to my car and had a lovely tamale breakfast as the dog sat drooling beside me. I took him for a great walk on City Hall grounds as his reward for not stealing my tamale.
I could tell by the way it was laid out that there will be many more vendors again this year. Last year there were 75 booths. This year we will have our first year round booth in a small community about 15 minutes south of here. So great, and FINALLY!

I was also surprised to see so many of the growers selling veggie plants, huge, healthy and in 4-inch pots. I have trouble finding French Tarragon and since my husband tilled the garden bed before mine came up this year, this was a nice find.

So, are the markets open in your neck of the woods and what do they have?

Our markets are open all year round, but they don't have fresh, locally grown produce until much later in the year. Some have cold storage items like apples and cider. Others sell cheeses and sausages. Some sell crafts and sometimes a local winery will be there vending their wines. In May they will start with early items such as asparagus and rhubarb. They will also be selling flats of plants. Then things start up from June to November. We usually don't get fresh corn until July.

We don't get to the farmers market anymore, since we've started going to the big growers markets every Friday. It really is such a fun day, though - even if it's not as gorgeous and high end as the farmers market was. Last Friday I picked up a carton of duck eggs, a 10kg box of ripe romas and a big box of new season Fujis.

[Jenise]

Karen, you make Redding sound like paradise. Here we are just celebrating our first day at 60F! Everything here is going to be much later than usual. How do you account for the growth in your market--is Redding growing? Are you getting more ex-city dwellers moving in?

Karen, you make Redding sound like paradise. Here we are just celebrating our first day at 60F! Everything here is going to be much later than usual. How do you account for the growth in your market--is Redding growing? Are you getting more ex-city dwellers moving in?

Yes, Redding is growing....we are heading towards 100,000. But it is still very small townish. There are many good things happening with the downtown area, arts, destination points of interest, because the people here really care. Lots of L.A. folks who sold homes for big bucks, come up here and find out they can have their beautiful homes with acerage. It is a full service City meaning that the City of Redding provides all services, we also have a water utility, which does very well. Lots of people came because they want to raise their children here. It is beautiful with mountains on three sides, all the lakes, good fishing and hunting. We love it here except for the summers, which are too hot for me. Some folks love it, the hotter the better. When it gets too hot, we get going to Eureka, Oregon Coast or further north. It is far from being like Palm Springs, or Las Vegas...just too hot for me.

Regarding the growth in the market, I think you are going to see that all over. People want to know where their food comes from. Also, we have a huge grape growing area developing with wineries springing up in the foothills. There is already a nice olive oil market here from local growers. My only gripe is the developers who buy up all the available land and build cookie cutter homes on every piece of land. Gene and I tried to find property to build a custom home and unless we go out of the city limits, we are out of luck. So we stayed where we are.

Yes, Redding is growing....we are heading towards 100,000. But it is still very small townish.

WHAT? You mean Redding isn't the Big City? Darn, in all those years of visiting our friends in Cottonwood, that's what I was told! Of course, they did leave Cottonwood in the late '60s for Montana to escape the crowding

Mark Lipton
(Still awaiting the opening of our Farmer's Market)

[Jenise]

Karen, Redding and Bellingham are about the same size and we've seen the same kind of growth in the five years we've been here. Too, like Redding, it's the only large town in the county, and it's a substantial distance from this state's bigger cities so it's highly productive and self-sufficient. I'm not the only one who was looking for Mayberry.

But gosh we don't have olives and grapes and a Farmers Market with several tamale vendors. So let me drool with envy at you now, then in August when I have a bay full of crab in front of my house you can return the compliment.

Yes, Redding is growing....we are heading towards 100,000. But it is still very small townish.

WHAT? You mean Redding isn't the Big City? Darn, in all those years of visiting our friends in Cottonwood, that's what I was told! Of course, they did leave Cottonwood in the late '60s for Montana to escape the crowding

Mark Lipton
(Still awaiting the opening of our Farmer's Market)

Yep, those nice folks in Cottonwood don't have much use for Redding, they consider it too big. Cottonwood is indeed a sleepy little village, lots of wealthy cowboys and I enjoy running into them at the cafe in the stockyard. I do believe that cafe has recently closed....pity, as they had wonderful steaks.

Karen, Redding and Bellingham are about the same size and we've seen the same kind of growth in the five years we've been here. Too, like Redding, it's the only large town in the county, and it's a substantial distance from this state's bigger cities so it's highly productive and self-sufficient. I'm not the only one who was looking for Mayberry.

But gosh we don't have olives and grapes and a Farmers Market with several tamale vendors. So let me drool with envy at you now, then in August when I have a bay full of crab in front of my house you can return the compliment.

Coming from the coastal town of Eureka prior to marriage, I know your love for the crab. We do have several places here that go to the coast every day during crab season and truck back loads of live crab. They are cooked and sold the same day.
Nothing like it!