Early apples were on the scene at last Saturday's Beaverton Farmers Market.

It was my first time at the Beaverton Farmers Market last weekend and I can’t stress to you enough what a fantastic market it is. I’d heard that it was a good one but until I saw it with my own eyes — adjacent to the Beaverton City Library and just north of Beaverton City Park — I had no idea.

First off, it’s huge — nearly 200 stalls. Second, vendors from Oregon and Western Washington are fully loaded with farm fresh products because people really shop at this market. I’ve never seen so many customer bags, baskets, carts and wagons full-to-brimming before at a market.

I talked with market director Ginger Rapport for a while (I was there selling books and she stopped by a couple times to check in) and she told me that the Beaverton Farmers Market stands out because folks there are shopping for families as opposed to other urban markets where people are sometimes snack shopping, gathering a few boutique edible items, or just treating the market as a great people-watching spot to check out.

Folks really use their purchasing power at the Beaverton Market and this has a lasting impact. In other words, there’s A LOT to choose from. Including some really good eat-there market foods. My friend Christine and I ate some super tasty pork and asparagus tamales from these folks.

Here’s a bit of what stood out for me at last Saturday’s market…

A very good sign...

My friend Christine stopped by and we both got salsa supplies from Forest Grove's Sosa Farms.

More from Sosa Farms...

If I didn't have a big sack of hazelnuts already I would've gotten some from this guy.

The Pony Espresso folks had a long line all day.

Notebook, pen, money pouch, camera, sunglasses and books is all I need for a great day at the market...

Beaverton Farmers Market
www.beavertonfarmersmarket.com
Downtown Beaverton at SW Hall between 3rd and 5th Street
Get directions
503.643.5345
Saturdays 5/8/10-10/30/10 — 8am-1:30m
Wednesdays 6/16/10-8/25/10 — 3-6pm
Harvest Market 11/20/10 — 8am-1:30pm

Picked a lot of the backyard Gravensteins this weekend. They're destined for fresh eating, crumbles, apple butter and the dehydrator this year.

It feels like fall and we’ve still only had a handful of tomatoes from the garden. That’s alright though because we’ve had a lot of other great homegrown food in the past couple weeks including Brooks plums (into wine and dehydrated), zucchini (grilled, pureed into soup, sauteed and then some), lemon cucumbers (straight up, but soon to be pickled), and some really nice garden gifts from neighbors — big sacks of green beans and pickling cucumbers to be exact.

A lot of people have been complaining about green tomatoes in the past few weeks (myself included) and so I’d just like to pass on a little trick. If your tomatoes don’t ripen on the vine this year — a lot of them still will — harvest them and keep them in a brown paper sack rolled up or fastened at the top in a cool part of your home. Check the bag every couple days and pull out the ripe ones. They’ll ripen that way for weeks and although they don’t taste as good as vine ripened it’s a nice trick if you can’t deal with any more fried green tomatoes or tomato chutney.

Here’s a slice of what I’ve been cooking up during the past few weeks…

Happy hour spread and homemade hard cider with Steve and Lorna.

Roasted red pepper, zuke and scallion sandwich with cheddar and romesco sauce.

Grilled salmon and fresh jalapeno sandwich on Pearl ciabatta with slow cooked green beans and tomatoes.

Pureed zuke, potato, cilantro, spinach and lime soup with bread and olive oil.

Turkey, lemon cucumber, green zebra tomato sandwich on an english muffin.

Yard Fresh Pt. 6
Yard Fresh Pt. 5
Yard Fresh Pt. 4
Yard Fresh Pt. 3
Yard Fresh Pt. 2
Yard Fresh Pt. 1

Come say hi if you're at the Beaverton Farmers Market this Saturday.

When I was thinking about summer in respect to my book I decided that I’d give it a solid three months of events and publicity and then I’d let it do its thing. Well, now it’s the beginning of the third and final month and there are some fun upcoming events to report. I’m also happy to announce that I’ll be cutting the month a little short and heading out for a 10-day vacation on the first day of fall. Yahoo!

Here’s a slice of what I’ll be up to in upcoming weeks. Come say “hello” if you’re at any of these events…

Beaverton Farmers Market
Saturday, September 4th
10:30am-Noon

Check out the Beaverton Farmers Market this Saturday.

Belmont Street Fair
Stumptown Scribes
Sunday, September 12th
10am-5pm

I'll be at the Stumptown Scribes table all day...

Foodportunity
Monday, September 13th
The Heathman library
6-9pm

I'm honored to be in this line-up for Portland's first Foodportunity at The Heathman Monday, September 13th.

Wild About Game
Sunday, September 19th
The Resort at the Mountain in Welches, OR
11am-4pm (game dinner buffet 5:30pm)

I'll be at Wild About Game this year -- about an hour southeast of Portland.