Weekend Roundup: Farmer's Market!

Happy Sunday!  Today I'd like to share with you a few of the fantastic sights at my local Farmer's Market in Riverside.  It's been around for over 25 years, and is one of the longest running farmer's markets in the state of California :)  It's well-run by two smart women who know how to keep vendors and customers happy, so no wonder it was voted the #1 Farmer's Market in the Inland Empire!

Truth be told, I never frequented the farmer's markets before we became vendors (save for one time in LA and one time in Riverside with a girlfriend who wanted some fresh veggies).  Now I'm hooked.  The tomatoes are fresher than any store, and a better price also.  They have fresh heirloom tomatoes for $2.50/lb. at the booth right near us, and other delicious varieties of large and cherry tomatoes for $1.50-$2/lb throughout the market.  All of my salsa supplies can be found there, though jalapenos just became available after being out of season for a few months.  Beautiful cilantro, bunches of green onions, multicolored carrots, eggs, potatoes, berries of several sorts, citrus booths, it's really quite nice to have a fully-stocked Farmer's Market this close to home that I come to 2x a month anyway.  Plus there's fresh jalapeno/cheese bread, which goes great as a breakfast bread...

As we are somewhat of an island at the market (thanks Management!), we have good exposure from all sides.  Here's a shot of the aisle to the East of our booth: 

Yes, there are flowers at the end (you can see a woman with sunflowers on the left), and corn is right on that table in front of us :)

While I was mostly tending the booth, Paul was studying for an engineer-position exam next week:

In addition to the lovely fruits and veggies (and bread, avocado oil, eggs, etc.) found at the market, you have other artists and crafters displaying their treasures.  One such vendor is a nice jewelry artist, Susie from Moonflower Jewelry.  Her designs are very unique, and she does her own silversmithing and some rock cutting and finishing.  This, as I imagine, doubly ensures that her designs remain her own :)  Here's her azurite necklace I've been drooling over because of the fantastic cab loaded with blues and greens:

This link has a better photo of it on its home listing on Etsy.

Here's a photo of Susie at the market Friday, as she was kind enough to let me photograph her and her jewelry for my blog today :)

Her style is very eclectic and unique, which is really refreshing in today's scene where everybody seems to want to make the same designs. 

Well this is a long blog post for me and I didn't even get to mention all the goodies I saw!  Next time I'll have to tell you about the lovely soap that is also sold there... this means you'll have to come back :)  Have a great week!