Just as I was writing what I imagined would be a thrilling and profound opener for my column this week, I dumped an entire box of paperclips into my coffee. I fished them out with a slotted spoon and pondered the advisability of making another cup.

    Oh well, paperclips are pretty clean.

    Take two what is it about a garden that is so captivating? I made my first visit to the Columbia Pacific Farmers Market last week and came back with one horseradish, two seedless grapes and a gooseberry from Annie Queens Tide Creek Nursery booth.

    Now Ive discovered from more knowledgeable friends that horseradish is a garden thug. (You paid for it?!) Live and learn. No one can ever know everything there is to know about gardening except perhaps God, and maybe even he/she is ruing the day slugs were created.

 

Agricultural man

    Since humankind shifted from hunting and gathering to staying in one place to manage crops, we have been enthralled with the miracle of putting a seed in the ground and watching it flourish. Edward O. Wilson would also say its our undeniable connection to nature or biophilia, as he calls it that attracts us to growing things.

    Whatever it is, it was a wonderful experience to wander through the booths of our budding farmers market. Several Tilth members Alisabeth Buck and Linda Hinde have participated with starts and produce to sell from backyard gardens.

    The Karnofskis, Jim and Vera, have been present with produce from their Ilwaco biochar-enriched land. Larkin Stentz, Green Angel Gardens, is a regular. Even Long Beach Community Development Director Gayle Borchard, who hatched the market idea, says, I always have something there this week it was chives and snow peas, next week it will be garlic scapes. [The edible curling tops of the garlic plant.] I just noticed the little devils yesterday, so they ought to be ready by Friday.

 

Food security

    These and others are folks who have stepped up to the serious challenge of providing us with local options for food. Kathy Vinzant of Shoreline Enterprises (a tax consulting firm) is passionately interested in making sure people have enough to eat.

    Vinzant has a market booth named after her grandmothers oyster label, Blue Coast Farms. But what I really want to do is feed people, she says, almost dismissing her charming array of homemade jams and jellies. Vinzant has a kitchen garden which she pulled an abundance of produce from last year. It made her aware that with such a bounty, we should be helping each other eat right.

    Another budding food genius is Arwen Norman, who is working to get Nahcottas Rutabaga Farms in the black (green?). Arwen grew up in Beaverton and studied ecology as a research scientist at the University of Washington where she met Willapa Bay oyster researchers Jennifer Ruesink and Alan Trimble.

 

Rutabaga Farms

    Arwens interest has fluctuated between the heady research side of sustainability and the dirt-under-the nail hands-on-ness of growing food. I dont completely feel like Ive chosen one over the other, she said from her greenhouse. I was always growing stuff, even in middle school we worked on a farm project. I asked myself, Can you really be a farmer when you grow up? She is still seeking an answer.

    Growing food fits into the convictions I have about what would make the world a better place.

    Arwen apprenticed at Let Us Farms in Oakville and Synergy Farms in the San Juans and has now teamed up with Jennifer and Alan on their property to try her hand at growing things.

    Her scientist side comes through loud and clear as she experiments with what will grow and how best to do it. She made her own tyvek bags for individual tomatoes and is testing four varieties this year. She is also a weaver and was told that wool would make a good ground cover. Exhibit A is mounds of curly uncombed and uncarded wool nestled between strawberries. Im not sure Id use it again it didnt keep the weeds down very well.

    This has been a year of lessons for me Ive learned a lot about place, she said, and soil. Working in the old [established] garden is one thing, but preparing new ground …

    But Im an optimist. I want to be able to put my learning into practice next year.

 

Veggie Girls

    The largest produce booth at the market is from the Zimmerman family farm in Grays Harbor. Tom and April have a crop of vivacious girls Abby, Grace, Chloe and Emma (each with their own tractors!). Chloe was on hand last week girling the booth spilling over with chard, lettuce and amazing strawberries.

    Were going to have lots of strawberries, she said. We put in 20,000 new plants this year   a couple different varieties, lets see Tristar and Seastar. The girls share duties at the booth and Chloe explained that Abby is at camp for three weeks and Grace is in Mexico for a Bible school outreach project building houses.

    The Zimmermans 95 acres on the Covered Bridge Loop Road is the largest organic-certified farm in southwest Washington. It is so inspiring to see Chloe in her official Veggie Girl apron selling produce. The world may be in better hands than I think.

 

The season of fresh stuff

    I also ran into Erin Glenn who said that U-pick blueberries will be ready in two weeks at the same price as last year $1.75 a pound.

    And as Gayle said, There is much more produce coming off the Peninsula than I imagined. Peggy Taylor Miles, AKA the markets Volunteer Goddess shared, Weve averaged about 400 people for each market day and between eight to 11 vendors. Its about the size we thought it would be this first year, maybe a little bigger.

    A visit to the market also means entertainment, this past week provided by David Kings Naselle Marimba Band. We started eight years ago by purchasing 22 marimbas from Bourne Marimbas in Bothel (bournemarimbas.com).

    Currently, we have 21 students who play off and on with the band. Most of our music is Zimbabwean which incorporates a driving two against three beat. But, the kids come up with songs they think would be fun, so we write an arrangement and add it to our list.

    If you havent been to the market, give it a whirl.