Fresh and local

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Farmers market was bustling Oct. 19 with kettle corn popcorn, fresh produce, pesto, honey and customers toting around their newfound goods.  

“I like this market a lot. This market has nice people that come to it, fair attendees,” Mary Cummins from Mary Moon Farms based in Othello said. “Also, the market has EBT and a credit card ability. People with a credit card can get tokens, so the vendors all don't have to have a credit card reader to take money from people with a credit card.” 

The kettle corn stand is one of the first things farmer’s market attendees encounter as they enter the event. Lindsey and Peter Betzing have been running the stand for about 17 years.  

“It's been great. It's very steady. People are nice,” Lindsey Betzing said. “They're always in a good mood because it's Saturday and it's the weekend, and when you have nice weather like this, it's hard to beat.” 

The couple uses a special recipe, a huge popcorn popper and mushroom popcorn to make the bags of kettle corn popcorn on-site at the farmers market.  

“Well, I think the original recipe is not just a mix, it's like the real deal,” Lindsey Betzing said. “So people will tell us that they'll buy it in other places just to try it because they like kettle corn. And then they always come back and say, ‘yours is the best.’” 

Isaac Nenicka, from Liberty Farms based in Soap Lake, was selling tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, okra, ginger and turmeric at his stand.  

Nenicka said he hopes to become the biggest ginger grower in the Columbia Basin.  

“The season has been pretty good overall,” Nenicka said. “No complaints. I feel like my food tastes good and I think Moses Lake has a great little market.” 

There was also a stand from E.T.’s Bees, a bee farm in Othello. The stand sells fresh honey without additives.  

“I would say that everybody who returns back, they always tell us that our honey is the best around and I'm trying not to be biased, but I believe that is true,” Rachel Koehn, the sister of the owner Elijah Koehn. “We add nothing to our honey. We just spin it right off the honeycomb and bottle it up. Nothing added.” 

Rowley Hawkins Fruit Farms, based in Basin City also had a stand with all types of goods.  

“We’ve got grapes, hazelnuts, lots of raspberries and lots of different types of apples,” Morgan Rowley said. “Then we have jams and syrups and apple juice and apple cider. We have cherry apple cider and regular apple cider and lots of dried products as well, we got anything anyone needs.”  

Michelle Waterbury, owner of MW Inspirations, makes homemade pesto, growing a majority of the basil or buying it from other vendors at the farmers market. She has been coming to the markets for about four years.  

“It's very tasty,” Waterbury said. “Then I use sunflower seeds too. So there's no chance for bad allergies. So that's very tasty and accommodating.” 

Santiago’s Garden, a farm in Ephrata, was also selling its produce Saturday. Michelle Santiago, the daughter of the farmers, said that they grow all types of produce and have the best Carolina Reaper peppers in the basin.  

“We bring fresh vegetables to the community,” Santiago said. “Sometimes you just go to the grocery store, and then you just see they just don't handle it with care as much. It's not as green, or it's not as fresh as they say it is. So we just bring our produce here, that's both green and fresh.” 

She said that sometimes they get difficult customers complaining about their prices which is upsetting because everything is hand grown and processed by her and her family and it is a lot of work. 

“There are difficult customers here that come by complaining sometimes ‘Oh my God, like your produce is a little too expensive,’ but honestly, at the end of the day, it's locally grown,” Santiago said. “It's fresh, we're bringing it, it's local and there's just a lot of physical labor that goes into it. I feel like a lot of people just don't realize that.” 

Another stand was Bev be Jammin’ by Beverly Russell based out of Ephrata. Russell retired eight years ago and started making jellies, jams, preserves and marmalades. 

“Well, I have to go to a commercial kitchen, and I spend quite a bit of time there, making the jam, and I have a license with the Department of Agriculture, and they inspect me,” Russell said. “So during the first part of the season, I probably make, oh, I'd say four different kinds in a week. But one kind may have four batches, so I'll make enough that I don't have to make that one again for another week or two.” 

Piercy Farms LLC is a smaller stand at the farmers market because Ron Piercy said he sold a lot of the land he was previously using. He works predominantly in the airplane business but grows and sells things as a hobby. 

“I guess I'm committed,” Piercy said. “Hey, even this time of year, you know they're not, not as many people come out this year. I don't know why, because everybody's still got to eat but I am still out here talking, selling and enjoying the weather.” 

    Samples of pesto with little chunks of bread sit at the MW Inspirations stand at the Moses Lake Farmers Market last Saturday.
  

    Freshly popped and bagged kettle corn waits for customers to take it home at the Moses Lake Farmers Market Saturday.
  

    Rows of produce line the Santiago’s Garden booth, which sells everything from peppers to apples. The stand is family owned and operated.
  

    Petra Dafolia purchased a bundle of peppers from Santiago’s Garden before heading to another stand to buy decorative pumpkins.
  

    Jams, preserves, marmalades and jellies line the shelves at Bev Be Jammin’s stand at the Moses Lake Farmers Market.
  

    Dozens of apples are stacked for customers at the Moses Lake Farmers Market, as customers wander by.
  

    A pyramid of honey waits for customers at the E.T. Bees stand at the Moses Lake Farmers Market.