Splash Pad Park

Grand Lake Neighborhood, Oakland, California

Farmers Market Update – December 2022

2022-December, Dan Foster, Farmers Market ·

by Dan Foster

Market Participant Spotlight:
  • 8am Style: Meaza Haile handcrafts beautiful clothing using well-selected fabrics in her nearby shop/workplace.
  • Moonshadows Creative Jewelry: Gary Chappell has been building a loyal following for nearly fifty years and does all his own lapidary work.
  • Home Right Online: Michele Battise primarily uses heritage and global fabrics, such as handwoven mudcloth from Africa, Indian dupioni silk, Italian lambskin, and vegan leathers. She hand-cuts, sews, and finishes in her studio in Albany. Prior to this step, a portion of the fabrics are custom dyed in Novato or handpainted using a stencil and free hand.
December Entertainment Schedule: 
  • 12/3 – French American Quartet – Gypsy Jazz
  • 12/10 – TBD
  • 12/17 – Ashley Jemison – Saxophonist performing Jazz/Pop/R&B
  • 12/24 – Karaj Lost Coast – Karaj is a California Bay Area songwriter with a taste for sparse arrangements and insightful lyrics
  • 12/31 – TBD
New Market Participant Pipeline (these folks are confirmed to join but do not have a firm start date yet):   
  
Mill Valley Pasta Co. – makes small batch artisan bronze and brass cut pastas and various products meant to adorn or accompany pasta. Our pastas are made with organic semolina (gluten-free pasta is also available) and are slowly dried in open-air for superior bite and texture. Our provisions are made with local ingredients, often sourced from the local farms that also vend at the markets we attend. Our 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.
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 every day. Dooryard Provisions uses all organic ingredients and focuses on using seasonal, foraged, and gleaned foods, and produce from local farmers throughout Sonoma and Marin counties. 
Brundo Spice Company – an Ethiopian Women-Owned Company that prioritizes sustainable and equitable business practices from our farm to your kitchen. From Modjo to North Oakland, to you — we are committed to bringing the highest quality goods from Ethiopia and showing the world the beauty of East African cuisine through heirloom spices and herbs. All of our products are imported directly from our processing facility in Modjo, Ethiopia, where they are locally grown, harvested, sun-dried, and blended.
Aztecali Original Mexican Seasonings – Original Mexican seasonings and spices.
Mystical Mixes – produces all natural sea moss juices, which are guaranteed fresh and contain no sugar, no water and zero chemicals. Try one of their 10 flavors aimed to target different healing in the body.
Bangin’ Ass BBQ – Just a woman and her grill trying to bring a little of St. Louis to the Bay. We want every bite to take you to a happy place. Our food is simple but delicious.
Tarrocco – a California Mediterranean cafe serving breakfast and lunch. All of our items are gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan optional. We buy our produce from local organic farms, many of whom sell at the Grand Lake Farmers Market. We are proud to pay our employees a living wage and our staff is entirely Queer and/or people of color. 

Out for Season:

Rainbow Ranch
Gotelli Cherries
Triple Delight Blueberries
G & S Corn
Tomato Man
Lucero
Sunblaze
Balakian
Feather River
Peach Farm
Glass Onion Farms
Williamson/Shoup
Solorios
Kashiwase
Forever Bloom
Fenella’s Berries

Quit Market:

Nicasio Valley Cheese
Squabish Pretzels 
Stone Root
Pang Yang
Early Bird Farm & Mill
Capay
Chaga Mushroom Co.
Flying Disc Ranch
Marina Bay Bakery

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

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