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 >

The Grilled Cheese Tour ~ April 23

On a Thursday from 1 - 8:00 pm, America's favorite comfort food goes sustainable. Travel to Petaluma with CUESA for a behind-the-scenes tour of two beloved Ferry Plaza Farmers Market vendor operations: Cowgirl Creamery and Della Fattoria bakery. The bus tour is only $25.00 and includes a fresh-baked cheese sandwich. Buy tickets here >

Renewing America’s Food Traditions: an evening with Gary Nabhan and Ashley Rood ~ April 29

Gary Paul Nabhan, writer, food and farming advocate, rural lifeways folklorist, and conservationist, may be best known for his pioneering Southwestern locavore experiment described in Coming Home to Eat. His new book is a journey across our continent’s 13 distinct "food nations" that details endangered foods and brings them to life with cultural histories, folk traditions, and recipes. Nabhan will speak in the Ferry Building's in the Port Commission Hearing Room and will be joined by local sustainable agriculture advocate Ashley Rood. The event is $10 and will run 6 to 8:30 pm. Learn more or buy a ticket >

Get with the times: start a victory garden!

If you'd like to follow Michelle Obama's lead and get some things growing in your yard, take a look at this list of gardening classes from the Chez Panisse Foundation's Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley or this one from San Francisco's Garden for the Environment.

Thanks to First National Bank of Northern California!

We realize this is a difficult time for most businesses to offer sponsorship opportunities. That's why we want to extend a special thanks to First National Bank of Northern California for renewing their sponsorship of CUESA's farm tours. Thanks to First National we're helping urban dwellers learn more about where their food comes from and how it's made, for the good of the environment, the community and for small, sustainable food producers.

 

Saturday, March 21 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Jamie Lauren, Absinthe and Top Chef

11:45 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Chef Stephanie Suzanne Brendle, RD, Café Gratitude

Tuesday, March 17 ~ 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 28 ~ Hoof-a-Palooza

1 am - 1 pm - Learn about goat breeds and cheeses

11 am -1 pm - CUESA will be serving goat tacos featuring pasture raised Marin Sun Farms meat ($1 donation)

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Louis Maldonado, Café Majestic (will prepare a goat-centered dish)

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

There are no full time employees behind Rainbow Mountain Farms, the tree farm that made its debut at last week’s Saturday market. Tommy Clifford is an attorney, his brother Jake is a firefighter and their father Sars is a landscape designer. But to say that farming is a hobby for the Clifford family might not be accurate either.

The farm is 20 miles outside of Chico, in an area called Butte Creek. It’s on the same land the Cliffords lived on and grew much of their own food on when the boys and their sister Lindsay were growing up. So, the decision to make a go at farming and selling Japanese maples a few years back wasn’t much of a departure.  Today, the farm is an expression of the family’s intrinsic tie to the land they come from and a fascination with a unique type of tree.

“We all just fell in love with Japanese maples,” says Tommy. The Cliffords began working with 5 cultivars (each one bred for special characteristics, such as color, height and leaf type) and now they’re nearing 15. Growing the trees in Chico (a not-so-mild climate with very hot summers), Tommy adds, has illustrated how versatile the maples are. “People say they look delicate, but they are also pretty rugged,” he says.

Trees may not seem like an immediate fit in an urban farmers' market, but most of the maples Rainbow Mountain Farms will be offering are in one- or two-gallon pots, meaning they’re not any heavier than a shopping bag filled with produce. The trees are generally between 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch wide at the trunk. A tree’s “caliper,” says Tommy tells a shopper more about the true maturity of the tree than its height, since many of the trees are dwarf cultivars.

Rainbow Mountain grows all the trees in pots, so they can control the soil and water. That also means the maples do well in small spaces. “The Bay Area is a great climate for these trees,” Tommy adds. “Japanese maples generally like filtered light, and there’s a lot of that here. You could even put one on an balcony that gets afternoon sun, because there’s so much fog.”  

The Cliffords’ land has never been certified organic, but the family hasn’t used pesticides, either. The land has a well at the top of it, and benefits from gravity when it comes to irrigation. Water is one of the biggest challenges Tommy expects in the coming years; the farm drip irrigation helps them conserve. They also use mulch and weed cloth in the nursery areas and plan to get all their energy (for back-up water pumping, for instance) from solar panels they will be installing by the end of this summer. 

Instead of planting the trees in commercial potting mix, Rainbow Mountain combines soil from two parts of the family land -- one up in the rocky, mountainous area, and another down by the sandier creek bed.

Rainbow Mountain Farms sells at two farmers' markets in Chico and has also begun selling at the Temescal market in Oakland. But, despite rapid growth (Tommy says he still feels like a rookie in the Major Leagues), no one in the family anticipates making a living selling the trees. 

“On the one hand, there’s always the draw to grow” Tommy says, “but honestly that’s not why we’re in it.”

As a father with a second child on the way, he also wants to ensure that the next generation of Cliffords feels the same connection to the natural world that he did growing up.
 
 “We hope that this will be a reminder that that’s a special space out there…and they don’t have to want [to continue the business], but they should try to celebrate it, however it makes sense to them at the time.”

You can find the Rainbow Mountain Farms stand in front of the Ferry Building, on the north side, through mid-June.

Photos: At top, Tommy Clifford with his wife Anagha Dandekar Clifford and son Kanan Clifford. In the middle, the Clifford farm. At bottom, Jake and Tommy at work on the farm (courtesy of the Clifford family).

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 21

In/Returning: The Apple Farm, Rose Pistola Restaurant, Yerena Farms
Out: Juniper Ridge

Tuesday, March 24

In/Returning: Peach Farm (with lilacs), Yerena Farms
Out: Snyders Honey

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