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.

Big is healthy

There’s a lot of good energy at PILGRIM’S MARKET, even more so these days with the recent expansion of this midtown Coeur d’Alene business. Owners Sarah and Joe Hamilton have grown the business since 1999 when it was called A Trip to Bountiful, located in what is now Syringa Japanese Café and Sushi (one of many local restaurants that relies on Pilgrim’s for ingredients).
Pilgrim’s eventually moved across Fourth Street to its current location, quadrupling in size. However, when Liquidation World flushed out, the Hamiltons saw an opportunity.

One of only a few midtown CdA grocers, Pilgrim’s is the only site dedicated to healthful foods. Recent additions include a supplements section, more space for meat and dairy, and a new gourmet section with imported cheeses to complement wine steward Sam Lange’s selection of local and organic wines, esoteric beer, sake and chilled alcoholic beverages.

The tasting area is being expanded for Pilgrim’s Friday night sampling, and the deli has been outfitted with a cozy seating area for better-than-fast food. That’s where Dane Rice, one of 40 Pilgrim’s employees, cooks up treats like Selkirk Ranch grass-fed organic cheeseburgers ($6) or organic soups ($4), with ingredients from the market. A dessert section features such things as gluten-free pumpkin spice cookies ($3), as well as other sweet treats that cater to sensitive eaters.

And, with its newly acquired space — about 25,000 square feet — Pilgrim’s is sailing into the uncharted but promising waters of creating a total “wellness” center. It will be called the Pilgrim’s Wellness Institute, and plans are well underway to use the additional retail space for education and total body health. Cooking, fitness, and yoga classes will begin in January, as will lectures by industry leaders like Ann Louise Gittleman, hailed as the “first lady of nutrition” and author of The Fat Flush Plan. (She’ll be on hand Jan. 17 at 1 pm.)

Explained an enthusiastic Joe Hamilton, busily preparing for Pilgrim’s grand reopening on Jan. 17: “I think that the sampling and the education is a bit of a trend, but no one around here does anything remotely close to what we are doing.”

— CARRIE SCOZZARO

Pilgrim’s Market, 1316 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene, is open daily, 9 am-8 pm. Click here or call (208) 676-9730.