On the opening day of the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market, new-to-Wilkes-Barre vendor Ben Pypiak shows off the many varieties of gourmet mushrooms he grows at The Green Mycofarm in Berwick.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
New and familiar faces were among the vendors on opening day
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Making the rounds at the Farmers Market in Wilkes-Barre, Laura Gentry Carter offers samples of ‘My Sister’s Granola,’ which she makes in a kitchen she rents at the Gather Community Space at First Presbyterian Church. She is a new vendor at the farmers market.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Luke Marek of Back Mountain Microgreens was part of the action on the first day of the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market, offering corn shoots, pea shoots, sunflower shoots and many other nutritious items. ‘You an add them to omelets, tacos, burgers, salads, anything,’ he said.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Customers look over fruit available on the first day of the Farmers Market in Wilkes-Barre.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Gary O’Malia from Plains Township was one of several farmers offering plants a home gardener could purchase and take home to their own gardens. Helping at his stand were Mary Golyn, Stan Galenty and Andrea Bender.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
The sweet cherries are good for eating, Lynn Hoagland said, and the sour cherries are the ones he recommends if you want to bake a cherry pie.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Young customers show an interest in the honey available at The Beekeeper’s Daughter stand, on the first day of the 2024 Farmers Market in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
“I just Sauté ‘em,” Ben Pypiak said, answering a customer’s question about some of the mushrooms he grew at The Green Mycofarm in Berwick.
“Sweet cherries are good for eating,” Lynn Hoagland from Northumberland County said. “The sour cherries are good if you want to bake a pie.”
“You can add them to omelets, tacos, burgers, salads, anything,” Luke Marek said, recommending ways to use the sunflower shoots, corn shoots, pea shoots and other harvested-shortly-after-germination foods he was selling at the Back Mountain Microgreens stand.
That’s just a smattering of the advice you can glean if you visit the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market, which officially opened its 49th season on Thursday. It will continue to be held on Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Thursday — except July 4 — through Nov. 14.
This year’s market boasts some new vendors, including Pypiak with his mushrooms, Marek with his microgreens, and granola maker Laura Gentry Carter, who offered free samples in tiny plastic cups.
Carter had been making “My Sister’s Granola” at home for years, for family and friends. More recently she’s moved her operations to a kitchen she rents at the Gather Community Space in downtown Wilkes-Barre, where she makes enough to sell to the public.
She makes small batches of granola, frequently, to keep it fresh.
Long-time Farmers Market attendees also were on hand for the first day, bringing a variety of produce.
Gary O’Malia from Plains Township brought radishes and spinach and kohlrabi, and said he hopes to have kale, collards and broccoli next week.
Harold Golomb, also from Plains Township, brought potatoes and rhubarb plus herbs such as rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano and parsley, that you could take home to plant in your own garden.
Ray Zimmerman, from Schuykill County, had a bit more variety, with zucchini and cherries, tiny cucumbers, snap peas and other items.
His crops come in earlier, he said, because he’s further south. “And I can drive down to Lancaster County and see they’re a couple weeks ahead of me. Geography means a lot.”
Weather means a lot, too.
“We need rain,” Laura Kosco said as she worked with her brother, Harold Golomb, and mother, Audrey Golomb, at their stand.
“Things are growing fast, because of all the heat,” said Gary O’Malia, one of several farmers who predicted the sweet corn might be ready for market by mid-July, earlier than last year.
As customer Barbara Lowe of Wilkes-Barre stopped by Golomb’s stand, she said she’d already purchased bread from baker Michael Bonczar, lamb from Hoagland’s and blackberries from another farmer.
Indeed, with everything from fresh eggs and meats to honey, fruit and vegetables, a customer could find the ingredients for a whole meal at the farmers market. And if you’d rather not cook, there are plenty of trucks serving food that’s ready to eat.