By David Guest

Tacoma Daily Index editor

Every Thursday in the summer, Broadway between 9th and 11th streets is closed to traffic, but open for business. The Broadway Farmers’ Market brings the farm to the city, selling everything from fresh produce to massages to steak sandwiches.

The line to the Gateway To India food tent was 20 deep on this day. But with the sun out, no one seemed to mind. The tandoori and biryani for lunch could wait. Maybe the smell of waffle cones baking set this crowd into slow motion. People on their breaks from the office didn’t seem to be in a rush to go back.

The plump, perfect raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and boysenberries at the Spooner Farms booth sold like the hotcakes they might be folded into the next morning. Beth Grothaus has spent 11 years with the Puyallup Valley farm, and likes the crowd that the Broadway market brings. “We’ve got a lot of people out here today,” she said, organizing another mixed flat of berries that were picked just before dawn.

Osman Amador drove his truck over the mountains from his family-owned organic produce farm in the Yakima Valley. Green beans, beets, assorted greens and new potatoes were spread out on his tables. But the unusual sight of that slimy southern staple – okra – was worthy of some attention. “It’s a little early,” Amador said. “It’s my first picking.” Do people in the Northwest eat that stuff? “Oh, yes!” he said with a wide grin.

Stretched along the street were booths of craft jewelry, hand-made soaps, pottery, cookies and chocolates.  BG’s Gourmet BBQ Sauce, up from Longbranch on the Key Peninsula, found its way into the bags of a few who were serious about their barbecue and likely knew what to do with Amador’s okra.

And then there was the fungus guy, tucked between the tents bursting with fresh-cut flowers. Adam DeLeo, owner of Adam’s Mushrooms, which calls Key Peninsula home, proudly stood behind an array of farmed and plucked-from-the-wild mushrooms.

DeLeo, who grew up near Key Center, earned a living fishing in Alaska, and even went so far as to get his own boat. But the seasonal nature of the business, and moving from port to port convinced him to chart a different course.

“I didn’t want to be living a nomadic life anymore,” DeLeo said. However, he had one more stop to make. This time, working in Scotland at an eco-village where sustainable farming was a way of life. It was there where he met Paul Stamets, a fellow Washingtonian who gave lectures on all things mushrooms. DeLeo was hooked. And when his work visa expired two years later, it was time to come home.

Along with his wife Astrid, DeLeo founded Adam’s Mushrooms in 2013. In addition to selling his own farm-grown products, DeLeo sells wild mushrooms that he purchases from pickers and occasionally forages for himself. His customers range from restaurants to stores, but it’s at local farmers’ markets that DeLeo finds his connection with the consuming public.

“It’s really fun,” said DeLeo as he helped customer Christine Sheetz select the ingredients for the wild mushroom soup she was planning to make for dinner. “We get to interact with a bunch of people who are enthusiastic about mushrooms. We (also) get to introduce (the mushrooms)  to a lot of people who don’t know a lot about them. So there’s an educational aspect to it.”

Vendors at the market may find the personal connection with their customers to be rewarding, but it does come with a lot of hard work. Loading their vehicles the morning of the market, unloading and setting up shop, then breaking it all down and heading home can make for a long day.

“It’s one of the most demanding aspects of it,” said DeLeo. “To come and set up and take down, the whole loading of the van, the parking . . . ,” he trailed off. “And hopefully, it all (mushrooms) finds a happy home by the end of the day.”
For market visitors like Sheetz, DeLeo’s efforts are all worth the walk from the office during her lunch break every Thursday. She’s happy to give a little fungus a home.

“That’s the only reason I come here nowadays,” Sheetz said. “The chanterelles are my favorites.”