Fresh from Our Farmers: Bodega market brings variety of fresh produce to the coast

The Bodega Bay Community Farmers Market opened in late May, bringing fresh local produce, pastured eggs and meats, local cheeses and more to the coastal community.

Bloomfield Organics is one of the heavy hitters when it comes to produce. Currently, the farm is selling several varieties of lettuce, including Oak Leaf, Red Butter and Little Gem.

There’s also Swiss chard and kale, strawberries, pastured eggs and flowers, which are new this year. Soon, they will have dry-farmed tomatoes and potatoes, including the beloved Bodega Red potato.

Green Valley CSA offers zucchini and other summer squash, carrots, onions, fennel, chard and kale, lettuces and more, with melons and winter squash coming later in the year.

The Peach Guy currently has peaches, including doughnut peaches and nectarines, with apricots coming soon and tomatoes, figs and walnuts arriving later in the season.

There is fresh local salmon, smoked salmon and Ling cod.

Salmon Creek Ranch has been here since the market was founded in 2012 and currently has organic duck eggs, grass-fed Scottish Highlander beef and goat meat.

The farm is so close, as the crow flies, that on a clear day you might be able to see the market from its highest point.

True Grass Farm has joined the market this year, with pastured chicken eggs, pastured pork and blueberries.

There are two cheese vendors, Achandinha of Petaluma, with extraordinary aged goat milk and cow milk cheeses, and Dacheva Son’s Cheese, also of Petaluma, with a wide and rotating selection of fresh and aged cheeses, including delicious cream cheese.

Raymond’s Bakery of Cazadero attends weekly and is one of the market’s most popular vendors, which means if you want to snag, say, a little pizza, a baguette or a loaf of salted sourdough bread, it’s best to arrive earlier rather than later.

Waterhorse Ridge is here, too, with its line of jams, jellies, salsas, hot sauces, vinegars and other condiments, as is the Hummus Guy.

Since the market opened, there has been delicious foods to eat on the spot from Northwest Catering. They are still here but with a new name, Estero Cafe, which opened several months ago in Valley Ford. Each Sunday, they offer breakfast sandwiches, eggs and hash browns, burgers and crab chowder, all made with local foods, many from this market.

Artisan craft vendors rotate, with four each week. There’s always live music, too.

Because of the market’s location adjacent to a large, tree-rimmed meadow and the Nicholas Green memorial, many customers linger here, tossing Frisbees for their dogs or enjoying a picnic of market foods. There is always coffee, too, donated by Roadhouse Coffee; sales support the market and the community center.

On the last Sunday of every month, the Sonoma County bookmobile attends, with free books. On these days, there’s face painting for kids, too.

I always emphasize that it is best to shop at the farmers market closest to where you live, that it doesn’t make sense to head to a farmers market in Duncans Mills, for example, if you live in Oakmont. This is still my belief, but there are also markets worthy of a road trip; this is one of them.

The Bodega Bay Farmers Market is currently managed by Diana Bundy; Samantha Ramey of Estero Cafe is the market’s volunteer vendor coordinator. The market is on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from the end of May until the end of October at 2255 Highway One in Bodega Bay.