Seattle Weekly Market - Meadowbrook
Sunday mornings during the summer season in Seattle, hidden away between Lake City and Maple Leaf neighborhoods, the intrepid explorer will find the Meadowbrook Farmers Market. Meadowbrook is one of the smaller farmers markets operating in the city, less well known than its bigger cousins but just as fun and with all the variety. Meadowbook Farmers Market is a member of Sustainable NE Seattle and the WSFMA.
Meadowbrook Farmers Market
Meadowbrook's literature describes the market as
a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating a sustainable and healthy community by offering high-quality, organic and bio-dynamic foods, artisan goods, and educational opportunities for area youth.
Like a lot of the smaller markets Meadownbrook stands out by its dedication to the local community. Meadowbrook has a festive, community feel you can't help but notice when you visit and this spirit can be found in their literature as well. Meadowbrook offers local youth and the community opportunities to participate in the market through volunteering, playing music, and demonstrating artisan skills.
This summer they demonstrated how to build a cob oven, and as it was the last day of the event I thought I'd drop by. A cob oven is basically a mud and straw affair, but built right it's a serious oven.
Cob oven at Meadowbrook
A more unusual surprise was the opportunity to meet representatives from the "Ravenna Ridge" goat herd. These little LaMancha goats have tiny ears and are quite delicate. They're raised for their milk and with some due diligence can be raised in an urban environment. My camera was a little over exposed but I managed to get a passable shot of the mama goat who was their with her three kids. If you want to learn more about urban dairy goats or urban farming you can get involved by joining one of the neighborhood buying clubs or attending a workshop. For more informatin check out the Seattle Urban Farm Co-operative.
Miniature LaMancha goats from Ravenna Ridge
I also got to meet the farmers of Sol to Seed Farm, from Carnation, Wa. Sol to Seed is a small farm located nearby to the larger and more well known Jubilee Farm. Jubilee actually participates at Meadowbrook but they weren't there the day I dropped by, so I did my shopping with Sol to Seed. I bought some unshelled beans, some interesting white and black beans called Calypso and a rare heirloom black bean called Trail of Tears, which purportedly traveled with the Cherokee Nation during the 1838 forced march from their home in what is now Georgia to scrub land in Oklahoma. On a brighter note, the beans turned out to be fun to shell! I just got a big grocery bag and sat in front of the TV with them.
Calypso and Trail of Tears beans from Sol to Seed CSA
Here is a little community that has put together a full featured, entertaining, fun marketplace, with everything you could want: chatty, friendly vendors, a place for the kids to play, live goats, even a chestnut tree raining chestnuts on the sidewalk (pop! bang!). Check them out May through October on the campus of the Seattle Waldorf School.
Meadowbrook
Posted by LocaVori on October 7, 2009 at 5:36 p.m..
1 comment so far
On October 8, 2009, Pat said:
I wish I could go see the goats, chestnut tree, etc., and buy some unshelled beans. Nice to have the location map, too.
