Puyallup Farmers Market and More

Last week we were happy to fall into an August pattern: walks and working in the yard in the mornings, slow afternoons reading on the patio, harvesting a few crops from the garden, cooking meals full of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

By the weekend I was ready for a little change of pace, and we had not been to the Puyallup Farmer's Market yet this year.  I also wanted a new place to walk for a change. 

The Puyallup market is a large one, held in the city park/square, in a smallish town that still has its farm connections, although, like everything in the farming valleys south of Seattle, it is gradually succumbing to urban sprawl. 

The summer fruits are in. We bought a few plums and apricots.

 It's sunflower time! And dahlias, of course. 

 Colorful carrots.

 Corn on the cob is an August treat. We bought two ears here. 

 Tom is intrigued with heirloom tomatoes. He bought one fancy one to try. We'll eat it tonight.  I'll have to let you know if it was worth $3.

 I looked at this and wondered, "What kind of vegetable is that?"  It's not. They are rocks!

 At the lapidary jewelry display. 

 These black berries were so sweet. We bought two little cups. I am not into canning and freezing, and we have to limit the amount of pie and cobbler around here. We just get a few to eat fresh. They were very good on my breakfast cereal. 

 This is a craft market as well as a produce market. Pretty pottery. 

 And very pretty cookies and pie! 

 How about this mushroom assortment for a wild mushroom pasta?

 Breads and baskets and more berries. 

 This statue honors the many berry farmers that used to bring their goods to market from the abundant farms that filled the valleys. I like the one real strawberry that someone added. 

 We had to try something new -  a Columbian treat called arepa. 

 Two flat rounds of a cornmeal dough are sandwiched with cheese and then grilled. 

 The plain ones are drizzeld with a little honey, and a sprinkling of salt. We shared one. It was quite good.

 So many gorgeous flowers at this time of year from the commercial growers in the Puget Sound area. 

So cute for the little Seahawks fans, or possibly Sounders? 

 Lots of blue and green around here. 

 Plants for sale, already in bloom. Instant color. 

 Tom has been intrigued by these carnivorous plants, and talked himself into buying a little one. 

 I was wearing my pedometer, and so far we had spent about two hours walking one mile. That wasn't enough, so we left and got a light lunch at a Starbucks before heading to the Soos Sreek Trail Head. 

 It was already warmer than I like for exercise walking, but much of the trail was in shade.

 There is a marshy creek down in there that keeps things green. 

 We turned around after a mile and a half. The Mountain was out on the way back. 

 Wild blackberries are just starting to ripen. There were a few more black ones, but I ate them already. 

 Oh, what are those orange flowers? 

 I looked them up after I got home: Impatiens capensis, Orange Jewel Weed, a native plant that like stream banks. 

The END!