The only thing better than fresh market kale (my favorite vegetable) is fresh market kale sold by cute-as-a-button 3rd graders. My morning trek led me to stumble across PS11’s weekly Farm Market. While the selection of vegetables was dwarfed by the number of salespeople, the vegis looked great and each little farmer was more eager than the next to talk up their produce. I learned that this group has been tending their garden since they were in kindergarten, and will be with it until they leave the school after 5th grade. One child agreed with me, that kale is the best vegi out there, while another preferred to talk up his favorite variety of apple — the Macintosh.

It was great fun, and I was thrilled to see the Farm-to-School movement making it’s way into my neighborhood. An article in Edible Manhattan recently followed Bill Telepan, a local chef who has been working doggedly to bring farm fresh produce to New York’s schools. All of this is thanks to the great Alice Waters who has been promoting the relationship between farms and schools for years now with her Edible Schoolyards program.

Thanks again to the little farmers at PS11…can’t wait until next Wednesday!

Today was a day spent wandering the city — visiting old haunts and discovering the many places where the San Francisco has changed while I’ve been away. One clear example of this change is the Ferry Building — which sits on the Embarcadero at the end of Market Street. This building was closed for most of the time I lived in the city — only barely opening it’s doors for the public to wander it’s empty halls just before I left. Visiting this morning, however, I was overwhelmed by all the activity. This space has become a true center for San Francisco and bay area food culture. Some of the best local purveyors of cheese, wine, olive oil, chocolate, fish, meat and produce are all under one roof. Add to that top-notch restaurants inside and a farmer’s market outside, and you have a food-lovers heaven.

I spent the whole first half of my day just wondering through the shops of the reinvented Ferry Building. I stopped into Cowgirl Creamery, whose display of artisanal cheeses, pickles, olives and spreads is out of this world; Blue Bottle Coffee, where they serve only organically- and shade-grown brews; and Farm Fresh To You, a marketplace which features local produce from the Capay Fruits & Vegetables farm and lots of other lovely products. But it was the last stop on my little adventure that got me the most excited. At the very end of the hallway, I ran into a colorful display of mushrooms. Far West Fungi is a growing facility in Monterey Bay’s Moss Valley that cultivates some amazing varieties of mushrooms. Their shop in the Ferry building is overflowing with cute, cartoon-like Pioppini, furry Lion’s Maines and of course beautiful, delicious Morels. In addition to their fresh supply, they have a huge variety of dried mushrooms, mushroom salts, and other mushroom-related products. The people were friendly and helpful, and perfectly willing to help a novice through her first real mushroom trip.