Tip of the Week
Storing Garlic
Garlic should never go into the refrigerator or into a
plastic bag. The best way to store it is in a bowl on the counter or hanging in a basket, out of direct sunlight, and away
from sources of hot, moist air such as the stove or sink. |
--Anne Berblinger, Gales Meadow Farm
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| Featured Produce
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Part
of the beauty of farmers' markets is that our produce changes with the
seasons. Stay current with weekly produce highlights here!
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Plaza Latina Giant Tomatillos
(Gales Meadow Farm)
Golden Chanterelles
(Peak Forest Fruit)
Stark Crimson Pear
(Kiyokawa Family Orchards)
San Marzano Saucing Tomatoes
(Sweet Leaf Farm)
Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes
(Persephone Farm)
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This
week at the market, Anthony Cafiero, Chef De Cuisine at Tabla
Mediterranean Bistro, will demonstrate Caponata Pasta with Whole Wheat
Pappardelle. Don't miss this great opportunity to learn how to use some
of the best produce this season has to offer as well as how to make
your own delicious fresh pasta at home!
Last Saturday in its first week, twenty-five customers were served by The Hollywood Farmers' Market's Oasis Project - a mobile market designed to address the fresh produce needs of the nearby Cully neighborhood. The Oasis Project provides an especially great opportunity for EBT customers, as there is a dollar-to-dollar match up to five dollars for SNAP (formerly known as food stamp) recipients. Media coverage by The Oregonian and Fox 12 Oregon are helping to spread the word. The Oasis Project, which will run every Saturday in September, is made possible by vendors, staff and volunteers from the Hollywood Farmers' Market, Hacienda CDC and a generous Pacific Village Grant from New Seasons Market.
For more information or to get
involved please send an email to the Oasis Project. |
August Farm Visits Day One
Part Two: Linda Brand Crab
By Sarah Broderick, HFM Market Manager
For last week's installment on my August farm tours, please
click here.
The drive from Doty to Chinook, Washington is quite
stunning. Multiple rivers, including the Naselle, Willapa, and North, provide
most of the fresh water that enters Willapa Bay, a shallow estuary separated
from the Pacific Ocean by the Long Beach Peninsula just on the other side. With
clear blue skies above us and our bellies digesting a fine sheep milk blue, the
waters of the bay were soon behind us and Madhu and I made it to Chinook in
less than two hours.
Chinook has a population of just under 500 and is one of
many small localities that make up the coastal community of the Long Beach
Peninsula. While crabbing, fisheries, and oyster farming have given way to
tourism as the mainstay of the peninsula's economy, they are still solid and
necessary components to both the economy and local identity.
The Linda Brand Crab (LBC) facility is located just off
Highway 101 and is marked by large signs proclaiming fresh crab awaits right
around the corner. As we pulled in to the gravel lot, we saw the familiar Linda
Brand Crab sign over the entrance to a small building that houses a commercial
kitchen as well as an on-site retail counter. Under a shelter between the
commercial building and house, we saw a man washing and cutting fish. Another
man was packing refrigerators and moving equipment in the garage to the right.
John and Ruby are the owner-operators of the popular Linda Brand Crab operation
and John came out to meet us and introduce the crew. John's father and Ruby's
daughter work the retail counter, which was installed when they built the
commercial kitchen. It has become quite a popular destination for tourists who
know where to find quality seafood.
The man packing refrigerators and moving equipment in the
garage was Tom. He is responsible for the delicious smoked salmon, tuna, and
black cod you'll find at the market. Clarence was the man under the shelter
chopping the heads off tuna and cutting loins for the market. He handed me the viscera
for further inspection as John explained that all of the fresh tuna they sell
is sashimi-grade and frozen on-ship after it's caught to  kill potentially
harmful parasites and ensure muscle quality.
John has been crabbing for nearly forty years and is proud
to have a network of fishermen friends he works with to bring the best product
to market. His ship is docked in the nearby port of Ilwaco, Washington and
brings in hundreds of thousands of pounds of crab each year, depending on the
weather and water quality.
Madhu and I decided to check out the port at Ilwaco while we waited
for Chance and Matt, who work the Portland markets, to return from their Sunday
duties. They had promised to show us a local's perspective of the peninsula.
Our ever-hungry stomachs demanded that we grab a crab cocktail to go and we
were on our way.
The port town of Ilwaco is quite cute and definitely caters to
the seafood-hungry tourist. Signs were everywhere offering to take tourists out
on boats to catch their own fish or point those prone to seasickness to the
nearest fishmonger. We took a walk
along the docks and imagined the fanciful and adventurous, if unrealistic,
lives we would live at sea.
Back at the Linda Brand Crab headquarters, we loaded up on
smoked fish, fresh tuna, and convened with Chance and Matt who many of you
know from the Hollywood Farmers' Market. We headed to the town of Long Beach
for dinner. Matt pointed out landmarks across the water and explained how he
loves crabbing and working for "Johnny". Chance and Matt are both "locals" who
can spot a tourist a mile away. "In town for the Kite Festival?" they asked a
couple who were headed to the same restaurant as us. "Golf tournament," replied
the man.
We sat down to dine with two of the nicest guys you'll ever
meet at a restaurant with spectacular ocean views as the sun set over the
horizon. When my fresh and local tuna and chips arrived, I spied Matt eyeing my
dish. "Would you like some?" I asked, noting that he had a steak in front of
him and that Chance had ordered chicken penne. "Well, to be honest, I've only
ever had tuna from a can," he shyly admitted. I insisted he try a bite and he
kind of looked around in amazement after taking a bite. "Wow, that's good! My customers at the
market always say how good it is, now I know what they are talking
about." Evidently, on this farm trip, education goes both ways.
Next week: To the oyster beds of Gilson Marine Farm and
artichoke fields of DeNoble, Inc.
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Featured Vendor: Kiyokawa Family Orchards
By Daurie Mangan-Dimuzio, HFM volunteer and former staff
Ask Randy Kiyokawa if he always wanted to be a farmer and he
will laugh, saying that in middle school he wanted to be a disc jockey or a
police officer. However, as the youngest of five, and the only boy, he knew that
sooner or later he would return to the farm where he was raised.
His grandfather landed in Dee,
Oregon in 1911, six years after arriving in
the continental United States
from his native Japan.
Stopping in Hawaii along the way to make
money, he worked on railroads in California,
then took a job in Dee clearing stumps left
from a logging operation. The land he received as payment for his labor was
passed down to his oldest son in the Japanese tradition. Randy's aunt and uncle
currently farm that land and Randy's father bought what is now Kiyokawa Family Orchards
in Parkdale, Oregon in 1951. Randy currently farms 107
acres, with 80% in pears, 15% in apples and the remaining acreage in a variety
of fruits including cherries, peaches and plums.
 Twenty-two years ago, Kiyokawa Family Orchards sold
exclusively to packing houses, namely Diamond Fruit Growers, Hood River's
only grower-owned cooperative. In the 1980s, media attention about the harmful
effects of the chemical Adar (sprayed primarily on apples) caused consumers to
steer clear of all apples regardless of contact with the chemical. Kiyokawa Family
Orchards and other apple growers watched fruit rot on their trees as it proved
cheaper than paying for harvesting with little hope of sales as well as the
additional costs of disposing unsold fruit.
In the midst of this crisis, Randy picked a bin of Red
Delicious apples, selling them for 5¢ per pound, 3¢ per pound to those who bought an entire box.
This endeavor opened up lines of communication with customers that did not
exist in commercial sales. Customers began asking for specific varieties. If
Randy didn't grow a particular variety, he asked his neighbors. If they didn't
grow it, Randy looked into the possibility of growing the variety himself. Current
customers know that unique varieties are a trademark of Kiyokawa Family Orchards.
Since Parkdale's location at 2,200 feet and within Mount Hood's snow belt is no
guarantee that every variety will survive in his orchard, Randy plants a
handful of trees to test both the flavor and their ability to thrive in his
microclimate before deciding whether to invest in the variety.
Besides selecting apples that thrive on his land, Randy
employs a variety of production methods, taking what he calls a "soft approach
to pesticides and diseases". For example, he uses a technique called "pheromone
disruption" to eradicate the codling moth (think of the famous image of the
worm in the apple). By spraying the orchard with the scent of the female, the
males are unable to locate a mate and reproduction ceases. Also, like many
other orchard owners, Randy looks to Europe
for progressive growing techniques where land scarcity necessitates creative
agricultural solutions. For example, Randy has learned mechanical ways to get rid
of weeds to reduce his herbicide use.
Despite the best planning and production techniques,
sometimes Mother Nature gets in the way. The long, cold spells this winter took
their toll on some apple varieties, limiting the volume you will see at market.
That is to say, don't wait to buy your favorites! At the market this week, look
out for the Zestar, a tangy, crisp, Gravenstein-like apple that keeps its crunch; and the Elstar,
a full-flavored, sweet and tangy Dutch apple. In October, be sure to sample Randy's
favorite red-fleshed apple, the Hidden Rose.
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Community Booths
Learn more about the organizations tabling at the market each week in our community booth column.
Oregon Mentors
To expand positive life opportunities for all young Oregonians by connecting them with caring mentors
Oregon Mentors works with youth mentoring organizations around the state with a vision of providing a mentor for every child who needs one. Oregon Mentors also serves as a resource for those involved in youth mentoring: volunteers, mentoring programs, youth advocates and funders seeking more information about mentoring.
This week at the market, Oregon Mentors hosts SMART, IRCO's David Douglas Mentoring Project and African Immigrant Mentoring Program and YWCA's LearnLinks at their booth.
Southeast Portland Food Not Lawns
Creating Gardens and Community
Food Not Lawns works toward ecologically, socially, and
perpetually thriving human habitats, using theories and techniques
derived from permaculture, kinship gardening, ecological design, and
biodynamics.
Specifically, Food Not Lawns works: to assist in creating ecologically sustainable community food cycles; to increase access to organic food and permaculture education to low-income and rural communities; and to increase regional biodiversity.
Southeast Portland Food Not Lawns coordinates these efforts in outer southeast Portland via work parties, resource sharing and other fun, low-cost community-building activities. Check out their booth this Saturday for upcoming events. |
The Hollywood Farmers' Market is open Saturdays, May through October from 8am - 1pm and November 7, 14, and 21 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
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