Waste Wise volunteers needed!

Help CUESA green the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market! We are launching a Waste Wise Farmers' Market program on April 22 and 26, and we need your help to make it a success. As a Waste Wise volunteer, not only will you help divert waste from the landfill, you'll also help teach thousands of shoppers to become more waste wise. For more information, please contact Ashleigh Collier at ashleigh@cuesa.org.

Eight spaces left on the Greenhouse Grown Farm Tour!

This Sunday, April 20, spend a day visiting two farms that rely on greenhouses to help grow their crops: Bruins Farms in Winters and Orangewood Farm in Rumsey. This all-day bus tour costs $25 and will include lunch. Apologies to those who were unable to sign up on the website--the event was erroneously listed as sold out. Click here for more information and to buy tickets >

Local chefs and farmers pair up at Macy's ~ April 30

The second installment of the Macy's Get Green series, produced in partnership with CUESA and featuring farmers from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, is set for Wednesday, April 30. Joel Schirmer of Dirty Girl Produce and Steffan Terje of Perbacco restaurant will talk about the importance of farmer and chef dialogue in both planting and menu planning. Then they will prepare a delicious dish so you can taste the results. Seating is first-come, first-served starting at 6 pm in the Union Square Cellar Kitchen at Macy's. A $10 donation to CUESA will get you a seat at the demonstration, a sample of the featured dish, a glass of wine from Benziger Family Winery, a Ferry Plaza Farmers Market tote, and a sample of Origins' new organic skin care line.

Farmers' Market Cocktail Demonstration and Tasting

CUESA is participating in the second annual San Francisco Cocktail Week with a Farmers' Market Cocktail Demo and Tasting on Wednesday, May 14, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm in our teaching kitchen. Tickets are $15 per person, which includes tastes of all 12 demonstrated drinks, along with two drink tickets, redeemable for signature cocktails. Stay tuned for more information about the guest bartenders and the tasty, seasonally inspired drinks they will be creating. To purchase tickets, go here: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/32031

Saturday, April 19 ~ Market to Table

10:30 am - Meet the farmer
Brandon Ross of Ella Bella Farm interviewed by CUESA volunteer Earl Shaddix of All-Clad

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration and book signing
James Peterson, author of Cooking

11:45 am - Special Passover-inspired cooking demonstration
Scott Youkilis of Maverick

Tuesday, April 22 ~ Waste Wise Celebration

Click here for the schedule of events >

Saturday, April 26 ~ Waste Wise Celebration

Click here for the schedule of events >

All programs will take place in front of the Ferry Building on the north side.

Our Waste Wise Initiative launch is just a few days away! Starting on Earth Day, April 22, we will be rolling out new Waste Wise collection stations at the market, each with three bins: a green bin for compost, a blue bin for recycling and a black bin for waste. The bin for compost is twice as large as the other two bins, because 90% of what is thrown away at the market is food scraps and biodegradable food service products, which go in the green bin to be recycled into compost.

Waste Wise stations will be located throughout the Tuesday and Saturday farmers’ markets and will be easy to spot with their tall, rounded banners in blue, green and black (like the image to the left). This signage and a team of trained volunteers will help shoppers put their materials in the correct bin.

Preventing contamination of the compost and recycling bins is crucial to the success of our Waste Wise initiative. If our compost bin has too many cup lids, straws, or plastics in it, the materials will go to the landfill instead of becoming compost. If the recycle bin has too many food scraps or plastic wrap, the entire bin of recycling will be wasted. The success of our program lies in the hands of our shoppers, as we do not have the staff or the time to sort everything after the market closes.

In addition to the new stations, Waste Wise Celebrations on Tuesday, April 22, and Saturday, April 26, will include an array of fun activities about recycling and conserving resources. At the Saturday celebration, we will share a slide show of art created from San Francisco’s refuse by the Norcal Artist In Residence program, as well as The Story of Stuff, a short film that highlights the full cycle of materials from extraction to manufacturing to disposal and everything in between. The Trash Mash-up group will also display costumes made from recycled art.

Do you have a favorite reusable bag you would like to show off? Join our Reusable Bag Parade scheduled at 12:30 pm both Tuesday and Saturday. Do you need a reusable bag? Pick up one either Tuesday or Saturday, when we give 10,000 tote bags, like the one pictured to the left, away to local shoppers to help reduce the need for plastic bags at our market (ID may be required).

Learn more about how you can reduce waste in your home or office! The San Francisco Department of the Environment, Sunset Scavenger and Golden Gate Disposal representatives will be available on Tuesday and Saturday to provide information and resources, including how to reduce your junk mail. Food and Water Watch will share information about their bottled water reduction campaign (Tuesday only), and the Maker Faire will show off crafts made from previously wasted materials.

You can test your knowledge of recycling and composting practices at our Reclaim Game and at our Educational Display, which will also include real compost made from San Francisco food scraps! Plus, we will feature cooking demonstrations on Saturday to help you reduce wasted food at home, and give you a chance to meet some of our waste-wise sellers. You can even recycle your old batteries and cell phones during the launch. Check out the full schedule of activities online at http://www.cuesa.org/events/calendar/index.php#apr22.

For more information, please visit our new Waste Wise web page at http://www.cuesa.org/events/waste_wise/index.php.

Waste Wise volunteers are needed! To find out more, please contact ashleigh@cuesa.org.

We have an opportunity to divert up to 78 tons per year with this program and we hope that our shoppers and sellers will work with us to reach this goal!

Funding for the coordination, infrastructure and launch of our Waste Wise initiative was provided by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman fund. Special thanks to Janice Sitton of Good Green Graces for her assistance in helping us create a less wasteful and more resourceful farmers' market.

Participating groups:

http://www.sfrecycling.com/AIR/index.php?t=d

http://trashmashup.googlepages.com/

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/

http://www.makerfaire.com/

http://www.sfenvironment.org/

http://www.sfrecycling.com/

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. To find out which farmers regularly attend each market, click here. Please understand that there are often last-minute changes--it's the nature of farming!

Saturday, April 19

In/returning: Balakian Farms, Shogun Fish Company
Please note: Shogun Fish Company will return tomorrow with a new location. You'll find them in the back plaza in between Critical Edge Knife Sharpening and Cap'n Mike's Holy Smoke
Out: The Apple Farm, Bernard Ranches, Dirty Girl Produce, Happy Quail Farms

Tuesday, April 22

In: Ella Bella Farm

Returning this month (weather willing): Torpedo and Stockton red onions, English peas, snap peas, snow peas, rhubarb, basil, raspberries, squash blossoms, fresh bay leaves, miner's lettuce

Plentiful: Spinach, asparagus, avocados, green garlic, spring onions, kumquats, nettles, broccoli, rapini greens, artichokes, baby turnips, carrots, strawberries, mizuna, radishes and radish greens, fava beans, pastured eggs, chard, baby beets, fresh herbs

Winding down/limited supply: Brussels sprouts, tulips, citrus

Farms/Vendors that may be returning this month (weather willing): Ella Bella Farm, Happy Quail Farms, Shogun Fish Co., Balakian Farms, Lucero Organic Farms

Recipes for April

Strawberry Ceviche from Chris Borges, Taste Catering

Marinated Fresh Baby Artichokes from Linda Carucci, author of Cooking School Secrets for Real-World Cooks: Tips, Techniques, Shortcuts, Sources, and Hints

Spinach Salad a la Grecque from cookbook author Joyce Goldstein

Spring Greens Puree with Homemade Sourdough Crackers from Jessica Prentice, Wise Food Ways