Category: Farmers’ Market

BERKELEY, Calif.— Cultured, a family business established in 1996 that specializes in sauerkraut, pickled vegetables and kombucha, strives to provide its unusual organically fermented products at the weekly North Berkeley Farmers’ Market to the diverse community that shops there every Thursday.

 

 

Cultured is one of the many companies that follow the policies set by the Ecology Center, which include sales of Certifiable Agricultural Products, no sales of styrofoam or ingredients that may have exposure to GMOs and much more.

Massa Organics uses environmentally conscious farming techniques, such as implementing a fertilizer that contains less arsenic and using cover crops, which help soil fertility and water conservation.

“Instead of going through and mowing the lawn, the sheep go through and kind of graze, so it’s very sustainable, very natural,” employee Caitlyn Melillo said.

These vendors say they are committed to creating products in the most organic and preservative manner achievable.

Miss Bee Haven Honey works on developing organic honey that contributes to people’s health and even the bees’ existence.

“Organic honey really contributes to health and allergy as well as saving the bees and keeping them from becoming extinct … really, they’re like a superpower. Bees create honey and pollen, which is a superfood for people; it’s everything that everybody could need,” employee Jenna Dragonetti said.

The community not only focuses on the organic process of production but also puts particular efforts in packaging. The Ecology Center’s Farmers’ Market was the first in the United States to set the trend on eliminating all plastic bags and packaging.

Part of the conservation movement could be seen at Cultured’s stand, where workers provide a 25 cents if their jars are cleaned and returned.  

According to a price study conducted by ConsumerReports.org in 2015, organic foods cost an average of 47 percent more than nonorganic foods because of the extra time and effort needed to grow them. The Berkeley Ecology Center does accept food-assistance stamps and Electronic Benefit Transfers (EBT). This program helps promote an accepting community of various business partners, shoppers and friends.

“I have regulars that I see every week, and we are able to catch up and chat while they are getting their things,” Melillo said.

In order to produce homemade products, businesses such as Cultured, use the organic products from other stands, creating an interconnected community among vendors, who also develop partnerships through which they trade their products.

“We get all our produce from this market and every one here,” Cultured’s Seamus Hozven-Farley said.

 

BERKELEY, Calif. — “Free samples! Free samples!” a woman proclaims as we pass her fruit stand at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, organized by the Ecology Center here in and just north of the University of California sprawling campus.

Underneath a bright blue sky, cradled in between a grocery store to the east and a busy road to the west, about 25 tents cover a veritable utopia of fresh produce, flowers and baked goods.

Customers and vendors alike, as well as the music of performers along the sidewalk, one playing a mandolin, another singing and playing the guitar, create a unique atmosphere in an otherwise ordinary Thursday afternoon in north Berkeley.

In addition to  the more typical fare of fruits and veggies, eclectic selections include a knife-sharpening stand and artisan honey.

However, the most notable part about this farmers’ market isn’t the wide range of goods sold, but the attention to the environment and sustainability displayed by all of the vendors.

“We’ll extract them [the bees] actually use them to create the honey versus a lot of the exterminators will just kill the bees which is why they’re going extinct,” Jenna Dragonetti of Miss Bee Haven Honey said.

This is largely due to the Ecology Center’s dedication to eco-friendly vending, which is displayed in rules that prohibit vendors from using plastic bags, which can potentially be harmful to the environment. “I think the more we can rid of plastic the better,” Dragonetti said.

But this isn’t close to all that the Ecology Center does for Berkeley and the local community. Through a number of environmentally conscious outreach programs, the nonprofit is taking action to provide jobs for Bay Area youth.

Farrah Jahangir, a local teenager who works with the Ecology Center’s Youth Environmental Agency, said, “Our first thing is to basically reach out to the community with more information on the big soda, the soda tax and the reasons why the soda tax actually took place.”

The nation’s first tax on soda went into effect in Berkeley in 2014, charging one additional cent per fluid ounce. A study conducted by the American Public Health Association found that the tax saw a 20% decrease in soda drinking among Berkeley residents.

As Jahangir and her colleagues hand out free water to people passing by, she added,, “Also we’re here to promote…that drinking water is the best solution, rather than drinking other sugary products and sugary drinks that are out there.”

Jahangir said she has become better-informed about potential dietary problems. “I had no clue about the epidemic of type 2 Diabetes in the Bay Area,” she said in reference to the effects of heavy soda drinking on residents

Other vendors at the farmers’ market were supportive of the Ecology Center’s youth program’s hiring of teens.  

“I’m a teen service librarian, so I’m down with helping teens,” Jack Baur, a worker at the Berkeley Public Library, said. He arrived with a cart full of DVDs and books waiting to be checked out. Not only does the Ecology Center help supply youth with jobs and raise awareness of healthy eating, but they also work to assist the community in more universal ways, such as by promoting recycling. “The Ecology Center supplies recycling bins all over Berkeley, and there’s tons at our school,” Jahangir said.

The nonprofit has taken things a step further for Berkeley and the Bay Area at large by accepting food-assistance cards, which allow  those with lower incomes access to the farm-fresh food.

Every Saturday, locals and tourists come together to see food, plants, music and people that the Berkeley’s http://ecologycenter.org/fm/ has to offer.

One of the most memorable parts of this experience is the sound of Lindell Reeves’ voice, a mixture of country twang and Southern soul. Reeves is 80 and has been playing guitar and writing songs since he was a boy growing up in Tennessee.

He first came to Berkeley in the 1960s during the Summer of Love and has been entertaining people at this same farmers’ market for more than 20 years. His favorite part about these days is “singin’ the blues” and watching the people go by, and he said the relationships he has fostered is what keeps him coming back.

Another longtime face at the Saturday market downtown is Sean Jewell, who has been selling raw chocolate for the past six years. His favorite part of the market is “talking to customers and getting their opinions,” which is how he keeps up with their changing food preferences.

He said that working together with the other vendors is a distinctive part of their local community and they “definitely keep an eye on each other, in a good way.” If one of the nearby vendors needs to take a break, he will watch their booth or offer to help their customers.

He also said that he and some of the other vendors have a “barter economy,” offering that “I’ll give you some chocolate for some cheese.”

The relationships between the vendors is important, and the vendors’ relationships with their customers are even more important, said Dante Kaleo, the youth program assistant for the Ecology Center. His job is to organize everything and make sure that the city and the vendors are communicating.

The farmers’ market allows California farmers to bring seasonal, locally grown produce to sell directly to consumers. Kaleo said, “Our mission is based around sustainability and economic awareness.”

He loves his job, he said, because of “the amount of appreciation” he gets and “the relationships and trust” he builds with his customers. Locals often come here to purchase their everyday necessities and end up “running into their friends” along the way. Although the Ecology Center is constantly trying to evolve and improve, customers can always count on the atmosphere to “stay exactly the same,” he said.

Kaleo said the market has had a positive impact on Berkeley because it “brings people together and builds a strong sense of community.” For more information about upcoming events, you can visit their website here.

BERKELEY, Calif. — Different vendors began to set up early Saturday morning at the weekly downtown Farmers’ Market here. While putting out fresh tomatoes, strawberries and peaches, displaying honey and oils and calling out different pastries and breads, area farmers attracted locals as well as tourists.

Suzan Chun, a local from the Bay area, continually comes two to three times a week.

“The vendors have really, really good produce that’s fresh and tastes good,” Chun said.  “I’ll buy it on Saturday. and it’ll still be fresh on Friday when I cook it.”

One vendor, Katie Coffman, has been working for True Grass Farms for two years. True Grass Farms sells beef, as well as poultry and pork.

“I love coming to the farmers’ market because there’s a beautiful connection between the farmers and consumers. You’re seeing a product coming directly from the farm to the consumers,” Coffman said.

For some, this is their first time experiencing a Berkeley’s Farmers’ Market, which are held in three different locations each week, year-round. Hernandez Hideaway, a band of four years now,  performed for the first time last weekend. They brought the violin, mandolin, soprano saxophone, trombone, accordion and bass guitar to the market and street fair.

“We have kind of an old world Eastern Europe folk feel,” trombonist Sam Hernandez said.

Violinist as well as mandolinist Nao Nakazawa said that they were playing to promote their next show, which was their album launch party.

Others have been at the Farmers’ Market a lot longer; Three Twins Organic Ice Cream has been selling here for nearly nine years. The business was started in San Rafael by Neal Gottlieb.

“I like doing the market because it’s like I give back to the community,” Neal’s father, Simon, said.

Three Twins eventually expanded to Napa, Larkspur and San Francisco and built a factory in Petaluma. The ice cream is now in every Whole Foods store across the country, as well as some Costco’s. It has even found itself being enjoyed internationally, in places such as China, South Korea and Lebanon.

“All my son wanted to do was think of something that no one else was making; now look where that landed him,” Simon Gottlieb said.

For some people like George Haley, the farmers’ market means a great deal.

“The problem with food in the supermarket is that it has no flavor,” Haley said. “It’s picked before it’s ripened and then left to ripen off the vine. The Farmers’ Market is a great thing because the food ripens before getting picked.”

Haley has been going to the market for 26 years; the market has run for 27 years. He started because of the fresh tomatoes but became a regular because of the huge difference in taste for everything, as well as the organic produce, he said.

“The market means a lot as a community. I’ve been coming so long that I’ve made so many friends that I see every week. It’s the only time I get to see them, but I always love to chat with them,” Haley said.

Berkeley’s Farmers’ Market has a variety of products, from ice cream to fruits to pastries, meats, and cheeses. From toddlers to the elderly, the market draws a diverse crowd throughout the day as well, and brings together farmers and consumers.

“Eating is a spiritual act and I feel like the Farmers’ Market shares that. People connect over food,” Coffman said of True Grass Farms.

 

BERKELEY, Calif.—Of the many stands set up at the weekly downtown farmers’ market, one that stands out is Enrico Bariani’s.

Bariani, who is originally from Italy, sells olive oil and cosmetic products, and has been setting his tent up at the farmers’ market since the 1990’s.

He came to the United States with his family in 1989, and it was difficult for him to get a job because of immigration issues. His unemployment inspired Bariani to begin selling olive oil, made from olives grown on his family’s farm. “We decided to sell the oil that we made because it was more than we could use,” Bariani said.

The business started out small, and they only produced four gallons of olive oil their first year. However, as time went on and they gained more experience, they began to produce more oil each year. Now, they sell many different sizes of olive oil, and they sell cosmetic products made with their olive oil.  

They have other products, too: “We also have beehives on our farm so we also have organic honey,” he said.

He and other vendors have been coming regularly and numerous customers frequent the market each week, too. Nancy Newman, a local shopper, said she has been buying produce from the farmers’ market for years. She said she sees friends while doing her shopping and enjoys crossing paths with people she knows.

“There’s a great atmosphere here,” Newman said.