Normally we would visit the Goleta farmers market on Sunday just before we leave for our drive back to Arizona, but this visit, we finally made it for an early morning Saturday visit to the Santa Barbara farmers market. We had heard that it was a much larger market, but we didn’t know it would be “that” much bigger! We bought about 20 pounds of fruits, veggies, and nuts. The organic strawberries were already sweet as could be; a guy selling walnuts told us that if we tried a sample, we would try the sweetest best walnuts we ever had, and he wasn’t wrong – his nuts are available from Rancho La Vina. And then, there she was, a striking pose, a fragrance that makes you stand up and notice curves that melt the soul; I’m talking about the bottles of Joelle Olive Oil. Joelle makes our favorite olive oil, the Early Harvest Manzanillo. This oil typically graces our fresh tomatoes and salads, and when an abundance of tomatoes allows me to make pasta sauce, Joelle is the only olive oil I add to it – yummers.

Note: on August 31, 2023, Joelle ceased operations and is no more.

Santa Barban’s love their Brussels sprouts, or why else would anyone bring 75 pounds of them to market? You’d never see this in Phoenix.

Wish we could have left with 4 or 5 of the most colorful ones.

By the way, Aunt Ann and Uncle Woody came with us, but Woody’s out walking the dog, and Tata (Aunt Ann) isn’t always happy to be on camera, so we’re trying to hurry through here.

Some of the photos I’m taking are to share with Tonopah Rob back in Arizona for him to see the presentation and the prices that people are paying in Santa Barbara.

I’ve seen this view since I was about seven years old back when this was still covered in walnut trees. The view is from Cathedral Oaks Road.