Tantalizing Market Tapas classes ~ Wednesdays, April 1 - May 27

CUESA, Dacor, and Parties That Cook present a series of hands-on cooking classes in our teaching kitchen. The two-hour classes will focus on tapas with a California and international flair. They will take place on five Wednesday nights this spring (April 1, April 15, April 29, May 6, and May 27). Classes are $45/person including 2 glasses of BR Cohn wine. Recipes include: Fava Bean and Sweet Pea Hummus, Crostini of Roasted Asparagus Prosciutto and Teleme Cheese, and Shiitake-Scallion Potstickers with Sake Dipping Sauce. Preview the menus for all 5 classes and register here >

Market chef at Bloomingdales ~ March 14

Interested in getting a little mall time after the market? CUESA's market chef, Sarah Henkin, will be demonstrating two recipes utilizing spring vegetables in Bloomingdales' first floor kitchen department in the Westfield Centre on Saturday, March 14, at 2:00 pm.

On fighting GMOs and being applauded for it (in Europe)

Greg Massa of Massa Organics wrote an inspiring entry for Ethicurean this week about his involvement in a recent campaign to block biopharmaceutical testing in California rice. Greg recently traveled to Germany to give a presentation about his experience and after being "alternately ignored, threatened with lawsuits, and bullied" here in the States, he describes his surprise when people in small rural towns turned out in droves and treated him like a rock star.

Food and Farming on the Urban Edge panel ~ March 24

Slow Food Marin-Petaluma and the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) present "Food and Farming on the Urban Edge," a panel discussion about investing in the San Francisco Bay Area's local foodshed. The free event is at Cavallo Point in Sausalito and requires pre-registration with MALT >

Saturday, March 7 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Mark May, Executive Chef at The Lone Eagle in Lake Tahoe

12:00 pm - Discussion, olive oil tasting and book signing
Pamela Sheldon Johns owns a farm in Italy where she makes her own olive oil and teaches cooking classes. She is also the author of 50 Great Appetizers.

Tuesday, March 10 ~ 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, March 14 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Mark Ayres, Highlands Inn and Hyatt Regency Monterey Resort and Spa

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

For the last two years Victor Martino of Bella Viva Orchards has trekked up into his local slice of the Sierras on the last day of February to gather data for a state-wide survey of the snow pack. Last year, the group measured the snow at 30 inches deep, a  number that, when combined with the data from 150+ other locations, allowed California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) to announce what appeared to be good news. The snow pack was at 114% the normal level and things were looking good for farmers.

Then the rain stopped.  The state had one of the driest springs on record, followed by a dry fall and early winter and by the time this January rolled around, Californians began preparing for the cumulative effect of three years of drought.

Since then, the state has seen over four weeks of moderate but consistent rain, meaning that when Martino’s group went back to measure the snow and found the snow pack was at just around 20 inches — or around 80% normal, as the survey average revealed — he was allowing himself some measured optimism.

“For this year, we’re going to survive,” Martino says of his own stone fruit farm. And despite Governor Schwarzenegger’s recent declaration of a state of emergency, the farmer is still hoping for a rebound. “If it really rains in March and April, we’ll thrive. So the whole thing isn’t over yet. The next 45-60 days will tell us whether it’s going to be okay or whether we're in severe drought.”

Snow packs are important because water is traditionally “stored” throughout the winter and spring as snow; that snow then fills creeks and rivers as it melts. As the state’s climate warms, however, the snow has also been melting faster and earlier, making the snow pack a less reliable predictor of year-round water availability. One indicator experts use to measure overall water levels is the state's reservoirs, which are currently only at around 71% of normal. In the press release DWR released after last week’s survey, they stated: “On the heels of two critically dry years it is unlikely we will make up the deficit and be able to refill our reservoirs before winter’s end.”

For many farmers, this winter has been a roller coaster, and this last wet month has felt like a slow rise after a long, sharp drop.

Jesse Kuhn from Marin Roots Farm lost three crops this winter because of a dearth of early rain.  In January, the two ponds on his land were close to empty and he was planning to grow as much as possible in spring to use up his water early (he figured that holding it would mean losing more to evaporation) and then experiment with dry-farming. Now, Kuhn says his ponds have filled up considerably and he “won’t have to look for a new career for now."

Warren Weber of Star Route Farm is also feeling some relief. It was looking like his Bolinas farm was going to be subject to extreme water rationing, when the county’s emergency reservoirs came dangerously close to disappearing.  But says Weber, the local creek has gone back up in recent weeks. “We were thinking we’d have to reduce the size of our acreage,” he adds. “But now we’re less concerned.”

Weber still has his eyes on the big picture. Like many farmers, he is thinking about ways to store what little rain does come down. Along with a small group of farmers who share his small watershed, Webber hopes to build ponds off a nearby stream to capture water in spring, therefore bolstering his summer growing season.

Allstar Organics’ Janet Brown also has her eye on the future. Their farm has two locations – one in Nicasio which has its own well and another in Lagunitas which relies on city water. She says that Marin Organic, the non-profit that supports Brown and other farmers in Marin, is working with their Municipal Water District to ensure that food production remains a priority, even if (or, more likely, when) water rationing occurs in Marin. 

Used to the ups and down of farming, Brown and her partner Marty Jacobson are using drip irrigation and applying “tons of compost and mulch” —  i.e. “whatever we can” to help the soil retain moisture. And they’re keeping their fingers crossed. “Right now we have water…that’s what we know,” she says.

The Central Valley, where many large farms have been hit the hardest this year, bureaucratic irrigation districts and regulated reservoirs mean that farms have less direct control over their access to water.

Ginger Balakian of Balakian Farms says the biggest shift she’s seen is the loss of access to “ditch water,” municipally sanctioned water that is delivered via drainage ditches. The Balakians now have to pump all their water from a well, which means a lot more electricity and more cost. But unlike many Central Valley farms that are scaling back production because of drought, Balakian Farms will plant a standard number of row crops this year. Despite the increased cost, Balakian says she can’t imagine charging more for her produce, as the news of families hit hard by the flagging economy worsens daily. “On top of water costs, our labor cost has gone up…but the economy is so bad so I really don’t know what’s going to happen,” she says. “I’ll put it this way: it’s a gamble.”

Related articles:

• The Christian Science Monitor: "We can’t conserve our way out of this."
  
• The LA Times: Those who want to weaken environmental regulations invoke the drought like a mantra.
• Michael Dimock and Richard Rominger say: The drought is an opportunity for the state to get our climate change act together. Before things get any worse.

Image above taken from US Drought Monitor March 3, 2009

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, March 7

In/Returning : Apple Farm, Cap'n Mike's lox sandwich booth, Critical Edge Knife Sharpening, Glashoff Farms, Hog Island Oyster Company, June Taylor Company, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company
Out: Rain, Redwood Hill Farm

Tuesday, March 3

In/Returning: Alive Restaurant, Bella Viva Orchards, Prather Ranch Meat Company, Spring Hill Jersey Cheese Company

Returning, plentiful and/or at their peak this month:
Pea greens, raw olives, English peas, lilacs, fava beans, hyacinth, parrot tulips, rhubarb, spinach, asparagus, avocados, green garlic, spring onions, kumquats, nettles, broccoli, rapini greens, artichokes, baby turnips, carrots, fresh goat cheeses, pastured goat, eggs, plant starts

Winding down/limited supply:
Kiwi, Brussels sprouts, cherimoyas, shallots, lamb, potatoes, some citrus varieties, including Cara Cara oranges, Satsumas, and Fukumotos

Vendor and value-added farm products not to be missed (weather willing): San Francisco Lox Sandwiches (TM) from Cap'n Mike's, celery salt from Allstar Organics, and organic chicken stock from Mountain Ranch Organically Grown.

New farm this month: Rainbow Mountain Orchards will be joining the Saturday market on March 14th with an array of Japanese maples.

Featured recipes for March:

Shaved Asparagus with Smoked Trout and Pistachios from Rick DeBeaord of Café Rouge

Chilled English Pea Soup from local chef Leif Hedendal

Chicken with Arugula, Artichokes and Natural Pan Juice from Keith Hammerich of City College San Francisco

Rhubarb-Almond Bars from Aïda Mollenkamp, food editor at CHOW