Pt. Reyes Station Farmers Market - July 1

Yesterday, Gnarlita and I ventured over to the Marin Coast to check out the Pt. Reyes Farmers Market.

In my youth (gads, makes me sound old!), I spent a lot of time in this part of the Bay Area. Olema, Pt. Reyes, Tomales Bay, Muir Beach, Muir Woods, Inverness...these were all the favorite weekend haunts of the gang I used to hang out with when I lived on Clement St. in San Francisco in the early '70s. We'd leave the City early in the morning and spend all day hanging out, gorging on local food and beverages, hiking, napping, hiking some more, eating/imbibing some more. Ah, good times!

The Pt. Reyes Station Farmers Market, as are most small town farmers markets, is smack dab in the middle of downtown. The number of vendors is small but, to be sure, offer the best quality produce. (Didn't Charles and Camilla visit?)


Anyway, I believe all of the vendors here are associated with Marin Organic, an association of Marin County Organic Producers. One of the most famous from the area is Cowgirl Creamery. My personal favorite Cowgirl cheese is Mt. Tam.

Gnarlita found the Marin Organic table full of information about sustainable farming, local seasonal food availability, and so much more. She could not pass up adding Ecological Literacy and The Local Food Wheel to her library.

While Gnarlita was going through all of the resource offerings, I was wandering through the Community Garden just adjacent to the Farmers Market. The variety of produce being grown there was extensive, though not a very big space. Which goes to show, you don't need a lot of space to grow your own food. I saw artichoke, zucchini,raspberries, all sorts of lettuces, rhubarb, and peas, just to name a few of the items in the garden.

There was also an adoption program for offspring of feral cats. These kitties were so precious, and you can imagine, more than a bit apprehensive of human touch. Nonetheless, it is important that all animals (and humans) have a family who loves and cares for them. Gnarlita and I watched as the caretakers of these kitties tried their best to ensure adoption. But we could definitely see that the kitties were not appreciating the fact that all these little kids were handling them to no end. Anyway, this sweet kitty found my camera most intriguing and came up close for a look.

I found some beautiful Easter Egg radishes, Walla Walla onions and purple potatoes at the Wild Blue Farm stand. I enjoy radishes au naturel, no fuss...just eat. The onions, I'll grill on the 4th as a side dish. Season thick slices with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, throw on the grill...five minutes on each side. Yummmmm. As for the purple potatoes...well, potato salad, of course!

I'm a sucker for jams and jellies. The Fig Jam from The Wild Pear Co. is so luscious, it's hard to describe, so subtle yet distinctively fig. I'm going to make some homemade biscuits so that I can enjoy this nectar to the fullest!

Chocolate. Who can resist? Great chocolate is like great sex...smooth, sensual, satisfying. Pt. Reyes Chocolate offers a small but satisfying selection of delectible chocolates. Gnarlita and I walked away with two types of the Dark Bark, the House Candied Grapefruit Mendiant, and Peanut Butter Cup. We tried the House Candied Grapefruit Mendiant as soon as we got back to the car. The candied grapefruit was superb, crunchy, not too sweet...a perfect foil against the dark Valrhona chocolate.

Excuse me while I enjoy the music that reminds me best of the beginning of organic farming and the realization we are stewards of the land. Of course, Deja Vu...Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Most notably, Woodstock by Joni Mitchell.

Woodstock/Joni Mitchell

Love your mother, Earth.

Sebastopol Farmers Market - June 25

The ride from San Rafael, where the Marin County FM is situated, to Sebastopol was about 30 minutes. Sebastopol is in Sonoma county, which is north of San Francisco. There was some NASCAR racing action at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma that weekend. We were lucky not to have encountered much of a delay as a result.

Sebastopol, SF_Pearl pointed out, is home to the annual summertime Gravenstein Apple Fair. Check out the city's website for information on this year's event.

The Farmers Market is located downtown and, though small, has a very good selection and variety of products. One of the more unusual, as in not found in any of the other FMs we've attended so far, was sprouted vegetables from Alobar Farms.

Intrigued, we spent quite a bit of time speaking with the farm owners about the products. It appears that sprouted vegetables, eaten regularly, have protective effects against cancers. We each purchased a different type of sprout. Gnarlita -lentil, SF_Pearl - broccoli and myself - chickpea. Back at home, I prepared my chickpea sprouts with just a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a healthy pinch of Hawaiian red sea salt. YUMMY!


Gnarlita loves Shiitake mushrooms, so couldn't pass up these locally grown shrooms from Carpati Farm in Sebastopol.



My blood sugar was running a little low so I looked for some sweets and found them at the La Dolce V stand. All of the sweets looked so tempting...all hand-crafted using only the best and natural ingredients. I believe SF_Pearl went with the Bliss Bar...I opted for the Lavender Shortbread cookie. You'd think lavender might be an odd cookie ingredient, but it was quite deelish!

Sugar craving being satisfied, we visited the rest of the vendors. The thing about farmers markets, is that you can smell when the produce is ripe. You're drawn to the ripest, freshest, most amazing fruits and vegetables because you can smell them well before you're standing in front of them, unlike produce at the supermarket. The difference in quality is also visually noticeable...a pleased eye is a pleased palate!

The best peaches that I've had so far this season were found here at Sebastopol FM. They're the product of Woodleaf Farm in Oroville, CA. Beautiful appearance, wonderful texture and so very juicy. Woodleaf Farm has been farming organically since 1976.


Another find at this market were the Passport melons. They look like Persian melons only in miniature. All three of us each purchased a melon, the smells were intoxicating. The flavor was so sweet too. I very much enjoyed mine all in one sitting. These little melon gems came from Love Farms in Healdsburg, CA., north of Sebastopol.


The best find of the trip were the jumbo Bing cherries from Neufeld Farms in Kingsburg, CA. They were so big, juicy, sweet, and firm to the bite. There have been cherries at all of the farmers markets visited, but none were good enough to actually bring home. These were little bites of heaven. Sadly, this was the last week for cherries. Hope next year's crop is better. Oh well, at least we were able to find and enjoy our Neufeld cherries before the end of the season.


Life may not always be a bowl of cherries (ouch, did I say that?!), but looking forward to the weekend and exploring another farmers market makes the work week more bearable.

This is a jewel of a farmers market and worth the trip!

Marin Farmers Market * Encore * - June 25

Last Sunday, the whole Farm Fresh gang headed back to the North Bay. Our first stop was back to the Marin County Farmers Market then up to the Sebastopol Farmers Market in Sonoma County. We stopped back at the Marin County Farmers Market, as SF_Pearl hadn't experienced it with Gnarlita and me on our first trip.

Both SF_Pearl and I purchased some smoked wild salmon from the fish monger. I opted for the smoked salmon bellies, both peppered and original. Salmon is an excellent source of protein as well as being jam packed with heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids. I feasted on these luscious treats for lunch throughout the week. The salmon belly was accompanied by a little fat free cream cheese and arugula on a rectangle of lavosh. I just rolled up the whole thing and enjoyed.

We were all hungry, so we headed to the food stands for some grub. I had already set my taste buds towards the pupusa at Donna's Tamales. We spotted a shady spot across the street from the market area and ate our late breakfast there.

We did notice that there was valet parking available. Hmmmmm. I noticed that most all of the vehicles lined up for valet parking were high-end SUVs. I dunno...seems that there's some type of irony in all of that.

Anyway, we continued winding through the aisles sampling fruit and checking out the vegetables.

SF_Pearl and I picked up some lovely strawberries (we were drawn by the strong, sweet smell!). I don't remember from which farm they came, but they were the best strawberries I've had so far!


Next stop, Sebastopol, to its' Farmers Market.