Divisadero Farmers Market

Stephanie Lucianovic | July 19, 2008 | 9 Comments

shoppers at divisadero farmers market Having lived through a rash of daylight shootings up and down my immediate area of Divisadero last summer (no deaths, yet no arrests, natch), I was definitely cynical about the new farmers’ market at Divisadero and Grove. Comments like, “Is that Swiss cheese or bullet holes? ” and “I guess I’ll definitely be getting my iron at this market!” flew between my husband and myself. However, I was also excited by the prospect of walking only two blocks to get my hands on some (hopefully) prime produce.

Clearly, I wasn’t the only one whose mind ran along those lines, because denizens of SFist were likewise snarky and hopeful when the news was announced:

“People! I think we have a solid nominee for next year’s SFBG “Best Farmer’s Market At Which To Get Shot”…”

“Bitchin’! I just moved there. Now I can buy tomatoes to the sound of cat-calls being made at anything with boobs!”

blackberries

“Thankfully the gun activity around there seems to have died (ahem) down compared to last year, but it’s still a thug magnet. I guess Sunday afternoon is one of the better times to take parking away from Lily’s BBQ and the pot club, but the lot is TINY – where are the farm trucks going to park, in the lot? Sounds like a potential clusterfuck, but I appreciate the efforts of NOPNA and ASNA to improve their property values. OK, that was snarky. I’ll be there!”

My biggest curiosity was: “Who will go?” and I got my answer on opening market day, last Sunday, July 13: Lots of people.

farmer

Sure, it wasn’t at all like being thronged within an inch of your life at the Ferry Building, but a hearty neighborhood crowd did turn out to look over the exotic Asian vegetables, okra and squash from Modesto, summer fruit a-plenty, a riot of jewel-bright flowers.

flowers

While a few denizens stood on the periphery and disdainfully counted how many farm stalls made up this half-block farmer’s market, more jumped right in and shopped, pausing only to sign Ross Mirkarimi’s petition to continue his superhero tenure as the District 5 supe.

Ross Mirkarimi

The North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association manned a table to collect membership donations, sell “Respect the Neighborhood” bags and signs, and hand out flyers for the Alamo Square Flea Market.

respect the neighborhood signs and bags

At the end of the 30 minutes it took to make a full circuit and go back to buy, I went home with a bag filled with dusky-scented tomatoes and warm fuzzies. I’ll definitely be going back.

Operated by the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association, the Divisadero Farmers’ Market is located on Grove at Divisadero and operates on Sundays from 10 AM-12 PM until September 12th.

Tags: Divisadero Farmers' Market, Ross Mirkarimi

Category: farmers markets

About the Author (Author Archive)

A former picky eater, Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic is a writer, editor, and lapsed cheesemonger in the San Francisco Bay Area. A culinary school grad with an English lit degree, she has written for CNN.com, MSNBC.com, Popular Science, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe. Additionally, she has been writing for KQED's Bay Area Bites since its inception and is the website editor for KQED's Emmy-award winning show "Check, Please! Bay Area." Stephanie was an original recapper at Television Without Pity and worked on a line of cookbooks for William-Sonoma as well as in the back kitchen of a Jacques Pépin cooking show. Her first book, SUFFERING SUCCOTASH: A Picky Eater's Quest To Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate (Perigee Books, 2012) is a non-fiction narrative and a heartfelt and humorous exposé on the inner lives of picky eaters that Scientific American called "hilarious" and "the perfect popular science book for a reader that doesn't think he or she wants to read a popular science book." Stephanie lives in Menlo Park with her husband, three-year-old son, assorted cats, and has been blogging at The Grub Report for over a decade. Follow her on Twitter at @grubreport

Mac Guide

There have been no homicides in that area for at least a year and a half:

http://www.sfgate.com/maps/sfhomicides/
http://www.grubreport.com Stephanie

Exactly, as I said in the first sentence, “no deaths, yet no arrests.” However, daylight shootings where people were injured are still enough to give me pause about my immediate neighborhood.

Also, I find the SF Crime blog to be far more reliable a resource:

http://sfcrime.blogspot.com/
NOPNAgurl

Ms. Skeptic,
Get off your east coast edgi-ness and give the people a chance. Obviously you have been listening to those real estaters who are nervous that a neighborhood should bring itself up and property values(but not the rents increase . This neighborhood is sweet and well mannered. It is in the geographic center of the city and transit friendly (including sharecar). Don’t think that because some of the locals dress in MTV gangster look that they are out to get YOU…they aren’t. Actually those statistic aren’t very accurate either. This neighborhood is extremely friendly, has many neighborhood block parties and neighborhood garage sales, see August for Alamo Square yearly group garage sale.
http://www.grubreport.com Stephanie

Hm, “east coast edgi-ness”? If you’re really doing a background check on me, I’d have to correct you. If anything, it’s Minneapolitan “edgi-ness.”

And if you had read my entire post — sheesh people, do a little reading before jumping all over a body, wouldja? — you’d see I AM giving “the people” a chance or haven’t you heard of “warm fuzzies”? If not, I’m sad for you.

And it’s nothing to do with any sort of dress code, NOPNAgurl, that would be a gross generalization and one you created, not I. No, see, it’s really more to do with the gunshots I heard that were reported and actually investigated. I can still give “the people” a chance while being well aware of the facts, thank you very much. After all, my eyeballs aren’t rose-colored.

Chill out, I like my neighborhood fine enough, but when your apartment building door gets busted in twice in one year, well, you get a little wary. It’s common sense.
Charles E Nelson

Well, I and several neighbors worked to bring this market to you few who dared to act when the bullets flew. We worked many months and were daunted by the project and much efforts went into convincing the residents of the 1300 Block of Grove to allow the Farmers to bring an incredible oppotunity to our neighborhood. In the end, my children finally got a chance to own the street on whihc they live from the end of the farmers’ market west to Broderick on Grove. We live at 1375 Grove street just about 150 feet from the market. This market is a wonderful and welcomed addition to our neighborhood as we were out and about just minutes before the gangland style shooting death of Aubrey Abrakasas on August 14th 2006 at Baker and Grove and we were just returning home when one of the shootings at Divisadero and Grove occured last summer.

We are happy that everyone is enjoying our efforts to bring positive vibes to a sometimes restless but solid neighborhood.
http://www.grubreport.com Stephanie

Exactly, as I said, “I went home with a bag filled with dusky-scented tomatoes and warm fuzzies. I’ll definitely be going back.” And earlier, I said, “However, I was also excited by the prospect of walking only two blocks to get my hands on some (hopefully) prime produce.”

I’m thrilled with the market.
Archie Bunker

People shouldn’t be annoyed by this comment:

“Bitchin’! I just moved there. Now I can buy tomatoes to the sound of cat-calls being made at anything with boobs!”

Hmmm, I guess you didn’t know about the Farmer’s Market at the Embarcadero where you’d probably be invisible. I’m sure you can afford to live in a safer place too, where you don’t have all those thugs keeping the property value just a tad bit lower than the other corner couldn’t you?

I find it intuitively puzzeling how you choose to live and shop around thugs and complain about it. It almost seems masochistic because S.F. has so many options. You’ve been listening to those NOPNA people haven’t you? They mean well, but they’re a bunch of out of towners who
know not what they do.

People with this mentality would construct a museum in Golden Gate Park that looks like a something from Star Trek.

Divisadero is safer than it’s been in 40 years – but you can’t write about that because the Police didn’t say it a at a NOPNA meeting. It’s becoming quite fashionable to bash a few black owned businesses and harmless disenfranchised guys selfless enough to offer you a compliment. may I suggest you use your voice to write about people like Charles Nelson, Leela Gil and their families who represent the smarter side of NOPNA and got this great market off the ground.
http://www.grubreport.com Stephanie

Hey, Archie Bunker? I didn’t make that comment, I was quoting reactions from SFist, if you bothered to read and comprehend. Also, again if you had bothered to read and comprehend, you would have seen this comment that I made about the plus-side of the Divis market: “Sure, it wasn’t at all like being thronged within an inch of your life at the Ferry Building…” That’s a positive.

“I find it intuitively puzzeling how you choose to live and shop around thugs and complain about it. It almost seems masochistic because S.F. has so many options.”

Hm, I find it intuitive puzzling how you didn’t bother to grasp the concept of my post. I was initially bemused by the placement of the FM but I was also excited by it.

“It’s becoming quite fashionable to bash a few black owned businesses and harmless disenfranchised guys selfless enough to offer you a compliment.”

I don’t even know what this means. I didn’t bash any black-owned businesses and I have no idea what you’re talking about here: “harmless disenfranchised guys selfless enough to offer you a compliment.” Frankly, I don’t know which are black-owned and which are not. I liked this FM and I said I’d be back.

Here’s a suggestion for everyone who wants to comment after they read the first paragraph. Read the whole damn thing first and take note of what the author said and what was quoted from other sources, because when you don’t, you showing your ignorance and make pointless attacks.
Lady Wolverton

Give the author a chance! She makes valid points (btw, they are not directed at any particular group — simply stating facts). She does a good job of being quite fair. In the end, as she has stated numerous times, she says she LIKES the market and will be back!

Thank you for an entertaining and honest read, Stephanie.