By Stella Singer –
The last market day this season for the Castro Farmers’ Market was on November 19, 2025. Thank you for being part of another amazing farmers’ market season. You make the market the vibrant and bustling community space that it is. We’ll be back next year. Until then, explore other year-round Bay Area markets.
Even as we wrapped up the season, the final market day showed just how lively our community can be. Despite the cold and gloomy weather, the market was bustling with shoppers looking to stock up on seasonal goodies and produce. Fifth Crows Farms’ booth was bustling with flowers, seasonal produce, and happy shoppers.
At Celio Farms, the line was long with people looking to grab a box of strawberries to ease the winter chill. E&H Farms had a large spread of delicious-looking mushroom varieties, including shitake and oyster. I made sure to pick up mandarins from Ken’s Top Notch and some Rainbow Orchards apples. The PCFMA (Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association) market managers said that they “are sad to wrap up the season, but are excited for the market’s reopening in April.”
If you’re missing the market already, there are plenty of other places to shop local produce during the winter months. Check out the Divisadero market, which runs at Fell Street and Baker Street on Sundays from 9 am to 1 pm, or the Fillmore market, at O’Farrell and Fillmore streets, on Saturdays from 9 am to 1 pm.
As you explore these year-round markets, you’ll notice that the market stalls are glowing with vibrant colors and citrusy aromas. December is just the start of citrus season, and you can expect to see new varieties peaking each winter month. This is a great month for varieties that chase away the winter chill like Cara Cara navels and mandarins. To select your perfect fruit, look for a smooth, bright peel. And remember: the heavier the fruit, the juicier! We’ve put together a citrus variety guide with some unusual varieties like finger limes, kumquats, and cocktail grapefruits.
While citrus steals the spotlight, winter also brings another seasonal star: fennel. Did you know that, in the U.S., fennel is grown almost exclusively in California? The freshest fennel can be found at your farmers’ markets where you can get just-picked fennel full of flavor and nutrition. December and January are great months for fennel, and it is a delicious veggie to add to winter dishes.
To pick a great bunch of fennel, look for smaller fennel bulbs, which are more tender and less fibrous than larger bulbs. Avoid fennel with flowers on the stalks, because this is a sign that the fennel is overly mature.
We’re sharing a fennel and Cara Cara orange salad recipe that celebrates the flavors of these two seasonal ingredients. For more information, seasonal recipes, and a full list of vendors please visit
https://www.pcfma.org/
Ingredients
two Cara Cara oranges
one tablespoon pickled red onion
one medium bulb fennel
1/4 cup chopped (roasted, salted) pistachios
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil to taste
Remove fronds from fennel so that no spears protrude from the bulb. Cut off the base and then slice down the center of the bulb to expose the heart. Much like a cabbage heart, the fennel heart tastes great, but remove it for this salad. You can remove it and slice it thinly to include in the salad, but keeping it attached will bind all the fennel to the center, making the pieces too large to eat.
After removing the heart, slice the bulb (and the heart, if you like) thinly. Toss with lemon juice and salt and set aside.
Supreming the Oranges: Segment Cara Cara oranges. Slice off the top and bottom of all of the oranges. Then slice the skin off with a knife, moving from top to bottom, so that the orange segments are exposed without an outer layer of pith. Carefully holding the orange in your hand, cut the orange away from the white pith, using two cuts per segment. This way, your segments do not have any pith on them. Squeeze the juice from the heart of the orange and reserve for dressing.
Toss orange and fennel together with pickled onion and salt and pepper. Add a splash of orange juice and circle your mixing bowl with olive oil. Toss from the outside in to best incorporate the oil. Finish with pistachios.
Stella Singer is a recent UC Berkeley graduate who writes and designs for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association. With a background in environmental journalism and science, she brings a keen interest in food systems and sustainability to her work.
Farmers’ Market Finds – Bay Times Dines
Published on December 4, 2025
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