Photo: Tomatoes at their peak. 

The best time of the year to enjoy ripe tomatoes is now. Market Day in Belmont this Thursday, Aug. 27, features late August harvest that includes blueberries, cantaloupe, corn, eggplants, peaches, peas, peppers, raspberries, summer squash, watermelon and many variations of tomatoes. 

This week’s tasting is by Yum Bunnies Cakery. Located at 241 Belmont St., Yum Bunnies offers custom cakes and cupcakes: You choose your cake flavor and filling. Voted “BEST Birthday Cakes” for two years running by the Boston AList, the cakery reminds you to “Eat your cake & have it be cute too!” 

• 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Tasting by Yum Bunnies Cakery
• 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.: Belmont Public “Pop-up” Library
• 4 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.: Storytime by the Library
• 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Music by the Sandy Ridge Boys

Photo: Knives under the stone.

There will be songs from a far-off land, a Thai tasting and the opportunity to sharpen your culinary equipment this week at the Belmont Farmers Market today, Thursday, Aug. 20.

Siraco Knife Sharpening will be in the Belmont Center parking lot, sharpening your knives, scissors, and garden tools while you shop.

Belmont’s Solomon Murungu will share the history of the mbira and demonstrate how to play this unique instrument made of wood with staggered metal keys. Visitors are encouraged to join in and try the various mbira instruments on display.

• 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Music by Solomon Murungu
• 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.: Belmont Public “Pop-up” Library
• 4 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.: Storytime by the Library
• 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Tasting by Patou Thai

In the Belmont Center Parking Lot:
Siraco Knife Sharpening

• 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Belmont clay and glass art studio Indigo Fire will demonstrate clay work techniques.
• 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Story time. The Belmont Public Library is back for their weekly story time with stories and songs about farms and food.
• 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Kids cooking magazine ChopChop will be leading fun, food-related activities for kids, as well as giving away seed packets and copies of the magazine.

Photo: Early in the season. 

The Belmont Farmers Market is open Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The market is located in the Belmont Center Municipal Parking Lot at the intersection of Cross Street and Channing Road

At the market today, Thursday, July 9:

Weekly vendors: C & C Lobster & Fish, Gaouette Farm, Mamadou’s Artisan Bakery, Dick’s Market Garden, Fior d’Italia, Stillman Quality Meats, Boston Smoked Fish Co., Goodies Homemade, Sfolia Baking Company, Hutchins Farm, Kimball Fruit Farm, Foxboro Cheese Co., Flats Mentor Farm, Nicewicz Family Farm, Westport Rivers Winery

Guest vendors: Carr’s Ciderhouse, Seta’s Mediterranean Food, Spindler Confections, Soluna Garden Farm.

Food Truck: 
Jamaica Mi Hungry.

Performances in the Events Tent
• 4 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.: Storytime, sponsored by the library
• 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.: Sara Fard, music educator and local performer
• 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Arlington Philharmonic Chamber Players

Tastings in the Events Tent:  Savinos Grill, in Cushing Square, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Belmont Food Pantry:
 The Farmers Market collects non-perishables to help those who use the Belmont Food Pantry. Please bring something to the manager’s tent.

Traffic: Belmont Center construction will affect traffic, but the Market is open.

Photo: Sophia Ries, 5, rings the Market Bell as the Belmont Farmers Market starts its 10th season on Thursday, June 11, 2015.

The weather in Belmont Center on Thursday, June 11 – hot, hazy sun with temperatures nearing the 90s – was more suitable for a midsummer afternoon in the tropics than your typical late spring day in New England.

But it wasn’t just mad dogs and Englishmen willing to go out in yesterday’s midday sun. Dozens of Belmont residents flocked to the Claflin Street municipal parking lot where a small encampment of vendors welcomed the opening day of the 2015 Belmont Farmers Market.

To officially mark the market’s 10th year, Heli Tomford, founding president of the Belmont Farmers Market, joined the market’s Tomato mascot – this year, it was Sophia Ries, granddaughter of one of the market manager, who showed four fingers and a thumb when asked how old she was – for the ribbon cutting and the ringing of the Market bell. 

With a “snip” of the big scissors and a wonderful fanfare by trumpeter Ned Searls, Belmont’s weekly market opened for the season that runs until the last week of October. The market is open Thursdays, rain or shine, from 2 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.

This year’s collection of vendors is a mix of the reliable favorites – such as Kimbell Fruit Farm,  Fior D’Italia and Mamadou’s Artisan Bakery – and new businesses including Fille de Ferme and Carr’s Ciderhouse, as well as Belmont-based providers such as Goodies Homemade, Leslie Wolf Baking, Seta’s Cafe, Sfolia Baking Company, Toltec Coffee and the Underwood Greenhouses. 

Each week brings a slew of new entertainment, from musicians, artists, story tellers, as well as one of the market’s favorites, the talented young magician, Ryan Landry. 

Speaking of the market’s success – with an ever growing number of vendors and customers – Tomford said a great deal has to do with “the change in our public mindset on what we eat.”

With young people and families more conscious of what they feed themselves, there is now a preference for locally grown or made produce and staples, she said. 

Tomford – who recently returned from teaching English at a Buddhist monastery in Myanmar (formerly Burma) – compares eating well to owning a high-performance vehicle. “We have this wonderful machine, your body, but you will not get the best performance if you fill the tank up with regular gas. You need to use the [premium] kind.”

Tomford noted that the market is run through the Belmont Food Collaborative, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization created to promote good health through access to fresh and local food. 

“The market is not just for the benefit of our vendors and ourselves, but to benefit the greater community,” she said, pointing to the market’s acceptance of SNAP benefits up to an extra $25 per Market day.

“Everyone should have access to good food,” said Tomford.

The Belmont Farmers Market bids adieu to its ninth season as it holds its final market day today, Thursday, Oct. 30.

Come down and say goodbye to your favorite vendors. Stock up for the winter. Stop by the Manager’s Tent for a free apple and fill out an survey card: Tell the organizers what you like about the Market, write a note for a vendor and say what changes you’d like to see at the market next season.

The Belmont Farmers Market is located in the Belmont Center parking lot at Cross Street at Channing Road.

The market is open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

This week’s guest vendors include Sugar + Grain, Fille de Ferme, The Amazing Smokehouse and Seasoned and Spiced. Find all the weekly vendors here.  

Siraco Sharpening Service returns for a final visit. If you’re going to be cooking or carving pumpkins, you’ll want sharp knives! And you can put your gardening tools away sharp for next year. But, please, don’t bring lawnmowers. For big items, go to Siraco’s drop off sites which includes the quilt shop on Brighton Street.

The food truck is Benny’s Crepe Cafe.

IN THE EVENTS TENT

• 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Face Painting with Amber Espar.

• 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Story time thanks to the Children’s Room of the Belmont Public Library.

• 4:30 p.m to 5:45 p.m.: Joe Zarro, Belmont resident and pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church, will be singing and playing the guitar.

Help the Belmont Food Pantry by bringing non-perishable items each week. Find out about the Belmont Food Pantry, and see how the Market supports it.

It may be the second straight week in which it’s raining on Thursday but that will not stop the vendors and staff of the Belmont Farmers Market from showing up for the penultimate Market Day of the 2014 season.

The Belmont Farmers Market is open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Belmont Center municipal parking lot at the corner of Cross and Channing.

It might be late October, but there is plenty that’s “in season” at the market today: acorn squash, amaranth, apples, broccoli, carrots, chard, collards, cucumbers, delicata squash, eggplant, garlic, kale, onions, parsley, peppers, potatoes, pumpkin greens, radishes, scallions, summer squash and turnips.

While rain is on the way, the Belmont Farmers Market will take place today, Thursday, Oct. 16 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Belmont Center municipal parking lot at the corner of Cross Street and Channing Road.

The fall harvest is under way with apples. pears and root vegetables in abundance.

Guest vendors today are Westport Rivers Winery, DC Farm Maple Syrup, Sugar + Grain, Underwood Greenhouse, Seasoned and Spiced, joining the weekly vendors.

There will be no food truck this week.

In the Events Tent

• Face painting for kids and adults with Belmont resident Amber Espar from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

• Storytime in the Events Tent
 will tales about food & farms, for preschool and older children, 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• The Hoot Owls return to play old time string band music, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.