In This Issue
Green Bean, Artichoke Heart, and Goat Cheese Salad
Community Booth Spotlight
Featured Vendor
This Week at
the Market

Blues Berry Festival

Schoolhouse Supplies
 
Green Empowerment

Tip of the Week
Old Berries Got You Down?

I love to use old berries by gently cooking them in a syrup of wine, sugar, and herbs:

In equal parts water and wine (white, red, or dessert), dissolve half as much sugar (up to an equal amount, depending on your preference) and simmer to thicken to a syrupy consistency. Add the berries and a chopped herb (thyme, tarragon, rosemary, etc.) and gently cook until the herb has released its flavor, breaking up the berries if you wish.

This makes a great ice cream topping and freezes well.

- Courtney Sproule, din din & Matchbox Lounge
Featured Produce

Part of the beauty of farmers' markets is that our produce changes with the seasons. Stay current with weekly produce highlights here!

watermelon

Cippolini Onions
(Persephone Farm)

Gray Morels (Peak Forest Fruit)

Wild Amaranth (Gales Meadow Farm)

Grandma's Garden Beefsteak Tomatoes (Deep Roots Farm)

Yellow Flesh Watermelon (Sweet Leaf Farm)
 
Join Our Mailing List
The Local Dirt
Did you know that August 2 - 9, 2008 is Oregon Farmers Market Week? Check out Governor Kulongoski's Proclamation here. What better way to celebrate than by coming to your favorite neighborhood farmers' market!

Don't miss the Fourth Annual Blues Berry Festival this Saturday featuring the music of favorites James Clem, Don Haupt, Johnny Keener and Lee Blake.

Help support local school kids by bringing school supplies to the Schoolhouse Supplies community booth this Saturday and next (August 9th) at the Hollywood Farmers' Market. See the Community Booth Spotlight below for more information.

Green Bean, Artichoke Heart, and Goat Cheese Saladartichoke

Here is a delightful recipe for a completely in-season and delicious meal. And you can pick up nearly all the ingredients while shopping at the Hollywood Farmers' Market!

Recipe courtesy of Ivy Manning, HFM volunteer and author of
The Farm to Table Cookbook (available at the Information Booth)

4 globe artichokes
2 lemons
1/2 pound green beans, stem ends discarded
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 ounces soft goat cheese
2 tablespoons chopped mint or parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the top 1/2 off the artichoke leaves with a serrated knife and discard. Trim the stalk to within 1 inch of the base of the artichoke and pull the outer, dark green leaves off of the artichoke until you reach the inner yellowish leaves. Cut the artichokes in half lengthwise and cut out the fuzzy choke in the center, rub cut parts of artichoke with pieces of 1 lemon as you work to prevent them from going brown.

Put the artichokes in the boiling water along with 2 teaspoons of salt, reduce heat to a hearty simmer and cook until the tip of a paring knife sinks easily into the center just above the stem, about 20 minutes. Add the green beans and boil until they are crisp-tender, 3 minutes. Transfer the artichokes and green beans to colander using a slotted spoon and drain well. Cut the artichokes lengthwise into quarters or sixths.

Whisk the juice of the remaining lemon with the olive oil in a large serving bowl. Add the green beans, artichokes, goat cheese, and parsley and toss gently with your hands to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve as a side dish for grilled fish or enjoy as a snack on its own!
Community Booth Spotlight

schoolhouse supplies backpackLearn more about the organizations tabling at the market each week in our community booth column.

Schoolhouse Supplies
Schoolhouse Supplies connects members of the community with students in over 130 schools throughout the Portland Public School district. We take private and corporate donations of all kinds - from basics like pencils and paper to books, backpacks, and folders - and put them in the hands of students.

Schoolhouse Supplies will be accepting donations of school supplies at the Hollywood Farmers' Market on August 2nd and August 9th. Please bring what you can to help Portland school children start off the school-year right!

Green Empowerment
Green Empowerment partners with rural communities in the developing world to implement renewable energy and water systems that alleviate poverty and preserve the environment.

1.6 billion people in the world live in the dark. 2.5 billion live without access to adequate water. Our projects provide village-based energy and water solutions which in turn encourage sustainable social and economic advances and environmental protection. By developing renewable energy and sustainable water delivery systems, Green Empowerment helps communities become empowered to stimulate their own economies, strengthen their health and education systems, and to become stewards of the land, which carries them.

Stop by the Green Empowerment booth at the Hollywood Farmers' Market and find out how you can get involved!

Featured Vendor: Big 'B' Farm

Big B Farmstand
by Lianne Bannow, HFM Volunteer

"Where's Big B?"  

"Please don't tell me that Big B Farm isn't going to be here this year!"

"I've been waiting all winter for Big B."

The first few weeks of the season when Big B Farm wasn't at the Hollywood Farmers' Market, people noticed. To say the least, this farm has a loyal, vocal following. And for good reason.

Maybe it's the wide array of tempting produce -- lettuces, onions, carrots, beets, cucumbers, summer squashes, herbs (we could go on). Maybe it's the personality of the people. Most likely it's both.

The heart of Big B Farm is Frank Battilega, with a smile and a quip ever at the ready. A third-generation farmer, farming is in his blood. His grandparents immigrated to Portland from Varese Ligure, Italy, a mountain town inland from Genoa, in the early 1900s. So did the Calcagnos, grandparents of Frank's late wife, Joanne, who died just last year. Both the Battilega and Calcagno families have farmed in the area ever since their turn-of-the-century arrival.

And it truly is a family affair, at the market as well as on the farm. Workers at the Big B booth are almost all relatives: Frank's sons -- Matt, Chris, and Joe -- and brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces, with a friend thrown in here and there for good measure. Frank says that he enjoys the ongoing interaction he has with the people who purchase his products, an experience that he believes is important for the younger family members as well.

Big B Farm comprises a 40-acre tract in Aurora, Oregon, where the family uses sustainable farming practices and does everything by hand. Hand-weeding and hand harvesting are time-intensive approaches that help yield high-quality products. These are the same approaches the family has used for generations.

According to Frank, one of the current challenges facing Big B Farm and other farms is fuel prices. Although everyone is affected to some degree by spiraling fuel and fuel-related costs, the effect on farmers is magnified because of such needs as running machinery and transporting goods to and from the farm.

Big B Farm has been part of the Hollywood Farmers' Market since the market's inception 12 years ago. Frank says that he appreciates the support from customers, volunteers, and market staff. The support has been present from the very beginning, he maintains, and continues through today.
The Hollywood Farmers' Market is open Saturdays, May through October from 8am - 1pm and November 1, 8, 15 & 22 from 9am - 1pm. We are located on NE Hancock Street between 44th and 45th Avenues (one block South of Sandy Blvd).

For more information, check us out online at
www.hollywoodfarmersmarket.org.

See you Saturday!


Hollywood Farmers' Market