Fresh Produce of the Week: Ginger

Editor's Note: There's still a little over two hours to make it down to Rockaway for the market, so stop by on your way home from work.

Today's afternoon rain did not stop Jim Nofziger, Pacifica's own organic produce grower, from setting up the "Triple J" booth at Coastside Farmers Market.

Here is a look at this week's fresh produce:

The crop: Ginger, lots of it. Nofziger produces three to four varieties throughout the year. 

The farm: "Triple J" residence-turned-farm in the back of the Linda Mar valley. Triple J, at 901-B Palmetto Ave., is a certified organic farm. Nofziger makes cider vinegar year-round from the plum and apple trees on his property. Each season, Nofziger brings crops to market that are of an unusual variety such as Rattlesnake Green Beans in the summer (a crop identifiable by its rattlesnake-like stripes).

The farmer: Jim Nofziger has been attending the Coastside Farmer's Market in Pacifica for 3 years and has been cultivating crops for much longer. He has been creating plum and apple wines for about 30 years, and has hopes to sell his wines as a bonded winery within the next eight months.  

The quote: "I try to grow things a little bit different," said Nofziger. "You eat with your eyes first."

Coastside Farmers' Market founder and organizer, Erin Tormey, says that despite the farmers' resolve, a rainy day puts a damper on the market.

Market-goers show up in smaller numbers, thinking that the market is closed.

Yet one market-goer told Nofziger, "Its not even cold. I live here."

Tormey hopes that the "addiction to convenience" doesn't put a slump in future farmers' markets.  

Next Wednesday will be the last Pacifica Coastside Farmer's Market of the season, at Rockaway Beach from 2:30 to 6:30pm.