Northwest Fresh Seafood, Lentil Underground, Cuvee Weekend

There are three tasty events coming up -- two of which I'm directly involved in -- that I want to tell you about. I also want to acknowledge that I do realize that I haven't done a Yard Fresh installment in far too long. One excuse, over the summer and early fall I got my kitchen remodeled by my amazingly talented friends at St. Johns Design Build (see some photos of my kitchen remodel here!), beyond that life has been full. Anyway, I haven't forgotten about that series and I'll add to it again soon enough. For now, here are some upcoming food/drink events I'm hoping that you might come to and if not that you will help spread the word about. Thanks!

Saturday, March 7 @ 2-6pm at Northwest Fresh Seafood Newberg, Oregon BUBBLES & BOOKS

A month ago Zach Elliott of the Newberg seafood market Northwest Fresh Seafood asked John Gorham and me if we'd come out to the market for a spring food/drink/books event and we agreed right away. John and I are both seafood lovers and always up for a fun excuse to get out to Oregon wine country. The result is an afternoon and evening event hosted by these great folks with oysters, bubbles, signed copies of Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull. AND Food Lover's Guide to Portland, live music by Kent Smith and a Q&A with John and I ALL for $65. I hope you'll come out for it and even if you can't I hope that you might help spread the word. It's going to be great. Tickets are available here.

Monday, March 9 @ 7pm at Powell's Portland, Oregon Liz Carlisle, author of Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in AmericaREADING

Working as a book publicist at Hawthorne Books, and having covered food and food books since 2003, review copies often come my way. They're usually from Chelsea Green, which is one of my favorite publishing houses, but sometimes they're from other publishers -- in this case Gotham Books. Liz Carlisle is coming to Portland mid-March for a reading for her book Lentil Underground and if you care about food as much as I do I think you're going to want to go to this Powell's City of Books reading. I've only begun reading it and I'm inspired by the depth of Carlisle's research into renegade farmers and sustainable agriculture as well as the tenacity of her subjects and their dedication to new ag. business and cropping systems and a sustainable ag. future. GENTLE PORTLAND LENTILS, please pick up a copy of the book and come out for Carlisle's Powell's reading and become a part of the Lentil Underground! If my endorsement isn't enough...

"What does it take to farm sustainably–and make a living? Liz Carlisle tells the engrossing story of the ‘audacity rich, but capital poor’ Montana farmers who thought lentils were the answer and stuck with them until proved right. Anyone who dreams of starting a farm or wants to know how organic farmers can overcome the obstacles they face will be inspired by this book." --Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics and professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.

Look at that fuzzy gentle lentil behind the book! Rubin is my favorite photo bomber.

Saturday, March 21st @ Noon at The Allison Inn & Spa Newberg, Oregon Cuvee Weekend PANEL

In celebration of Women's History Month The Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg is hosting an inaugural Cuvee Weekend on the weekend of March 21st. Couples are invited to purchase weekend packages and attend everything from a cooking demo. by Kristen Murray of Portland's Maurice and a 4-course winemakers' dinner with Tamara Murphy of Seattle's Terra Plata to a guided vineyard tour and a panel discussion on women in food on Saturday, the 21st with me, Kristen Murray, Tamara Murphy and Veronica Vaga of Deschutes Brewery. Please help spread the word!

The Allison Inn & Spa rated #1 Hotel Spa in the Continental US by Travel + Leisure.

Portland Fermentation Festival 2013 Redux

We couldn't be happier about this year's fourth annual Portland Fermentation Festival. We got Sandor Ellix Katz back as guest speaker, we had more exhibitors sharing fermented foods and recipes than ever, we took the party to another level literally on the rooftop with D.J. Pickle Barrel, Reverend Nat's Hard Cider and Upright Brewing, we had advance tickets sales and the talk and first tasting sold out and we had demo's on everything from natto to nightshade-free kimchi.

It was a stinky good time and thank you so much to everyone who participated and attended! We put Portland Fermentation Festival together every year with a shoestring budget + heaps of volunteered hours and as always we're so grateful that Ecotrust puts up with us every stinking (literally) year. Thank you again Ecotrust! We love you. Thank you to festival sponsor Willamette Week and to this year's poster designer Tim Root as well.

If you'd like to keep up with local fermenty goings-on please check out our website, Facebook and Twitter.

I was able to take a good amount of photos at the festival last week so here they are in no particular order. I know that I missed some exhibitors and I may have even mixed up some names and folks. If so please let me know and sorry in advance. Alright, on to the photos. See you at the stink next year!

Let the madness begin!

Special guest Sandor Ellix Katz's talk.

First tasting!

Perennial festival faves the Biwa crew with their housemade miso. So good.

Andie Thompson sampling her super tasty liquid non-dairy kefir and ice cream.

Connie and Brian Shaw made the trek from Hood River with all sorts of delicious Oregon Brineworks ferments.

Heidi Nestler's very well attended natto demo. Heidi teaches some great cooking classes check out heidinestler.com.

Festival co-organizer Brineyman aka David Barber giving out all sorts of Picklopolis magic.

Tressa Yellig's Salt, Fire & Time kvass samples. As tasty as it is pretty.

Joshua Unterman's beautiful/functional handmade crocks.

Rebecca and Fred Gerendasy of Cooking Up a Story documenting the stink!

Eric Christensen of It's Alive! with his tasty krauts, raw crackers and bars.

Thomas Trotter's spicy/tangy/yummy fermented hot sauce.

Colin and Kristein Franger's of Blue Bus Kraut brought spicy kraut-chi and tasty straight-up kraut.

Lost Art Kitchen's Chris Musser's super informative nightshade-free kimchi demo. Check out www.lostartskitchen.com.

Sash Sunday's OlyKraut with yummy sea vegetable kraut.

Annie Moss with all sorts of fermenty good Tabor Breads.

Jon got Sandor to sign some of his crocks!

Toro Bravo charcuterie manager Josh Scofield sampling Toro's chorizo with the Toro Bravo Cookbook in tote that I was lucky enough to co-author. The charcuterie chapter was one of my favorites to write.

Choi's Kimchi in the house! Sooooo good.

Party on the rooftop with DJ Pickle Barrel, Reverend Nat's Hard Cider, Upright Brewing and Bingo Sandwiches.

DJ Pickle Barrel and one of Portland Fermentation Festival's best, best friends -- Ecotrust's Lola Milholland.

Amanda Englund's Lion Heart Kombucha.

Robert Jordan's tasty sourdough bread and pancakes.

Coreen Stoli's beautiful porcelain crocks.

More madness!

The dynamic Bitz curtido demo duo.

Ivy Stovall's shiso pretty pink pickles.

Eva Sipple's yummy Eva's Herbucha.

Judge D. Finklea and Lindsay Dekey's fruit kimchi and kombucha.

Megan Denton of Able Farms sampled her kraut and kombucha.

What better way to end this with Lynne Van Dusen's beautiful smile sampling her Vine to Brine lacto-fermented sodas?

See you all at the stink next year & thanks for making this one so fantastic!

Zenger Farm CSA Accepts Food Stamps

There are so many great food events in Portland and lately I haven't had time to go to many. One of my favorites of the past several year's has been Friends of Family Farmers' free and open to the public InFARMations held at Holocene every second Tuesday night of the month. The last one held featured Zenger Farm's new SNAP for CSA toolkit and I wish I could have gone and learned more about it. Here's the gist straight from the source:

Zenger Farm is launching a new toolkit to help Oregon CSA farmers begin accepting SNAP dollars (formerly known as Food Stamps) for their member shares. This is a key component in the fight for better access to good food for all.

Fast facts:

• SNAP brings more than $1 billion in federal food money to Oregon each year. • Zenger Farm Shares was one of the first Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSAs) in Oregon to accept SNAP. • While the traditional CSA model supports farmers by assisting with the upfront costs of farming, that same upfront capital investment is often a barrier for households on limited incomes. • In 2011, Zenger Farm received a grant to develop a toolkit to help Oregon CSA farmers begin accepting SNAP dollars. This toolkit will be rolled out at community meetings and conferences across the state, as well as through online webinars in 2013.

More info about the toolkit and programMore about Zenger Farm Shares

Portland Growers Alliance

A few weeks ago Portlander Lauren Morse contacted me to see if I might put something up about Portland Growers Alliance, a marketing collective for the farmers of Mercy Corps Northwest's Agriculture Project in conjunction with Grow Portland.

I'm a big fan of this Mercy Corps Northwest project and, in fact, I've written about it in the past for the Portland Tribune and on this blog. So, I said, of course, but why don't you write something and I'll put it up since I'm clearly not the expert. (Lauren also wrote a more personal blog post about Portland Growers Alliance here if you want to learn more.) Without further ado, here are some thoughts and photos from Lauren Morse, lead marketer for Portland Growers Alliance...

As a consumer, do you ever feel overwhelmed by the abundance of smells and sounds at Portland's bustling farmers markets? Imagine being a farmer there. Many shoppers do not realize the underlying steps required to orchestrate these markets. Farmers must reserve a stall, arrange transportation to the market, and communicate with customers. For many emerging farmers in the Pacific Northwest these simple steps are an impassable barrier.

The Growers Alliance is a new marketing collective designed to help emerging farmers succeed. It was founded in 2010 as a partnership between Mercy Corps Northwest’s Agriculture Project and Grow Portland.

Mercy Corps Northwest’s Agriculture Project provides refugees, immigrants, and new American growers with the access to land and supplies needed to begin market gardens. Grow Portland teams with Mercy Corps Northwest to provide the trucking and marketing services for growers to sell their produce locally. All growers are welcome to volunteer at markets and CSA pick-ups, but the Growers Alliance relies on its lead American growers to do the bulk of produce marketing.

An increasing number of growers in the Pacific Northwest are immigrants, refugees, or beginning American farmers. Though they make up a necessary component of local agriculture, these growers often lack the English skills, business training, or access to trucking necessary to sell their produce to direct markets. (Direct markets refer to any sales that occur directly between the grower and the consumer.) Selling through direct markets, however, guarantees that growers will get the best price for their product. But what if you lack the English skills to communicate with consumers? Or what if your individual plot is too small to have your own CSA or farmers market stand? This is where the Portland Growers Alliance steps in.

This year the Alliance is composed of Nepalese, Bhutanese, Slavic, Burmese, Somali, and American growers. Though their individual plots are less than an acre each, collectively they are able to sell produce through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, two Portland Farmers Markets (Saturday at PSU and Monday at Pioneer Square), and a few local restaurants. Visit the Growers Alliance webpage to learn how you can support these growers.

Most important to their marketing efforts is recruiting members for fall CSA shares. Fall shares run for 14 weeks from late August through November. Members can pick up at Mercy Corps Northwest in Old Town/Chinatown or the Warehouse Café in Southeast's Brooklyn neighborhood. Sign up here! Contact Lauren for more information at lmorse at growportland dot org or 503.858.0216.

Somali growers of Mercy Corps Northwest's Agriculture Program at Westmoreland Garden.

Portland Growers Alliance CSA boxes being filled in Southeast Portland.

www.growportland.org/programs/growers-allianceContact Lauren Morse for more information at lmorse at growportland dot org or call 503.858.0216Visit the Portland Growers Alliance booth at the Pioneer Courthouse Square (Mondays) and Portland State University (Saturdays) Portland Farmers Markets.Sign up for the fall CSA here

Portland Food Roundup

Sometimes it's nice to pull together a little food roundup so below I've linked up to some recent stories that I've written as well as food stories by others that I've liked lately. If you've come across something too good to not share then please leave a link to the story in the comments. Hope all is well!

Recent stories I've written or contributed to... Cooking Light, Portland Food Rules Budget Travel, America's Best Food Regions VIA Magazine, Portland's North Williams Avenue The Progressive, Joe Sacco interview Willamette Week, Devour Willamette Week, Summer Guide Portland Woman, Eat Your Way Around Portland Cooking Up A Story, 5-part Lisa Weasel interview

Other folks' stories and news that I've dug lately... Speaking of Faith Show, interview with Dan Barber McSweeney's new food quarterly Lucky Peach (Just subscribed! First issue out!) Portland Farmers Market looking for winter space Cooking Up A Story, raising backyard chickens with Naomi Montacre

OSU Extension Service Spring Events & Classes

In 2008 I took the organic version of the Master Gardener program here in Portland -- the Organic Gardening Certification Program -- and got so much out of it. Ever since then I've been on the OSU Extension Service mailing list and so from time to time get the scoop on cool classes and events. The latest newsy email has all sorts of local edible gardening and farming things in it that I'm sharing with you here. Today is the first official day of spring after all!

Straight from the source...

OSU Extension Service, in partnership with Multnomah County, is proud to announce open registration for a new educational program in 2011: The Beginning Urban Farming Apprenticeship (BUFA) program provides in-depth and comprehensive training in urban farming and sustainable farming methods. Through formal classes, hands-on training, field-trips, online learning, and supervised apprenticeships, BUFA prepares students to produce and market fresh vegetables, fruits, grains, cut flowers, and other value-added products using organic methods. Participants will also learn the knowledge and skills needed to design, install, and manage farm and landscape infrastructure in urban and peri-urban settings. BUFA program begins on April 6, 2011. For program dates, more information, and to sign up, see: www.multco.us/sustainability/bufa.

Online, for-credit HORTICULTURE 260 Organic Farming and Gardening through OSU Ecampus will be conducted summer 2011. Visit the OSU website for more info.

FREE Metro natural gardening workshops in partnership with OSU Extension Service. Natural gardening workshops on a wide-range of natural gardening topics throughout the gardening season. See www.oregonmetro.gov/garden for a schedule of workshops.

OSU Extension Service Master Gardener training: January – March 2012 in three locations in the Portland metro region for a comprehensive, introduction to horticulture class and volunteer program. www.metromastergardeners.org Registration opens October 2011.

Clackamas Community College Horticulture Department and Portland Community College Landscape Technology both offer AA degrees and a wide range of practical classes in horticultural science and more.

Urban Growth Bounty 2011 class series produced by City of Portland on a wide range of gardening topics.

OSU Extension Service will not be offering the Organic Gardening Certificate Program (OGCP) in 2011 to make best use of limited staff resources.