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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Fruit and vegetable lovers, rejoice.</p><p>Area farmers will kick off the 2016 Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market Thursday with leafy greens, sweet cherries and a variety of other produce.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to have a pretty nice selection,&#8221; Larry O&#8217;Malia, whose farm is in Plains, said Tuesday. &#8220;We have leaf lettuce, kohlrabi, kale, some spinach, sugar snap peas and a little bit of red beets. We just started picking them.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re picking a little bit of broccoli, too, but I don&#8217;t know if there&#8217;s enough to bring,&#8221; O&#8217;Malia added. &#8220;We&#8217;ll also have a lot of herbs, some veggie plants and some flowers &#8212; some annuals.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll have some yellow squash and green squash,&#8221; said Ted Dymond, whose farm is in Orange in the Back Mountain. &#8220;We&#8217;ll have cucumbers and pickles and raspberries. The blueberries are close (to being ripe).</p><p>Cooler-than-usual temperatures in May slowed some crops, both farmers said. But other produce is ready.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll be picking sweet cherries all day (Wednesday),&#8221; said Paul Brace of Brace&#8217;s Orchard in the Back Mountain. &#8220;And we just made cider and made a sample batch of the cider doughnuts.&#8221;</p><p>Brace&#8217;s will bring to market three kinds of apples leftover from the last harvest &#8212; Cameo, Ida-Reds and Cortlands. &#8220;They&#8217;re not gassed and covered in wax, like the ones in a grocery store,&#8221; Brace said. &#8220;Just kept in cold storage.&#8221;</p><p>Along with vegetables, herbs and fruit from various farms throughout the region, visitors to Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Public Square will find other specialty items ranging from free-range eggs to baked goods.</p><p>While Quails R Us from Honesdale expects to be on hand with hormone-free, grass-fed meats, The Beekeepers Daughter from the Dallas area will bring a new crop of local honey along with beeswax candles, bee pollen, candy and honey sticks.</p><p>The honey sticks are quite popular with children, who don&#8217;t necessarily stir them into coffee or tea the way an adult might. &#8220;They pop them right open and suck them right down,&#8221; Hannah Burgess said.</p><p>Lest pets be forgotten, you can buy home-baked doggie treats at Jagger&#8217;s Doggie Deli stand.</p><p>As Melody Fuller, of Nescopeck, posted on the doggie deli&#8217;s Facebook Page, she endured &#8220;one hour of braving the pickers and thorns, gnats in the eyes, looking for snakes, and God help me, poison ivy &#8230; but I got a beautiful 2 pounds of raspberries to throw in the Very Berry Terriers, along with fresh blueberries and strawberries.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;This is going to be one loaded batch of cookies,&#8221; Fuller predicted.</p><p>The Farmers Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Thursday from June 30 to Nov. 17. Local bands will add to the festivities by providing musical entertainment on the band shell during the noon hour.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Joey Thompson replenishes the golden beets at Larry O&#8217;Malia&#8217;s stand at the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market last year. O&#8217;Malia expects to bring beets opening day on Thursday, along with lettuce, snap peas and other produce. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_farmers.market.omalia-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Joey Thompson replenishes the golden beets at Larry O&#8217;Malia&#8217;s stand at the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market last year. O&#8217;Malia expects to bring beets opening day on Thursday, along with lettuce, snap peas and other produce. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader File Photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_farmers_market04-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kim Lonsdale, of Wilkes-Barre, inspects a Greek basil herb plant at Golomb&#8217;s farm stand during a previous Farmers Market in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_farmers_market04-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Kim Lonsdale, of Wilkes-Barre, inspects a Greek basil herb plant at Golomb&#8217;s farm stand during a previous Farmers Market in Wilkes-Barre. </caption1><photoCredit1>Times Leader File Photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_farmers.market.doggie-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nina DeCosmo buys some dog treats from Melody Fuller at Jagger&#8217;s Doggie Deli at the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_farmers.market.doggie-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Nina DeCosmo buys some dog treats from Melody Fuller at Jagger&#8217;s Doggie Deli at the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market. </caption2><photoCredit2>Times Leader File Photo </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_farmers_market06-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Shoppers inspect the fresh flowers available during a previous Farmers Market in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_farmers_market06-2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Shoppers inspect the fresh flowers available during a previous Farmers Market in Wilkes-Barre. </caption3><photoCredit3>Times Leader File Photo </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market will open June 30</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

W-B Farmers Market to open with leaf lettuce, squash, berries, more