If you’ve always wanted to decorate a vegetable and race it down a track, now’s your chance. The Zucchini 500 comes to the Phinney Farmers Market on Friday.

Shoppers of all ages can build their own squash race car and compete with other veggie vehicles. A zucchini, wooden wheels, racing adornments and an official time trial track will be provided. The races take place from 3:00 – 6:00 pm under the market’s special events tent. The event is free and open to the public.

Chef Joshua Theilen of Stumbling Goat Bistro will demo some of his recipes Friday at the Phinney Farmers Market.

According to the Phinney Neighborhood Association, Theilen uses market farmers for many of his recipes and will demo recipes using what’s fresh at the market.

The demo is free and begins at 4 p.m. Recipes will be distributed at the market and will be available online (link provided once we get it). To get a taste of what could be in store, check out the link for what’s fresh at area markets this week. 

Today is the second week of the season for the Phinney Farmers Market, in the lower parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N. The market is open from 3-7 p.m. every Friday.

Several dozen vendors sell everything from produce to meat, eggs, ice cream, pastries, pasta, bread, edible plant starts, flowers, soups, nuts, cider, wine, chocolates, salmon and honey.

Children entertain themselves by sliding down the super fast slides on the hillside.

Vendors with ready-to-eat hot dinners are Patty Pan (grilled veggies, quesadillas, tamales), Pan Africa (chicken, lamb and vegetarian African dishes), and Veraci Pizza. See a full list of vendors and their products here.

Contributor Briana Watts put this clip together for PhinneyWood to remind people what’s at the Phinney Farmers Market.

The Phinney Farmers Market runs from 3-7 p.m. every Friday through Oct. 1.

Thanks, Briana!

(Contributor Briana Watts is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.)

For your musical pleasure, here’s an upbeat clip of The Canote Brothers performing at the Phinney Farmers Market on Friday.

If you liked this, you can see them again at the market on June 11.

King County Executive Dow Constantine rang a little bell just before 3 p.m. today, officially opening the Phinney Farmers Market for the season. “Where else do you get to visit with the person who grows your food?” he said. 

Dozens of vendors are selling all kinds of produce, jams, meat, eggs, edible plant starts, flowers, soups, nuts, ice cream, pasta, pastries, bread, cider, wine, chocolates, salmon and honey.

Plus, you can eat a nice dinner right there at the market with food from Veraci Pizza, Pan Africa (chicken, lamb and vegetarian African dishes), and Patty Pan (grilled veggies, quesadillas, tamales).

See a full list of vendors and their products here. The Phinney Farmers Market is open from 3-7 p.m. every Friday through Oct. 1. Below, Constantine chats with Woodring Orchards proprietor Dale Nelson about his jams, juice and dressings.

Thanks to Ann Bowden at the Phinney Center for the photos.

Phinney’s Farmers Market opens the season next Friday, May 28, with dozens of vendors of fresh produce, cheese, bread, honey, cider, flowers and more, plus several ready-to-eat dinner options. The market is open from 3-7 p.m. every Friday through Oct. 1, in the lower parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N.

You’ll want to be here when the opening bell rings at 3 pm to scope out the early season offerings. Lots of our favorite farmers and producers will be back and the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance has lined up some new and exciting vendors. Let’s show “our” market businesses plenty of love to get the season off to a strong start. As always, there will be weekly entertainment, plenty of ready-to-eat options, and friends and neighbors in abundance. To see what will be “ripe and ready” this week, check out http://www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org/ripe-n-ready/ripe-n-ready. It will get your taste buds going!

Phinney Ambassadors will again be staffing our booth under the blue canopy in the center aisle. Ambassadors have info about upcoming PNA events, hand out market “passports” that kids can get stamped each week (this year you can even leave it at the market if that’s more convenient), and sell merchandise. We’ll have 3 great designs of sturdy canvas shopping bags, PNA logo caps, and an assortment of farmers market t-shirts from previous years. For 2010 we are also featuring Phinney Ridge *star* hats and tees sized for men, women and kids. The PNA booth will be staffed from 2:30-5:30 each week. We are still looking for volunteers! If you’re interested in helping out, please contact alis@phinneycenter.org.

Phinney resident and chef Tamara Murphy just published her first book, “Tender: farmers, cooks, eaters,” which focuses on supporting farmers, farmers’ markets and local eating. Murphy is the owner and chef of Brasa and Elliot Bay Café and winner of the prestigious James Beard award in 1995.

A real force in the national culinary community, Tamara has traveled the country to share the important message of local sustainable food. Regionally, she has created events such as An Incredible Feast – Where the Farmer’s are the Stars (pairing farmers and chefs to raise awareness and funds for local family farms), The Good Farmer Fund (to help local farmers gain direct access to emergency funding during crop or farm loss due to disastrous events), and Burning Beast (where chefs come together in a creative setting to raise awareness for local farmers). TENDER explores simple ways to enjoy eating, cooking and choosing our food.

Neighborhood photographer David Chui published his first book, “Journey of an Apple: From Lake Chelan to Hong Kong,” which is available at Santoro’s Books in Phinney Ridge.

A one-of-a-kind look behind-the-scenes at the twists and turns of growing and shipping our state’s signature fruit, Journey of an Apple features 105 color photographs and profiles the colorful people and locations responsible for bringing Washington apples to a hungry world.

Spanning the seasons, and shot over several years on two continents, the book is both an informal look at the intricacies of modern agribusiness and an immigrant’s personal quest to reconcile his native Hong Kong with a new life in the Pacific Northwest. Employed in the produce industry for 14 years, Chui has a light-hearted touch and puts a very human face on global trade.

The Phinney Center reports that one of the large green and white sandwich board signs used to advertise the Phinney Farmers Market on Fridays has gone missing. It was usually at the intersection of 3rd Avenue NW and NW 65th Street, but it disappeared after the last market on Oct. 2 before it could be picked up for storage until next season.

If you see the sign (it previously wandered into a nearby yard), either bring it to the Phinney Neighborhood Center or call us at 783-2244 and someone will come and get it.

Friday is the last Phinney Farmer’s Market of the season. The market is open from 3-7 p.m. in the lower parking lot of the Phinney Center at Phinney Avenue and 67th St.

Since it’s the last one until next spring, you might want to stock up on items such as honey, jam, pickles, and frozen soup and pasta.

The Farmer’s Market (a PhinneyWood sponsor) features fruits, veggies, cider, bread, cheese, soup, meat, honey, jam, pickles, flowers, pasta and more. Go for dinner and eat at Veraci Pizza, Pan Africa or Patty Pan Grill, and top it off with dessert from Half Pint Ice Cream or Trevani Truffles.

Friday is the last Phinney Farmer’s Market (a PhinneyWood sponsor) of the season. The market is open from 3-7 p.m. in the lower parking lot of the Phinney Center at Phinney Avenue and 67th St.

As usual, you can pick up your fruits, veggies, cider, bread, cheese, soup, meat, honey, jam, pickles, flowers, pasta and more, plus eat at Veraci Pizza, Pan Africa or Patty Pan Grill, and top it off with Half Pint Ice Cream or Trevani Truffles.

To encourage people to shop at their local farmers market, the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance is passing out free “Fresh Bucks” at several local businesses during the next two weeks.

“Fresh Bucks” coupons worth $2 each will be distributed during the next two weeks at several Phinney/Greenwood neighborhood businesses, including Greenwood True Value Hardware, Makeda Coffee and Whole Life Yoga, among others (look for Fresh Bucks posters at participating businesses). These coupons can be spent at the Phinney Farmers Market just like cash, on any market Friday, to purchase fresh, healthy fruits, vegetables and other local farm and food items.

The Phinney Farmers Market was chosen to pilot the initiative, which is aimed at expanding sales to local farmers. You can redeem the Fresh Bucks at the Phinney Market next Friday, Sept. 25.

The Phinney Farmers Market is open 3-7 p.m. every Friday through Oct 2, in the lower parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Center at 67th and Phinney Ave N. The market features fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms, plus local farmstead cheeses, meats, wild-caught seafood, and other locally-made foods (chocolates, bread, pizza, ice cream, tamales and quesadillas and more).

Despite overall growth in the number of farmers markets in the Puget Sound region over the past 10 years, our region’s farmers, and the local organizations that sponsor farmers markets, are struggling to sustain themselves in this economic climate.