Saturday at the PDX Farmer's Market

It was time to get out of town and enjoy some R & R so Saturday morning we boarded the Amtrak Train at 5:30 AM - Yawn!- and headed north to Portland. We arrived at 8:00 AM and were bound for the Portland Farmer's Market by 9:00AM! The Portland Farmer's Market was founded in 1993 and has rapidly grown into one of the best attended Markets in the US. I had never been to it before and was anxious to compare it to Eugene's. It is located around the park blocks, next to the campus of PSU. We were able to hop on the free Portland Trolley Car and it had a stop just 1 block from the Market. Very Handy!

One of the first differences that I noted was there are a lot less plant vendors at the PDX Market. I image most city dwellers don't have large- or any - yards, thus don't have the need for a lot of perennial plants. However, I did find this amazing vendor. He had set up the most beautiful display of potted plants. He had an incredible variety of Rudbeckia for sale, among other things.

Swan Island Dahlias, out of Canby, had  cut dahlia bouquets for sale. People were loving them!

Among the many "new to me" things I saw were these Donut Peaches. They looked just like their name implied - wide and flat. I tried a sample. They were very firm - more so then an apple - but tasted like a peach.

We grabbed breakfast at the Pearl Bakery. I had a very good croissant filled with ham & brie.

The PDX market has an amazing number of specialty food vendors. From meats, to cheeses, to seafood, to noodles! We brought home 5 different kinds of dried pasta noodles from Nonna's Noodles.

I also brought home 2 different cheeses. I got an extra-sharp cheddar from Rouge Creamery out of Medford. And I got a small little tub of Pepper flavored Goat Cheese from Dee Creek Farm out of Woodland , WA. We spent over two hours walking, sampling, and shopping at the Market. Portland is very lucky to have such a vibrant, diverse Farmer's Market.