On the second Saturday of each month, the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market hosts a special event, known as SAVOR, which stands for Sonoma Alliance for Veggie Outreach Revolution. It’s a community endeavor with a goal of drawing in new customers and educating them how and why to shop at farmers markets. Anyone who attends markets regularly doesn’t need convincing that it’s the best way to shop but incentives–and there are several on Saturday– can be helpful for newcomers.

Participants in CalFresh, the state’s food stamp program, will get a special bonus, an extra farm market dollar for every two dollars spent. Quick math lesson: This means that if you spend, say, $20 of your CalFresh allotment, you’ll be able to buy $30 worth of fresh food. Great deal, don’t you think?

This Saturday, the market also features a free clothing swap–bring something you no longer want, take something you need whether or not you leave anything and help hang up clothes if you have time–free kids books, two guest chefs, one who is also a doctor at Vista Medical Clinic, and another who is an acupuncturist. Additional doctors will be on hand to chat about health and about the idea, growing in popularity, that food is great medicine.

The season for apricots is brief; enjoy them now or miss out.

Three foods will be featured at this Saturday’s market, apricots, peaches and cherries. Apricots will vanish soon and cherries may not last much longer because last week’s rain may have damaged a lot of the crop still on the trees. Peaches won’t reach their peak for a few weeks (fingers crossed; it’s been a tricky year for stone fruit).

The Santa Rosa farmers market takes place on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the east parking lot of the Veterans Building, across from the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Read about the market in detail here and here.

Here are links to some delicious recipes from the Seasonal Pantry archives using two of this week’s featured foods:

Pork Tenderloin with Bacon, Apricots, Snow Peas & Sesame Seeds

Apricot Chutney
Couscous with Chicken, Pistachios, Grilled Apricots & Harissa
Apricot Galette

Seared Duck Breast with Cherry-Basil Sauce