Inside job

One of the joys of summer for me is my weekly trip to the farmers market to pick up vegetables, meat and baked goods directly from local farmers and vendors. I see familiar faces among both vendors and shoppers, and I get to enjoy the conversations, the music and the sunshine. I always feel a touch of melancholy when the growing season ends and the market is but a memory till spring.
We may not be able to do much about the lack of sunshine in the winter, but several veterans of area farmers markets have organized INDOOR MARKETS throughout the winter months to try to fill the rest of the niche. Louise Tuffin of Arabesque Farms and Bakery works at organizing winter markets in downtown Spokane at the Community Building and — new this year — in Millwood at the Crossing.

“We started four years ago [at the Community Building], just my husband and I, but now we’re having 10 to 12 vendors each week,” Tuffin says. “[The market] is changing, and coming into its own finally.”

Many of the vendors at the indoor markets have also sold at outdoor farmers markets around the area, including Susie David’s Cattle Company, Tonnemaker Farms (with organic apples) and a local woman who spins her own yarn. Customers will find free-range eggs, beef, pork and chicken, plus Tuffin’s artisan breads and pastries, and a few surprises.

“[So Angell from] Rocky Ridge Ranch is there, and she still has produce,” Tuffin says. “She has hoop covers [in her garden], so she’s bringing spinach, salad greens and squashes.” The ranch also sells duck eggs: “They’re really trippy,” says Tuffin. “The yolk is the size of a golf ball.”

The Lake City has its own indoor market this year, held on Saturdays inside the Coeur d’Alene Plaza Shops. It’s the brainchild of Anissa Duwaik, proprietor of Anissa’s Organic Hummus. Other vendors offer fall produce, plus honey and tofu. Tuffin is there as well, selling Arabesque’s line of breads.

“People are starting to want local food,” says Tuffin. “It’s totally a community thing, and a great thing to be involved with.”

— ANN M. COLFORD

Indoor markets are held weekly on Wednesdays from noon-5 pm at the Crossing, 8919 E. Euclid Ave., Millwood; and on Thursdays from 11 am-3 pm at the Community Building, 35 W. Main Ave. Call 325-2518. In Coeur d’Alene, the indoor market at the Plaza Shops, 210 Sherman Ave., is held Saturdays from 11 am-3 pm. Click here or call (208) 659-4213.