Plastic bag free market kickoff ~ May 23rd

If you've noticed the countdown over on the left, you know that the end of plastic bags is near for the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Next Saturday, we'll be marking this momentous change with a series of kickoff activities, including a raffle for waste wise prizes, an opportunity to have your photo taken with a plastic bag monster, interactive displays for shopping and food storage tips, and an informative Bay vs. the Bag booth (a Save the Bay project). Send us your slogan ideas (about going plastic bag free) and we'll enter you in the raffle regardless of whether or not you can make it to the market that day.

Local chefs and farmers pair up at Macy's ~ May 20

CUESA and Macy's are teaming up for the third year in a row to present "Get Green" cooking demos, featuring farmers from Ferry Plaza and local chefs in the Macy's Union Square Cellar kitchen. Kristie Knoll of Knoll Farms and Jamie Lauren of Absinthe will discuss small-scale, sustainable food production before Jamie prepares a green garlic and potato soup with fava leaf salsa verde using produce from Knoll Farms. A $10 donation to CUESA will get you a seat at the demonstration, a sample of the featured dish, and a glass of wine from Benziger Family Winery. Doors open at 5:30 pm and the presentation begins at 6:00 pm.

Our annual Spring Breakfast
by the Bay ~ June 6

Delight in spring's abundance and the people who bring it to us each week as you dine on a scrumptious breakfast and support CUESA. The menu: farm-fresh scrambled eggs with fava beans, green garlic, and peas or wild mushrooms from Hayes Street Grill; roasted potatoes with fresh herbs, Fatted Calf mini breakfast links; blueberry pancakes; market lettuce, shaved radish, and chive blossom salad; fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries and blueberries with crème fraîche, yogurt and honey; warm breakfast pastries and bread; artisan cheeses, hand made jams, coffee, tea, and juice. Buy your ticket here >

CUESA is all over the web!

Haven't started following CUESA on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook yet? What's the hold up? While you're at it, take a peek at SFGate, where CUESA's executive director, Dave Stockdale, is now blogging as part of their new City Brights series. Then check out market manager Lulu Meyer's new Cream of the Crop column on the 7x7 website.

Food is Power MLI summer film experience ~ July 20 - 31

Calling all 9-12th graders. During half-day sessions spanning two weeks in July, fifty Bay Area students will learn firsthand about sustainable food production and consumption through visits with producers and restaurateurs, including two days at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Then participants will create short-form video presentations that share their views on the theme of sustainable food with the world. CUESA will provide access to the market and our kitchen, Nokia and the Pearson Foundation, sponsors of the Mobile Learning Institute (MLI), will provide the equipment, and because it’s a pilot program all participants will enjoy full scholarships. Learn more or apply here >

Kitchen Table Talk ~ May 19

Join 18 Reasons and Civil Eats for a new conversation series about the American food system. The first talk will be A Primer on the New Food Administration & Why You Should Care with special guest Elanor Starmer, research analyst for the food program at Food and Water Watch. Next Tuesday, May 19, 6:30 – 8 pm at the office of Sagan Piechota Architecture, 315 Linden St. in San Francisco. Sustainable, local refreshments will be provided! $10 donation. To reserve your seat, please email Layla Azimi>

Tune into An Organic Conversation

Two weeks ago, Helge Hellberg, executive director of Marin Organic launched An Organic Conversation, a weekly radio show featuring groundbreaking initiatives and ecology-based thinking in the organic food and holistic health movement. An Organic Conversation runs every every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. PST on Green960am and is available to sample online here >

 

Saturday, May 16 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Bryant Terry, author of Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine

Tuesday, May 19 ~ Food Wise Booth

12:00 - 1:00 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, May 23 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Mark Richardson, Seasons Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco

11:45 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration and book signing
Linda Carrucci, The International Cooking School at the Art Institute of San Francisco

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

When local author and photographer Lisa Hamilton set out to write Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness, she admits she had a “Capital ‘M’ Message” in mind. After spending several years getting to know the three farmers she profiles in the book — a dairyman from rural Texas, a grain farmer from rural North Dakota, and a rancher from rural New Mexico — she says she decided to "quiet myself and let their stories take over.” What emerged is an intimate look at the lives of three farming families that remain amidst a rising tide of efficient, faceless food production. Hamilton recently spoke with CUESA about what she learned from writing the book and what she hopes it might offer her readers.

CUESA: How did you choose these farmers?

Lisa Hamilton: People have been surprised that there’s no one from California in the book; that was a conscious decision. These are farmers and ranchers working outside the support of urban areas and therefore outside of active food communities. They represent a larger group of people whose voices are virtually never heard. Yet they’re making important contributions to the food system, not only in terms of calories, but in terms of innovation and their role in holding rural communities together.

C: All three of these men come across as somewhat eccentric diehards. Is that the type of personality necessary to do the kind of work they do?

LH: In order to work outside of convention in the way that these farmers have, you need a conviction that can override that strong small-town tendency to stick with the program. All three of these men know in their hearts that there’s an alternative to what’s happening around them, and what’s remarkable is that they act on that knowledge.

If you talk candidly with a lot of conventional farmers, you’ll find that they have opinions that might not exactly reflect what they do. There’s a moment in the book where David Podall [the grain farmer from North Dakota] is talking about how, despite the fact that their family is outcast in their community, he’s had a number of other farmers who live in the area take him aside and say, “You’re doing the right thing. I just can’t do it myself.”

I do see that level of conviction in a number of farmers around the Bay Area. Take Rick and Kristie Knoll — they’re sticking with it against all odds in Brentwood, an area where I’d imagine they feel like they’re really holding on.

C: The rural areas you travel to in the book are almost as important as the farmers. Can you say more about what you hope people will understand about these places?

LH: This is a tricky moment to be a locavore. I believe really strongly in buying my food as locally as possible; I’m a devotee of the farms near where I live in Marin. But at the same time, I think the 100 Mile Diet misses the point. What’s lost in that equation are the hundreds of farmers who exist more than 100 miles from any urban community. In a lot of ways they remain the backbone of our food production, even as we move toward a more localized system.

I think the geography of our food system is much more complex than things like the 100 Mile Diet are able to recognize. There’s an impulse to come up with a very simplified set of ideas about how to fix the food system. But more important to me is changing the role that farmers play in our society. How much we ask them to participate, how much we respect them and also how much we reward them. That’s a much more important step in changing things than drawing a boundary regarding the size of the farm, the distance it is from where you live, etc.

C: You also examine the conundrum many farmers are in because the labor involved in small scale sustainable production is devalued by consumers' expectations that all food should be cheap. Do you have any ideas about how to get us out of this bind?

LH: As I see it, that [tension] is one of the biggest issues of our time. The ability to produce a lot of food very cheaply has enabled this gigantic population and along with it the idea that inexpensive food is a human right. Food shouldn’t be prohibitively expensive for all the people who need it, but you absolutely have to balance that with the value of the work that goes into it and the cost to the environment.

I think a very practical way of correcting that [as a consumer] is by eating food that is less resource-intensive to produce. And to value more resource–intensive foods in the way they deserve to be valued — particularly dairy products and meat. Good, healthy food is a human right, but three hamburgers a day? There’s no way that that can be a human right and also be sustainable.

Go Deeper:

• See Lisa Hamilton read at Book Passage in the Ferry Building on May 26 at 6:00 pm
• See a slide show with more of Hamilton's photos of the farms featured in Deeply Rooted >
• Listen to Hamilton on West Coast Live on Saturday, May 23 at the Ferry Building
• Read Hamilton's essay about writing Deeply Rooted >

Photos by Lisa Hamilton

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 16

In: Apple Farm, Elston Farm, Happy Quail Farms, Peach Farm, Triple Delight Blueberries
Out: Knoll Farms, Little Organic Farm (out for the season)

Tuesday, May 19

In: Triple Delight Blueberries

Returning and plentiful this month (weather willing):
Fresh shallots, summer squash, squash blossoms, Cipollini onions, cherries, blueberries, apricots, raspberries, basil, heirloom roses, sardines, English peas, snap peas, snow peas, strawberries, Stockton red onions, 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, Japanese maples, pastured chicken (will become plentiful in early June)

Value Added and Vendor items not to be missed:
Sauerkraut from Happy Girl Kitchen, smoked sweet onions from Tierra Vegetables, garlic quark from Spring Hill Cheese

Farms/Vendors that may be returning this month (weather willing):
Shogun Fish Co., Triple Delight Blueberries, Paoletti Farms, Kashiwase Farms

Featured Recipes for May:
Creamy Artichoke Soup from Sarah Henkin, CUESA's market chef (April 2009)

Fava Beans & Strawberry Salad with Pecorino from Chris Cosentino, Incanto Restaurant and Bar

Capellini with Julienned Zucchini & Yellow Squash from Ben deVries, Luella Restaurant

Cocktail ~ Blue Bonnet from Joel Baker, Bourbon and Branch (May 14, 2008)