Farmers markets are no longer primarily produce stands. You can purchase individual items to make a feast by stopping by the Bend Farmers Market on Wednesdays. Dozens of booths spread the length of Brooks Alley, spilling into the plaza in front of The Commons Cafe and Taproom. Start with an appetizer of uniquely flavored hummus or cashew dip followed by a vibrant salad showcasing a rainbow of colors served with fresh bread. The entrée might be fresh steelhead or grass-fed beef or lamb with a dessert of cherry pie or delectable chocolate chip cookies. Finish with a nightcap of locally made spirits. Beyond the fresh food, there are other unique items aimed at health and healing.
Sakari Farms
Sakari Farms is a native women-owned farm in Tumalo specializing in growing native traditional foods. “I’m an indigenous seed keeper, so we use native seed from all round Indian country to produce these foods and we also specialize in value-added food products,” Spring Alaska Schreiner explains. “We preserve our foods whether it’s drying, smoking, roasting and freezing them. We make award-winning hot sauces, jams, spa products, seasonings and salts.”
Their most popular selling item at the farmers market is the Pinyon Pine Smoked finishing salt. “The conifer has a lot of vitamin C in it,” Schreiner says. She also sells Sazon seasoning, Blackened Salmon rub, BBQ rub, a variety of hot sauce flavors, tea, lip butter, salves, soaking salts and Hopi Blue Corn Masks.
Broadus Bees
Master Beekeeper Jimmy Wilkie spends time moving his hives around the state. “Jimmy moves his hives depending on the season to places like Madras and Alfalfa. In the winter, they go down to Northern California,” says Tess Charlott who was working the Broadus Bees booth at the farmers market. “He works with different farmers and different lands.”
“People love our whipped honey, the thick, spreadable honey to put on a piece of toast or frosting for a cake,” Charlott says. Other products include bee pollen, several flavors of raw honey including vanilla, ginger and bourbon barrel-aged, honeycomb, hot sauce and candles.
Beruna living.foods
If you’re looking for something to add zest to vegetables, meat, avocado toast or even popcorn, Beruna living.foods has seed salts and sweets, each with a distinct flavor. Their most popular item is Black Truffle salt. “All of these products have superfood seeds in them. They’re all organic,” Suzanne Walker explains. Ingredients include sprouted sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, hemp, chia, flax and poppy seeds, mineral salts, nutritional yeast, maca and spices. Because it’s “alive” refrigeration is recommended. In addition to the salt, there are sweet seed spices including cinnamon, berry vanilla and coconut cacao.
If you stop by the booth, you can sample each one. Walker shares ideas on how to use them. “This one’s awesome on fish tacos. My new favorite thing is corn on the cob.” It started in San Diego, but all of the products sold at the farmers market are made in a commissary kitchen in Bend.
Happy Patty
The Happy Patty started as a hobby in Jenn Hunt-Petrak’s kitchen. “It’s a recipe that I’ve had for a really long time,” she told the Source. Friends would take them home in Ziploc bags. She decided to turn it into a business a little over a year ago. It’s made with cashews, cheese, brown rice, onion, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and herbs. She’s already working on new products including a vegan patty, sauces to pair with the patties or use on salads.
If you miss the weekly farmers market, many of the local products can be found in stores like Newport Market, Locavore and Market of Choice.
This article appears in Source Weekly July 31, 2025.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Make sure to dress the part. You know………giant hat, aviators, dress, wicker hand bag to put your items in. Don’t forget to tell your friends you bought some radishes from a nice man that grew them by hand and watered them with holy water (sorry, they came from the same produce distributor that supplies Market of Choice and Newport Market with very few exceptions). Hilarious.