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Posted April 30 at 2:05 pm by Jess Thomson

Photo from Neighborhood Farmers' Market Alliance

Note for the calendar: Seattle's farmers' markets are roaring to life. Here's a cheat sheet for your fridge, with opening dates for the markets run by the Seattle Neighborhood Farmers' Market Association:

TODAY, APRIL 30: Columbia City (Wednesdays, 3pm - 7pm, through Oct 22)
4801 Rainier Ave S, at S Edmonds

MAY 11: Broadway (Sundays, 11am - 3pm, through Nov 23)
10th Ave E and E Thomas, behind the Broadway B of A on Capitol Hill

MAY 16: Phinney Ridge (Fridays, 3pm - 7pm, through Oct 3)
67th and Phinney Ave N, in the lower lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Center

JUNE 5: Lake City (Thursdays, 3pm - 7pm, through Oct 4)
NE 125th and 28th NE, next to the Library off Lake City Way

JUNE 7: Magnolia (Saturdays, 10am - 2pm, through Oct 25)
Next to the Magnolia Community Center at 2550 34th Ave W

The year-round markets are of course already open:

University District (Saturdays, 9am - 2pm)
Corner of 50th and University Way NE, in the University Heights lot

West Seattle (Sundays, 10am - 2pm)
California Ave SW & SW Alaska, in the heart of the Junction

The Ballard Market (my personal favorite) is also open year-round on Sundays (from 10 to 3 in the summer), but the phone info for its sibling markets (Wallingford, Queen Anne, and Madison/Madrona) is a little strange. Queen Anne seems to open for sure on June 19th, but the others . . . The primary recording on the info line says Wallingford and Madison/Madrona open May 14th and 16th respectively, but a recording further into the system says they open the 21st and 23rd. (The website says Wallingford opens the 16th.)

Can anyone verify opening dates for the Seattle Farmers Market Association markets? I'm getting radio silence.

Topics: Produce

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Posted March 3 at 6:00 pm by Jacob Casey

I was at Trader Joe’s this weekend when I found there were no bananas to be had. None. A big multi-tiered display completely devoid of a single ‘nana. I was so annoyed I found myself blurting, “What’s the point of suppressing democracy in Central America if we can’t have any Goddamn bananas!”� This was to the horror of my shopping partner and all conscientious shoppers within earshot.

I calmed myself and gripped my Live Strong wristband that read “What Would the Uptight Seattleite do?”� Surely, there was a dearth of bananas due to some supply-chain mix-up, perhaps the bananas didn’t reach the Trader Joe’s high standards. I decided to try the more plebeian Safeway, assured that that this was only a minor inconvenience. I found four bananas, only two of which were even connected to one another. The same paltry selection went for QFC as well.”�

By this time I was more curious than mortified that I couldn’t dice ‘em over my Raisin Bran. I looked into it (thanks Al Gore) and couldn’t find any news about a shortage this year. I did find one story published today about maneuvering between growers and the corporations that buy their produce in the Philippines. I called my local Safeway only to find that they had just received a fresh shipment of green bananas early this morning. The customer service rep attributed the shortage to “someone must have forgot to order them or something.”� Suspicious.

So it seems the mysterious two day banana famine of 2008 is over. The damage was more psychic than physical, but Lord only knows how dangerously low my potassium levels could have crept by Sunday.

I did discover in the course of my research that banana shortages are nothing new, and indeed, whenever times have been hard there have always been banana shortages. A woman cited in a blog post that her father who grew up in WWII London didn’t see or eat a banana until he was a teenager. There was even a major hit song from 1923 entitled Yes, We Have No Bananas that’s gained significant cultural traction over the years in times of hardship or banana crisis:

Continue reading "Yes, we have no bananas?"

Topics: Produce

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