Santa Monica Farmers' Market

... And this is Laura Avery with the market report.

I listen to those words every week as Laura Avery reports from the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers' Market. KCRW has a wonderful podcast called Good Food and each week it begins with Market Director Laura Avery talking about what's in season and interviewing farmers. Even though I don't live in the area, it's fun to hear the seasons change and compare their seasonality to our seasonality.

I have been in Southern California a few times recently for work, and when a friend called and invited me to attend the Saturday Santa Monica market, I jumped at the chance. Having heard the market report every week predisposed me to a need to check out this market. The weather had been wild. Rain, hail, and general deluge had taken over the Southland for days and driving to Santa Monica that morning, I was concerned that I didn't have the right clothes to be walking around the farmer's market in a downpour. Arriving at Third and Arizona, however, the skies were clear and Santa Monica was bathed in bright light and blue skies.

Santa Monica has several farmers' markets during the week, with the Wednesday market being their largest. The Saturday Downtown Market is about the same size as our Berkeley Saturday Market.

To me, the main difference between southern California farmers' markets and our Bay Area markets is that they have farmers from the San Diego region and we have farmers from points north of the Bay. We both get farmers from the Central Valley and Central Coast. Due to this difference, the Santa Monica Market featured many different types of avocadoes and lots of citrus.

The market is organized in a way I have never seen before: All organic vendors are grouped together in one portion of the market, marked by signs indicating "You are now entering the certified organic section." An interesting approach, and in some ways I appreciated not having to check with each vendor to see who was organic. Personally, I would love to see markets arranged according to farm distance from the market, with a special place or indicator for farmers who are less than 100 miles away from the market.

Kowalke Family Farms featured sprouts and greens, and we picked up some fresh peanuts to snack on while we walked through the market. Fresh raw peanuts are much more like raw peas in their consistency, and they were delicious to eat out of hand. The stand also had sprouted wheat, raw black beans, and other fun treats to taste. I encouraged Rachel to purchase pea sprouts, as I had recently become enamored of their preparation at Isa restaurant here in San Francisco.

In addition to traditional fruits and vegetables, the market had vendors selling plants, buffalo, and raw milk.

Since I was travelling, I didn't get to do any substantive shopping, but I picked up some wonderful tangerines and some beautiful gerber daisies for my grandmother. I look forward to the next time I can visit this market and Santa Monica's other farmers' markets as well.

Saturday Downtown Farmer's Market
City of Santa Monica
Arizona Ave and Third Street
Year-round, 8:30 am - 1:00 pm