BERKELEY, Calif. — This city has many exciting places to explore, and one of its most treasured is the weekly Farmers’ Market, held on Saturdays at the corner of Milivia and Center streets and in other locations during the week.
Think this is just about fresh veggies and fruit? True to Berkeley’s unique style, there’s so much more. One of the market’s most popular tents is Three Twins Ice Cream. Simon and Maxine Gottlieb greet visitors and sell on Saturdays. “My son actually started Three Twins,” Gottlieb said. “He made ice cream in the morning, sold it in the afternoon and did the books in the evening.”
Eventually, his son hired a catering staffer and recruited his dad to help him deliver the ice cream, and the business took off. The local supermarket took four pints first, and then after the success there, the tiny crew opened up a factory. In 2010, though, money became tight and they had to cut back. They found investors and continued to pursue their dreams. “Now we can be found in all Whole Foods across the country, 65 Safeways, nine or 10 Costcos, all over the East and West Coast, and overseas,” Gottlieb said.
And the name? “I have twin boys, and one of them married twins,” he said. “It’s very interesting, but creative.”
Not everyone at the market is a vendor. Alan Lipton provides the shoppers with what he describes as “original acoustic progressive rock.”
“It is my art,” he said. He visits the farmers’ market two to three Saturdays a month, but can also be found at other areas for open mic nights. He found his passion for music after realizing he was happiest “singing a song, not punching the clock.”
“I tend to be a storyteller,” Lipton said, after being asked the inspiration behind his song lyrics. “I can write or sing about a political element with a surrealist approach,” he said.
Lipton expresses himself on many different platforms. He’s a “fictioneer,” scriptwriter and content developer. He also works with [mostly] the acoustic guitar, bass guitar, baglama (a present from his daughter’s trip to Greece) and a mountain dulcimer.
Not only is the farmers’ market home to performers like Lipton, but it is also one of the best places to sell food such as beef and dairy, sellers said. Katie Coffman with True Grass Farms said people in Berkeley appreciate their organic, 100 percent, grass-fed beef. True Grass Farms recently won the Environmental Stewardship Award for its region for the care of the cows they butcher.
Every day, the cows are moved to a new pasture so that they won’t eat around their own feces. Their beef is 100 percent grass fed and finished. This means that the cows eat grass from the time they are calves to the time the die.
Another company benefiting from the farmers’ market is Saint Benoit Creamery. The owner, Benoit de Korsak, began the company at a farmers’ market in San Francisco 10 years ago. Zoe Wadkins, representative of the creamery, said loyal customers have been coming to them for yogurt, milk and cheese ever since.
