To market, to market -- June 6, 2015

Gray Owl Farm at the South Anchorage Farmers Market.


Markets, markets everywhere,
Nor any basil being sold --
The local farmers have none to share
No pesto stories were told.

Local cucumber and radishes were easy to find today; I just needed the basil: We got to the Spenard Market just after the one vendor sold her last bunch. Arctic Organics at 15th Street and Cordova said, "Come back in two weeks." No basil that I could see at South Anchorage Market, or Sagaya's, or Natural Pantry. I bought a jar of prepared pesto, and took it home to combine with sliced cucumber and radishes -- which the markets did have -- for crostini appetizers. Sprinkled with a bit of hot pepper spice (Ichimi Tagarashi, although I think that any hot pepper would be fine), they were delicious.


The lack of basil was more than made up for by all of the interesting vendors at the various markets. At South Anchorage, we saw ice cream, doggie treats, La Grassa Pasta (I picked up the pea and ricotta pasta that I ordered earlier), local seafood, sod, wine-tasting, and hundreds of plants.

The Hungry Squirrel Food truck at South Anchorage Market. At the moment, they have only cannoli, but hope to soon be allowed to sell meat sandwiches.

A young girl getting her start at the South Anchorage Market; later, her dad came along andappropriated the microphone and guitars.

Dahlias at the South Anchorage Market.

At the Spenard Market -- Balanas Bros., gelato, Steam Dot coffee, Fire Island, Fromaggio, pirogis, cupcakes, half a dozen greens vendors, a few crafts booths, and Bamboo food truck.

Mixed greens with (edible) flowers, from Balanas Bros at Spenard Market.

A writer/vendor at Spenard Market.

Fire Island under a Spenard Market tent.

Fire Island home location, with plenty of people willing to sit outside despite occasional drips of rain.

At Sagaya's, as always, the Asian produce section was even more artfully arranged than the regular produce.



After the markets -- more things to do.

An actual hungry squirrel, not lunching on cannoli.

At Point Woronzof, a UPS plane coming in to land.

Rain clouds over the Kenai Peninsula and the Mat-Su Valley (Fire Island, not the bakeshop, to the right of the photo).

A very odd plant in a local garden -- a spiral-leaf rhubarb?

Late evening sky, with rain on the Seward Highway (and our windshield), and late evening sun in the northwest.

Pansies.

The markets are here! May 9, 2015

The Saturday Market is open downtown. The Anchorage Farmers Market had tents at 15th and Cordova. The South Anchorage Market was going strong, with bread, fish, greens, popcorn, a guitarist and more. Must be summer!

Arctic Organics is a familiar sight for all Anchorage market goers. They, and most of the vendors have flowers, hanging baskets, tomato plants, and lettuce in pots. It's early for many foods, but we saw cucumbers both places (maybe greenhouse grown?), some potatoes, eggs, lettuce, radishes, and breads. Not to mention salmon, popcorn, cookies, and a wood stove (South Anchorage only).

Lagrassa Pasta Alaska -- new at the markets in 2015.

Karl Reed and Rebecca Martin are selling pasta at the South Anchorage Market, and at the Sears Mall Market on Wednesdays. Look for a post as soon as time permits about their techniques of making pasta (Karl says that they'll be rolling and cutting it on-site in the weeks to come), how it tastes when cooked, and a recipe or two.

We bought ricotta cavatelli (also known as orecchie di prete (priest's ears)), and will try it with pesto tomorrow for dinner.

Cucumbers, nasturtium, and coleus at the Anchorage Farmers' Market (15th and Cordova).

Cream scones with orange zest and chocolate chips from Turkey Red, at Anchorage Farmers' Market.

Huechera (good shade plants) at South Anchorage Market.

Earlier in the day, Marla Greenstein and I walked around Lake Spenard (four miles) as part of the Multiple Sclerosis Society benefit trek.

Aside from a few drips of rain, the biggest excitement was provided by a plane that pulled out onto the road in the middle of dozens of walkers, and taxied for a block until it got to the small plane runway to the east of the lake. True, planes have the right of way on all of the roads around the lake, but in the many years that we've done the walk, we haven't seen one take advantage of that right during the event.

There are no timers during this event, and the mood is far more casual than at the Heart Run or Run for Women. Dogs, strollers, and roller skates all were welcome.

Provisions tended to be better than average too -- free Kaladi coffee at the beginning of the walk, free hot dogs and Great Harvest cookies at the end, and along the way, free oranges, bananas, and sports drinks (although surprisingly little water)

At Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop, the weather was perfect for eating foccacia (me) and chocolate chip cookies (Jim) as a picnic lunch.

The clouds hung low much of the day over green trees and mountains with little snow.

By early evening, the skies cleared, with sun lighting low cloud wisps and the western end of the Inlet.

Rain off and on all day -- some places had more, some less.

Red lettuce in pots at the market, with little green weeds investigating the possibilities of sharing the flats.

Lime petunias with raindrops.

Market dahlias.

What's wheaten at the Anchorage Farmers' Markets, 2013

Alison Arians shows off a fresh-baked loaf of Rise&Shine bread at the South Anchorage Farmers' Market.

Here's a sampling of what's wheaten from Anchorage Farmers' Markets at the end of June, 2013:

At Spenard Farmers' Market, Chilkoot Charlie's parking lot on Spenard Road:

• Zoi and Bambino's Baby Food by the owners of Pizza Olympia offer homemade cous cous, noodles, orange and carrot biscotti, and more. They were there on June 22, but we didn't see them on June 29.

• Tiers from Heaven, a cupcake truck, shows up in Spenard some weeks.

• Russian piroshkis, borsch, and more at Grandma's Old Kitchen:

At the Anchorage Framers' Market, Parking lot of Central Lutheran Church at 15th and Cordova:

• Turkey Red, from Palmer, has macaroons, breads, scones, and cookies [photo was taken on a cold day at the end of May -- it's warmer now].

Downtown, at Third Avenue between C and E Streets, the Anchorage Market and Festival every Saturday is the place to go for things made with wheat -- funnel cakes,wraps, empanadas, and more. 

• The House of Bread has a booth at the Anchorage market and Festival.

• Tonia's Biscotti, now baking in Homer, offers Lemon, Cranberry, chocolate, and many other flavors.

At the South Anchorage Farmers' Market, in the parking lot of the Subway/Cellular Sports Centre at the corner of Old Seward Highway and O'Malley Road:

• Wheat grass from Green Winter Farm, or FaceBook at  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Winter-Farm/189033714469011. [We didn't find them there on June 29.]

• Whole wheat sourdough bread from Rise&Shine Bakery, along with their other breads: baked potato, spent grain, chocolate cherry, and onion rye.

• French Oven Bakery has croissants, bollilos, whole wheat cinnamon rolls, palmiers, and more.

For up to date information about the markets each week, track their offerings at Market Fresh on the Anchorage Daily News website.

South Anchorage  Farmers Market  has a newsletter and web site that you can check for announcements, recipes, notes about vendors each week, and photos.

                                  A young customer samples the goods at the Spenard Farmers Market .