Foodwise’s Farmers Market Winter Holiday Guide

December 18, 2024

This holiday season, give the gift of good food while supporting small local farms and food businesses with our Farmers Market Winter Holiday Guide. At Foodwise’s Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, you’ll find the makings for bountiful winter feasts, along with unique gifts that nourish the body, the earth, and our local community.

We’ve gathered 30+ ideas for delicious and distinctive stocking stuffers and host gifts, as well as fixings for creating a sustainably sourced goodie basket. These are gifts with real people and stories behind them. At the farmers market, you can meet the makers, learn about their crafts, and know that you’re helping California family farmers and Bay Area food crafters thrive.

As the days turn cold and rainy, farmers market vendors count on loyal customers like you to help sustain their businesses year-round. In this time of gratitude, we thank you for supporting Foodwise and our market community throughout the year. Happy holidays from Foodwise!

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Winter Holiday Schedule 2024

The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market will be OPEN throughout the winter holiday season, EXCEPT Thursday, December 26, and Thursday, January 2. See our upcoming events here.

• OPEN: Saturday, December 21, 8 am – 2 pm
• OPEN: Tuesday, December 24 (Christmas Eve), 10 am – 2 pm
• CLOSED: Thursday, December 26
• OPEN: Saturday, December 30, 8 am – 2 pm
• OPEN: Tuesday, December 31 (New Year’s Eve), 10 am – 2 pm
• CLOSED: Thursday, January 2
• OPEN: Saturday, January 4, 8 am – 2 pm (back to our regular schedule)

Black Holiday Market, Saturday, December 7

Celebrate local Black-owned businesses and get ready for the holiday season with a day of delicious food, crafts, community, and family fun at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. The south arcade of the Ferry Building will be transformed for a special holiday market featuring Bay Area food makers and designers, in partnership with the Fillmore-based Black-led marketplace In the Black. Find thoughtful gifts and stocking stuffers for everyone on your list, like small-batch jams and sauces, skincare, apparel, and more. Entry is free and open to the public, with products available for purchase. Read more.

Farmers Market Winter Holiday Gift Guide

From small-batch hot sauce and artisan chocolate to handmade wreaths and lavender body care products, find these made-with-love winter holiday gifts from our local farmers and crafters at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Pick up something for everyone on your list, including gifts for:

• Hosts with the Most
• Beverage Aficionados
• Sweet Tooths
• Spice Enthusiasts
• Snack Lovers
• Self-Care and Beyond

Can’t decide? Get them a Farmers Market eGift Card or Foodwise market tote!

Gifts for Hosts with the Most

Don’t show up empty-handed to your holiday gathering! Express your gratitude for your holiday hosts with these artisanal treats.

Add holiday cheer and bring home the scent of eucalyptus, bay, lavender, and other California flora with gorgeous handcrafted holiday wreaths, grown and made by Cypress Flower Farm, Devoto Gardens, and Four Sisters Farm (pictured above). Ferry Plaza, Saturdays.

A flavorful, quality olive oil goes a long way in culinary adventures, or simple bread-dipping appetizers. Sciabica’s California Olive Oil gift packs feature four flavors of 100% extra virgin and unrefined olive oil, all cold-pressed on the family farm in Modesto. Bariani Olive Oil and Frog Hollow Farm also offer raw, authentic extra virgin olive oil bottles that are perfect for gifting. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

For pasta lovers, Mill Valley Pasta Co. is at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market with small-batch artisan pastas made with organic ingredients. Gift an elevated easy dinner with offerings like Chef Tony’s award-winning Duck Egg Noodles and condiments like Limono Oro (Lemon Gold), Calabrian Chili Oil, or Chili Crespo. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

B-Y-O-Babka for Hannukah with Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen’s cinnamon and chocolate babka loaves, made in SF. Their challah, bagel chips, and spice mixes (in brisket, shawarma, and everything blends) are go-tos for last-minute gifting. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Gifts for Beverage Aficionados

Know someone who always has a cup of coffee or tea on hand? Looking to get a gift for the home-mixologist? Check out these locally made coffee, teas, and brews.

Let’s talk coffee. Each season, Oakland-based Proyecto Diaz Coffee introduces a new seasonal offering in artful packaging (painted by the owner, Fernando Diaz). This season, the Cielo Nocturno blend offers notes of blackberry, walnut, and baker’s chocolate. They also have teas, instant coffee, and beautiful card sets (with art by Fernando). Ferry Plaza, Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thurdays; online shop.

Just in time for winter, Redwood Tea Estate is bringing California-grown, loose-leaf tea to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturdays from their multi-generation family farm in Lodi. Give the gift of coziness and warmth with their Lavender-Mint White Tea, Wild Rose Black Tea, Green Tea, and Oolong. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Alexandre Family Farm has super‐creamy organic eggnog made from old‐fashioned A2/A2 milk from crossbred grazing cows on their regenerative dairy ranch in Crescent City. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays.

To tide you over during the in-between strawberry season, enjoy value-added goods from McGinnis Ranch, an organic family farm in Watsonville. Look for sweet gifts like Strawberry Jam, Strawberry Black Pepper Shrub, or Strawberry Syrup, perfect to please any home mixologist. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays.

A much-anticipated holiday favorite, Tory Farms has farm-made pomegranate juice, a delicious gifts and refreshing accompaniment to holiday feasts. Tory and Rebecca Torosian grow pomegranates, grapes, citrus, and other tree fruit on their “Magic Ranch” in Dinuba. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays.

Raise a glass with “Pie Crimes” hard apple cider from Chinchiolo Family Farms & Far West Cider Co., made with a reduction of apples from their fourth-generation family farm, plus Mexican cinnamon, piloncillo, allspice, and nutmeg. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays.

Gifts for Sweet Tooths

Pair coffee or tea with Marshall’s Farm and City Bees honeys, which offer a little locally sourced sweetness in a different varietals. Holiday gift baskets are also available, and their honey straws make a fun stocking stuffer. Hanukkah and Christmas gift boxes are available from Marshall’s Farm in mixed case varieties (3- or 8-ounce jars). Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Hoshigaki, also known as Japanese dried persimmons, are a special seasonal treat. If you don’t know where to start the weeks-long project of air-drying persimmons, Blossom Bluff Orchards has you covered. Each hoshigaki kit includes organic Hachiya persimmons from the Loewen family’s farm in Parlier, a drying “rack” and a detailed instructions sheet. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays.

You can’t go wrong with something sweet! Batter Bakery‘s baker Jen musty is driven by a love of sharing old-fashioned American treats, including cookies, brownies, and cakes, with a modern twist and an emphasis on premium ingredients and seasonal produce. This season, share Jen’s holiday sugar cookies, or grab a box of shortbreads for the sweetest stocking stuffers. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Nusa will offer their classic Indonesian treats with a holiday twist, including their original 1000 Layer Cake (aka lapis legit or spekkoek, an exquisite delicacy made with care, and baked layer by layer, alternating in vanilla and spices), 1000 Layer Cake with prunes, Pineapple Tartlets, and Almond Cranberry Nougats. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

For your chocoholic loved ones, Berkeley-based chocolate maker Bisou Chocolate coaxes intriguing flavors from high-quality cocoa beans to make flavorful bars, truffles, and more, while paying a high premium to cocoa farmers. Seek out their “chocolate library” (a dozen single-origin bars packaged in a cute little box), as well as seasonal bonbons, chocolate bark, and drinking chocolate. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Gifts for Spice Enthusiasts

For the person in your life who likes their food bold and spicy, share the warmth from these local makers.

Turn up the heat with a jar of Kuali‘s Salsa Macha. New to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Kuali is a Latino-owned artisanal salsa business bringing the bold, authentic and unapologetic flavors of México into their small batch salsas. Stop by Janeen and Rodrigo Cruz’s stand to sample and choose from their Salsa Macha Clásica with pumpkin and sesame seeds, Salsa Macha de Cacahuate (peanuts), and Avocado Salsa Verde. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Chef Sarah Germany builds on Southern food traditions to create flavorful medicinal foods and fermented hot sauces, while preventing food waste and preserving the bounty from California farms and gardens. Add spice to someone’s holiday’s with gift packs of her mini hot sauces, seasoned salts, and Bloody Mary cocktail kits. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Tierra Vegetables has plenty of distinctive gifts to bring flavor and spice, including their mole powders (just add oil and broth), farmstead hot sauces and chile de aceite (chile oil), and heirloom cornmeal and tortillas, all using sustainably grown produce from the farm and handmade in small-batches at Lee and Wayne James’ farm in Santa Rosa. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays.

Season, taste, and freshen with Allstar Organics’ dried herbs, salts, sugars, and hydrosols, which beautifully preserve the flavors and scents from Janet Brown and Marty Jacobson’s organic farm in Marin. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

For a superfood boost, pick up Turkey Tail Matcha and Golden Milk mix from Wise Goat Organics, a Santa Cruz‐based maker. Fermenter Mary Risavi’s is also known for her nutrient-dense food crafts, including award-winning krauts and kimchis, wellness tonics, and her seasonal Cranberry Relish, made with organic cranberries, ginger, wildflower honey, orange peel, and cinnamon. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Gifts for Snack Lovers

These locally sourced snacks are always in season.

For the pickle lover in your life, swing by Lonely Mountain Farm. First-generation farmers Kenny and Molly Baker take pride in their organic farming practices, and you can taste the flavorful impact of their efforts in jars of Dilly Beans, Bread and Butter Squash Pickles, and Heirloom Tomatoes. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays.

Gift the foundation for a show-stopping charcuterie platter with salt-cured snack meats from Canteen Meats, a husband-and-wife-run butcher shop in Petaluma. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Pair charcuterie, nuts, and fruit with a selection of award-winning cheeses from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company. Their Cheese and Thank You Collection, available on their website, was named as one of Oprah’s Favorite Things in 2024. All cheeses made by family-run Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company are certified gluten-free and all-natural. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Winters Fruit Tree makes the holidays easy with gift trays and gift bags of their flavored almonds and pistachios, along with farmstead fruit jams and nut butters, straight up or in intriguing flavors like Pumpkin Spice Almond Butter, Nectaplum and Peacotum Jam, or Orange Jelly. For more almond butter options, check out Massa Organics in the back plaza. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays and Thursdays; online shop.

Check out Glashoff Farms for walnut products, like their Caramel Walnuts and walnut butters, as well as preserves and marmalades from fruits grown on the farm. Regenerative-certified, fifth-generation San Joaquin family farm Old Dog Ranch (popping up on the first Saturday of the month) also offers bags of raw walnuts, as well as flavors like Mexican Hot Chocolate, Whiskey Spice, and Rosemary, perfect for snacking. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

A mainstay of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Frog Hollow Farm is known for their delicious and organically grown stone fruit, as well as conserves, marmalades, pastries, dried fruits, and olive oil made with fruits from their farm in Brentwood. Give someone the taste of summer in a jar with a trio of their fruit conserves, along with ready-to-gift tins of cookies, fruit cakes, and more. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Gifts for Self-Care and Beyond

A host wears a lot of hats during the holiday. Treat them to a little aromatherapy R&R. Famous for their lavender, Eatwell Farm has a suite of sachets, scrubs, salves, hydrosols, essential oils, and other aromatic products, as well as seasoning salts made from products grown on their organic farm in Dixon. Ferry Plaza, Saturdays; online shop.

Can’t decide? Give them a Farmers Market eGift Card and a Foodwise Tote Bag!

Delight your friends and family by letting them choose their own delicious gift with a Foodwise Farmers Market eGift Card. Our gift certificates have no expiration date, are available in any amount, and are redeemable for market coins that can be used at any stand in the farmers market. They also make great corporate gifts! Learn more and purchase. Pair it with one of our durable and adorable Foodwise farmers market tote bags (available at the Foodwise info booth).

Topics: Farmers market, Holiday, Local, Seasonal