The winner of the Vendor Salsa Contest is Susan Norem www.thegardenwild.com and she was willing to share her secrets
I don’t have a recipe with specific amounts, just an ingredient list. Happy to share.
Roma/paste tomatoes, halved flesh side down
Onion, quartered
Garlic, whole unpeeled
Jalapeno, stemmed whole
Tomatillo, halved, flesh down
Cilantro to taste
Lime to taste
A touch of cumin
Salt to taste
Broil 1st 5 ingredients, get some char on them, pulse in food processor, add cilantro, lime juice, and salt, some fresh diced tomatoes at end.
I tweaked amounts of everything to my taste.
Susan also makes great soaps
www.thegardenwild,com

You probably already knew this but it is going to be hot (really hot) again tomorrow so we are going to close at noon.
Vendor List Saturday September 2nd
It’s family fun day at the market and it kicks off at 10 am with the water melon eating contest. It’s all about speed and there are separate divisions for adults and children
If you are looking for some good eats for your Labor Day picnic, John Ford will be here with the best all beef hot dogs ever

Armstrong
Bella Ridge
Bernier Farms
Bohemian Farms
Dry Creek Peach
Foggy River
Gourmet Farms
Hector’s Honey
Humble Roots
Heron Fox Farm Organic, raw Almonds
John Ford
La Vida Nursery
Ma & Pa’s Garden
Min Hee Hill Gardens
Natures Spirit
Neve Rose
Owens Ranch
Ponce
Salmon Creek
Schletewitz Family Farm
Sebastopol Berries
Singing Frogs
Straus Family Dairy
The Beet Generation
The Patch
Two Rock Goat Cheese
Walker Apples
Williamson

Ely’s Kitchen
Porto Burger

Anna’s Seafood
Berkmans Spice
Costeaux Bakery
DH Woodworker
Dominique Sweets
Edgeworks
Eyrie Olive Oil
Franco One World Sausage
Fruity Moto
Full Circle Bakery
Future Eats
Home Maid Ravioli
Mary Jane Salberg
Princess Seafood
Puer Pure Tea
Roman’s Wood Signs
Run Around Brew
Sandra’s Crafts
Scott Wilson Pottery
The Hummus Guy

Tomorrow between 10-12 Sue McQuiddy will be doing a food demonstration just for kids (kids of any age interested in good food ) The focus of the demonstration is healthy snacks including making lettuce wraps.
Sue McQuiddy works with school nutrition and school garden projects.
It’s fun, family oriented, hands-on for kids and of course free. Please stop by between 10-12 no reservations needed.
www.thesantarosafarmersmarket.com
Wed/Sat 8:30-1pm Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
@santarosafarmersmarket

Do you or someone you know struggle to have enough to eat. Wednesday, September 14th there is a special program at the market to introduce Cal-Fresh recipients to the Market Match and shopping at the farmers market. Come even if you just want to learn more about Cal-Fresh and other opportunities for assistance to low-income grocery shoppers.

Under the expanded Market Match program, local food stamp recipients will be able to allocate $10 to $20 of their monthly benefits and in return receive $20 to $40 worth of paper scrip to purchase fruits and vegetables at farmers markets.

Seeking to help local farmers and put more nutritious foods on the plates of poor families, the federal government and North Bay nonprofits are teaming up to expand a program that increases low-income shoppers’ spending power when they buy fruit and vegetables at farmers markets

For the North Bay, about $80,000 in federal funds will be provided to shoppers in the next two years, to be augmented by funds from local groups.
The Market Match program is great. Many people are helped with the same dollars. The program has 30 regional partners working at 230 farmers markets in the state, an increase from about 150 last year.
Low-income shoppers with CalFresh electronic benefits cards currently spend up to $3,800 a month at county farmers markets. The market sales represents a tiny fraction of the $5.4 million that is spent monthly in the county for food by CalFresh clients.
If the incentive program can increase farm market sales by even a relatively modest amount, “it would have a significant impact on business for small-scale farmers,” said Grady, who runs the organization’s Petaluma Bounty program.
The local markets qualified for the federal aid by raising matching money from such local groups as Kaiser Permanente, St. Joseph Health, Petaluma Healthcare District, Slow Food Russian River and the Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary Club.
Questions contact: Suzi 707 364 9118 or email suzi@petalumabounty.org.

The market’s annual Tomato tasting is this Saturday. And a salsa tasting too! It’s lots of fun and family-friendly and free.

Pumpkins and other winter squash are in the market and tomatillos too
Apples, almonds, avocados, arugula, Asian Greens, berries, beets,bell peppers, broccoli, cabbages, carrots,cauliflower, celery,corn, cucumbers, dahlias, dried beans and grains, eggplant, fennel,field-grown tomatoes, figs, fresh herbs, fresh shallots, fresh onions –red and white, garlic, grapes, honey, kale, leeks, lettuces,melons, mushrooms, mustard greens, nectarines, new potatoes, oranges, onions,padrone peppers, peaches,peas,purslane, shishito peppers, plums, pluots, pole beans, radishes,rutabagas summer squash, sunflowers, tomatillos, tomatoes, torpedo onions and turnips

Our all-star line-up for this week

In the food court
Anello Crab & Seafood
Foodie Farm House
Lata Indian Cuisine
Chalk Hill Cookery
Falafel Fix
Thai Street Food

Farmers and Ranchers
Armstrong Valley Farm
Bella Ridge
Bernier Farms
Bohemian Farms
Canvas Ranch
Dean’s Farm
Earthworker
Farm Sinclair
Foggy River
Gourmet Farms
Hector’s Honey
La Vida Nursery
Laguna Farm
Ma & Pa’s Garden
Min Hee Gardens
Neve Rose
Offerings of the Land
Owen Farms
Pepper Ranch
Ponce
Schlewitz Family Farm
Sebastopol Berries
Singing Frogs
Straus Family Creamery
The Beet Generation
The Patch
Two Rock Cheese
Walker Apples
Williamson Ranch
X-oticals

Cooks and Crafts
Barrel Creative Art
Berkman’s Spices
CA Cookie Company
Ca Coops
Costeaux Bakery
Crumb Hither
Crumb Hither
DH Woodwork
Dominique’s Sweets
Earth Temple
Edgeworks
Eyrie Olive Oil
Farm to Ferments
Four Directions Creative Art
Franco One World Sausage
Future Eats
GaGa Café
Hill Top Honey
Home Maid Ravioli
HDL Vinegars
Inner Sunrise
Jk Pottery
John Rizzi
Mi Fiesta
Multiple Threads
Not Yer Momma’s Granola
One Ocean Seafood
Pure Puer Tea
Raymond’s Bakery
Royale Hare
Run Around Brew
Stonehouse Garden Design
The Hummus Guy
Urban Praire Girl
Wardwork Art

Every week we have two markets to serve you to make sure you get the freshest Sonoma grown fruits and vegetables.
Saturday and Wednesday rain or shine the market is at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. The markets are full of peppers and it is just the beginning of the season. Beautiful carrots and cabbages of all colors and shapes – And tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

Apples, almonds, avocados, arugula, Asian Greens, berries, beets, bell peppers, broccoli, cabbages, carrots,cauliflower, celery, corn, cucumbers, dahlias, dried beans and grains, eggplant, fennel, field-grown tomatoes, figs, fresh herbs, fresh shallots, fresh onions –red and white, garlic, grapes, honey, kale, leeks, lettuces, melons, mushrooms, mustard greens, nectarines, new potatoes, oranges, onions, padrone peppers, peaches,peas, purslane, shishito peppers, plums, pluots, pole beans, radishes, rutabagas summer squash, sunflowers, tomatillos, tomatoes, torpedo onions and turnips.

September 3rd we will be tasting fresh pressed apple juice with our friends from Slow Food Russian River

This year our tomato tasting is September 10th – always free, local, family oriented and fun with special guest Michele Anna Jordan .

This week at the Saturday market the breakfast burrito is back. The perfect to go breakfast. It’s from Mi Fiesta you know where you get those wonderful tamales

From the Press Democrat

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/lifestyle/3243606-181/sr-original-market-says-thanks?page=0

On Saturday, December 20, the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market hosts a Customer and Vendor Appreciation Day. It is a way for the market to say thank you to everyone involved in the market for helping make 2014 a success in the market’s new and likely permanent home on the west side of the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts.

Several market vendors will contribute to a buffet table filled with nibbles, offered to anyone without charge. Among the selections will be paella from Cesar’s Bone Broth; vegetable soup from Zuppa; artisan breads from Costeaux French Bakery, Full Circle Baking and Raymond’s Bakery; Ann’s Pesto Pasta from Willow Designs; Min Hee’s green salad and much more.

Hourly drawings will pair a customer with a vendor for special discounts, an effort to introduce customers to unfamiliar vendors.

Oliver the Balloon Guy, dancers and musicians will also participate in the fun.

The buffet will probably get started about 10 a.m., after the first wave of serious shopper who arrive right at 8:30 has ebbed.

As of press time, it was impossible to share for certain exactly which farmers would participate, as many fields were still flooded and growers had yet to assess their crops. Some who farm in low-lying areas could be done for the season and those who sustained wind damage may or may not be ready to return. Even so, it should be a bustling market, as the Saturday markets before a major holiday always are. There will be plenty of winter greens for salads, soups, stir-fries and braiseds; all manner of root vegetables, from carrots, radishes and beets to potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery root, parsnips and the unusual yacon, which EarthWorker Farm has begun harvesting.

There will be plenty of citrus, walnuts, almonds, pomegranates, persimmons, apples, apple juice, fresh flowers, dried flowers, salad greens, organic spices, spice blends, organic farro, local shell beans, shallots, onions, garlic, mushrooms, winter squash and a few straggling remnants of late summer and fall.

There should be eggs, too, though remember that many hens stop laying at this time of year; if you need eggs, shop early or risk disappointment.

Not Yer Mama’sGranola attends and now offers its delicious blends in bulk.

Salmon Creek Ranch attends this market with their popular duck eggs, pet treats, goat and beef. Other protein vendors include Pepper Ranch Poultry;l John Ford Ranch, which has beef; Oz Family Farm, which has rabbit; Bellwether Farm has delicious cheese and voluptuous yogurt and Williams Ranches, purveyors of outstanding lamb.

The market has great coffee, fabulous teas from Pure Puer-and many delicious foods to enjoy on the spot. At this time of year, they typically have more than the usual number of craft vendors, too, which makes for great holiday shopping. However, some craft vendors do not attend if it is raining, as their products are often vulnerable to water damage.

There are several more markets before Christmas, one in Sonoma Valley on Friday, two others in Santa Rosa on Saturday morning–Santa Rosa Community Market at the Vets Building and the Oakmont Farmers Market in Oakmont–the Sebastopol Farmers Market on Sunday and both the Santa Rosa Original Farmers Market and the Santa Rosa Community Farmers Market on Christmas Eve morning. There is plenty of time to put together an all-local holiday meal, no matter what it is that you celebrate.

The market is currently managed by Pegi Ball of Pegi Ball Catering, who assumed the position on November 1, after Jaimes Smedes resigned.

The Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, founded in 1978 takes place from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays and from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays year round in the west side parking lot of the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Spring Rd.