Here are some notable changes for regional markets:

Live Music

Live music is almost universally returning, with particularly exciting lineups at the Silver Valley Community Market in Kellogg, Idaho; at the Athol Farmers Market’s 5-year anniversary season; and at the thriving Perry Street Market.

New Locations & Vendors

• Perry Street Market has moved into the cul-de-sac at 10^th and is expanding into Grant Park with an expected 70+ vendors at the height of the season.
• After only offering food and produce in 2020, Liberty Lake Farmers Market will be bringing back their craft vendors for the season.
• Applications are available online for the Sandpoint Farmers Market.
• Spokane Farmers Market is excited to offer even more local, fresh produce, baked goods, meat, and dairy than ever before.
• New this year, the Riverfront Park Market will be open for a series of weeks in spring, fall, and winter with mostly craft and food vendors.

Family & Children’s Activities

• Programs and activities for kids will be operating in full force too—look for the Kernel Program at Washington markets, the PoP (Power of Produce) Club at the Saturday Kootenai County Farmers Market, and the Kid Bucks program at the Newport Farmers Market.
• Hillyard Farmers Market works with North East Community Center’s Headstart program to offer on-site activities.
• Spokane Valley Market sets up right next to Discovery Playground with crafts and take-home activities and easy access to the Centennial Trail.
• Millwood Farmers Market in Millwood City Park coordinates with a local barbershop to provide haircuts for kids just before school starts and incorporates park activities and picnic spaces.
• The Emerson-Garfield Farmers Market on Monroe Street also plans to have cooking demos with produce offered at the market. Support these local farmers’ markets and all our fertile and dynamic region has to offer. 

2021 Schedule for Inland NW Farmers’ Markets

Mondays

Hillyard Farmers Market, Spokane, WA: 3-6 p.m., June-Sept.

Tuesdays

Fairwood Farmers Market, Spokane, WA: 3-7 p.m., May-Oct.

Wednesdays

Kendall Yards Night Market, Spokane, WA: 5-8 p.m., May-Sept.

Millwood Farmers Market, Spokane, WA: 3-7 p.m., May-Oct.

Northeast Washington Farmers Market, Colville, WA: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May–Oct.

Riverfront Park Market in the Pavilion, Spokane, WA: 3-7 p.m., shoulder seasons – Spring/Fall/Winter

Sandpoint Farmers Market, Sandpoint, ID: 3-5:30 p.m., May-Oct.

Spokane Farmers Market, Spokane, WA: 8 a.m. – 1 p.m., June-Oct.

Thursdays

Perry Street Thursday Market, Spokane, WA: 3-7 p.m., May-Oct.

Silver Valley Community Market, Kellogg, ID: 5-8 p.m., June 24-August 9

Fridays

Athol Farmers Market, Athol, ID: 2-6 p.m., Mother’s Day weekend-Sept.

Chewelah Farmers Market, Chewelah, WA: 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m., May-Oct.

Emerson-Garfield FM, Spokane, WA: 3-7 p.m., June-Sept.

Spokane Valley Farmers Market, Spokane Valley, WA: 4-8 p.m., June-Sept.

Saturdays

Bonners Ferry Farmers Market, Bonners Ferry, ID: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., May-Sept.

Cheney Farmers Market, Cheney, WA: 10 a.m.-2 p.m., June-Sept.

Liberty Lake Farmers Market, Liberty Lake, WA: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May-Oct.

Newport Farmers Market, Newport, WA: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May-Oct.

Northeast Washington Farmers Market, Colville, WA: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May–Oct.

Sandpoint Farmers Market, Sandpoint, ID: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May-Oct.

Spokane Farmers Market, Spokane, WA: 8 a.m. – 1 p.m., May-Oct.

For a list of registered farmers markets throughout the region this season, visit Inwfma.org and Idahofma.org.

Visit the OTO archives for more stories about farmers’ markets.

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See if you can work in a section of the Spokane River Centennial Trail or Ben Burr Trail (Spokane), North Idaho Centennial Trail (Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene), Larch and Fifth or Sand Creek pathways (Sandpoint), or other trails into your outing. Bring a backpack or bike basket or panniers for hauling your food home. 

Shopping for local food in an outdoor market is also safer than a trip to a crowded grocery store, and many markets like the Spokane Farmers’ Market (SFM) are taking special precautions, including asking patrons to wear masks, gloves, and practice social distancing. The Spokane Farmers Market will also have extra hand washing stations and waste containers for gloves and wipes.

Keep in mind too that SFM organizers are asking that only one family member come to shop and dogs are not allowed. Each market may have their own COVID-19 related policies so check the website for the one you plan to visit before you go. 

Originally published in the June 2020 print issue.

Visit the OTO archives for more stories about farmers’ markets.

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For a farm, offering a u-pick option has many benefits. First, it reduces labor, cost, and overhead for the farmers. Second, it eliminates the need for storing and transporting produce to be sold at a market or grocery store, while also providing it in its freshest form to customers. Finally, it allows farmers to set harvest hours and u-pick appointments that are most beneficial to growing things and to the business side of the operation.

For you, the customer, making a trip to a u-pick farm can save you money per pound, keep your dollars in your community, afford you a look at how a farmer operates, and give you and your family the opportunity to handle your food for part of its journey from the farm to your table.

Green Bluff in Spokane County, one of the most well-known u-pick spots in the Inland Northwest, is prolific with growers that offer everything from vegetables to apples to pumpkins.

However, there are plenty of other opportunities to pick your own food. Utecht Produce in Spokane Valley allows customers to come and pick okra, tomatoes, green beans, and more, by appointment only.

Carver Farms in Newman Lake, Wash., provides a u-pick harvest schedule and prices on their website. Riley Creek Blueberry Farm in Laclede, Idaho, is well known for their blueberry fields, but they also grow blackberries and raspberries.

Red Canoe Blueberry Farm in Hauser, Idaho, also has a u-pick field and lets you pick Washington cherries in season.

Whichever you choose, your u-pick day will be an adventure to savor.

Originally published in the July 2019 issue.

Visit the OTO archives for more stories about farmers’ markets.

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Against the backdrop of childhood, my grandparents grew dried beans. I remember plunging my hands into a 15 gallon galvanized metal stock tub heavy with dried beans. Gramp just knew them as “Uncle John’s beans,” because he got them from his older brother John, who got them from someone else, who may have gotten them from the agricultural experiment station at the University of New Hampshire. 

Those dried beans of my childhood were dark maroon, speckled with pink, and plump. They made mouth-watering New England maple baked beans cooked by either Grammy or Mom, in cast iron pots simmering all day on wood stoves. The beans joined brown bread baked in cans, still hot when we clomped in, wet and hungry, from a day in the sugar woods.

Years later, the memory of those long-gone dried beans became my gateway to seed saving. Trying to discover what the beans were a little too late, I grew out beans with names like “Low’s Champion,” “King of The Early,” “Jacob’s Cattle,” and “Vermont Cranberry” from old-fashioned catalogs like Pinetree Seeds, High Mowing, and Seed Saver’s Exchange. I loved the idea of New England’s “Bean Man,” John Earl Withee, Jr. In his later years, Withee went on to donate his 1,186 bean collection of New England’s bean biodiversity to the nonprofit Seed Saver’s Exchange (SSE) in Decorah, Iowa.

What many don’t know is that SSE networks hundreds of seed savers around the globe through its annual “member’s only” yearbook. My husband and I joined and started sending for seeds like Biały (Polish for white) Carrots from a seed saver in Sweden, Tyborski Plum tomatoes from a defunct land grant agricultural experiment station in the Midwest, Polish fava beans, and Jaune du Poitou leeks from William Woys Weaver, author of Heirloom Vegetables. 

We dabbled in brightly colored carrots, dozens of tomatoes, and raised beds. As archeologists we were on a quest to recreate our genealogical roots by growing interesting vegetables and fruits. We discovered white vegetables were historically prized in Poland because the ability to keep a dish light colored as it cooked on the wood stove demonstrated exceptional domestic talent. 

We never did find the heirloom bean varietal from my childhood because our family became distracted with a move to Spokane, new jobs as archeologists for a federal agency and tribe, and new ground to garden and explore. We went on to plant Inchelium Red garlic, Long Island Cheese Pumpkins, and the same Scottish Bere Barley that David Thompson would have thrown down on promising river edges while exploring the Northwest. One day, it dawned on us that we might be one of the last two growers of Tyborski Plum tomatoes left anywhere in the world.

To encounter or learn more about our heirloom vegetables from the past, drop by Illinois Ave Urban Farm Stand at 1817 E. Illinois Ave. in Spokane. We are open by chance or appointment, (509 328-2523), especially on sunny days in the summer when the farm stand umbrella is out in the driveway. Our heritage is a seed to a sustainable future. 

Written by Kathleen E. Callum

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The Inland Northwest is home to a thriving agricultural community of farmers who love to dig in the dirt and grow good food. We as consumers can support these farmers in a variety of ways and create sustainability for them, our families, and our communities. First, buy local produce and value added goods at your grocery or natural food store. Second, shop the farmers markets. And third, join a CSA or volunteer at a local farm.

Community supported agriculture (CSA) provides economic sustainability, support, and predictability for farmers. It is partnering with a local farm through buying a “share” in their harvest, thereby providing the farmer with a stable income and you the consumer with fresh seasonal produce every week. The contents of your box will vary throughout the season, and per farm, but you will experience the bounty of our region while supporting your local farmer.

The cost of investing in a CSA can be calculated by the pound, by the week, or by the season. It can average between $12 to $20 per week, depending on the farm and the size of your box. Many CSA farms will deliver, set up a drop-off point, or have shares available for pick up at their farmers market booth. Check out some of these CSAs growing good food in our area: Urban Eden Farm, Spokane, Wash.; Ace of Spades Farm, Spokane, Wash.; Tolstoy Farms (organic), Davenport, Wash.; Plante Family Farm, Hayden, Idaho; Bountiful Organics, Sagle, Idaho; Greentree Naturals (organic), Sandpoint, Idaho; Moose Meadow Farm, Clark Fork, Idaho.

Originally published in the June 2019 issue.

Visit the OTO archives for more stories about farmers’ markets.

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In recent years, heirloom and rare varieties of all sorts of fruits and vegetables have become more available through local growers. When we as customers are more curious about our food, it inspires farmers to seek out produce that we can all be passionate about. It also brings deeper layers of flavor to our table.

World-renown Spanish-American chef Jose Andres explains it this way: “Bringing all these heritage breeds and heirloom varieties back helps us connect to our roots, our communities, and helps us feed America the proper way.”

This spring, ask your farmer at the market if they have any heirlooms or special produce, and give it a try.

In addition to the established weekly markets across the Inland Northwest, the 2019 season is launching with new and expanding markets. The new Spokane Valley Farmers Market will be Fridays 5 to 8 p.m. from June 7 through Sept. 13at the CenterPlace Regional Event Center.

Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone Village Market had a bustling first year in 2018 and returns with an invitation to “Eat*Shop*Play” every Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. The Silver Valley Community Market in Kellogg is also making a name for itself on Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. as they “foster small business and strengthen community.”

Originally published in the May 2019 print issue.

Visit the OTO archives for more stories about farmers’ markets.

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Fall is the perfect time to take part in local harvests. First, it’s cooler. Second, farms often have seasonal activities to accompany the end of the growing year, such as corn mazes, fall foods, harvest festivals, apple pressing, and pumpkin carving. If you’re just out to pick, here’s what you’ll find: apples, pears, squash, pumpkins, potatoes, and some vegetables. Imagine transforming a boxful of apples that you picked into luscious applesauce for the winter.

The most concentrated place to find u-pick opportunities is at Green Bluff in Spokane County. With 30 farms, two breweries, a meadery, a cidery, two wineries, petting zoos, corn mazes, and some of the best pumpkin donuts you’ll ever taste (at Beck’s Harvest House), there is no shortage of things to do for the whole family. The Green Bluff Grange, Community United Methodist Church, and Trading Post also host their own harvest festivals on October weekends.

Other fall u-pick spots include Carver Farms in Newman Lake, Prairie Home Farm in Coeur d’Alene, and Promised Land Family Farm, also in Coeur d’Alene. Experience further aspects of the harvest season at the Kootenai County Farmers’ Market Harvest Festival Downtown on Oct. 28 or enter Pilgrim’s Market’s Pumpkin Carving Contest, Oct. 29-30, to win a $50 gift card. The Spokane Farmers’ Market is also open on Wednesdays and Saturdays through October.

Don’t hibernate too early. Get out there this fall and bring home something delicious.

Visit the OTO archives for more stories about farmers’ markets.

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My family’s affection for farmers’ markets started as newlyweds when we would bike down the South Hill to the Spokane Farmers’ Market at its old location in the church parking lot off Second Avenue. We’d load up our panniers and backpacks with vegetables and fruit and come back later with our Subaru Outback if needed to pick up plant starts and bags of potatoes.

Eventually, we became a CSA (community-supported agriculture) family through Tolstoy Farms (tolstoyfarms.org). Our firstborn was only a few months old when we picked up our very first half-bushel box of organic produce from Tolstoy Farm’s vendor booth – the market by then located on Fifth Avenue between Division and Browne.

By the fall, when we were approaching the end of market season, I was baking and pureeing carrots for homemade baby food and freezing in cubed trays for the not-so-distant future when my son would be eating solid food.

Our days of biking to the market are on hiatus for now; biking to and from the market while towing two kids and then also a heavy box of food is a bit too Ironman-ish for us. Our weekly (or even twice-weekly) visits to the market are akin to our Sabbath. It’s a ritual that nourishes our bodies and souls. Every farmers’ market has this same vibe – a warm, welcoming community of farmers and families.

Personally handing my cash to the hands of the one who toiled the soil and harvested the food or cared for the honeycombs or baked the bread provides an emotional, visceral connection.

My children and I adore the market and the farmers. We adore “Farmer Joe” from Tolstoy who greets us every Wednesday during summer market when we pick up our box. And it’s not just because Joe is friendly and looks like a farmer-hippie version of actor Keanu Reeves. Joe is a real farmer; he is the story behind our food. My children started eating raw green beans, snap peas, carrots with the green tops still attached (so they could eat like bunnies), beets, and turnips because they were from Farmer Joe, not because Mommy asked them to.

Now, our fourth summer as a Tolstoy CSA family, our life would feel incomplete without the Spokane Farmers’ Market. All winter long, whenever we drove down Division and past the market location, my children would ask, “When is the market going to open?”

A thousand memories come from our market experiences – like when my son, last summer, touched his finger to a patch of dirt and asked, “Is this the Earth?”

Or receiving honey sticks from Wild-n-Sweet Rich Honey. Eating bread samples from Arabesque Farms & Bakery and buying our favorite to make sandwiches for lunch that day, along with a cinnamon roll and huckleberry Danish to eat right away. Sitting on the grass to enjoy the live music, my children clapping and dancing along. Taking home fruit from Pacific Produce every time.

Now whenever we go on vacation, we find the local farmers’ market wherever we’re going and plan our trip agenda and meals around it.

Why not make farmers’ markets part of your family’s story?

Guide to Inland Northwest Farmers’ Markets (2014)

Never miss a market; download the Farm Stand app: farmstandapp.com.

Spokane County

• Airway Heights: Fridays 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (corner of SR 92 and 84^th St.).
• Cheney: Tuesdays 2-7 p.m. (City Hall). Cheneyfarmersmarket.com.
• Clayton: Sundays noon-4 p.m. (fairgrounds). Localharvest.org/clayton-farmers-market-M28783.
• Emerson-Garfield: Fridays 3-7 p.m. (Knox Presbyterian Church). Emersongarfield.org.
• Liberty Lake: Saturdays 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. (1421 N. Meadowwood Lane). Libertylakefarmersmarket.com.
• Millwood: Wednesdays 3-7 p.m. (Millwood Presbyterian Church). Millwoodpc.org/Mission/FarmersMarket.aspx.
• South Perry: Thursdays 3-7 p.m. (The Shop). Thursdaymarket.org.
• Spokane: Wednesdays and Saturdays 8 a.m. -1 p.m. (5^th/Browne). Spokanefarmersmarket.org.
• West Central: Tuesdays 3-6 p.m. (Cannon Playground-West Central Community Center). Projecthopespokane.org/west-central-marketplace.

North Idaho

• Coeur d’Alene: Wednesdays 4-7 p.m. (Sherman Ave/Fifth St.). Kootenaifarmersmarkets.org.
• Downtown Coeur d’Alene: Wednesdays 4-7 p.m. (5^th/Sherman). Cdadowntown.com.
• Hayden: Saturdays 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (SE Corner Hwy 95/Prairie Ave). Kootenaifarmersmarkets.org.
• Sandpoint: Wednesdays 3-6 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Farmin Park (Third Ave/Oak St.). Sandpointfarmersmarket.com.

Around the Inland NW

• Chewelah: Fridays 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (Chewelah City Park). Chewelahfarmersmarket.com.
• Clarkston: Saturdays 8 a.m.-12 p.m. (5^th/Sycamore). Visitlcvalley.com.
• Colville/Northeast Washington: Wednesdays and Saturdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (Main/Astor). Newfarmersmarket.org.
• Lewiston: Saturdays 5-8 p.m. (D Street/Brackenbury Square). Beautifuldowntownlewiston.com/lfm.
• Moscow: Saturdays 8 a.m.-1 p.m. (Friendship Square-4^th/Main St.). Ci.moscow.id.us/residents/farmers-market.
• Pend Oreille Valley: Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in Newport (Spruce/Union). Smallfarms.wsu.edu/farms/farmers_markets.asp.
• Pullman: Wednesdays 3:30-6 p.m. (240 NE Kamiaken St.). Pullmanchamber.com/visit-pullman/things-to-do-in-pullman/farmers-market.
• Tri-Cities: 5 market locations. Visittri-cities.com/visitors/what-to-see-and-do/farmers–markets.
• Wallowa County: Thursdays 4-7 p.m. (Enterprise-Wallowa County Courthouse lawn) and Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Joseph-Main St.). Wallowacountyfarmersmarket.com.

British Columbia

• Nelson: Saturdays 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Cottonwood Community Market (Cottonwood Falls Park). Ecosociety.ca/markets/cottonwood-market.
• Nelson (downtown): Wednesdays 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (400 block-Baker Street). Ecosociety.ca/markets/nelson-downtown-local-market.
• Rossland: Thursdays 3-6 p.m. (Columbia Ave/Queen St.). Rosslandmountainmarket.com.

Originally published in the July 2014 issue.

Visit the OTO archives for more stories about farmers’ markets.

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