Seattle Visit: The Ballard Farmer's Market, Part One: Food

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Raspberries.

Ballard farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

When I was in Seattle, a couple friends and I went to the Ballard Farmer's Market, which is much much larger than when I last lived in Seattle.

The day was bright and warm, the air was lightly scented with seaweed and fish, and the autumn harvest was a photographer's dream! I could have spent days here with my camera. I really liked the contrast between the splotchy colors and curved lines in this vegetables;

Autumn bounty.

Ballard Farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

The rich colors and the luscious roundness of these peaches are so appealing, don't you think?

Peaches.

Ballard farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

The variations in the colors and markings of these squashes is quite appealing;

Squash.

Ballard farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

And this stack of carrots was almost beyond belief: they transfixed me so I took many dozens of photographs, trying to capture their secrets (I don't think I succeeded, though);

Carrots.

Ballard Farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

Okay, here's one more image of those carrots, just because I was so fascinated by them;

Autumn Harvest.

Ballard Farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

One of my most favorite things in the world is fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, especially cherry tomatoes. Even though I am allergic to them, I still eat them every spring in Manhattan (along with a handfull of antihistamines). I could barely resist the charms of these Seattle-grown vine-ripened cherry tomatoes;

Cherry tomatoes.

Ballard farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

This appealed to me because of the bright colors, textures and lines;

Lines.

Ballard Farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

This man raises shellfishes, and was trying to convince me that farm-raised geoduck is not as awful as the wild geoduck I ate, which was like fish-flavored rubber;

Seattle shellfish farmer.

Ballard farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

Interestingly, freshly ground and specially mixed spices were also available at the Farmer's Market. Don't these look wonderful? Can't you almost smell the spices just by looking at this picture?

Spices.

Ballard farmer's Market, Seattle, Washington.

Image: GrrlScientist 26 September 2008 [larger view].

Tomorrow evening, I will publish part two of this photoessay.

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Great to see a blog on Ballard...my hood and all. Lots of scientist types here in Ballar so I'll make sure to spread the word on your blog.

Lines? Is this some American term? It looks like Chard to me. (in the 8th photo)

As beautiful as those photos are, it's slightly depressing to compare with how my vegetables and tomatoes turned out this year - but I guess that's partly my fault for planting them so late.

The Ballard farmers market on Sb!

I've lived at three different residences in the neighborhood during my years in Seattle.

I remember the first farmer's market off 24th Ave a few years back. Glad to see it has grown and moved into the Historic Ballard area.

When I lived in Ballard years ago there was no farmer's market -- we took the bus all the way downtown to the Pike Place Market to get our fresh veggies and seafood. Glad to see it's thriving!

Amazing pictures! keep up the good work.

Produce, grown and presented by a person who loves the life of the soil, is a thing of beauty. Thanks for taking and sharing the photos.

Aw, you're making me homesick. Did you get to see the flying salmon of the Farmer's Market? When I was a kid, in the early 1970s, people got to mingle with the merchandise more than they do now. My very first scientific experiment ever--and I couldn't have been more than five years old at the time--was a survey of the squishiness of different species of salmon eyes. The customers aren't allowed to poke fish eyes anymore, alas.

I never did try geoduck; I couldn't bear to even think of consuming anything that phallic-looking.

Beware the baby carrots........