Help us Gather Data for New Sustainability Initiatives

As the year begins, we're planning new ways to help our market sellers become more sustainable. CUESA seeks corporate sponsorship or pro bono services to help us develop an online data collection and sustainability self-assessment tool for our sellers. Converting our annual paper-based application system to an online tool will enable CUESA to quickly tabulate, analyze, and track this data over time. This information will also help us expand the seasonal foods section of our website and share better, more accurate statistics about our market. To learn more, or discuss how you or your company can help, please email CUESA's Executive Director Dave Stockdale.    

Nextcourse Kids Cooking Class Series ~ Starts January 23

Nextcourse, a nonprofit that aims to improve the health of San Francisco communities by inspiring people to purchase, cook, and eat locally-produced foods, introduces two new series of classes just for kids. Talented culinary instructors will teach these hands-on Kidscourse classes at the professional kitchen of Traci Higgins, chef/owner of Lilah Belle's. Proceeds from the classes will directly support Nextcourse's nutrition education and leadership development work with youth in low-income communities.

Kitchen Table Talks: Urban Homesteading ~ January 19

This monthly conversation series about the American food system takes on urban homesteading. Homesteaders Kevin Bayuk of the Urban Permaculture Institute, Heidi Kooy of Itty Bitty Farm in the City, and Davin Wentworth-Thrasher of the Ecology Center of San Francisco will share their experiences, insights, and ideas. Join the conversation at KTT’s new, permanent location: Viracocha, 998 Valencia Street, in the Mission. RSVP required. Email ktt@civileats.com to reserve your seat or leave a message at 925.785.0713. Read more >

Hidden Star Orchards on Local TV ~ January 11

Hidden Star's Johann Smit will make an appearance on a TV series called Business With Passion. The show will air on Marin Comcast Channel 26 this coming Monday at 8pm. Or you can watch it online here >

Marmalade Classes with June Taylor ~ January 16 and 31

Join June for an intimate, day-long, hands-on session focused on the principles and processes of marmalade making and the experiential nature of preserving fruit. Topics include: evaluation and selection of fruit, stages of preparation, making natural pectin from the fruit, and cooking and jarring marmalade. The class is limited to 12 students and includes a tasting and a jar of marmalade you'll make in class. Learn more >

Mark Twain was wrong. Some of the coldest winters are actually winters in San Francisco, and this has been a mean one. The silver lining? Local tulips.

These hearty, elegant flowers start appearing in the market by mid-January and last through March or April, depending on the temperature. “Tulips don’t like hot weather,” says Howard McGinnis of McGinnis Ranch, who tries to extend the growing season until Easter if he can (next he year plans to install hoop houses).

Howard generally plants around 100,000 bulbs a year on five acres — roughly one third of his 16-acre farm. He’s grown tulips, along with a few other flower varieties, such as anemones and ranunculus, for almost as long as he’s been farming — about two decades. While flowers demand a little more attention than most vegetables, he says, they really make the trip to the Ferry Plaza worth it this time of year. “We only have a few other things to sell right now,” he says. “Just winter squash and some carrots. Tulips get us through the winter.”

Josh Thomas of Thomas Farm grows tulips for similar reasons. “It really helps us keep our employees here all year,” he says. Before they had a solid winter flower crop, their four full-time workers had to find other farm work for three months a year. This year, all four will have plenty of work on the farm through the winter. “It really makes a difference for them," adds Josh. “I can tell that they’re less stressed.”

Thomas Farm is an organic operation, and Josh and his wife Kari see no reason why the flowers shouldn’t be grown the same way. “Organic flowers are still getting a foothold,” he says. “People can’t quite wrap their brain around why it’s important to spare the ground and the air all those pesticides, regardless of whether it’s for something you’ll put in your mouth.”

Tulips are notoriously long lasting, and can be sold several days after harvest. Unlike other varieties, the unsold bunches are not likely to end up in the compost heap at the end of the market day. Many growers use greenhouses, says Josh, meaning their tulips go from bulb to bloom in just about three weeks. “It takes us more like 60 or 70 days outside. But what we get is this big, strong-stemmed tulip that has slowly developed in a cool climate. It has gathered so many nutrients from the soil, that — once it’s in a vase — it grows to be easily four times as big. And six inches taller.”

Tulip bulbs must be replanted every year and it’s not quite cold enough to raise them in Northern California, says Howard. He buys his from Holland, where the perfect climate makes bulbs that create remarkable flowers. Josh also ordered his bulbs from Holland this year. In an effort to source them from closer to home, he has, in the past, planted some from Washington State. “The quality’s not quite as good," he says. "But I might try again in the years ahead,” he says.

Relying on Danish bulbs means pricing based on the Euro, so this year both farms made a bigger investment than usual. At Thomas Farm, they nearly doubled the number they planted last year to make them worth growing without raising the selling price. But, says Kari, they always lose some to gophers, other pests, or disease. Even though the farm gets about 80 cents a stem, she adds, "growing organics tulips is always a gamble.”

Both White Crane Springs Ranch and Cypress Flower Farm will also have tulips at the market over the next few months.

This is the most up-to-date information about which sellers will be attending the market as of Friday. If there are no changes to a seller's status, they will not be listed. You'll find a list of which farmers regularly attend each market here. Please understand that there are often last-minute changes—it's the nature of farming!

Saturday, January 9

Returning: Alive Restaurant, Andante Dairy, Bella Viva Orchards, Blossom Bluff Orchards, Core Elations, Downtown Bakery, Flatland Flower Farm, Happy Quail Farms, Juniper Ridge, McGinnis Ranch, Redwood Hill Farm
Out: Critical Edge Knife Sharpening, Knoll Farms, Chan Nursery, Ridgecut Gristmill

Tuesday, January 12

Returning: Bella Viva Orchards

Thursday, December 14

No changes

Returning and plentiful this month (weather willing):
Grapefruit, root vegetables, chicories, cruciferous vegetables, kumquats, lettuces, Asian greens, fennel, cabbages, nettles, sunchokes, pea sprouts, green garlic, blood oranges, collard greens, cherimoyas, tulips, flowering branches, winter squash, onions, spinach, Meyer lemons, radishes

Winding down/limited supply:
Potatoes, eggs, Brussels sprouts, avocados (apples and pears are also available in limited quantities from cold storage this time of year)

Farms returning this month:
Brokaw Nursery

Vendor and value-added items not to be missed:
Dried tomatoes from Everything Under the Sun, hot pepper flakes from Allstar Organics, Meyer lemon yogurt from St. Benoit Yogurt

Featured recipes for December

Green Garlic Soup from Erica Holland-Toll, formerly of Lark Creek Inn

Capunet- Piemontese Cabbage Rolls from Staffan Terje of Perbacco (December 13, 2008)

French Toast with Lemon-Ricotta Filling and Fresh Citrus Compote from Thy Tran