Cloverdale Certified Farmers' Market

At the county's northern edge, Cloverdale's certified farmers' market sets up on Sunday mornings, 9:30am to 1pm, from April through November on West 2nd Street in the old downtown. It brings together local farmers, food purveyors and craftspeople, and it is run by the nonprofit behind the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, the oldest in Sonoma County.

The scale is small and the pace unhurried: a Sunday errand that turns into a stroll through a quiet main street.

Cloverdale sits where the Alexander Valley narrows toward Mendocino County, and its market is a fine Sunday anchor for a weekend in the upper valley. Shop in the morning, picnic supplies in hand, then spend the afternoon among the vineyards of Geyserville and the valley floor.

It also shows a side of Sonoma County that visitors rarely see: a working town, its growers and its regulars, with none of the bustle of the better-known markets to the south and plenty of time to talk.