| Upper Haight Farmers' Market October 2014 | Wednesdays, 3pm to 7pm, through October 29, Stanyan and Waller St.
The Upper Haight Farmers' Market will be closing for the season on October 29. To continue to get your farm-fresh produce visit the other markets in your area. See you next year! | Winter Squash
Winter squash is a wonderfully colorful and delicious vegetable, versatile in the kitchen and store well enough to use as fall decorations on your front porch or tabletop for a month or two.
They come in an amazing array of colors, shapes, sizes, and varieties, many of which are available at your local farmers' market. Big butternut squash, banana squash, acorn squash, and spaghetti squash are familiar, but expand your taste buds and try a kabocha, delicata, or a sweet dumpling squash. They're all fantastic! Read about the different varieties here. | In This Issue 
Winter Squash
Photo Contest Winner
Drought Shortens the Season
Featured Producers
Market Happenings
Cookin' the Market
Locavore
Fab Fruit
Cooking Tips
Veggie Pick
In Season
October Recipes
Fresh Approach
Local Food Festivals
Your Community | Photo Contest Winners Announced!
Congratulations to our three 2nd Annual Farmers’ Market Photo Contest winners! All of the submitted photos were fantastic! We received 57 photos from about 30 different markets for the month-long contest in honor of Farmers’ Market Week. This is almost double the  participation of last year’s first photo contest and the PCFMA staff had a tough time deciding on the winners!
Photo: 1st Place Winner: Cherry Tomatoes by Joy Yu Zuchero taken at the College of San Mateo Farmers’ Market. The Grand Prize is a one night stay for two at the Capay Valley Bed & Breakfast and tickets to the nearby Hoes Down Festival at Full Belly Farm.
The images we received covered a wide range of views on what your farmers’ markets means to you, from the fabulous produce, to the market atmosphere, to the community feeling the market creates. We thank all those who participated in this exciting contest. All of us at Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association appreciate your participation and support of your local farmers’ markets! We hope you all had as much fun taking the photos as we did viewing them! Click here to see all the winners. | Drought Shortens the Season
Walking through the farmers' market, it may not be readily apparent that farmers are struggling to bring you fresh produce. In California, farmers and farmworkers have been among those most heavily hit by the drought this year.
A recent UC Davis study predicts that 14,500 jobs will be lost this year just in the Central Valley because farms are getting only two-thirds of their typical water allocation. With fewer crops being planted, fewer workers are needed, and people have less money to support local businesses. With fewer crops to harvest after leaving some of their fields fallow, or growing a placeholder crop to keep the soil from eroding, some are even participating in fewer farmers' markets. Details here.
Frog Hollow Farm Live Interview
Have you ever wondered what organic farmers do to make their produce so good? Did you know that healthy soil makes for healthy food and legendary flavor? Tune in on Oct 2nd to hear it straight from the farmer’s mouth! Frog Hollow Farm CSA and PCFMA will be hosting a live interview with Frog Hollow’s farmer in chief, Farmer Al. Pose your questions directly to Al during the event through Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #AskFarmerAl. Or post in to the Frog Hollow Facebook page in the days leading up! Join PCFMA and Frog Hollow Farm for this live event here: http://bit.ly/askfarmeral1. | Featured Market Producers Rainbow Orchards: Apple cider is back, just in time for your Halloween gatherings. Try the Fuji, Pink Lady, and Gala apples and Bartlett pears.
Blue House Farm: Organic candy onions, Brussels sprouts, artichokes, Kennebec potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, kale, chard, and all your other summer veggies from Pescadero. Get out the grill and try some veggies on the fire.
Her Farm: Lots of beets, carrots, gai-lon, leeks, lettuce and other greens, watercress, and onions. Take home some Chinese broccoli or bok choy for something different.
Sticks: A real treat - hand-dipped corn dogs made on site. Hot links, chicken apple, artichoke and garlic dogs, tofurkey, and lots of loaded fries. Their garlic tater tots are great on the side.
Quick 'n' Ezee: Gourmet Indian food sure to please the discriminating palate. Spices, chutneys, 'naanwiches,' and other delicious Indian foods.
Market Happenings October 1 to 22: Enter to win a big market bag filled with stew and soup veggies.
October 8 & 15: Guess the weight of the Giant Pumpkin and you could win some great produce prizes. October 29: The market closes for the season today. To continue to get your farm-fresh produce visit the other markets in your area.  ►Keep up-to-date! Check the farmers’ market Facebook page for event updates or changes. |  The Perfect Pomegranate
A ripe, ready-to-eat pomegranate is a luscious jewel of a fruit, capable of transforming any meal into an extraordinary experience. And although this delicious fruit may seem exotic, it’s easy to enjoy.  Packed inside are hundreds of ruby-red arils – sweet, tart, gem-like juice sacs, bursting with pure flavor. Enjoy these little beauties as is, toss them into savory or sweet dishes, or use them as a brightly colored garnish. To eat, cut off the crown end of the pomegranate, removing with it some of the white pith. Lightly score the skin in quarters, from the stem to the crown end. Firmly yet gently break the sections apart, following the score lines. Bend back the skin and gently scoop the seed clusters into a bowl; remove any pith. Enjoy!
►Look for recipes, cooking tips, tricks, and more on both the Cookin' the Market website and Facebook page.
Divine Persimmons
Known as the divine food in Japan because it’s so sweet, the persimmon is an orange to orange-red fruit about the size of an apple,  with four prominent, large, papery leaves at the crown. It has a very thin, smooth, delicate skin that bruises easily if not handled with care. The persimmon is one of the sweetest of all fruits when it’s ripe. Read more here.
Fruit: Apples, Asian pears, figs, grapes, pears, persimmons, pomegranates, strawberries.
Vegetables: Artichokes, arugula, beets, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, corn, garlic, herbs, kale, leeks, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, spinach, tomatoes, winter squash.
Check out the complete Harvest Calendar here or look for it at your farmers' market info booth. | 
Locavore - Farm Trippin'
Being a locavore is fun in October! Taking the family to your local pumpkin patch for pumpkins, hay rides, and corn mazes is a real treat. This is the original version of family farms getting into agritourism, driving customers to their farms to purchase their products through direct marketing and offering entertainment and educational value at the same time. Apple Hill near Placerville has taken agritourism to heart! Watch this video about the area and then go for a visit!
Agritourism can be just a farm stand or u-pick farm, or it can be an elaborate corn maze, classes, festivals, farm to fork dinners in the field, or even weddings. According to the latest Census of Agriculture numbers, farm income from agritourism has grown 24% from 2007 to 2012, generating about $700 million!
For those perfectly wonderful fall days visit your local farm, apple orchard, or pumpkin patch! To find a pumpkin patch or u-pick farm in your area click here.
 Little Cabbages - Brussels Sprouts
Brussels sprouts are part of the Brassica or mustard family, so known because of a four-part flower in the shape of a cross. It is not surprising that they look like diminutive heads of cabbage, as  they are related to better known vegetables in the same botanical family like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. Brussels sprouts taste a lot like cabbage, but have a milder flavor and a denser texture.
How to Cook with Fresh Pumpkin
There’s nothing more rewarding than cooking with fresh pumpkin – the taste is unbelievably better than canned pumpkin. So forget the cans and make your own fresh and delicious pumpkin purée. It takes a little more time than picking up a can but it’s so easy and the kids will enjoy the process. Choose sugar pie pumpkins or other similar varieties. Almost any kind of small pumpkin can be used for cooking, but ask your farmer what cooks the best. How to cook with pumpkin here! | 
October brings a multitude of interesting squashes, root vegetables, greens, and fruits. With these easy recipes you're sure to please the whole family! Butternut Squash Bisque
Enjoy the cooler days of Autumn with this delicious squash soup!
Persimmon Bread
A great quick bread with the flavor of fall!
Golden Crusted Brussels Sprouts
Sautéed and caramelized, this will get everyone to love Brussels sprouts!
Baked Pear, Squash and Onion Gratin
This recipe will have everyone swooning with its flavor combinations - sweet pears, mild squash, and aromatic onions! Find more recipes at your farmers' market information table, or visit our website! | 
Seasonal Supper Feeds Local Families
On September 20, Fresh Approach was the proud beneficiary of a benefit dinner hosted by the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association at Hap Magee Ranch in Danville. The dinner included five courses, all locally-sourced and artfully prepared by Mario Hernandez, the incredibly inventive chef of Cookin' the Market. The generous contributions of those who attended will help to support Fresh Approach's ongoing efforts to make healthy food more readily available and more easily affordable throughout the Bay Area. Everyone at Fresh Approach extends their deepest appreciation to PCFMA, Cookin' the Market, the Danville Farmers' Market and all those who attended the Seasonal Supper for their support.
Local Food Festivals
Hoes Down Harvest Festival
Saturday and Sunday, October 4-5, Full Belly Farm.
Explore Full Belly Farm on a tour, attend an Agricultural Workshop or check out organic produce at the Farmer's Market. Enjoy live music, a children's area, a California Indian Arts and Culture area and even camp out on a real farm! Sunday, choose from various activities and workshops, all highlighting arts, crafts, wildlife and agriculture! All proceeds from the festival go to non-profit organizations supporting sustainable agriculture and rural living.
Your Community
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
Friday to Sunday, October 3 to 5, Hellman Hollow (formerly Speedway Meadows), Lindley & Marx meadows in Golden Gate Park. There will be 50 purveyors of food and drink featuring the best festival food the Bay Area has to offer. Patrons are welcome to bring their own picnics.
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