Dear readers,

Thank you for your support of local farms and sustainable food in 2007. We wish you a year of abundance, fulfillment and delight!

Warmly, The CUESA team -- (L to R) Navin, Sarah, Ashleigh, Maggie, Dave, Christine, Lulu, Sandy, Dexter, Julie, & Mike (Will & Josue not pictured)

There's still time to give!

If you are interested in supporting CUESA's work with a cash contribution, there's still time to do it before the New Year. Click here to make an online donation in support of a sustainable food system >

The Tuesday farmers' market is closed on New Year's Day

Please note that there will be no Tuesday market on January 1.

Panel discussion: Is it Safe to Eat? ~ January 7, 2008

Join CUESA on Monday, January 7, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the Port Commission Hearing Room of the Ferry Building for a panel discussion about food safety solutions. E. coli, GMOs, pesticides…every week, it seems, news arrives of another potential danger in our food supply. When the very thing that is meant to nourish us may also do us harm, how can consumers be conscious without becoming paranoid? A panel of food safety experts will describe strategies for making our food safer and discuss the forces that are keeping the status quo in place. Learn about the latest advocacy efforts, proposed legislation, and legal actions these groups are taking to ensure that our basic human needs are met without compromising our health. Find out how your food choices can make a difference. Join us at 6:30 for a reception with light refreshments. Discussion begins at 7. This event is free and open to the public.

Panelists: C. Noelle Ferdon, Senior Organizer, Food and Water Watch
Kevin Zelig Golden, Staff Attorney, Center for Food Safety
Elisa Odabashian, Director of the West Coast Office, Consumers Union

When we created the farm profiles that hang at farmers' stalls at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, CUESA asked each farm to share an interesting tidbit about their operation or their products. Here are some of the "fun facts" we collected. Click here to see the first installment of fun facts >

The Apple Farm has 1,700 apple trees that range from one to just short of 100 years old.

 

The Salmons of Bodega & Yerba Santa Goat Cheese hire an herbalist to treat goats with oils and tinctures when they are sick.

 

Maria Catalán of Catalán Family Farms was one of the first Latina migrant farm laborers in the United States to become a farm owner.

 

When the Gammonses of Four Sisters Farm first began farming, their land had 3 inches of topsoil. Now, after many years of adding compost and organic matter, their land has between 20 and 24 inches of rich topsoil!

 

The oldest cultivated variety Heirloom Organic Gardens grows is the Golden Custard, a yellow scallop squash that dates back to the Middle Ages.

 

Rice farmers Greg Massa and Raquel Krach of Massa Organics live, along with their five children, in a straw bale home built with their own rice straw.

 

When Jesse Kuhn of Marin Roots Farm was a boy, he often pulled carrots prematurely from his family's garden; today, he harvests them small purposefully.

 

Paredez Farms is truly a family operation--15 members of the Paredez clan work on the farm!

 

When Nick Sciabica & Sons started producing olive oil in 1936, they couldn't find a market in California for their oil; for decades, all of it was sent to Connecticut.

 

Larry Peter of Spring Hill Jersey Cheese originally sold potatoes at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

 

Swanton Berry Farm was the first strawberry farm (and the first organic farm) in the U.S. to sign a contract with the United Farm Workers of America/AFL-CIO.

 

In 1991, Nacho and Casamira Sanchez's twin girls were born, inspiring the name Twin Girls Farm. Nacho has named some of his peach varieties after their third daughter, Savannah.

 

100% of the electrical needs of Woodleaf Farm are met by an 8.1 kilowatt solar array installed in 2006.

Please note: This market update was compiled on December 21. Please check at our information booth for the most up-to-date information about who is in and out of the market.

Saturday, December 29

In/returning: Bernard Ranches
Out: Critical Edge Knife Sharpening, Brokaw Nursery, Knoll Farms, Star Route Farms, Short Night Farm, Bodega & Yerba Santa Goat Cheese (for the season), Brooks and Daughters, RoliRoti

Tuesday, January 1

CLOSED!

See you at the market!