Today on our series, we break away from the food vendors for a moment and visit one of the other vendors at the Ballard Farmer’s Market. Sequim Prairie Star sells a variety of plants as well as their signature product, Worm Tea Concentrate.

Yes, I said Worm Tea.

How Long At The Market: Harold and Virginia Vadset have been at the Ballard Farmer’s Market for 3 years now, spring through fall.

Favorite Part of the Market: Harold and Virginia love talking to people. Harold grew up in Ballard and he can’t believe how much it has changed. They love the diversity they see at the market. Virginia also loves seeing all the different breeds of dogs that come accompany their owners.

What They Do: Harold and Virginia cultivate worms. They feed them, collect their castings in worm bins, and then harvest the worm tea that collects in the bin. This ‘tea’ is a super concentrated wonder fertilizer. It helps build a healthy root system and increases plant growth. It repels harmful insects, suppresses bacteria, fungi, and path pathogens. I’ve actually used their worm tea, and I do believe it helped my tomatoes last summer. I’m now using it on my herbs.

Sequim Prairie Star

It’s Safe, Right? The worm tea is extremely safe. The worms are fed cut pasture grass. There are no chemicals or pesticides used on the pasture grass and no animal waste is used on the fields. Worm tea concentrate is safe to use up until you harvest your herbs, fruits, or veggies and is safe to use around kids and pets.

What Can I Use It On? You can use worm tea on herbs, flowers, vegetables, and even orchids. Soak the orchids in a solution of one tablespoon worm tea extract with a gallon of water for 15 minutes. Then drain the orchids.

Other Products: In addition to their worm tea extract, Harold and Virginia also sell a variety of plants. While I was there today they had Rio Grande Hot Peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, and 5 different types of basil.

I really enjoyed talking to Harold and Virginia. If you’re in Ballard on a Sunday, stop by and see them.