Spring Breakfast ~ May 29

Breakfast with your favorite farmer and food artisan at CUESA’s annual fundraiser. Our kitchen will be transformed into a bountiful, beautiful setting for a relaxed meal right in the center of the market.

What's for Breakfast:
• Farm-fresh scrambled eggs with fava beans, green garlic, and peas or wild mushrooms from Hayes Street Grill
• Roasted potatoes with fresh herbs
• Market lettuce, shaved radish, and chive blossom salad
• Blueberry pancakes
• Fresh strawberries, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries with crème fraiche, yogurt, and honey
• Breakfast pastries and bread
• Artisan cheeses, handmade jams
• Coffee, tea, and juice.
Buy tickets here.

Kefir and Yogurt Class with Happy Girl Kitchen ~ May 20

Learn how to make homemade cow and goat's milk yogurt and kefir, a fermented milk drink. Jordan Champagne of Happy Girl Kitchen will be leading this probiotic-rich workshop where participants take home a pint each of yogurt and kefir, including enough kefir grains to start your own batch at home. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. Learn more.

 

California Culinary Academy Farmer Series ~ May 12

Thanks to a recent collaboration with CUESA, the California Culinary Academy (CCA) is hosting a series of farmer lunches and dinners in the student restaurant, Carême 350. The prix fixe meals mark the culmination of each class' culinary education and will feature produce grown by a local farmer. The next event includes lunch from 11:30 am to 1 pm or dinner from 6 to 8 pm, and will feature produce from Knoll Farms. Tickets available through Open Table.

Spring Farmers Market Cocktail Night ~ May 19

CUESA and the Northern California chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild (USBG) will host an evening of farmers market-inspired cocktails. Attendees at this happy hour gathering will enjoy two full-sized signature drinks and taste 10 others crafted by renowned Bay Area bartenders using seasonal ingredients hand-picked from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Imbibe, snack, and take home recipes in the name of supporting local, sustainable agriculture and Bay Area cocktail culture. Featuring food and drink from: 15 Romolo, Cantina, Gitane, Bourbon & Branch, Rose Pistola, Wexler's, Hotsy Totsy Club, Sauce, Blackbird, Il Cane Rosso, Bon Appétit Management Company, Absinthe Brasserie and Bar, and The Plant Café Organic. Buy tickets.

Celebrate Urban Eats at the County Fair ~ June 20

Do you make the best jam in the city? Do you grow the sweetest carrots? At this year's Giants County Fair, CUESA is hosting a special tent celebrating homegrown and homemade food. San Francisco residents are invited to enter an array of contests, including: best garden basket, honey, and eggs, as well as best preserved and baked foods. Read the rules or download the contest application form here. Related organizations are also invited to participate. Learn more.

Mark your calendars for the next CUESA and Kitchen Table Talks ~ June 9

Join us for a conversation about the contributions of women farmers, producers, advocates and activists. Temra Costa will speak about the women she interviewed for her new book, Farmer Jane,and a panel of women in the food system will delve into ideas of women's work, the joy of being in the dirt, and the ways women juggle home, family, community, and other endeavors as they plant, till, sell, and promote their wares. We'll gather Wednesday night in the Port Commission Hearing Room at the Ferry Building, 2nd Floor at 6:30 pm. More details coming soon.

Farmer’s Market Courtesy Shuttle ~ Ongoing

Starting last week, a free courtesy shuttle operated by San Francisco Minibus has begun connecting the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmers Market with nearby parking lots. This service will continue on Saturdays through October. The shuttle will depart from in front of Pier ½, on the north side of the Ferry Building every half hour starting at 8:30 am. The last shuttle will leave the market at 1:30 pm and the loop will include stops at Broadway and Embarcadero, the Golden Gateway Garage (near the Clay Street entrance), and the 75 Howard garage. Additional details will be available at the Information Booth.

Mother's Day Farm Tour and Tea at Allstar Organics ~ Sunday

Treat Mom to an unforgettable afternoon on a Marin Organic member farm! This special, family-friendly tour provides an insider's look at how Janet and Marty Jacobson turn their flowers, herbs, and native plants into Allstar Organics' incredible line of hydrosols, essential oils, herbal salts, and sugars. Janet's homemade tea and a spring bouquet for Mom make this event the perfect Mother's Day gift. Learn more.

Commonwealth Event: The Urban Farming Movement ~ May 12

What's the appeal of throwing away the chain grocery store for the neighborhood till? Come hear from local leaders of the movement like Novella Carpenter, founder of Oakland's Ghost Town Farm, and trailblazing San Franciscans Jason Mark, of Alemany Farm, Christopher Burley, founder of Hayes Valley Farm, and David Gavrich, "goat whisperer" and founder of City Grazing. They'll discuss the urban farming movement's place in the world of organic, local-grown culture, and how they're bringing the farm to the city - goats included! Learn more.

Lyman Vs. Nyman Can You Be a ‘Good Environmentalist and Still Eat Meat? ~ May 20

Raising livestock is resource-intensive, often polluting, and, as we are beginning to learn, a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also one of the ways we’ve fed ourselves for millennia. So is there an ecologically sustainable way to eat meat? At this public debate, Ari Derfel, co-founder of Gather restaurant in Berkeley will moderate a conversation with Nicolette Hahn Niman — a Marin rancher and author of The Righteous Porkchop — who will argue that there is and Howard Lyman — the author of Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat — who will disagree. Learn more.

Asian Culinary Forum Presents Filipino Flavors: Tradition & Innovation ~ May 15 and 16

Join the Asian Culinary Forum in the heart of San Francisco for an exciting, weekend-long celebration of the foods of the Philippines.  Set in the heart of San Francisco at the International Culinary School, the weekend's lively line-up of events includes: a unique master cooking class, a revelatory food and wine pairing, provocative chefs’ and scholars' panels, a literary reading of poetry and prose, live music, and, yes, a decisive adobo throw-down! As always, plenty of tasty bites will be mingled with conversation and culture.

Saturday, May 8 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Mark Ayers, Highlands Inn

11:45 am - Seasonal Cooking Demonstration and Book Signing
Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure

Tuesday, May 11 ~ Food Wise Booth

12:30 - 1:30 pm - Sarah Henkin, CUESA's market chef, will give out recipe cards and samples of a simple meal made with market ingredients. She'll also be on hand to offer advice for all your seasonal meal planning.

Saturday, May 15 ~ Eggstravaganza

10:00 am - 1:00 pm Egg-related activities including a backyard chicken demonstration, and a make-you-own-mayo station.

11:00 am - egg-centric cooking demonstration
Dmitry Elperin, Village Pub

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

At any given point over the last several years, David Retsky of County Line Harvest has hosted between one and three interns on his farm. Interns have staffed booths at farmers markets, supported his core crew of farm laborers, and they’ve had the opportunity to learn about the inner workings of the business. In return, he’s provided them with room and board and $300 per week.

“It’s a resume builder and they get to find out if they really like agriculture,” says Retsky. “It’s been a win-win.” A win-win, that is, until he had a visit from a California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) official. The DLSE audited County Line and fined Retsky $18,000 for payroll violations. Now he turns down all of the two to three requests he gets a week from young people hoping to come to the farm.

A number of small-scale farms have been fined for similar offenses, and there’s a growing consensus among farmers that interns — who, by nature, are compensated in nontraditional ways, with some combination of education, food, housing, and payment — aren’t worth the risk.

Internships have a long-standing role on organic farms — and for good reason. Labor is generally the biggest expense for these farmers, who rely on elbow grease over the work of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Internships and apprenticeships are also seen as crucial in the development of new farmers. In Washington state, a law was recently passed allowing farms with gross sales of less than $250,000 a year to create internship programs; it was said to be helping “continue the legacy of Washington’s farmers for generations to come.”

Such a law could be transformative in California, where the options for new farmers looking to get real world experience are slim and farming education programs are often seen as costly and competitive by comparison. The nine-month apprenticeship program at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC Santa Cruz, for instance, costs $4,800 and accepts 35-40 students each year.

Retsky gained his experience over the years as an intern and apprentice on multiple farms, and worries about what this shift could mean for the larger sustainable food landscape.

“Interns who come here learn a sense of responsibility and a work ethic," he says. "I was a kid from Beverly Hills – I didn’t even know that a carrot grew in the ground! I was raised to use my brain and not my hands and I needed to learn how to work. That’s the case with a lot of kids today. ”

Alternatives
David Little of The Little Organic Farm has hosted many interns on his farm over the years, but has recently taken a precautionary measure. Since internships established through a church or nonprofit fall within the law, Little now hires interns through Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA), a program that connects young farmers from outside the U.S. to training and cultural exchange opportunities here.

Little pays MESA $975 every month; MESA pays the interns and provides orientations, administrative infrastructure, and insurance. It costs David nearly twice as much as he was paying interns before, but he says it’s worth the peace of mind. When he gets other requests from young people within the U.S., he says, “I tell them to call the state and voice their opinions.”

Little believes the recent focus on small farms has created a “climate of fear” in California, and he suspects that corporate agriculture interests may have advocated for increased enforcement of the laws. He was among a number of Marin County farmers who met with labor officials in April to discuss the issue. “The Farm Bureau lawyer at the forum referred to this change as ‘leveling the playing field,’ he says, “the good news is that small farms are making enough of an impact to be a threat to corporate ag.”

Skills Building
It’s telling that many farmers don’t feel comfortable speaking about internships on the record. One Northern California-based farmer says she is currently working with a lawyer to draw up contracts that allow for an officially binding educational “live/work” situation on her farm, but she doesn’t feel comfortable sharing her name at this point.

“We put people on payroll, to fully cover workman’s comp and payroll taxes. On top of room and board, around half their time (14-20 hours) is paid minimum wage.” The rest, she says, is designated as educational time. “We’re formalizing what we’re trying to teach, so there will be formal tutorials on grafting, jam-making, animal husbandry, etc.” One possible approach the farmer is looking into is charging for an educational program, and then waiving the fee when applicable.

The Catch 22
While interns bring youthful energy and ideas, many farms rely heavily on farm workers who are new to the country (as many as 70 percent of whom are undocumented). They do most of the hardest, most unpleasant work for an hourly wage, but have few other options. The fact that these crews work as hard as they do makes it tough for many small-scale farmers (working on a shoestring budget) to rationalize paying interns full-time salaries. As the woman farmer mentioned above sees it, “you cannot hire your basic American to spend eight to nine hours in an orchard.”

Internships aren't the only underground aspect of the U.S. agricultural system; forged documents, false identification, and under-the-table pay are also commonplace. In a broken system, many farmers find themselves doing what they can to make things work. "The immigration and internship issues are very linked," says the farmer. "They're two impossible situations, legally, and yet we have willing workers in both cases.”

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, May 1

Starting: Arlequin Bakery
Returning: Balakian Farms, Shogun Seafood Company
Out: Apple Farm, Blossom Bluff Orchards, The Critical Edge Knife Sharpening

Tuesday, May 4

New: Pizza Politana
Out: The Critical Edge Knife Sharpening, Snyders Honey

Thursday, May 6

Returning: Farmhouse Culture
Out: Achadinha Cheese Company

Plentiful /returning this month (weather willing): Stockton red onions, cherries, summer squash, squash blossoms, Cippolini onions, blueberries, apricots, raspberries, basil, heirloom roses, sardines, English peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas, strawberries, baby root vegetables, lettuces, celery, fresh herbs, fava beans, fennel, artichokes, rapini, pastured eggs, cardoons, spring onions, goat cheese

Winding down/limited supply: Asparagus, potatoes, citrus, braising greens, nettles, green garlic

Farms/Vendors returning this month (weather willing): County Line Harvest, Shogun Fish Company, Triple Delight Blueberries, Paoletti Farms, Kashiwase Farm

Farmer and Vendor items not to be missed:
Goat Jaak cheese from Achadinha Cheese Company, smoked paprika from Happy Quail Farms, and chicken beer sausages from 4505 Meats

Featured Recipes for May:

Bordeaux Spinach, Fava Bean, and Basil Salad with Egg Yolk Vinaigrette and Roasted Garlic Crouton from Sarah Henkin, CUESA's Market Chef (May 26, 2009)

Chilled English Pea Soup from local chef Leif Hedendal

Spring Cassoulet with Rancho Gordo Beans from Dominique Crenn of Luce at the InterContinental San Francisco (April 3, 2010)

Cherry Limeade from Gabriel Cole, formerly of Google Cafe (May 31, 2008)