A Press Democrat Blog

Eat this now

Seasonal Pantry at your fingertips

Fresh From Our Farmers: Middleton Farm

Thursday, at 12:22 by

Nancy Skall of Middleton Farm  grows what may be the best asparagus I’ve ever tasted. Stalks range from about the diameter of a chopstick to that of your big thumb and shoppers in the know reach for the fattest ones. The thinnest stalks are not, as many restaurant menus imply, baby asparagus. They are actually the shoots of older plants. For the best-tasting most-tender asparagus, get fat stalks and either roast them in a hot oven or grill them over hot… Read More »

Fresh From Our Farmers: Sam Kim’s Mushrooms

Thursday, at 12:12 by

Sam Kim of Bohemian Well Being Farm is a familiar face to farmers market shoppers throughout Sonoma County. At the peak of the season, when all our markets are in full swing, you’ll find him at several each week with his cultivated and wild mushrooms, some not much bigger than a toothpick, others larger than dinner plates. At his 136-acre farm in Occidental, he grows shiitakes, oyster mushrooms and reishi, a species that is highly valued for its medicinal properties. The… Read More »

Order Your Easter Lamb Now

Friday, at 11:27 by

If you want to serve lamb on Easter and want it to be the best quality you can find, you should place an order sooner rather than later. Williams Ranches, based in Sebastopol, will be taking orders through Sunday, including at the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market (at the Wells Fargo Center) on Saturday. They always bring extra to the market on the Saturday before Easter but they always sell out before noon. If you know you want lamb,… Read More »

Fresh From Our Farmers: Parsons Homegrown Tomatoes

Friday, at 12:40 by

Parsons Homegrown of Fulton fills a very specific niche, fresh local tomatoes from January through July or August. Kelley Parsons established her operation in 1994 and it is thriving today. This year, she is growing three varieties, Favorita, a cherry tomato; Geronimo, a red beefsteak, and Yellow Boy, a yellow beefsteak. In the early 1990s, Kelley and Tom Parsons were starting their family. Their second child had just been born and Kelley was working full time as an insurance underwriter.… Read More »

Fresh From Our Farmers: Santa Rosa Original Market This SUNDAY

Friday, at 11:57 by

The Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market will take place this Sunday, not Saturday. The change is for this week only. This shift is necessary because of a previously scheduled event at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts. Events at the Center are scheduled many months in advance and all those in place before the market moved to its current location last May must be honored. The market’s board of directors are working with the Center and the county to… Read More »

Fresh From Our Farmers: Larry Tristano’s Triple T Ranch & Farm

Wednesday, at 3:46 by

Triple T Ranch and Farm has been a familiar presence at Santa Rosa and Marin farmers markets since the mid 1990s but that is not how it got its start. Larry  Tristano began selling zucchini to local Lucky Markets in 1983, when the fecund summer squash was his primary crop. By the mid 1990s he had expanded what he grew and, in 1995, became a vendor at the Marin Civic Center Farmers Market in San Rafael. In 1996, he was… Read More »

Fresh From Our Farmers: Chestnuts for Thanksgiving

Sunday, at 3:26 by

TAKE NOTE: CHESTNUTS, ALONG WITH CHANTERELLES AND QUINCE, WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE SANTA ROSA ORIGINAL CERTIFIED FARMERS MARKET, THIS WEDNESDAY FROM 8:30 A.M. TO NOON.  “The chestnuts were a little late this year,” Jim McCrumb of Sonoma Coast Organic Produce says, explaining that the burs–those nearly-impossible-to-crack cupules, each of which can hold up to 7 chestnuts,  that protect the nuts from squirrels and other critters–need rain to pop open. Jim McCrumb  and his partner Dave Passmore  show up with… Read More »

Fresh From Our Farmers: Schedule Change This Week for Santa Rosa Original Farmers Market

Friday, at 5:16 by

When the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market moved to the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts (50 Mark West Springs Rd.), it was with the understanding that the space, including the area where the market takes place, had been reserved for special events that would require, in some instances, a shortened market and, in others, a cancellation of a market day. That’s the case this Saturday, November 3. A previously scheduled event will be taking place, leaving no room… Read More »

Fresh From Our Farmers: Ma & Pa’s Garden

Friday, at 11:58 by

Ma and Pa’s Garden of Sebastopol has been a fixture at local farmers markets for more than two decades. Cliff Silva, with his big smile and impish eyes, is the face of the farm, as he’s the one who hauls the harvest to market and sings the praises of his wife Joy’s plant prowess. This fall, Ma & Pa’s harvest includes outstanding broccoli, some of the best potatoes you’ll ever taste, gorgeous celery root, Cheddar cauliflower, winter squash and heirloom… Read More »

Fresh From Our Farmers: Sonoma’s The Patch

Friday, at 11:44 by

For years, The Patch has been the first local farm with tomatoes. Lazaro Calderon’s booths at local farmers markets appear sometime in April, when he has some of the best-tasting Nantes carrots around, and the race is on. By mid-May, customers are asking when he expects to have the first of his widely praised tomatoes. “Soon,” he says with a smile, “maybe in a couple of weeks.” The first usually appear sometime in June. Calderon typically has tomatoes longer than… Read More »