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Local Food Guide launch party ~ June 26

The second edition of the Bay Area Local Food Guide is almost here, and to celebrate, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers is bringing together farms, restaurants, vintners and food artisans from our region on Thursday, June 26, at Fort Mason for an evening of food and wine. To learn more about the event and see the list of participating businesses, visit www.buylocalca.org.
Click here to purchase tickets >

New lower parking rates nearby

Beginning June 21, there will be lower Saturday parking rates available at the Embarcadero Center (EC) lots across the street from the Ferry Building. The two lots, EC-4 and EC-3, will open at 7 am and cost $2 per hour the first two hours and $3 per hour after that with validation from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market (available at our Information Booth). Click here to download a map of all Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Parking options.

The entrance to EC-4, the closer of the two lots, is on Clay Street. From the Embarcadero, turn west onto Washington, left onto Drumm, then left on Clay into the garage. The entrance to EC-3 is on Drumm Street between Clay and Sacramento. From the Embarcadero, turn west onto Washington, left onto Drumm, then right into the garage.

Waste Wise tip of the week #4

Look for sellers that make waste-free shopping easy. Ask if packaging like jam jars, yogurt crocks, berry baskets, etc. can be returned for reuse or credit. Thank and acknowledge sellers for their waste-wise practices.

Saturday, June 14 ~ Market to Table

10:30 am - Farmhouse cooks
John Carlon of Sierra Cascade Blueberry Farm will talk about his farm and demonstrate one of his favorite blueberry recipes. John and his wife Armen purchased their farm in 1986, after John studied agriculture in college and farmed in Sudan. They decided to plant blueberries because they saw them as a sustainable crop that would provide an opportunity to develop a financially viable family farm... MORE >

11:15 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Chef Rebecca Courchesne of Frog Hollow Farm will demonstrate recipes using fruit grown by her husband, "Farmer Al." Al grew up in the Bay Area and graduated from UC Berkeley. After a ten-year career in Hawaii as a school teacher, a friend convinced him to become a farmer. After two years of growing lettuce and tomatoes, he decided to move back to California and try his hand at farming closer to home...MORE >

Tuesday, June 17 ~ Easy Market Meals

12:00, 12:30 and 1:00 pm - Seasonal cooking demonstrations
Amy Andrews of Amy's Food Room

Saturday, June 21 ~ Market to Table

10:30 am - Farmhouse cooks
Kimberly Sorenson of Triple Delight Blueberries will talk about her family farm and demonstrate recipes using blueberries grown on her own land. In 1997, Kimberly and her husband Mark decided to diversify their grape farm and try something new. They leased five acres from a friend and planted four varieties of blueberries as an experiment...MORE >

11:15 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Yigit Pura of Taste Catering

All programs take place in front of the Ferry Building on the north side.

As spring turns to summer, Ferry Plaza Farmers Market farms are getting busier and busier. Harvests of cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, summer squash, tomatoes, and corn have begun; eggplant, peppers, and melons will soon follow. This year, Massa Organics and Eatwell Farm are both gearing up for a new summer harvest: wheat. 

Massa Organics decided to grow wheat because it’s a great rotation crop with their primary crop, rice. They are transitioning a 40-acre field to organic and planted wheat to help break the weed cycle. The crop was ready to harvest when an unexpected disaster struck on Wednesday: a piece of burning debris flew off a truck on the adjacent highway and within minutes, fire scorched 20 acres of the dry field. (Above: Massa Organics' burned wheat field)

Greg Massa may be disappointed, but he is not defeated. “About half of our wheat crop is gone, and the electrical panels for two irrigation pumps burned up. But we are all just fine, and very grateful for that,” he wrote in an email. He will still harvest next week, and if the protein content of the wheat is high enough he plans to sell it to local bakeries, including Della Fattoria, and at the farmers’ market. Greg says he is hoping for 13 percent protein. As soon as harvest begins, he’ll take a sample of his crop to be analyzed. With luck, farmers’ market customers will be able to buy wheat berries (and maybe even flour) by the bag at the Massa Organics stall beginning in July.

Wrote Nigel Walker of Eatwell Farm on his blog last week, “When I found out last fall that up to 60% of our organic chicken feed was coming from China, I was a little upset… How could I call our eggs 'local' when the feed was coming from China!” Nigel’s quest for local chicken feed led him right back to his own farm. He leased a forty-acre plot adjacent to the land where he grows the many row crops, fruits, and lavender that the farm is known for, and hopes to harvest more than 80 tons of Expresso variety wheat in the next few days. (Above: Nigel stands in his wheat field)

What Nigel jokingly calls his foray into "real farming" has come with some unanticipated challenges. Writes Nigel, “Unfortunately for us, every farmer is growing wheat as the price is so high. California will grow some 20% more than normal this year. For us this has meant that there are no suitable storage facilities available for rent. We have had to build our own.” So, all for the sake of producing truly local eggs, Nigel installed three feed silos that will hold the 50 tons of wheat he expects his hens will need for one year. The rest of the harvest he'll sell to the commodity market (to quickly recoup some of the silo costs) as well as through his Community Supported Agriculture program and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Beginning in a few weeks, Eatwell Farm will offer wheat berries by the pound; the market stall will also house a cast-iron hand-grinder that customers can use to grind fresh flour themselves.

Check the Massa Organics and Eatwell Farm blogs for updates on their wheat harvests and other farm happenings:

http://massaorganics.blogspot.com/

http://eatwellfarm.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Greg plans to post a video of his harvest, and you can see a video of Nigel's silo installation on the Eatwell Farm YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=eatwellfarmcsa&p=r

This is the most up-to-date information about which sellers will and won't be attending the market as of Friday, when we send this letter. If there are no changes to a seller's status, they will not be listed. To find out which farmers regularly attend each market, click here. Please understand that there are often last-minute changes--it's the nature of farming!

Saturday, June 14

In/returning: Bernard Ranches, CandyCot Fruit Co., Happy Wraps, Honeycrisp Farms, Juniper Ridge (moving back next to Happy Girl), Sierra Cascade Blueberry Farm
Out: The Apple Farm

Tuesday, June 17

Out: Snyders Honey

Returning this month (weather willing): Nectarines, donut peaches, cucumbers, tayberries, ollalieberries, boysenberries, figs, cherry tomatoes, peppers, shelling beans, okra, haricots verts, hydrangeas, corn, tomatillos, new potatoes, wax beans

Plentiful: Cherries, peaches, strawberries, summer squash, raspberries, lettuces, basil, herbs, radishes, peas, onions, carrots, nopales, garlic, rhubarb, fennel, leeks, lilies, sweet williams, pastured eggs, arugula, apricots (will be winding down by the end of the month), blueberries (may be winding down by the end of the month)

Winding down/limited supply: Hothouse tomatoes, sweet pea flowers, artichokes, sugar snap peas

Farms that may be coming in this month (weather willing): Candy Cot, Sierra Cascade Blueberry Farm, Hunter Orchards, G&S Farms, Payne Family Farm, Glashoff Farms

Seasonal vendor items not to be missed: Brochettes and coiled sausages from Fatted Calf, apricot galettes from Downtown Bakery, rhubarb and blood orange conserve from June Taylor, arugula and parsley pesto from The Pasta Shop, prepared raw horseradish from Happy Girl Kitchen Co.

Recipes for June

Zucchini and Mint-Stuffed Squash Blossoms from Brian Streeter, Cakebread Cellars

Shaved Cucumber, Radish & Bottarga Salad with Zinfandel Vinaigrette from Chris Consentino, Incanto

Top Sirloin on Grilled Herb Slab with Almond Crème Fraîche, Greens and Spring Onion Jam from Stephen Gibbs, Hands On Gourmet

Rhubarb-Almond Bars from Aïda Mollenkamp, Food Editor, CHOW

Cocktail ~ Basil Gimlet from Greg Lindgren, Rye