Chefs Crenn and Kronner bring Iacopi produce to life ~ March 3

This March through August, two top chefs will collaborate with a local farmer each month to create an extraordinary meal benefiting CUESA. The series kicks off in just two weeks at Luce restaurant, where Dominique Crenn of Luce and Chris Kronner, formerly of Slow Club and Serpentine, will work with Louis Iacopi of Iacopi Farm. From there, the feast moves on to One Market, Picco, Spruce, Americano and Aziza. Buy tickets here >

 

Winter Farmers' Market Cocktail Night ~ February 18

For just $25, guests will imbibe 2 full-sized signature drinks, taste 12 seasonally inspired cocktails, and nibble on bites from local restaurants including Beretta, Conduit, Globe, Michael Mina and Zuppa. Guests are eligible to win prizes by casting a vote for their favorite drink. Bartenders include H. Joseph Ehrman of Elixir, Sierra Zimmei of Seasons Bar at The Four Seasons San Francisco, Greg Lindgren & Jon Gasparini of Rye and Rosewood Bar, and others. Event takes place in CUESA's kitchen, under the arches of the Ferry Building. Buy tickets or learn more here >

Food from the Heart ~ tonight and tomorrow

On Friday, stroll the Ferry Building's candlelit Nave, where the merchants and restaurateurs of the Marketplace will offer seasonal hors d'oeuvres and Napa Valley Vintners will pour wine from several wine bars. Proceeds benefit Slow Food SF. On Saturday, the Marketplace and the farmers' market will be brimming with heartfelt foods, farm fresh flowers and gift ideas. Valentine face painting & craft tables will be available for kids and those young at heart.

Hands-on artisanal cocktail class ~ February 21

Join author Scott Beattie and distiller Marko Karakasevic in CUESA's Dacor kitchen from 2 to 4 pm. Participants will make three citrus-based drinks (Meyer Beautiful, Pelo del Perro or "Hair of the Dog," and Bleeding Orange) and learn about small-batch distilling. Instruction also includes side recipes, garnish how-tos, foams, and rim sugars/salts. Drinks will feature Charbay spirits and fresh fruit from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Signed copied of Beattie's book, Artisanal Cocktails, will also be for sale.  The class is $25 per person, and all proceeds benefit CUESA. Learn more or buy tickets here >

Fresh Food from Small Spaces talk ~ March 4

How local can you grow? Perfect for urban residents who don’t have a big yard, RJ Ruppenthal’s new book Fresh Food from Small Spaces reveals how to harvest something delicious from any patio, balcony, rooftop, windowsill, or cabinet. A surprising variety of food can be grown in even the most cramped and paved of quarters—sprouts, mushrooms, ferments and cultures, vegetables, even berries and fruit trees! Admission is free. Event begins at 6:00pm on Wednesday, March 4, and takes place in the Ferry Builidng's Port Commission Hearing Room. Co-sponsored by SFGRO, Garden for the Environment and Book Passage.

Intro to rooftop gardening ~ tomorrow

Rooftop gardening is gaining attention as interest in green building and local food production grows. The farmers behind Graze the Roof, the new garden on the roof of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, are giving a workshop to introduce participants to various rooftop gardening techniques and their environmental benefits. Learn more here >

Seventh International Public Markets Conference ~ April 24-26

The Conference will showcase the vital role markets play in reconnecting local economies and communities. Registration is now open for this year's conference, which will be held in San Fransisco and will feature workshops, tours and networking opportunities for attendees from around the world. Learn more or register here >

Orange smiles

Photos were taken at the Orange Smiles photo booth during CUESA's Citrus Celebration on February 7. Clockwise from top left: Sharyl and Gerardo; Sarah, Pierre and Katie; photographers Barry Jan and Jennifer Tsan; and Ben and Zane.

Saturday, February 14 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
John Myers, Aquatic Culture

Tuesday, February 17 ~ Food Wise Booth

12 - 1 pm - Sarah Henkin, CUESA's market chef, will be giving out recipe cards and samples of simple meals made with market ingredients. She'll also be available to offer advice on all your seasonal meal planning.

Saturday, February 21 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Mark Caldwell, J Vineyards and Winery

All programs take place in CUESA's Dacor teaching kitchen, in front of the Ferry Building on the north side.

At CUESA, we're always interested in how the trends we're observing in farming compare with the national data. Now, thanks to the release of the 2007 Census of Agriculture, we have a whole new round of numbers to ponder. Here's what we've found most useful:

The middle is dropping out
The number of farms in the US has grown, overall, by four percent in the last five years. That increase, however, has been mainly in small farms and large, industrial-sized ones with sales over $500,000 a year. In fact, a tiny five percent of total farms, about 125,000 of them, now account for three quarters of all agricultural production. Meanwhile, mid-sized farms are becoming less and less common.

According to The Environmental Working Group's blog, Mulch, this data "helps support the notion that the flawed policy of federal farm subsidy payments, funded by taxpayers, is accelerating the consolidation of farms into the hands of bigger and wealthier operations." EMG continues:

The fact that the numbers of small farms are increasing is good news, despite a huge inequity percentage-wise in federal support compared to large commodity farmers. Imagine the difference real support could mean for the organic and localvore movements.

The mainstream press has been quick to pick up on the USDA's term "lifestyle farm" to refer to the growing number of farms with sales between $1,000 and $250,000 where the operator makes his/her primary living outside the farm. But the census doesn't delineate between people who simply enjoy the rural lifestyle and those whose farms would be in full production if the owners felt it were possible to make a living doing so. Considering the fact that over 80 percent of the small farms (10-49 acres) reporting made less than $10,000, it's possible that a fair portion of these "lifestylers" might prefer to stay home and farm if they could.

Jill Richardson breaks down the numbers a little further on her blog La Vida Locavore >

Sustainable practices continued to grow
Organic food sales skyrocketed in 2007, to $1.7 billion in 2007 from the $390 million in sales that were reported at the time of the last census. It only makes sense, then, that the number of organic farms also rose significantly —from 12,000 to over 18,000 in just five years.

Along with the rise in organics, the nation also saw growth in direct sales of food by farmers — meaning a likely rise in the numbers of eaters accessing local food. Some 12,500 farms now market their crops through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. In addition, the census found that sales at farm stands and farmers' markets rose a full 49 percent. Also on the sustainability front: over 23,000 farms now report generating some portion of their own energy.

Farms are becoming more diverse
There were 30 percent more women working as farm operators in 2007 than in 2002. The number of Latino operators grew by 10 percent; the numbers of American Indian and Black farm operators also went up, and the number of Asian farmers (although still relatively small) nearly quadrupled in this period.

The age of the average farmer is still going up
The average farmer's age is now 57 years, up from 55 in 2002 and 50 in 1978. In the past five years there has also been a 30 percent decrease in the number of farmers under age 25.

Vilsack is taking note
Our new Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, said he will be directing his team at the USDA to "review the Census and propose ambitious, measurable goals to make sure that the People's Department is hard at work for all the people — our diverse customers and the full diversity of agriculture." The best way to do that, say some pundits, is to appoint a sustainability-minded undersecretary like Chuck Hassebrook, the director of Nebraska's Center for Rural Affairs, or any of the other 11 people on the Food Democracy Now!'s Sustainable Dozen list.

See PDFs of the farm numbers, farm demographics, or economics census fact sheets to go deeper into the census data.

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, February 14

In: Bernard Ranches
out: Alive! Restaurant, Apple Farm, Core Elations, Olsen Organics (out for the season)

Tuesday, February 17

No changes

Returning, plentiful and/or at their peak this month:
Asparagus, avocados, hot house tomatoes, ranunculus, plant starts, root vegetables, green garlic, cippolini onions, nettles, braising greens, chicories, broccoli, carrots, tulips, narcissus, mushrooms, Meyer lemons, fresh herbs, leeks, grapefruit, kumquats, fennel, flowering branches, Brussels sprouts, oranges

Winding down/limited supply:
Apples and pears (only available from cold storage), some citrus varieties including pomelos and clementines, winter squash, kiwis, persimmons

Vendor and value-added farm products not to be missed (weather willing): Meyer lemon and rosemary campagne from Della Fattoria, coastal sage soap from Juniper Ridge, dried Thai basil from Allstar Organics, quark from Spring Hill Cheese

Featured recipes for February:

Leek and Rapini Fritters from Angelo Garro with Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson, The Kitchen Sisters, authors of Hidden Kitchens.

Grilled Radicchio Salad with Pink Grapefruit, Pink Peppercorns and Garlic-Tarragon “Ranch” Dressing from Eric Tucker of Millennium Restaurant.

Nettle Gnocchi from Christophe Hille, formerly of A16 Restaurant

Hearty Brown Rice, Butternut Squash, and Kale Soup from CUESA's market chef, Sarah Henkin (prepared for the Food Wise Booth on Jan 20, 2009).