Summer is peak season for Washington state's farmers markets

SEATTLE - There they make dough from scratch - enough for more than 100 pizzas - and chop mountains of local herbs and vegetables. Then, on Saturday morning, they pack up a trailer with firewood and a pizza oven fashioned from a propane tank cut in half and capped with a recycled mooring buoy.

John Shelley calls their mobile pizza parlor a "no bank-loan restaurant." Others might call it a business model for living your dream during challenging economic times.

With hundreds of local entrepreneurs working in backyards, home kitchens and on family farms to come up with new ways to sell everything from pizza to pickled vegetables, Washington state's farmers markets are more than just places to pick up lettuce and strawberries.

Home cooks tempt with stands selling Ethiopian stews, Mexican tamales and Indian curries. Craftspeople arrive with scarves made from locally sourced lambs wool and wooden furniture stained with British tea.

Take the time to chat, and you'll find every vendor has a story.

"Every farm and every family hammers out their own way of making it work," says the Heirloom Cattle Company's Dan Peplow, a fifth-generation Mennonite rancher in the Yakima Valley.

Feeling inspired, or just hungry? Grab an empty cooler or a picnic basket and plan a day trip to one of the state's more than 150 farmers markets.

Here's our take on five worth the drive:

-Port Townsend Farmers Market

620 Tyler St., in Uptown Port Townsend.

Hours: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays, April-December. (Also 3-6 p.m., Wednesdays, June 20 through September; and in Chimacum, Jefferson County, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Sundays, May 20 through October.) See www.ptfarmersmarket.org.

Drive time from Seattle: About two hours, including a 30-minute ride aboard the Bainbridge Island ferry from Seattle's Pier 52.

What's special: With 70 vendors, including cider makers, bakers, farmers and artists, this market earned the "Market of the Year" designation from the Washington State Farmers Market Association in 2011.

What to eat: Don't leave without buying a cheese stick from Pane d'Amore. The footlong snack is like an adult version of a licorice twist, easy to hold and whittle down in seconds. Worth bringing home are goats-milk cheeses from Mystery Bay Farm on Marrowstone Island, jars of kimchi from Midori Farm and pastries from Romanian baker Anca Hasson.

Making a day of it: Picnic on the beachfront at nearby Fort Worden State Park, or leave the car parked and walk to quiet Chetzemoka Park, with gardens and a kids' play area. Save time for a stop at the Finnriver Farm & Cidery tasting room in Chimacum.

-Bainbridge Island Farmers Market

Town Square at City Hall Park.

Hours: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, mid-April through mid-December (until 2 p.m. July through Labor Day). See www.bainbridgefarmersmarket.com.

Drive time from Seattle: None. Just walk on the Bainbridge Island ferry. The market, with 40 food and craft vendors, is a 10-minute stroll from the Winslow ferry dock.

What's special: The feeling of being in a rural village just 30 minutes from downtown Seattle. Out-of-town guests love this trip. They get a ferry ride, a waterfront stroll and a picnic lunch, all in a few hours.

What to eat: Bainbridge Island Barbeque's Gregory Epstein starts the morning taking orders for 16 types of omelets. This year he's adding a "Toss of the Day," a salad composed of vegetables from market vendors. Fill your picnic basket with fresh-picked berries. Add chevre made from the milk of Nubian ewes raised on the Port Madison Goat Farm and Dairy, and bread from Terra Bella Farm, and you've got lunch.

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