Vendor Stories

The cats may be angry, but Josh Williams is happy to be here. He started experimenting with hot sauce recipes at home as a hobby in 2019. Things intensified when he brought his experiments into work for his coworkers to try. A few of his colleagues expressed interest in purchasing the product, so he started to think about selling at farmers markets in the area.

One day at the Cascade Sprouts booth, a customer bought a container of alfalfa sprouts and immediately handed it to their young child in a stroller. Katie Moeller said she watched in amazement as the child began to snack on them by the handful. This is a testament to the fact that microgreens delicious, as well as being packed with nutrients.

Before Trish and Dillon Haggerty moved onto their farm in Vancouver, they met while working in restaurants on cruise ships. One of the things they loved about the ship environment was the community among the staff members, but that camaraderie was hard to find back on the mainland. However, when they moved to Vancouver they found it to be a loving and supportive community, so much so that they made the decision to buy property to farm off of SR 500 near Camas.

When Maria Leary was growing up in Colombia, she aspired to move to a different country and start a bakery. When she moved to the U.S. in 201 2, she achieved step one. And with the launch of Dulce Maria this year, she is living out her childhood dream.

At the intersection of 8th and Esther each weekend, you’ll see two red tents standing together, lined with shelves that are filled with soap, candles, shampoo bars, body spray, bug spray and more. Peek inside past the many different products, and you’ll find the team behind Farm Maid Soap. It all started with one woman’s effort to feed her family with goat milk – at the time she was pregnant with baby number five, with two more to follow. Since then, it has multiplied and manifested into a whole family-and-friend-run operation.

Tom Warnack’s wife says he is the worst retired guy she’s ever met. While technically retired, his schedule is full with time in his workshop, where he churns out practical wooden treasures, and weekends selling his goods at the farmers market. As his business name suggests, he sells a wide variety of wooden wares, including pens, salt and pepper mills, cutting boards, coasters, and cribbage boards.

Halfway up on the east side of Esther Street, you’ll find the Flat Tack and Sprout & Blossom booth. Even if you weren’t looking at their banners, you would recognize them after one glance of the offerings on their tables. They offer a wide variety of produce – the cucamelons were all the rage this year – alongside beautiful bouquets of flowers.

Alicia Balmoja has long worked as a professional bartender, playing around with flavors to create craft cocktails. So when she embarked on her kombucha brewing journey at the start of the pandemic – something she has always wanted to do as a dedicated kombucha drinker – she was able to transfer her cocktail expertise to design unique and dynamic flavors.

Janette Tucker, always a lover of plants, has long used apricot oil as part of her skincare and body routine. One day early in the pandemic she had a thought – why hadn’t she been able to find a lip balm with apricot oil? So she experimented and made her own. “Once I did that, I couldn’t even stop myself,” she said.

Portland Ashwagandha Farm’s goal is to nourish, restore, and fortify members of the community in body and spirit by cultivating and processing ashwagandha and other herbs into tinctures and providing guidance on how to use them. Ashwagandha is a favorite plant of the Ayurvedic tradition, which is a natural system of medicine that originated in India thousands of years ago. PAF recommends ashwagandha for its grounding and centering properties. They receive testimonials from Vancouver Farmers Market patrons who say that ashwagandha assists issues with sleep, stress, anxiety, and hormone balance.

Authenticity, local ingredients, and community. These are some of the core tenants of chef Paul Durazo’s first solo enterprise: Razo’s Tacos. His red tent is a new presence on Esther Street for our Fall Market, but Paul has long been an integrated member of the market community. Before launching his business, he sourced ingredients for his former cheffing gigs from farms like Flat Tack, Sprout & Blossom, Dilish, and Rylofarms. The Razo’s Tacos booth always displays a sign featuring the farms that they sourced from that week.

Before Rebecca Kawanami started her business, River Wave Foods, she was an international flight attendant for Delta Airlines, flying all around the world, and tasting the flavors of the places she visited along the way. When she retired from that job in 2006, she funneled her love of global cuisines into the sauces, vinaigrettes, and tapenades that she sells at the Vancouver Farmers Market.

Siobhan (shiv-awn) Sloan-Evans is the mastermind behind the baked goods at Sioffon (shi-fon, just like chiffon cake). She calls her business “a mostly plant-based bakery,” because while she generally sticks to vegan ingredients, she leaves herself room to use elements that she can find from local or sustainable sources.

Donna and John Bishop were having some trouble with their garden a number of years back. Their plants – especially their tomatoes – would just not grow because there weren’t enough pollinators in their yard in Battle Ground. So, they got two beehives and started extracting honey from them. Someone suggested they sell their honey, so they started bringing jars to gatherings to see if anyone was interested. One thing led to the next, and before they knew it, they were selling honey at markets multiple days per week.

For Windy River Livestock, the goal has always been to farm. But the journey has taken unexpected turns, requiring adaptation, dedication, and perseverance.