Explore San Francisco Bay Area’s hot spots for organic and sustainable living

May is the time of the year in which many of the smaller seasonal farmers’ markets open in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is a list from the www.cafarmersmarkets.com. Enjoy fresh local organic produce in your neighborhood!

East Bay

• Fremont/Centerville, Fremont Boulevard and Bonde Way. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Fremont/Irvington, Fremont Boulevard and Bay Street. Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Fremont/Kaiser Hospital, 39400 Paseo Padre Parkway. Thursdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.
• Fremont/NUMMI, 45500 Fremont Blvd. Fridays, 2-6 p.m., June 1-November.
• Hayward, Main and B streets. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Hayward/Kaiser Hospital, 27400 Hesperian Blvd., Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.
• Livermore, Carnegie Park, J and Third streets. Thursdays, 4-8 p.m., May 17-Oct. 18.
• Pleasanton, Main and West Angela streets. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Union City, Cesar Chavez Park, Smith and Watkins streets. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Union City/Kaiser Hospital, 3553 Whipple Ave. Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.

San Francisco

• Alemany, 100 Alemany Blvd. (near the intersection of Interstate 280 and Highway 101). Saturdays, 6 a.m.-5 p.m., year-round.
• Bayview-Hunters Point, Third Street and Oakdale. Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., May 16-Oct. 31.
• Crocker Galleria, 50 Post St. at Montgomery. Thursdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., year-round.
• Ferry Plaza, Ferry Building, the Embarcadero and Market Street. Saturdays, 8 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round; Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.
• Fillmore, Fillmore and O’Farrell streets. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., April 28-Nov. 17.
• Heart of the City, Market Street between Seventh and Eighth streets. Wednesdays, 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Sundays, 7 a.m.-5 p.m., year-round.
• Kaiser Hospital, Geary Boulevard and St. Josephs Avenue, at the hospital entrance. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.
• Marina, location to be determined. Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., June- October.
• Noe Valley, 24th and Sanchez streets. Saturdays, 8 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Parkmerced, the Meadows, Arballo and Serrano drives, Saturdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., June-October.

Peninsula

• Belmont, Caltrain parking lot, El Camino Real and O’Neill Avenue. Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May 6-Nov. 18.
• Burlingame, Park Road at Burlingame Avenue. Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May 6-Nov. 18.
• Daly City, Serramonte Shopping Center in the parking lot behind Target. Thursdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Half Moon Bay, Shoreline Station, Kelly Avenue at Highway 1. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May 5-December.
• Menlo Park, between Chestnut and Crane streets downtown. Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Millbrae, 200 block of Broadway between Victoria and La Cruz avenues. Saturdays, 8 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Pacifica, 400 block of Old County Road, near Rockaway Beach Avenue and Highway 1. Wednesdays, 2:30-6:30 p.m., May 16-November.
• Redwood City, Winslow Street at Hamilton. Saturdays, 8 a.m.-noon, April 7-Nov. 24.
• Redwood City/Kaiser Hospital, 1150 Veterans Blvd. at Maple. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.
• San Carlos, Laurel between Cherry and Olive. Thursdays, 4-8 p.m., May 3-Sept. 13.
• San Mateo/College of San Mateo, 1700 W. Hillsdale Blvd. Wednesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• San Mateo/25th Avenue, First Presbyterian Church, 194 W. 25th Ave. Tuesdays, 4-8 p.m., May 15-Oct. 23.
• South San Francisco, Orange Memorial Park, Orange Avenue at Tennis Drive. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May 12 to Nov. 17.
  South San Francisco/Kaiser, 1200 El Camino Real. Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.

South Bay

• Campbell, Campbell Avenue between First Street and Central Avenue. Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Cupertino, Vallco Fashion Park, Wolfe Road at Interstate 280. Fridays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Los Altos, State Street between Second and Fourth streets. Thursdays, 4-8 p.m., May 3-Sept. 27.
• Los Gatos, Montebello Way and Broadway Extension, downtown Los Gatos. Sundays, 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m., year-round.
• Morgan Hill, downtown train station at Third and Depot streets. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May 12-Nov. 17.
• Mountain View, Hope Street and Evelyn Avenue, across from the Caltrain station. Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Palo Alto/California Avenue, California Avenue, near El Camino Real. Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Starts June 3, will be year-round.
• Palo Alto/Downtown, Gilman Street behind the post office, downtown. Saturdays, 8 a.m.-noon, May 12-December.
• San Jose/The Alameda, The Alameda and Hanchett. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., May 26-Sept. 29.
• San Jose/Alum Rock Village, 57 N. White Road. Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• San Jose/Blossom Hill, Princeton Plaza Mall, Kooser Road and Meridian Avenue. Sundays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.
• San Jose/Cambrian Park, Camden and Union avenues, Wednesdays, 4-8 p.m., May 2-Oct. 31.
• San Jose/Downtown, San Pedro Square between Santa Clara and St. John streets. Fridays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., May 4-Dec. 14.
• San Jose/Evergreen, Evergreen branch library, 2635 Aborn Road, Sundays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Opens May 20, end date not set.
• San Jose/Japantown, Jackson Street between Sixth and Seventh streets. Sundays, 8:30 a.m.-noon, year-round.
• San Jose/Kaiser-Santa Teresa, Cottle Road and Highway 85. Fridays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.
• San Jose/Santa Teresa, Santa Teresa Boulevard and Camino Verde. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., June 2-October.
• San Jose/Santana Row, Stevens Creek and Winchester boulevards. Sundays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., year-round.
• San Jose/Willow Glen, Lincoln Avenue and Willow Street, behind the Garden Theatre. Saturdays, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., April-November.
• Santa Clara, Jackson Street, between Benton and Homestead. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Santa Clara/Kaiser, 710 Lawrence Expressway, Thursdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., year-round.
• Saratoga, West Valley College, Fruitvale and Allendale avenues. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round.
• Sunnyvale, South Murphy Avenue between Washington and Evelyn avenues. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., year-round. Wednesdays, 5-8:30 p.m., June 20-Aug. 22.

I found a small family run market in Emerald Hills, an area hidden away in the hills of western Redwood City bordering Woodside. Emerald Market opened about a year ago, and inside its doors is an upscale, immaculately clean market full of organic produce, a high end butcher, and even a takeout deli, soup and salad bar. Its location is a bit tucked away, but for the residents in the area, it’s a convenient place off of 280. They also had a nice seating area outside, and in the plaza is a famous burrito place called Sancho’s. I couldn’t find Emerald Market’s website, but here are some reviews from Yelp. I hope this place can survive in its very hidden location!

According to a 2003 University of Washington study, having an organic diet can cleanse a child’s body from harmful pesticides in just three days. The study focused on school age children and showed that dietary exposures to insecticides (specifically organophosphate) were almost entirely eliminated when children were fed organic foods after just a few days. The exposures to the insecticides increased when the the children went back to conventional (nonorganic foods). Here is the entire study from the National Institute of Health.

The other day, I hosted an organic Indian dinner for my team that I volunteered with me in Uganda with on a microfinance project. I went shopping at Rainbow Grocery, which had a wonderful array of local organic vegetables and food. I bought local cauliflower, tomatoes, potatoes and onions for an aloo gobi dish; local fresh paneer (I was really surprised to find this in Rainbow Grocery!), Straus plain nonfat yogurt, organic frozen peas and organic cumin seeds and coriander for a matter paneer dish. I served this over organic basmati local rice (also from Rainbow’s bulk section) and ended the dinner with Tom’s Cookies, a local San Francisco company which sells frozen natural cookie dough. Yummy!

So I finally made it to the de Young Museum in San Francisco today. I had tried to go before during the first weekend it opened and its anniversary when they had free admission, but could never get in. The first Tuesday of each month is free admission to the de Young Museum, and almost all the other major museums in San Francisco, such as the MOMA.

I was really excited to go in the museum, especially since today was free, as the first Tuesday of May. My friend Doris and I went straight to the observation deck (see photos above) and the views were amazing! I could see downtown San Francisco, to the Golden Gate Bridge to UCSF to Ocean Beach.

We then walked around several American art exhibits and grabbed a quick bite at the de Young Cafe. Inside, they had a nice eating area, with modern design and local, organic food. I spotted yogurt from Straus Creamery, Niman Ranch meat, and local, organic farm produce. I ordered an asparagus, mushroom risotto, and my friend had a vegetarian sandwich with grilled eggplant, mozzarella cheese, and hummus on foccacia bread. To be honest, my risotto was a bit hard to eat and I wish the rice was cooked softer. I noticed that the cafe sold local organic bear ale, something I’ve never seen at a museum cafe before! We ended our tour with more exhibits, and a special showing of Vivian Westwood’s fashion designs. Definitely check this place out!

One of my friends from high school started a great food company, Hodo Soy Beanery. It’s an all organic, fresh, locally produced soy product company–from tofu, to soy milk, and special textures of soy that you typically can’t find at a market. They sell at farmers markets such as the Ferry Building in San Francisco, the Berkeley Farmers market, the Marin Farmers market and recently in Oakland and San Mateo. I’ve tried their tofu, soy milk and other products and it all tastes very fresh and light.

A nonprofit called Trees, Water & People, will be planting a tree for every vote that it gets online. From Arbor Day, April 27th, to Memorial Day, for every vote that www.votefortrees.com gets, a tree will be planted. Seems like a good idea!

I recently started to watch KQED’s new series, QUEST. I love this show–it’s all about the Bay Area and how we are dealing with different environmental and science issues. It’s in high definition and you can download free videos of previous episodes on their website. Some of the ones that I like include: plug-in modified hybrid cars that carry 100mpg, a biodiesel road trip from LA to San Francisco, Earth Day in the Bay Area, green building, and Silicon Valley’s investments in green technology. If you have high definition, definitely check this out. Disclaimer: I am a KQED member, but this is still an interesting show to watch.

What happens when you mix the founder of Burning Man, the founder of Odwalla, scientists, techies, organic farmers and JP Morgan as a sponsor? You get Digital Be-In: an artsy event with speakers, organic food and a party. Over 10 speakers came, with booths, drinks, and later a big party. It was definitely an eclectic mix; I couldn’t see that well in the dark, but about 200 people came to hear the speakers, and more were entering. Urth.tv did a live broadcast of the event on the internet. Here were some interesting things I saw:

• The first public unveiling of Wiser Earth, a nonprofit social networking site focused on activism and issues, very similar to Care2.com. It already has a community going and active membership.

• Urban Alliance for Sustainability, a nonprofit that focuses on environmental sustainability and building communities, was selling the Green Zebra, SF based coupon book. I took a look inside the book, and it was full of coupons from green businesses like natural food, yoga, spas, and travel. Here’s an example of a coupon inside from one of my favorite places to shop for groceries:

I bought the book for $25, and I know that I’ll already use several coupons inside that payoff the initial fee. If you’re in San Francisco or go often, I recommend buying this. But if you live outside of the city or don’t come often to the city, it won’t be worth it for you.

Other interesting talks included Autodesk’s sustainability design consulting, a group that helps design large scale things like buildings and PAX Scientific, a green research and development tech group.

To be honest, I’m not sure whether I’d go next year, I think the Green Festival and other conferences are a little more organized, but this is definitely a good attempt to get more people in the Bay Area aware of environmental issues by making it fun.