In This Issue
Cooking Demonstration with Sophie Rahman
Community Booth Spotlight
Featured Vendor: Unger Farms
This Week at
the Market

Max Sergienko

Cooking Demonstration

Hollywood Theatre
Tip of the Week
Keeping Flowers Vibrant

Fresh cut flowers will stay fresh longer if you add a couple drops of household bleach to the water.

-- Dave Fuller, Fuller's Flowers
Featured Produce

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

Tomatillos
Forono Beets
(Persephone Farm)

Heritage Raspberries
(Unger Farms)

Plaza Latina Giant Tomatillos - pictured 
(Gales Meadow Farm)

Summer Lady Peaches
(Maryhill Orchards)

Tokyo Rose Apples
(Kiyokawa Family Orchards)
 
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The Local Dirt
Don't miss the cooking demonstration this Saturday as Sophie Rahman teaches about spices from the Indian subcontinent. Max Sergienko entertains us with his acoustic music and the sun should continue to shine, so wake up early and enjoy another Saturday morning at the Hollywood Farmers' Market!

Cooking DemoEggplantnstration with Sophie Rahman
 
by Carolyn Buan, HFM Volunteer

Just mention the Hollywood Farmers' Market to Sophie Rahman and her soft brown eyes light up. "I think the Market is exciting," she says. "All those fresh fruits and vegetables, those lovely colors and textures. I love to cook, and when I do I always like to use fresh local produce that's in season."
 
A resident of Laurelhurst, Sophie was born in Pakistan, where she regularly accompanied her father to the local market. "I loved to go with him," she recalls. "We'd buy all these wonderful fresh fruits. And in winter we'd buy dried fruits that came in from Kashmir and the north of Pakistan."
 
And then there were the fresh spices, so vital to the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent. "I was introduced, as a child of eight or nine, to all these spices, which were piled high in the market. We'd just buy them fresh - they weren't packaged." But it wasn't until Sophie married and moved to England that she earned a reputation as an exceptional cook. That reputation followed her to Japan, where she and her husband sold Indian spices and chutneys in a Japanese market, and back to England, where she worked with a local land conservation group and put on Indian feasts for her co-workers.
 
Twelve years ago, Sophie moved to Portland, where she works for a non-profit land trust and is an avid gardener. But Sophie's love of sharing her culinary talents hasn't abated. "When I cook something good, I don't want to keep it to myself - I want to share it with others," she says.
 
You can find Sophie at the Hollywood Farmers' Market most Saturdays, her basket overflowing with fresh local produce and if you stop to talk to her, she will most certainly share one of her favorite recipes using local produce that is in season.

This Saturday, Sophie will perform a cooking demonstration at the Hollywood Farmers' Market. She will make Eggplant Cooked in the Pickling Style and discuss Indian spices at 10:00 and 11:00am at the musician's tent on Hancock Street. Look for the recipe in next week's edition of The Local Dirt.
Community Booth Spotlight

hollywood theatreLearn more about the organizations tabling at the market each week in our community booth column.

Film Action Oregon/Hollywood Theatre
Film Action Oregon, the nonprofit that owns and operates the Hollywood Theatre in NE Portland is one of the city's leading arts organizations committed to educating emerging filmmakers, supporting working artists and engaging diverse audiences. To help us fulfill our mission we are always looking for talented and dedicated individuals to assist in all areas of operations including, but not limited to: office work (during daytime business hours), outreach and advocacy, event planning and fundraising, marketing/collateral design, building maintenance and most importantly, Theatre operations.

Because the Hollywood Theatre is open 365 days per year, our greatest need is for volunteers to assist with day-to-day operations at the Theatre, helping with concession/box office sales and light Theatre maintenance. It takes over 150 volunteers serving 3400 hours to cover 1144 shifts each year. These volunteers are crucial to Film Action's continued success, contributing the equivalent of 2 full-time staff members and allowing Film Action to direct resources towards vital programs and services for Portland's artistic community.

Interested in making a difference? Please stop by Film Action Oregon/Hollywood Theatre's community booth and find out how you can become involved, or contact Justen ([email protected] / 503-493-1128).

Please be sure to join us on Saturday, September 20th, from 9am until 1pm as we offer up for sale thousands and thousands of used video tapes, dvds, books, cds, movie posters, still photographs and much, much, more! Prices start as low as just $.25 and all proceeds go towards to the Hollywood Theatre Project. The sale will take place in our eastern storefront (4148 NE Sandy Boulevard).

 
Earth Charter
The Earth Charter is a boldly optimistic international statement of fundamental principles and values for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society.  It represents an ethical vision of interdependence and the responsibility we share for the sustainable well-being of all life. It is often called a "people's treaty" because the content originated from people in 78 countries, not from governments.

Featured Vendor: Unger Farms

Unger Farms By Eliza Whiteman,
HFM Volunteer

Kathy Unger and her husband Matt started farming together more than two decades ago in Cornelius, Oregon - 26 miles west of Portland. In 1984 the two bought an 80-acre parcel of land across the road from Matt's childhood home and this was the beginning of Unger Farms. In the early years their crops of strawberries and cucumbers went entirely to the canneries. But in 1986 the Ungers brought part of their harvest to their first farmers' market and, according to Kathy, it was love at first sight.

Adding more farmers' markets as the years progressed, the Ungers were able to shift their marketing away from the canneries and sell the bulk of their product through local outlets - be it markets, roadside stands or grocery stores. Kathy and Matt were thrilled by the face-to-face interactions that selling at farmers' markets enabled them to have. For Kathy, sharing her product with the customers at market is the most pleasurable part of farming. She especially enjoys the Hollywood Farmers' Market for its wonderful, community feel.

For any of you who have visited the Unger Farms stand at the Hollywood Farmers' Market, you know that their display is always replete with a beautiful array of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. The presentation and quality of the product they bring to market each and every week is something on which Kathy and Matt Unger pride themselves. They did extensive research into berry varieties and selected beautiful, fresh-market varieties with superior flavor such as Hood strawberries, Heritage raspberries and Spartan and Darrow blueberries to grow on their land. As Kathy will tell you, it is their goal to ensure that every berry in every pint is beautiful.

It takes lots of hands to get all of the delicious berries from the field to the market. In addition to almost 30 locals who help with harvests, the Ungers have four children, all of whom are involved in the running of the farm. The next generation is also underway, with the second Unger grandson born just this past Monday!

Be sure to check out Unger Farms next time you visit the market. They are always excited to meet a new customer. Also, don't forget look for their Red Flame seedless table grapes to be arriving at market in the next couple of weeks.
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