We experience poor DSL service from AT&T.  Because I work from home and use the Internet extensively, it is vital to me that DSL service function properly.  Comcast does not service this area.  If you also have DSL service in or near the Miramar area, you probably are experiencing DSL problems also.

I am reaching out to you because I believe that we are more likely to cause AT&T to make the necessary investment that would provide good DSL service if we all share a common understanding of what the issues are, and know how to effectively act on that information.  If you get your service from Coastside.net you are also affected by these issues because AT&T provides the basic connectivity.  My hope is that this letter will give you the information for you to discover if your service is substandard, and the instructions on how to navigate AT&T will allow you to add your voice to mine in requesting an improvement in service quality for this neighborhood.

Symptoms are any of the following: Internet videos such as YouTube and Netflix do not play smoothly; web pages take a long time to load; downloads go very slowly; voice conversations using Skype do not work well and/or your modem lights frequently turn red.

The main reason for poor DSL service is that AT&T’s central office (often referred to as the CO) is too far away, in downtown Half Moon Bay.  DSL is not supposed to reach this far.  However, before moving here I contacted AT&T to verify that DSL was available for this neighborhood, and I was told that 3Mb/s was available.  Based on that information we moved in.  The first problem, then, is that AT&T’s sales team is selling a defective product.  AT&T can make this right by investing in additional equipment.

These record-breaking chill days of this particular “summer” continue to inspire fantastic outfits of many layers, and have me thinking that looking to  traditional summer comforts like refreshing sorbets or rich, cool gazpacho for relief from the weather’s insults may not be the best course of action if recovery from chill-blains is my goal.  Which it is.

As most all of us have surely noticed there is not much of a need to cool off these days, but the tomatoes are coming on anyway, albeit slower than in years past, spinach has had little reason or opportunity to bolt and so is lush and plentiful as are the summer squashes, eggplants and multi-hued potatoes.  Access to that spectacular palate of flavors and colors (and a v-blade slicer from Toque Blanche)  make for quite colorful way to layer up a fresh lasagne,  serious bucket of ratatouille or a tricolor potato gratin topped with slow-roasted heirloom tomatoes.  

Now, in normal years I’d be waiting to make dishes like these until fall when the days are shorter,  the nights a bit cooler but the tag ends of later tomatoes are still coming to Market; full-hipped, ripe and tasty, but a bit blowsily past their prime, kinda like your hostess. But in a year like this when most folks can’t seem to coax their zucchini to blossom let alone overproduce, it seems like a good idea to move the comfort food season into what one Mr Clemens referred to as the Coldest Winter he ever spent anywhere. 

The Midcoast Community Council has been asked by County Counsels office to comment on an application to sell liquor by a local gas station that already sells beer and wine   We are seeking community input.. 

A special certificate, called “A Certificate of Public Convenience or Necessity” is required because the number of liquor licenses in the area exceeds the number allowed by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC).

I am welcoming community comments on the subject.  Please email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).  The item will be on the agenda at the July 28th meeting

The Chevron station in Moss Beach is requesting a license to sell hard liquor in addition to their existing license to sell beer & wine.  The San Mateo County Counsel has asked for public input before July 30. This has been added to the agenda for the MCC’s meeting on Wednesday, July 15.

The meeting will be Wednesday, July 14, at 7:30pm at the Seton Medical Center Coastside, Marine Boulevard & Etheldore, Moss Beach. Take Highway 1 to Marine Boulevard and follow hospital signs uphill.

This weeks all kinds of shenanigans are going on at the Markets - and I do hope you’ll consider dropping in - or off-  for the hijinks.  And for the apricots. Oh, and Airelle’s strawberries. And Eda’s spinach. 

I’ll get to the regular version of Field Notes next week, but for now, I wanted to alert you to a couple of things happening at the Markets this week so you can plan accordingly. We are hoping to help our neighbors here, and those living along the beautiful and imperiled Gulf Coast in a couple of small but meaningful ways this week and you can help if you like.

HI There Marketeers!
I was preparing for the early mail run this morning when it occurred to me to remind y’all that we are having the first of our blood drives this season on Saturday.  I think it was finding my ballot in my collection of re-usable grocery bags in the trunk of my car that triggered my memory, so the other reminder is don’t forget to vote. 

At any rate, the Bloodmobile is on the way, so if you are a donor or want to become one in honor of Memorial Day, why then make an appointment here, and we’ll all be happy.  Especially Santiago, who will sing to you when you are finished, and feed you oranges to perk you up. Paul might feed you cherries, too.  And if that’s not enough for you, Jennie Schacht, author of Farmers’ Market Desserts will be on hand to offer suggestions for all sorts of blood-sugar balancing delights that will level you out.  Plus, thanks to our local chapter of the Oddfellows, the Don Rowell Trio is popping over the slide from Pacifica, and those lush jazz standards should soothe your soul. 

If none of that does it for you, then I suggest you grab a baguette from James, a nice chunk of Dee Harley’s Ricotta, a handful of  Josie’s apricots, a bunch of mint and a bottle of James Blond white balsamic and make yourself an astonishing little breakfast when you get home.  

San Mateo County has closed down two farmworker labor camps housing more than 50 individuals because nitrate levels in their drinking water were six time the federal limit, reports Julia Scott in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The families are tenants of “Red” Marchi, their employer and owner of Marchi’s Central Farm. The farm grows 300 acres of Brussels sprouts, leeks and other vegetables in and around Pescadero. [...]

[County health director Dean] Peterson and Marchi say no one is living at either labor camp anymore. But Kerry Lobel, executive director of Pescadero-based community nonprofit group Puente de la Costa Sur, says most families are still there because they have nowhere else to go.

[...]

The Bay Area News Group reported Monday that nitrates have been found in the wells that supply drinking water to more than 2 million Californians over the past 15 years. Yet government regulators have failed to make controlling nitrates a high priority, even as it has become the most common groundwater contaminant in the country.

Nitrates are linked to blue baby syndrome, which cuts off oxygen to essential organs in infants. It can also affect pregnant women and immuno-compromised adults.

Lobel estimated that between five and eight infants are living in both labor camps and possibly some pregnant women as well.

The county has known that the labor camp has a history of nitrate contamination and the farm has a “long history of housing safety violations”, reports the County Times.

This is a short summary of a much longer story that should be read in its entirety.

Greetings from The Genius Bar, Marketeers! 

Well, who knew?  Once in a while it turns out that one bad Apple can, in fact, spoil a whole bunch - of emails in this case. I am sending my greeting to you from the Mac store OTH - where there is, like in the supermarket, a limited selection of options in the variety of Apple available, but the big difference is boy, do these Geniuses  know their product - so yay!  Field Notes is back is Biz-Nez for the time being - which may or may not be such great news to you.   Happily for me, several other coastal sub-genius sorts like my Favorite Nurse Susy had also had bellied up to the Genius Bar round about the same time my problems began, and calmed me down considerably by reminding me ever so gently that there’s no need to panic when there are Geniuses at hand to fix your little red Apple, and sardines are in season. 

Seems I know a whole bunch about all kinds of Apples except the one I write on, which has been causing me a heapin’ helpin’ of anxiety.  But I DO know this:  when you get your hands on some really good spinach, pastured eggs, fresh garlic, beets, carrots, onions and celery (the kind that actually tastes like something other than recently used fishing line) all will be put aright soon, because all of these fabulous foodstuffs are widely known to calm you down and sort you out and actually put you in the frame of mind required to understand what the Genius just told you about your archiving issue. And you can find them all grown right here at your Coastside Farmers’ Market, where at this time of year there is not an apple of any sort in sight. But there are all of the aforementioned foodstuffs you could ever ask for, along with some of the most astonishing berries and insanely sweet citrus you are ever likely to encounter. 

Greenings, Marketeers, 

And Welcome to the 2010 season of the Coastside Farmers’ Market!  Thanks to ewe, we are all set and ready to go at 9 AM on May 1 in Half Moon Bay, followed closely by the Pacifica Season Opener at 2:30 in the afternoon on May 5th.  

Let’s start with a heapin’ helpin’ of Thank You’s to our hosts:  The Carrubba Family in Half Moon Bay, and the City of Pacifica for once again making it possible to present this little Valentine to our Coastal communities. And let’s follow that up real quick with a bouquet of blessings on our Sponsors - those lovely local business partners who help make sure the whole shebang goes off without causing an irreparable hitch in my git-a-long. And to the Friends of the Farmer’s Market - you are the cherries on my sundae and we are all incredibly grateful for your trust and support. 

Speaking of cherries - there ought to be plenty coming your way, along with an abundance of the best of local produce, fruits from farther afield, some new folks to meet and old friends to greet!  I’d tell you all about it, but I’d rather have you come and see for yourself! 

I can and will tell you that the HEAL Project Garden Club kids are back this season with May Day delights for you, and that Erica Sunshine Lee will be singing her heart out while you explore the Market and find out who’s new, and where your old favorites are hiding! 

We open at 9 AM, and I am hoping to ask for the help of our Market Faithful’s in making sure we have the time and space we need to get the Market set up, trucks moved,  and all our inspections sorted out so we can keep the place safe, and are ready to  Open right at 9AM,  when the lovely Miss Christina, who promises to dress spectacularly for the occasion,  rings the Ceremonial Opening Bell, made for us specially by our own Silvio Modena. 

Please understand that until that bell rings, our vendors cannot lawfully make sales, and that it is really unsafe for you to meander through the Market while folks are unloading and trying to get set up.  We humbly, but firmly request that y’all Curb your Enthusiam, and wait in the wings - as in on the sidewalks - until all the trucks are out, and the inspections all completed - and our hum-dinger of a bell-ringer announces that we are officially Open for the Season.