By Teresa Hosford
Special to the Community News

We were smitten. We’d eaten our way through the tri-tip sandwiches and linguica-on-a-stick at the Higuera Street Farmers Market in San Luis Obispo, Calif., when we lived in Pismo Beach.

After moving back in 1989 to the Northwest, where I was born, we took a few tastes of the Pike Place Market to see what Seattle had to offer, but it was a long ferry ride away. So when we heard they were starting up a farmers market in our small town of Kingston, we were ready.

We came. We saw. We ate. There were goodies galore: herb-scented home-baked Italian breadsticks that were gone in the first hour; locally harvested and processed golden honey packed in clear glass jars; chocolate chip mint cookies served with a smile; strawberry rhubarb jam; farm fresh eggs; Chinese egg rolls fried on site.

The fruits and veggies that slowly appeared over the season barely made it home to our kitchen. There were creative craftspeople spinning yarn and knitting hats. There were soap makers, woodworkers, and artists of all kinds. It took us a couple years, but we knew we had to be a part of it. (When you homeschool your kids, you tend to look for novel ways to teach.)

Christina was 10 and Jake was 7 years old. We bought a few jewelry-making supplies, started creating pierced earrings, loaded the pickup with a card table and a couple of folding chairs and showed up at 8:30 a.m.  one fine spring day. We artfully arranged our wares and waited for our first customers. We were “market vendors”!

What are the memories we have of the two summers we spent as vendors at the Kingston Farmers Market in 1991 and 1992?

Spring was cold. We had no umbrella or tent, so if it rained, we were “rained out.” Believe it or not, that didn’t happen often. We dressed warmly and brought some hot chocolate in a Thermos. That was before Jeff and Dorothy Thomas started serving “designer” coffee — but they did make homemade jams and Jake’s favorite cookies.

Christina tried to be one of the first in line to get some of Kathy Wartes’ grissini, Italian breadsticks she’d baked in an outdoor Forno oven, as they sold out quickly. Marcia Adams’ honey was so tasty, and she even let us take a homeschool field trip to the farm to see the hives and honey at harvest time.

The kids would sell a few pairs of earrings each week, added cute little birdhouses-on-a-stick for potted plant decor, and eventually started making popcorn balls to jump on the “food train.”    We started with regular popcorn balls, added caramel popcorn balls, then got crazy — we threw some Red Hots candy into a batch; that was a real winner!

As the day wore on and they grew restless, Christina and Jake would go to their favorite vendors to see what they could barter. Really, it was all about the food and the people. Sure the kids learned how to sell: set up a display, make change, be polite, talk to customers — but the memories they cherish the most are of the other vendors. “And the food,” Jake says.

We don’t attend the market as much these days, but when we do, we see familiar faces and there are hugs all around. Things really haven’t changed all that much: we eat, we smile.  Our hearts go home happy.

And Christina still makes handcrafted jewelry … in fact, she’s currently feeling inspired to join the fun as a vendor in the market’s 25th year.