Letter: Coastside Farmer’s Market field notes

This issue is all about beans, berries, bytes that have bit it, and Bicycles that have not.

The Coastside Farmer’s Market is a proud supporter of The HEAL Project - a home grown, hands on, award winning program that brings local agriculture into the classroom.  Farmers John ( both Muller and Giusti) are regular guest teachers in the classroom, and due in part to their wise council (and wise cracks) the HEAL Project garden is now a fully certified agricultural producer, and beginning this week, the kids from the HEAL Project will be offering their produce for sale at the Half Moon Bay location every other week through the summer.  Big News: This is the ONLY public School in the State ( that we know of) to become a Certified Agricultural Producer, and the only one qualified to sell their products at a Certified Farmer’s Market. It’s kind of a big deal.

The HEAL Project, like many worthy public benefit enterprises on the Coast is, as ever , under threat of extinction, due entirely to funding challenges.  You can help support the HEAL Project in a number of ways and buying some of their Fava beans and blanching them, grinding them up in a Cuisinart with lemon juice, olive oil and a dollop of tahini is a good start.  You can also attend a benefit concert with The Santa Cruz River Band we a co-producing this Friday night, May 30 at the Odd Fellows Hall - 526 Main Street, upstairs from Tokenz and M Coffee -

Or , you can clean out your garage, attic or office and bring your end-of-life electronics to the Coastside Farmer’s Market on June 7th for a FREE e-waste recycling event the Market is co-sponsoring with Reece Computer Systems and ASL, who guarantee that ALL the recycling is done here, in California, and not shipped overseas.

We’ll also be accepting microwaves, which is a good thing since you won’t need one to make the best fake-out Strawberry Cheesecake kind of thing ever.  Just grab a half-flat of Swanton’s berries and 2 tubs of Spring Hill Jersey Cheese’s Vanilla Bean quark, a selection of fresh baguettes or , if you are young and foolish with a very forgiving metabolism, a half dozen Octoberfeast croissants. Invite a few friends with sunny dispositions and strong backs over for brunch.  Claim appliance failure when they arrive, and ask for assistance in removing your defunct microwave ( and while they’re at it, how about they help get that old CRT monitor and , oh, that tower, those printer cartridges and that odd phone shaped like a football and the TV that is serving as a hat-rack)  out to the truck while you re-create breakfast. While the guests develop momentum and notice an under-ridden bicycle and an obsolete fax machine to toss into the truck, you rinse and quarter the berries, toss them in a bowl with the quark and stir it all up. The quark (a german style whole milk yogurt cheese)  has a serious tangy bite and a rich hit of real vanilla that drapes the berries in a luscious cloak of amazing flavor.  Heap a hearty helping of the mixture over a warm piece of a Bay Bread Company baguette a is a thing of rare and infinite beauty, and when paired with a clean garage, well, that’s just plain lovely.

The bicycle, by the way, can also be brought to the Coastside Farmer’s Market on June 7th.  The good people at Puente de la Costa Sur are conducting a bicycle drive that day as well, the goal being to get a good, working bicycle to young agricultural workers that live in the outlying areas and work on the farms that border and bisect the communities of the Coastside.

Hope to see you at the Market, the Odd Fellows Hall or on the bike path soon!

Thanks a bushel and a bunch -