Vancouver Farmers Market
Before diving into all the goodies, take a moment to appreciate the surroundings. Not bad for a recovered industrial site. John Hendry owned one of Vancouver's first lumber operations, the Hastings Sawmill here in the late 1800's. In 1926, his daughter donated the property to the Vancouver Parks Board to transform into a Park. And now it's Market time! There's live music and hot food as well. (Be prepared for lineups - everyone is after the beer-infused sausages, the crepes and the coffee!) People, people everywhere. It's rush hour at Vancouver Farmers Market.   Have you ever been searching for a carnivorous plant? Something to zap those flies right out of the air? Search no longer.
Get them now at the Vancouver Farmers Market. Now this would be an conversation starter as the dinner-table centrepiece! I played it safe and bought basil and parsley plants instead from G&K Garden. I don't need my plants trying to eat me. With my luck, they'd succeed!
Best $5 I've spent in a long time. They were delicious. And they're all gone now. I can't wait for the Vancouver Farmers Market next weekend to pick up some more. Strawberries and hanging flower baskets at Berry Tyme It's a great feeling to meet the farmer who grew the food and talk directly about how they're not certified organic (quite expensive), but they don't use any chemical sprays on the strawberries. And then get into chatting about the various ways of dealing with bugs without chemicals. I learn a lot more this way than if I just walked into a grocery store and picked some strawberries off the shelf.
I even managed to snag some bright yellow flowers in the mix. No idea what it's called, but it sure tasted good. I tossed it with some olive oil and lemon juice for lunch... it was delicious.
And she was selling lacto-fermented sauerkraut. I would have bought some, except that I've been making my own so I still have some in the fridge. I think her's would be better than mine though. Biota Farms is on my list for next time. They had heritage eggs too, the ones that are all funky colours: green and blue and speckled.
It's the essence of blackberry preserved in a jar: not too sweet, not too sour, full of flavour and no seeds (very important). Yummy preserves from jams and jellies to pickled carrots! Maybe I made up for my impulse buy by also getting a whole bagful of tiny cucumbers? I picked up some mushrooms from the Specialty Mushroom Growers Co-op. Just ordinary white button mushrooms. Next I'll try to be brave and sample the 'interesting' ones with fluttery edges and different colours.
In all my other shopping I forgot to buy bread from either of the two bakery stalls and I also forgot to pick up some free-range eggs. Next time. I did remember that I needed apples so I picked up a bagful from Klippers Organic Acres. After I'd bought it, I was offered a sample of some of their dried apples. Wow, that was tasty. I must make sure to buy some at the next Vancouver Farmers Market. The whole bag will disappear in a flash.
My freezer still contains some free-range chicken and beef, so I skipped those stalls. Nice to know they're here though. There's crafters and artisans around as well: Jewelry, paintings, ceramics, glass, wood (very pretty boxes) and handmade bags.
(Butter is held in the lid and the bottom portion is filled with water to prevent oxygen contact so you can leave the butter out of the fridge without it going rancid, and you have soft spreadable butter available all the time.)
But the little zippered camera pouches were too small for my big camera. And the purses were a tad on the small side for all the junk I like to carry around with me. If I plot and plan, I can come up with a reason why I need one of these I'm sure! The Vancouver Farmers Market was established in 1994 by some visionary volunteers looking to connect producer to consumer. The Market Society now operates 4 Farmers Markets each week in the summer at Trout Lake, West End, Main Street and Kitsilano, one twice-monthly in the winter from Nov-Apr near Commercial Drive, and an annual Holiday Market. For a direct source of local food, the Vancouver Farmers Market Opens New Window has it all. The Vancouver Farmers Market mission? "to foster community health and local economic development through the creation of a venue where community members have greater access to safe, healthy, locally produced, environmentally friendly food, and where BC producers can market their goods directly to urban consumers". I'll eat to that! Return from Vancouver Farmers Market to Vancouver Shopping
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Weekly grocery shopping at the Vancouver Farmers Market at Trout Lake under a sunny blue sky... what could be better? 
You have found Pops Predatory Plants for all the Venus Flytraps that you can need. 
Next up - dessert from Berry Tyme. I've been anxiously awaiting fresh strawberries since last year's season. 
Then I thought maybe I should have some vegetables too. Found a great mixture of salad greens at the Organic Farm Connection. 
I walked past a woman with an iris plant exactly the same as the one I have blooming in my garden right now. It's absolutely gorgeous. 
And then I really succumbed to temptation. Glenwood Farms had blackberry jelly for sale. I'm a sucker for blackberry jelly. 
"Boring" white mushrooms next to the mixed "interesting" kind. Time for an adventure.
And then I grabbed some halibut from Fresh off the Boat. They were very helpful when I had no idea the difference between a halibut tail and the body (the tail is thinner with less meat and the body is flakier and altogether more desirable). It's great to get some expert advice. 
Mathew Freed creates pottery. Lovely work. I was very tempted by his French butter dishes. Now that I've returned home to my trusty internet and found out what they are I'm even more intrigued. 
And there were some lovely handmade bags by Art of Fabric. I really wanted one of these to be perfect. 