Tis the season for local produce

As June draws to a close, farm markets are set to kick off in earnest.

The weekly Matanuska Community Farmers Market has already got two successful outings under its belt. Open from 4 to 7 p.m. every Wednesday into September, the market is located in downtown Palmer at 713 S Denali St., on the grounds of the United Protestant Church, commonly known as The Church of a Thousand Trees.

Marketgoers will find the usual assortment of early local produce there, including lots of leafy greens, microgreens, radishes, and salad turnips from growers like Chugach Farm, Singing Nettle Farm, Sauntering Roots Farm, Sun Circle Farm, Black Bear Farms, and Lovely Farms AK. A variety of flowers and plant starts are available, too.

Far North Fungi also has a presence, adding culinary mushrooms, grow kits, tinctures, and mushroom salts and soup mixes to the wide variety of local goods available each week.

That includes plenty of protein options to go along with all those veggies. Healing Acre Farm sells rabbit, chicken, and eggs, and North Soul Salmon offers fillets and burgers made from the popular Alaska fish. Additionally, baked breads, bagels and sweets are available from Bradley Lake Bakery and Delaney Sourdough. While Aethereal Coffee, Village Herbals, and 203 Kombucha offer locally roasted coffee, herbal teas, and kombucha.

Also already underway, the Wasilla Farmers Market runs Wednesdays through mid-September from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Located at the west end of Iditapark, on the corner of West Nelson Avenue and North Weber Drive, the market features fresh local produce, baked goods, and a variety of hand-crafted items.

Farther north, the Willow Farmers Market opens its doors this week. Located at Mile 69 Parks Highway, it will run every Friday through mid-September from 2 to 7 p.m. Moonstone Farm’s market won’t officially open until July 4. But the Palmer-area farm, which dates back to the original Matanuska colony in the 1930s, is hosting its second annual Boozy Book Fair on Saturday.

Expanding on the success of last summer’s inaugural event, the Boozy Book Fair will feature live music from Alaska band 3000-21, and good eats supplied by Sea Garden food truck, Flour.ish.ing Artisan Pizza, and Lekker Coffee and Baking Co. There will also be local authors and a tarot card reader to entertain fairgoers while they browse books from Fireside Books in Palmer and enjoy beverages from Moonstone Farm’s Railcar Tasting Room. The popular event runs from 2 to 8 p.m. at the farm, which is located at 2141 S. Church St., behind the Big Bear RV Park.

While stocking up for its first farm market next week, Moonstone has already been supplying two area restaurants – Nonna’s Osteria in Wasilla, and Feather and Flour in Palmer – with garlic scapes. Scapes, which are the “stalk” that extends from the base of garlic plants, resemble scallions or oversized chives, and they tend to be milder than garlic cloves, so they can be used in a variety of ways.

Feather and Flour restaurant has been using Moonstone’s garlic scapes during dinner service in its chive and tomato gnocchi offering.

Speaking of delicious local fare, Bushes Bunches “kitchen” is open and serving classic comfort food Thursday through Sunday each week. In addition to its Alaska State Fair classic – fried peanut potatoes – the stand outside the Bushes Bunches farm market on the Old Glenn Highway serves up hearty home-cooked chili and beef stew. Hot dogs are also available, to be joined soon by burgers. The drive to Bushes Bunches is worthwhile just for the outstanding radishes currently in abundance there, alongside lettuce, rhubarb, English cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. Plenty of parsley and basil starts, too, along with a couple varieties of tomato plants.