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Job Opportunity: Buckelew Programs Seeks Enterprise Manager
Buckelew Programs, a leading Bay Area nonprofit focusing on individuals with mental illness, is seeking an Enterprise Manager to lead the start-up of a new fresh-cut food processing social enterprise, focusing on locally sourced produce. The Enterprise Manager is a highly competitive position specifically aimed at professionals with significant food production, preparation, and/or processing experience who also have business operations experience. It is an excellent role for individuals who are also interested in gaining hands-on exposure to social enterprise and the nonprofit sector while helping disadvantaged people enter the workforce. To see a full job description, visit their Buckelew's website or email hr@buckelew.org with yoru inquiry. |
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What's in Season
Brussels Sprouts Cabbage Celery Root Chicories Clementines Collard Greens Dungeness Crab Kale Kiwi Kohlrabi Leeks Lemon Mandarins Parsnips Pomelos Pomegranate
Wild Mushrooms Winter Radishes |
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Holiday Market Schedule
 | | Ho, ho, ho! Happy holidays from Santa Eldon and all the AIM farmers and vendors. |
In observance of Christmas and New Years Day, the Grand Lake and Hayward Farmers Markets will be closed on Saturday, Dec. 25th and Saturday, Jan. 1st. All other AIM markets will be open as usual during the holiday season.
Click here to see a full schedule. Check out our gift ideas from your favorite local farmers market below! |
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Gift Ideas
From Your Favorite AIM Farmers Markets
Lather up with Josie Butter's "art for your body," pictured to the right. You can find Josie at the Grand Lake and Marin Farmers Markets.
- Thursday Marin: Want to give your sweetie something warm and fuzzy this year? Ann Davis brings an array of adorable pajama bottoms, tops and sets for adults and kids, in a variety of fun fabrics and designs. Visit her tomorrow at the market!
- Sunday Marin: There is a new fisherman at the market, Alldrin and Sons brings frozen and smoked salmon to the market, straight from Alaskan waters. Watch a video demonstrating how they catch, freeze or smoke, and store the summer bounty from the Pacific. Smoked salmon can make the perfect addition to any plate of appetizers!
- Stonestown: Impress your guests with a delicious and savory meat pie from Pie Press. Owner and baker, Alka Patel's recipes and flavors represent a unique blend of her Indian and New Zealand background. Once you try Alka's flaky pie crust you will be hooked.
- Newark: Jade's Jewelry is at the market every other week with a wide array of necklaces, earrings and bracelets made of jade in every shade imaginable. Artist Ruina Qin can teach you the hidden meaning behind each hue.
- Hayward: Don't know what to bring along to your holiday party? Swing by the plaza at City Hall on Saturdays and grab some baked goods that will make your taste buds go crazy, from Crumb Crazy! For the holiday season Crumb Crazy will be offering pumpkin breads, cookies and pies.
- Grand Lake: Stop by the market this Saturday and get some artwork for your body from Josie Butter. Josie offers all natural varieties of her decadent soaps, as well as suds that come with floral and fruity scents.
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 | | Pictured above is organic farmer extraordinaire, Larry Tristano owner of Triple T Ranch & Farm. Larry is standing in front of a few acres of peppers on his ranch. |
Introducing AIM's Farm Audit Program
New Program Launched
We're excited to announce the beginnings of our new Farm Audit Program. In early 2010, AIM's Board of Trustees prioritized the creation of a program that would help ensure that all AIM farmers are in compliance with California's Direct Marketing Laws, which requires farmers to be Certified Producers selling only products that they grow. The intent of the program is to maintain the integrity of our market place, the trust of our customers, and a fair playing field for all AIM farmers. The program was officially launched in Fall 2010, and we are working toward the goal of auditing all our farmer members. All prospective new AIM farmers, ranchers & cheese makers will be audited before they are allowed to participate in our farmers markets. To date, our Farm Audit team and Market Managers have visited 19 AIM farmers. Farm Audit Co-leader, Brian Boone, shares that "the program is very much in a learning and growing phase. Not a day passes without discovering something new. Farmers are happy to see us out on their land, taking the time to learn what they're doing, and ensuring that AIM's farmers markets are for farmers. Even just having us out there walking on the soil is, in the farmers words, a step in the right direction." A comprehensive webpage is under construction where we plan to share profiles of each farmer who has gone through the Farm Audit program, including pictures and potentially video of the farm visit. We anticipate that it will be a valuable resource for our community, providing yet another connection back to the people who grow our food. Please stay tuned for future Farm Audit updates. |
 | | The Everage Family poses in front of their gift basket and prize for winning the local Thanksgiving Dinner Challenge. |
Thanksgiving Challenge Winners
Congrats Threadgill & Everage Families
AIM extends our thanks to all those market supporters who took Tom the Turkey's Local Thanksgiving Challenge. Of all the fantastic entries we received from shoppers at the Marin Farmers Markets, two rose to the top. East Bay and Stonestown shoppers, we hope to hear from you next year!
Congratulations to Betsy Threadgill, an enthusiastic Marin Farmers Market shopper. We were wowed by the creativity of Betsy's menu - featuring Pork Roast with Pomegranate Relish (no cranberries for this locavore), Blue Cornbread Stuffing (made from homemade corn bread with blue corn meal from Full Belly), Potato & Fennel Gratin, Roasted Acorn Squash with Pecans & Thyme, and a homemade Pear Bread & an Apple Tart. Anticipating messy hands in the kitchen, Betsy even took home a bar of olive oil soap from Sylverleaf Olive Oil.
A big high five to Laura Everage, who also shopped the Marin Farmers Markets for her Thanksgiving meal. Laura's spin on a traditional menu of Honey-Glazed Turkey, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Steamed Green Beans, Rustic Herb Stuffing and Apple Pie left us salivating. But perhaps even more exciting was the write up Laura posted on her website FamilyEats.net. In addition to outlining her shopping list, Laura also shared her family's reflections on the challenge. We especially loved her thoughts on the "biggest benefit" of the challenge.
"It was an eye-opening experience. I have to admit that when I visit the farmers market, I am on a mission. I rarely stop to talk to the farmers. Typically, I remember the location of the vendors, rather than the vendor's names. But this exercise offered me the opportunity to slow down a bit, get to know the farmers, to remember their names, and to learn better what each offered."
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