Farm Bill action alert!

2007 farm bill deliberations are beginning, and in the next week or so, one of the most important aspects of the bill will be fleshed out: the amount of money in the bill's budget. The house and senate budget committees have both put forth their proposals for farm bill spending levels, but more money is needed to fund important programs. Click here to act >

Saturday, March 17 ~ Market to Table events

10:30 am - Meet the farmer
Maria Catalan of Catalan Farms

11:00 am - Cooking demonstration & book signing
Ann Cooper, Renegade Lunch Lady and author of Lunch Lessons
* Books for sale courtesy of Book Passage

Saturday, March 24 ~ Market to Table events

10:30 am - Meet the farmer
Roscoe Zuckerman of Zuckerman's Farm

11:00 am - Cooking demonstration & book signing
Charles Vollmar of Epicurean Exchange

All events take place in our Dacor teaching kitchen in the arcade north of the Ferry Building's clock tower.

Gary Paul Nabhan, Ph.D., is a writer, lecturer, and conservation scientist. He is the director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University and a champion of local foods and regional food traditions. Today, we share with you his poem about eating in place. Dr. Nabhan's concept of local eating is not just about where our food is grown, but also about choosing foods that have origins and traditions in the region. Enjoy!

A Terroir-ist’s Manifesto for Eating in Place

Know where your food has come from
through knowing those who produced it for you,
from farmer to forager, rancher or fisher
to earthworms building a deeper, richer soil,
to the heirloom vegetable, the nitrogen-fixing legume,
the pollinator, the heritage breed of livestock,
& the sourdough culture rising in your flour.

Know where your food has come from
by the very way it tastes:
its freshness telling you
how far it may have traveled,
the hint of mint in the cheese
suggesting what the goat has eaten,
the terroir of the wine
reminding you of the lime
in the stone you stand upon,
so that you can stand up for the land
that has offered it to you.

Know where your food has come from
by ascertaining the health & wealth
of those who picked & processed it,
by the fertility of the soil that is left
in the patch where it once grew,
by the traces of pesticides
found in the birds & the bees there.
Know whether the bays & shoals
where your shrimp & fish once swam
were left richer or poorer than before
you & your kin ate from them.

Know where your food comes from
by the richness of stories told around the table
recalling all that was harvested nearby
during the years that came before you,
when your predecessors & ancestors,
roamed the same woods & neighborhoods
where you & yours now roam.
Know them by the songs sung to praise them,
by the handmade tools kept to harvest them,
by the rites & feasts held to celebrate them,
by the laughter let loose to show them our affection.

Know where your foods come from
by the patience displayed while putting them up,
while peeling, skinning, coring or gutting them,
while pit-roasting, poaching or fermenting them,
while canning, salting or smoking them,
while arranging them on a plate for our eyes to behold.
Know where your food comes from
by the slow savoring of each and every morsel,
by letting their fragrances lodge in your memory
reminding you of just exactly where you were the very day
that you became blessed by each of their distinctive flavors.

When you know where your food comes from
you can give something back to those lands & waters,
that rural culture, that migrant harvester,
curer, smoker, poacher, roaster or vintner.
You can give something back to that soil,
something fecund & fleeting like compost
or something lasting & legal like protection.
We, as humans, have not been given
roots as obvious as those of plants.
The surest way we have to lodge ourselves
within this blessed earth is by knowing
where our food comes from.

Gary Paul Nabhan, January 2007
On behalf of Renewing America’s Food Traditions

Next week's newsletter will be about the place-based foods of our region: the San Francisco Bay Area. See you at the market!

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. Please understand that there are often last minute changes--it's the nature of farming!

Note

While some of our farmers come and go throughout the seasons, many others are here year-round. To find out who is attending the markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays throughout the season, be sure to check the CUESA website where you will find a complete list of the growers in the market right now.

Saturday, March 17

In/Returning: Critical Edge Knife Sharpening
Out: Mariquita Farm, The Apple Farm, Bernard Ranches

Tuesday, March 20

In/Returning: Snyders Honey, Critical Edge Knife Sharpening