Farm fresh; here's where to find picked-the-same-day produce in and around the Bay Area … direct from the grower or at farmers' market

Sunset, Sept, 1987

Ifyou prize produce of impeccable freshness, as so many Bay Area cooks and diners do, you have more resources than ever for getting high-quality, picked-the-same-day fruits and vegetables.

Best of all is your own garden. But an increasingly diverse range of local shopping opportunities can supplement or replace the home vegetable patch. State certified farmers' markets in every county are numerous and sophisticated; here, a number of farmers tempt you with both basic and specialty crops. Or follow a map put out by growers and go directly to the farms to pick it yourself or buy produce picked just hours before.

In Bay Area fields and orchards, late August through October represents peak harvest for many crops: late-summer tree fruits are still being picked, corn and tomatoes come into their warm-weather prime, berries yield a second harvest, pears come in, and increasing numbers of apple varieties hint at the cool months to come. And you can celebrate this early autumn bounty in homegrown harvest festivals, now through Halloween.

You get more than freshness when you shop direct. Like the most demanding restaurants, many of which are supplied by special contract with small farms, you get flavor quality independent of shipping quality varieties that taste superb but don't necessarily store well enough for commercial purposes (supermarket produce may reach you many weeks or months after being harvested). Small growers used to supplying demanding chefs may raise exotic, unfamiliar, or miniature versions of better-known supermarket offerings. Many will ship gift orders for you. And you can ask them questions and get advice sometimes including treasured family recipes.

Farmers' markets: a colorful cornucopia

In an effort to promote the direct sale of high-quality produce, help the small farmer, and preserve farmlands near built-up areas, the state encourages the development of certified farmers' markets in every county Everything offered is produced by its vendor.

Market size is also regulated (most have waiting lists), so the face-to-face experience can be rewarding for both farmers and shoppers. One drawback: most markets don't have rest rooms.

Small and large, farmers' markets are a sunny clamor of colors, textures, and aromas. They're also spiced with a streak of serendipity: you never quite know whether you'll find crates full of pearl green baby Asian vegetables, buckets of bright statice, or an ice bed laden with oysters hauled out of local waters at 4 that morning. Whatever the offerings, you get more choice if you arrive as the market opens.

Prices vary, with more negotiating at urban markets. One recent morning, at the Marin farmers' market, here's what we got for $20: 10 full-size potatoes; 6 ears of tight-kerneled Platinum Lady corn; 8 dark red Santa Rosa plums; a head of garlic; a dozen chubby, red-orange French carrots; a bunch of pink, purple, white, black, and red beets; 6 vine-ripened tomatoes; a half-pound of fresh basil, nowhere blackened or torn; 8 aromatic tree ripened Gravenstein apples; a bunch of arugula; and a pound of squeaky-fresh sugar snap peas. Nothing, we were assured, was exposed to pesticides.

Here are markets in Bay Area counties; unless otherwise noted, area code is 415.

Alameda County. Livermore: J Street, 11 to

4 Sundays year-round; 465-6554. San Leandro: Bayfair Shopping Mall, 2 to 6 Thursdays and Saturdays through December; 465-6554.

Contra Costa. Pleasant Hill: Hillcrest Shopping Center, 8 to 1 Saturdays through November; 933-1418. Easygoing; try fresh squeezed natural juices; about 30 sellers. Richmond Civic Center, 2 to 6 Fridays through October; 237-7360. Good parking; diverse market (including live chicks), ethnic mix; about 35 sellers. Walnut Creek: library parking lot, 9 to 1 Sundays through November; 933-1418. Pleasant, tree-shaded, midsize market, but parking is tight; cheeses, home-cured olives, fine produce.

Marin. San Rafael: Civic Center, 8 to 1 Thursdays year-round and 9 to 2 Sundays through November; 456-3276. Sellers' favorite market, especially Thursdays; great variety (up to 70 vendors), including oysters, jams, honeys; good parking.

Napa. St. Helena: Dansk Square, 7:30 to noon Fridays through November; (707) 965-3652. Food writers autograph books to support fast-growing 40-stall market.

San Francisco. Large year-round market at 100 Alemany Boulevard, 6 to 6 Saturdays and 8:30 to 5 Tuesdays through Fridays; 647-9423. Saturday's the big day here, with up to 120 sellers. Smaller, more ethnic market at U.N. Plaza, 8 to 5 Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays year-round; 885-2001.

San Mateo. Redwood City: Winslow Avenue parking lot, 8 to noon Saturdays through October; 368-0559. Strong on flowers; look for fresh fish from Half Moon Bay, artichokes, sprouts; 40-plus sellers.

Santa Clara. Palo Alto: behind downtown post office, 8 to noon Saturdays through November; 325-2088. A little of everything; many yuppie shoppers, about 35 vendors. Mountain View: Franklin Street parking lot, 9 to noon Saturdays; 965-7448. New.