Mission Community Market Is Back

March 30, 2018

Tacos de guisado, Central Coast strawberries, gluten-free tortes, and student-grown plant starts are just a few of the exciting offerings you have to look forward to at Mission Community Market on April 5!

Since 2010, Mission Community Market has been dedicated to supporting independent businesses and local farms, promoting family health, and creating a fun, beautiful public space for the Mission District. Starting this spring, CUESA is taking over the market’s operations, and we are honored to support this vibrant neighborhood market with deep roots in the Mission community.

Next Thursday, April 5 (4 to 8 pm), please join CUESA and the market’s longtime sellers (plus some new ones) in celebrating the first market of the season with a festive evening of good food, family activities, live music, and more. Here’s a sneak peek of the farmers, crafters, and restaurants who will be there on opening day, with more seasonal vendors returning soon. Check out the full lineup of activities here »

Farms

Achadinha Cheese Company: The Pacheco family offers a variety of goat and cow’s milk cheeses from their farm and creamery in Petaluma. They’ll be selling their Broncha cheese, curds, feta, and butter.

Avila Farms: Based in Hollister since 2002, Avila Farms offers vegetables such as lettuce, potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, artichokes, and more. They are in the process of transitioning to organic.

Blue House Farm: Blue House Farm grows a diversity of certified organic vegetables, fruits, and cut flowers year-round, on 60 acres in Pescadero. They also offer a U-pick on weekends. It’s going to be a good strawberry year!

City Bees: Robert MacKimmie of City Bees distributes his honeybees throughout San Francisco’s unique and spectacular landscape, where his bees gather nectar unique to each neighborhood, resulting in exquisite local honeys for city farmers markets.

Far West Fungi: For more than 25 years, the Garrone family has been growing organic specialty mushrooms and selling them at farmers markets. From shiitakes to King Trumpets, they offer a variety of culinary fungi grown in Moss Landing.

Great Valley Poultry: Great Valley offers certified organic eggs from their cage-free and pasture-raised chickens in the San Joaquin Valley.

Happy Boy Farms: Owner Greg Beccio has been farming organically for over 20 years on the Central Coast on multiple plots in neighboring counties. Each field has a unique microclimate and soil structure, creating a multitude of growing conditions that allows Happy Boy to offer a wide variety of vegetables.

Iacopi Farms (NEW!): The Iacopi family offers beans, peas, greens, Brussels sprouts, and other vegetables grown in Half Moon Bay.

LeftCoast GrassFed: Located in Pescadero, LeftCoast GrassFed produces 100% grassfed beef and uses regenerative grazing to build healthy soils, conserve water, and sequester carbon. Certified by American Grassfed Association and Animal Welfare Approved.

June Jordan School for Equity & Urban Sprouts (pictured above): Urban Sprouts’ Sprout Out! program provides job-training and employment opportunities for high school students utilizing the June Jordan School for Equity Community Farm & Kitchen, a one-acre urban farm in the Excelsior District. Students will be selling their plant starts, salves, and plant-dyed textiles.

Root Down Farm: Farmer Dede Boies offers pasture-raised chicken (whole and cuts), whole duck, and various pork cuts.  The animals at Root Down are all raised outside on pastures with high humane standards, are fed an organic, non-GMO feed, and are never given any hormones. 

Stepladder Ranch: A small farm, goat dairy, and creamery in Cambria, Stepladder Ranch offers avocados, citrus, pork, beef, and farmstead cheeses, plus passionfruit, passionfruit OJ, and guacamole seasonally.

Twin Girls Farm: Nacho and Casmira Sanchez grow organic fruit in Fresno and Tulare counties, including citrus, stone fruit, and more.

Williamson Farm: Williamson Farm began selling strawberries at farmers markets in 1988, then moved into avocados. They now have approximately 1,400 trees of Hass and Reed in San Diego and Riverside Counties, with more varieties and acreage on the horizon.

Winters Fruit Tree: This fourth-generation farm specializes in flavored almonds and pistachios grown the Sacramento Valley. They have participated in MCM since opening day and are looking forward to seeing their customers and friends.

Yerena Farms (pictured above): Another founding member of MCM, brothers Apolinar (“Poli”) and Gilberto Yerena and Poli’s wife, Sylvia, grow certified organic and transitional strawberries, blackberries, strawberries, and summer squash in Watsonville.

Food Crafts

Coastside Farms and Specialties: Coastside’s mission is to bring top-quality, sustainable smoked fish products to customers at affordable prices, including hot-smoked salmon, lox, smoked trout, smoked albacore, and salmon jerky, and more.

Flour Chylde Bakery (pictured aboved): Flour Chylde Bakery is a Novato-based, woman-owned business that has specialized in gluten-free tortes, breads, cookies, and breakfast items for the past 16 years. They bake at a dedicated gluten-free facility.

Hidden Star Orchards: Hidden Star Orchards offers a variety of fruit juices, syrups, and apple sauces made in their San Leandro facility.

Home Maid Ravioli Co.: The Cresci family offers a wide variety of raviolis as well as traditional offerings of tortellini, lasagna, cannelloni, olives, sauces, stuffed peppers, and many more, all made in South San Francisco.

Hummus Heaven (NEW!): Based in San Leandro, brothers Mourad and Tarek Cherif offer 17 flavors of hummus and many accompanying food items including tapenades, grape leaves, pita chips, and more.

Marla Bakery: Amy Brown and Joe Wolf offer a seasonally rotating menu of breads, pastries, bagels, English muffins, tarts, and cookies. Their baked goods are made in SF from scratch using local and organic ingredients and baked in their wood-fired oven, the “heart and soul” of their business.

Volcano Kimchi (NEW!): Volcano Kimchi is a San Francisco based maker of hand-crafted, small-batch, seasonal kimchi. It’s organic and vegan, with no added sugar.

Hot Foods

Izalco Catering (NEW!): Jose Vega and his son Marcelo makes gourmet pupusas, from traditional (bean, cheese, and pork) to Southwestern with chipotle chicken, as well as vegetarian and vegan options.

Mi Morena (NEW! pictured above): A participant in La Cocina, Guadalupe Moreno started Mi Morena, a tacos de guisado business, to offer San Francisco diners traditional tacos with good-quality ingredients and handmade tortillas, including chicken, beef, pork, and vegetarian options.

Noodle Girl (NEW!): Another La Cocina participant, Hang Truong offers traditional Vietnamese pho and spring rolls fused with California-fresh tastes. Recipes feature garden-fresh produce, bright flavors, and high-quality ingredients that are local and organic when possible (including vegetarian options).

Nucha Empanadas: Nilda Bottazzi, nicknamed “Nucha,” grew up making traditional Argentine empanadas, baked and stuffed with simple ingredients. She later taught her son, Ruben, how to make the family recipe. Nucha’s empanadas, mini-tarts, and quiches are made from scratch dough using butter (no beef fat) and are stuffed with a variety of fillings. 

Peter’s Kettle Corn: Based in Oakland, Peter’s serves hand-popped kettle corn with diverse flavor profiles, all cooked using non-GMO corn, corn oil, sugar, and salt.

Reem’s: Reem’s specialty is a Arab street food known as mana’eesh, a soft, pizza-like flatbread topped with za’atar and fresh vegetables, cheese, or cured meats. Reem adds her own California twist by using toppings from the local foodshed.

Roli Roti Gourmet Rotisserie: Famous for their slow-cooked street food, RoliRoti cooks free-range rotisserie chickens, porchetta sandwiches, and rotating vegetables using fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Arts & Crafts

Alejandro’s Trade: Based in San Francisco, Alejandro Angeles offers handcrafted Latin American gifts from Ecuador, Mexico, and Colombia.

Dive into Divinity: Dive into Divinity features healing products from the earth, including crystals, handmade crystal jewelry, and incense.

En Vie Naturals: En Vie Naturals provides affordable vegan skin care products locally made in San Francisco’s Mission District.  Kim Leonard began her journey with MCM seven years ago and has enjoyed offering products that create peaceful moments for the community.

Henna by Ash: Henna By Ash offers natural body art, applying organic homemade henna paste to create original designs, along with homemade art pieces created with henna.

Jennifer Kindell (pictured above): ​Mission-based artist Jen Kindell’s hand-printed screen prints are inspired by the vendors at the MCM, where she has been sharing her works with neighbors since 2013.

Mission Community Market takes place every Thursday, 4 to 8 pm, on 22nd Street between Mission and Valencia. Check out the Opening Day Celebration on April 5 »

CUESA farmers markets accept EBT (CalFresh/food stamps). Customers using EBT can double their dollars (up to $10 per market day) through the Market Match program, which offers free market coins redeemable for fruits and vegetables.

Topics: Community, Farmers market