It's the height of asparagus season, says the Ecology Center Farmers Market operations manager Dylan Cardiff, and winter greens abound as well at all three Berkeley locations.
"We're in citrus season, too, which means we have a lot of beautiful tangerines and oranges,” he said.
The markets feature more than produce: Shoppers can find baked goods, prepared foods, and expertise.
For instance, market visitors can learn plenty about wild, foraged and indigenous foods at the next special event, Saturday April 14 at the downtown Berkeley market at Center Street @ M. L. King, Jr. Way from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
While the American diet relies encompasses some 30 plant species, a Native Californian’s diet 200 years ago would have included about thousand. Many are still available for the gathering – some in the Berkeley Hills, others at sea, Cardiff said.
Tanya Stiller, local Garden and Nutrition Coordinator at Rosa Parks Elementary School, will display seaweeds from her late spring harvests and will demonstrate two ways to prepare them.
Also on hand: Kevin Feinstein, co-author of The Bay Area Forager: Your Guide to Edible Wild Plants of the San Francisco Bay Area, Alicia Funk, co-author of Living Wild-Gardening, Cooking and Healing with Native Plants of the Sierra Nevada, and Native Californian and Maidu Indian Farrell Cunningham, speaking on health and the natural habitat.
There will be samples of various edible wild plants, which will likely include an assortment of wild spring vegetables such as miner's lettuce, chickweed, wild radish, dock, nettles, thistles, and a coffee-like bay nut drink.
Weekday markets include South Berkeley at Derby Street @ M. L. King, Jr. Way, open from 2 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, and the all-organic North Berkeley market at Shattuck Avenue @ Rose Street from 3 to 7 p.m.
More information is available at 510-548-3333 or on the website: http://www.ecologycenter.org.
