Farmers Market: Who's Your Vendor?

Now let us praise the small foodies who supply the 91302.

What's the draw for you at our Old Town Calabasas Farmers Market? The perfect organic fruit? The halvah (my favorite), hummus and olive oils or perhaps the beeswax candles and fresh bakery breads?

For me it's the Oxnard-based Nakamura Berry Farm with its beautiful, registered organic produce. I have shopped at that booth for years. 

Every Saturday morning the stretch of Old Town by the Sagebrush Cantina is transformed, and it is deceptively large as the market wraps around the stores across from the restaurant.

The event is circled by historic oaks, chinaberry and eucalyptus trees with fragrant honeysuckle vines climbing up the railings of the quaint shops that surround the farmers' display tables.

Less hectic and noisy than its Santa Monica counterpart, and certainly more interesting than Malibu's Sunday market, our Calabasas Farmers market offers celebrity sightings and delicious food staples to get you through the week.

Our farmers' market has a charming, small-town feeling. Instead of closing down the main street like Santa Monica, the market is visible from the busy, two-lane main street, which is right off the Mulholland exit of the 101.

More than 30 vendors sell their produce, homemade cheeses, side dishes, desserts, plants and flowers at our Calabasas market.

Stroll the aisles and you can pick up homemade tamales, kettle popcorn, tapanade, pestos and stuffed peppers, or stop by the fresh fish guy or the olive man for fresh pepperoncini and capers.

Handmade jewelry with semi-precious stones for exceptionally reasonable prices and fresh flowers are also available. 

Apple lovers are rejoicing as Honeycrisps, Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Early Red and giant Fuji apples along with packages of dried apples and jars of applesauce, apple butter, and a variety of apple jellies fill the market's booths now.

Also to be found are artichokes the size of human heads, Armenian breads and handmade scones.

It's a heady way to waken your senses on a Saturday morning.