Plateau farmers, food producers open REKO market in Buckley

REKO markets are all about getting food fresh from the farm to your table.

By Ray Miller-Still • March 18, 2021 9:23 am
Tags:
Customers of the Buckley Plateau Market line up in an alley way to receive their orders. Photo courtesy Sean Shands
Customers of the Buckley Plateau Market line up in an alley way to receive their orders. Photo courtesy Sean Shands

The city of Buckley just got its first taste of the pre-order, pre-pay, farm-to-table market concept known as REKO.

For those not in the know, REKO markets are popular on the other side of the Atlantic. They’re very similar to traditional farmer’s markets, in that the food and wares being offered come from local producers.

However, instead of browsing various produce and products, REKO markets have you order exactly what you want online, pay before market day, and simply pick up your food and go — there’s no need to even leave your car.

“There’s really no downside,” said co-organizer and vendor Tanya Wilbanks. “There’s no waste — no time waste, money waste, resource [or] product waste.”

REKO is short for rejäl konsumtion (Swedish) or reilua kuluttamista (Finnish), which means “fair consumption.”

Enumclaw started its own REKO market soon after the COVID-19 pandemic began, which put the city’s farmer’s market — and the local businesses it supported — at risk.

Now, a year later, many of the local businesses that helped start that first REKO market have crossed the White River into Buckley; this new Buckley Plateau Market is being hosted by Anchor House Coffee Roasters. The first market day was Sunday, March 14.

Here’s how you can participate:

Step one is heading onto Facebook and joining the Buckley Plateau Market group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/734737553909299). Once you’re a part of the group, you can see who is offering what every week.

To order food, simply comment on the post of a producer you want to buy from with your order. You must also provide your email in your comment — that’s how producers will send you an invoice.

Once you’ve ordered your products, then you just have to wait until market day, which are Sundays from 3 to 4 p.m.

To pick up your orders, you’ll want to head down Buckley’s Main Street, turn south onto Cottage Street, and then take an immediate left into the alleyway, where REKO market vendors will fill your car with food before sending you on your way.

Participating in the Buckley Plateau Market will be Girl Loves Cake, Blue Barn Kettle Corn, Makarios Acres, Mama D’s Farmhouse Baking, Hell or High Water Farm, Wendy Simply Cooks, Gramma Berta’s Pantry, Rusty Plow Farm, RainCity Greens, Fantello Creamery, Sweet Briar Flowers, The Baker’s Cookie, Anchor House Coffee Roasters, Woodland Park Greenhouse, and Not Your Basic Batch.

For Enumclaw residents looking to get involved with their REKO Market, join the Farm Fresh Picks at the Creamery Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/farmfreshatthecreamery) to order your food, and then head to Fantello Creamery (39719 236th Ave. SE) on Saturdays from 2 to 3 to pick up your orders.

Tags: