by Dan Foster
Market Manager Picks:
Achadinha:
Dairy ranch, meat and cheese producer located in west Petaluma, Sonoma County – 4th-generation dairy farmers. They provide public tours on the weekends and sell their products on their website and throughout the Bay Area at various farmers markets. They’ve got a great selection of unique dairy products. Give their cultured butter or kefir a try! Can’t go wrong with any of their cheeses either.
Forest and Flour:
Forest & Flour is an earth- and community-conscious kitchen that makes delicious and nourishing foods that are free of gluten, dairy, peanuts, soy, corn, and nightshades. They are rooted in the philosophy that food is a gift from nature and is meant to be shared with appreciation and laughter. Wonderful selection of products, especially for folks with dietary restrictions. Give the veggie crack or the Double Devil Chocolate Cake Monkey Party (Monkey bread) a try!
Donut Petit:
Handcrafted donuts with premium ingredients, made fresh daily. Honestly, try anything. And don’t forget to grab a coffee from their neighbor, Bicycle Coffee.
May Entertainment Schedule:
- 5/7 Glen Perry – Guitar with backing tracks playing rock, blues, latin, and reggae
- 5/14 Elise & Steve Band – Indie and Folk Music, Original, Singer Song-Writers
- 5/21/22 Asheba – Musical storyteller who specializes in calypso, the musical and folkloric oral tradition of Trinidad, his homeland
- 5/28/22 Left University – Soul singer covering classic soul jams
New Market Participant Pipeline (these folks are confirmed to join but whose start date is not yet confirmed):
Xulo – traditional flour tortillas made with just 4 ingredients: flour, water, salt and fats ranging from organic butter, duck fat, coconut oil, pork fat to bacon fat. Par-cooked so you can experience the magic of a homemade flour tortilla that puffs in front of your eyes. Like grandma used to make.
Juicy Bottle Service – cold pressed, small batch bottled juices
Oya Organics -organic farm from Hollister selling row crops and a variety of value-added items made from their crops
Solorios Organics – organic 6.5-acre farm in Watsonville selling row crops and berries
Volcano Kimchi – San Francisco-based maker of vegan, organic, and gluten-free kimchi, as well as other Korean-inspired fermented food products, including speciality sauces and grab-and-go meals. Starting Saturday 5/7!
Annie’s T Cakes – Asian American, woman-owned snack company creating vegan, East Asian treats
Kayma Foods – Algerian wife‑and‑husband‑owned eatery that welcomes you with halal North African fare with Bedouin, Berber, Mediterranean, and French influences—such as hearty and flavorful soups and sandwiches, grilled chicken, and baklawa.
Encina Farms – dedicated to growing Iberico hogs with the utmost attention paid to quality standards and leveraging new practices with no hormones or antibiotics. We incorporate traditional Spanish practices and methods, such as finishing our hogs on a diet of acorns to improve the meat’s flavor and nutritional profile. The richer, more complex and interesting flavor truly differentiates our product from what else you find on the market.
Silver Sky Ranch – a brother-owned ranching operation focused on pastured proteins; they raise cattle for beef, sheep for lamb, and chickens for egg and meat.
Mill Valley Pasta Co. – small batch artisan bronze and brass cut pastas and various products meant to adorn or accompany pasta. Pastas are made with organic semolina (gluten-free pasta is also available) and are slowly dried in the open air for superior bite and texture. Provisions are made with local ingredients, often sourced from the local farms which also vend at the same markets. Fresh pastas are made only hours before they make their way to market and feature unique flavors highlighting both the chef’s inspiration, seasonality, and locally available products.
Rize Up Bakery – a fledgling San Francisco-based, Black-owned bakery focused on reinventing and rethinking traditional sourdough. Rize Up started as a quarantine project in the Spring of 2020, in response to the social unrest caused by the murder of George Floyd and the disparate impact of the pandemic on the Black community. Founder Azikiwee Anderson was overcome with a need to make a difference and hopefully inspire young Black and Brown bakers to think outside the traditional box as representation matters . Rize Up wants to change the world one loaf of beautiful and thoughtful bread at a time, and share their love of delicious, thoughtfully baked breads made with natural, organic , sustainable, high quality ingredients! Honored to feed your soul.
Marina Bay Bakery – local neighborhood bakery from Richmond, focused on 100% whole wheat sourdoughs, gluten free sourdoughs, and other whole wheat and gluten-free pastries and baked goods. Started 4/30!
Dooryard Provisions – a small batch local packaged food business focusing on seasonal and hand foraged foods. Choose between local seaweeds, herbal tisanes, healing spice blends, and provisions for your journey or everyday. Made from all organic ingredients and focused on using seasonal, foraged and gleaned foods as well as using local farmers from throughout Sonoma and Marin counties.
Market Participants returning soon or who’ve returned since the last update:
- Triple Delight Blueberries. – returned 4/30
- The Peach Farm – returned 4/30
- Gotelli Cherries – returning 5/7
Out temporarily:
- Early Bird Farm and Mill
- Collardz by Soul
- La Cascada
Out for Season:
- Pang Yang Farms
- Feather River Farms
- Sunnyland
- G & S Corn
- Kashiwase
- Lucero
- Fenella’s Berries
- Balakian
Quit Market:
- Nicasio Valley Cheese
- Squabish Pretzels
- StoneRoot
Dan Foster has been a market manager with AIM since 2017 and is currently managing the Grand Lake Oakland Farmers Markets. Prior to his time with AIM, Dan spent eleven years in produce/retail management at Whole Foods Market. Dan lives in Novato with his wife and three daughters. He studied Music Business/Management at Berklee College of Music in Boston. In his free time, he makes music, plays games, or hoops it up in a local basketball rec league.
Contact: dan@agriculturalinstitute.org
Editor’s Note: We’d like to add some context to StoneRoot’s departure — especially since Gary partnered for several years with Doug Stonebreaker from Prather Ranch, a very early, key vendor at the Grand Lake Market. On a separate page, we’re going to post an email Gary sent to his subscribers last week along with some additional comments, but we’re pleased to share here what Gary had to say about the current Market Manager.
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