Exploring the Ballard Farmers Market
Facilitator Juliet writes about the recent FIUTS trip to the Ballard Farmers Market.
Guest Post by Le (Juliet) Huang
The whole group of FIUTS students at the Ballard Market. All photos taken by Juliet.
On Sunday, a group of students met up for a FIUTS-led trip to the Ballard Farmers Market. Juliet, one of the facilitators, wrote this post about her experience there.
What’s interesting in January in Seattle? Well, I would definitely recommend the Ballard Farmers Market! It opens every Sunday from 10am to 3pm. Although I’ve been in Seattle for more than a year, I had never explored the Farmers Market until last weekend.
At the entrance of the market, there were five colorful triangle flags with a sign “Ballard Farmers Market” on it. Behind those flags, I saw two long lines of booths. “Wow! Hurry up! Let’s go inside”, said my friend, Molly, because she really could wait no longer. Upon entering it, I was attracted by a strong smell of food—all sorts of food. Very soon, I found one source of the food smell. It was a bread booth. I am not from a country that relies bread as the staple, so I don’t have much knowledge about bread. There were breads of different shapes and different colors. Although I couldn’t name those freshly baked breads, I could still tell how lovely they looked and smelled.
There was a booth for herbal tea. On the table placed about ten kinds of tea. Most of them were mixed flower tea. The woman in the booth warmly welcomed us and invited my friend and me to try her personal favourite. That tea was called Bliss. She gave each of us a very small cup made of purple clay. Before I took a sip, I smelled the tea. It was the smell of peppermint leaf, and this smell made me feel that my mind was suddenly refreshed. At first, it was bitter, and slowly, it turned to sweetness. It was just slight sweetness from licorice, and the sweetness and the refreshing taste of peppermint leaf remained in my mouth and throat.
Another booth that sold herbal products was also interesting. There were various types of soaps, body lotion, and hand cream. The woman in the booth told me all soaps were handmade. I liked those soaps because I could really see the ingredients in them, and these ingredients were so creative. For example, pumpkin soap, cedar leaf soap, etc. I saw a real piece of orange in an orange soap. I asked her why she made the cedar leaf soap, and she said, “People just love the smell of it!”
Moving on, I saw booths that sold fresh tulips, salmon, cranberry juice, cheese, handmade yogurt, mushrooms that looked like lion manes, and fresh-cut vegetables….It is so hard to include all the interesting things I experienced at the Ballard Farmers Market. Therefore, friends, join me to explore more interesting things in Seattle next time!
Want to participate in adventures like this one? Take a look at the FIUTS Calendar of Events to see more opportunities to explore Seattle with friends from around the world.