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 >

 

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 Building's Port Commission Hearing Room. Reception to follow. Co-sponsored by SFGRO, Garden for the Environment and Book Passage.

Panel on the art of the butcher ~ March 5

The Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology (SAFE) presents a panel discussion highlighting the stark contrast between animals delivered from local slaughterhouses and plastic-wrapped grocery store steak. They will talk about the retail component of the local meat system and how this can change the relationships that chefs, home cooks, and diners have with their meat. Panelists include Ryan Farr (Ivy Elegance , CHEFS Program), Nate Appleman (A16 , Urbino), Melanie Eisemann (Avedano's), and Mark Pasternak (Devil's Gulch Ranch).  Following the discussion Ryan Farr will demonstrate how a whole carcass is broken down into cuts of meat. Event is at 7:00 on the UC Berkeley campus and it hosted in collaboration with Meatpaper. Learn more about this talk or SAFE's complete Meet Your Meat Series here >

 

Saturday, February 21 ~ Market to Table

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

Tuesday, February 24 ~ Food Wise Booth

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

Saturday, February 28 ~ Market to Table

10:15 Artisan talk and cooking demonstration
Taylor Boetticher, Fatted Calf Charcuterie

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Greg Budgell, The Blue Plate

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

For Norman Gunsell, landing a space at Ferry Plaza is a culmination of sorts. In fact, it’s a sure sign that the world might finally be paying attention to what he's believed for a very long time: that “the land is not just an economic opportunity but a lifestyle, and living and functioning harmoniously with the forces of nature is the key to good food.”

If you’ve been to the market recently, you may have noticed Norman and his wife Aimee. They make up the entire labor force behind Mountain Ranch Organically Grown and sell organic chickens, beef, schmaltz (chicken fat), and stock. They also offer a few prepared items, like tamales and soups made with their chicken, beef, corn and vegetables from their garden. 

Norman has been farming as sustainably as possible ever since his family moved from the suburban East Bay to the rural area of Mountain Ranch in Calaveras County (around 3 hours to the east) 42 years ago. When Norman graduated from high school he took over what was then his mom’s turkey farm and raised the birds free range (although the term wasn’t around then) on contract for a large corporation for over a decade. Then, in 1983, the company stopped buying.
 
“My operation was small and appeared to them to be backwards,” he recalls. So, Norman tried to strike out on his own and sell the birds as a specialty item. “It didn’t work economically because in the early '80s, people hadn’t tuned in to the importance of buying from small-scale organic producers and they weren’t willing to pay a premium price for my birds.”

Norman started doing odd jobs and continued growing a small amount of food to maintain the farm lifestyle. “It was like I had to wait ‘til society caught up,” he says.

Then, 15 years ago, Norman was introduced to Aimee through a mutual friend who knew they had similar goals. She moved out from Philadelphia to farm with Norman and the two began the process of getting to where they are today — selling their food to people who have finally "caught up."

“It's so exciting for us…to be in this position and still be young enough to be a part of this movement," he says. "Society is understanding that we need to be more deliberate in where we look for our food. People want something different; we’re ready to provide it."

Mountain Ranch Organically Grown raises flocks of 500 - 800 chickens at a time, around six weeks apart. They pasture the chickens during the day (they've recently started raising a variety called Freedom Ranger that is especially bred for the task) and feed them organic grain in a coop at night. They also raise around six cows at a time, and slaughter an average of two a year.

Finding a legal, organic processor that would take them on — since most meat processors have consolidated and contract mainly with industrial-sized farms — was an initial challenge for the couple. So they took a risk and raised a larger flock than they might have to begin with, just to reach the minimum numbers for an organic processor in Stockton, CA. “If we were any smaller, they wouldn’t be interested in us,” says Norman.

Now that Mountain Ranch is reaching a larger urban audience, the ranchers are seizing the opportunity to take their practices beyond what their organic certification requires. As a start, they’ve planted an experimental crop of barley and wheat — chicken feed — that they plan to grow without irrigation. 

“Instead of getting in our truck and driving to buy all our grain shipped from somewhere else," Norman says, "we might be able to produce it ourselves. We really like the idea of a closed-circle agricultural system.”

See a related article on Mountain Ranch Organically Grown’s wheat experiment here >  

Photos of the farm were taken by Normal Gunsell. Mountain Ranch Organically Grown will be in the market on Saturdays all year round.

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 21

In: Alive! Restaurant, Apple Farm, Core Elations, Noe Valley Bakery, Bernard Ranches
Out: Happy Quail Farms, Juniper Ridge

Tuesday, February 24

In: Bella Viva Orchards, McGinnis Ranch, Prather Ranch Meat Company, Spring Hill Jersey Cheese
Out: None

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).