Splash Pad Park

Grand Lake Neighborhood, Oakland, California

Farmers Market Update – November 2022

2022 November, Dan Foster, Farmers Market ·

by Dan Foster

Gather for the Planet gala – We encourage you to visit the Gather For the Planet website to learn more about our December 3rd fundraiser to be held at the Swedish American Music Hall, benefiting AIM and the Center for Food & Agriculture.

Christmas Tree Lot – The annual Christmas Tree lot will be arriving at Splash Pad Park starting Sunday 11/13. Many vendors will need to be temporarily moved to accommodate. Remember, you can check the Grand Lake digital map each week to see if your favorite vendors will be present, and where they will be located. If using a smartphone, we recommend landscape mode for the best viewing experience.

Market Participant Spotlight:
Green Wolf Foods – Vegan meat substitutes: naturally smoked ready-to-eat vegan salami/sausages, 100% plant-based. Find them on the sidewalk facing Grand Ave. next to Annie’s Tea Cakes.

Rize Up Bakery – Rize Up Bakery is 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, born 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 our love of delicious, thoughtfully baked breads made with natural, organic , sustainable, high quality ingredients! Honored to feed your soul.
Vegan Row Spotlight – Vegan Row isn’t a vendor, but a section in the market highlighting vegan products and featuring: Volcano Kimchi, Chestnut St. Granola, Annie’s Tea Cakes, and Green Wolf Foods. You can find them on the sidewalk facing Grand under the trees. If you’ve never been over to this area, please come check it out!
October Entertainment Schedule:
11/5 – Sophie & Gabe – Folky jazz! Lots of jazz standards with an acoustic folky twist, plus originals.
11/12 – Who’s Feeling Young Now – Acoustic Bluegrass
11/19 – Karumanta – Instrumental South American music
11/26 – Alameda Mountain Ramblers – Bluegrass, Old-Time, Americana

New Market Participant Pipeline – Folks who are confirmed to join but don’t have a firm start date yet:

Mill Valley Pasta Co. – 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. 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.
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. Their juices are guaranteed fresh and contain no sugar, no water, and zero chemicals. You can try one of their 10 flavors aimed to target different healing in the body.

Derek Pena, one of our AIM staff members decided to dress up as a Minion for Halloween and persuaded four of our vendors to do so as well.

Two of our equally valued vendors apparently march to a different drummer.

Out for Season:
Tomato Man
Rainbow Ranch
Gotelli Cherries
Triple Delight Blueberries
G & S Corn
Lucero
Sunblaze
Balakian
Feather River
Peach Farm
Glass Onion Farms
Williamson/Shoup
Solorios
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
Editor’s Note

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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