Market Day ~ Finale!

That’s right, it’s the last market of the season, and we want you there!  The weather’s fine, there will be music and food, so please feel free to bring the fam and picnic in the park!

For those of you who can’t believe it’s the end of the season, do what I’m doing and maximize this last opportunity by following the motto, eat what you can, and can what you can’t.  Or freeze, or dehydrate, or pickle, or smoke-cure….
Here are some tips and reminders of how to do so:

Preserve like a pro, with IQF
Those of you who know me personally know that my other calling besides managing markets is cooking.  All the professional kitchens I’ve worked in use what’s called IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) products.  This means you get individual pieces of, say berries, or peach slices, or diced zucchini instead of one giant frozen clump.  It’s also an easy method for at-home preserving for fruits and veggies while they’re in their peak season and conveniently use later on.  Go ahead and try it and impress your friends with your professional culinary skills! 

• Here’s what you do:
  Rinse and trim the product you want to freeze.  (Cut off any non-edible parts)
  Cut into smaller pieces if desired.  (I like to leave berries whole, but cut up rhubarb, greens, carrots, peppers, onions, etc.)
  Lay pieces out in a single layer on a baking sheet (make sure to shake off any extra water from when you rinsed them)
  Put baking sheet in the freezer for a few hours or overnight
  Transfer your goodies from baking sheet to a freezerbag and return to the freezer.
  Now you have individual pieces of whatever you’re freezing instead of a big frozen ball.  That way, when you want to make, say, an autumn squash & sweet onion frittata, you can easily take out the amount of veggies you want to use.  Enjoy!

Besides freezing, there are lots of easy ways to keep the fall bounty around for a winter treat.  If you’ve never tried canning, drying or pickling, now’s your chance!  Check out the recipes page at InterstateFarmersMarket.com for info.  Some fruits you’ll find at the market that do well with canning and drying are apples, pears, plums, pluots, peaches.  A great variety is available at Kiyokawa Family Orchards and Baird Family Orchards.
Awesome Fall Veggies!
Deep Roots
is bringing orange cherry tomatoes, big heirloom tomatoes, two kinds of cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, rainbow chard, basil, onions, big and beautiful green, yellow and red bell peppers, and cantaloupe. Cully Neighborhood Farm will have beets, carrots, tomatoes, eggplant, basil, Thai basil, hot peppers, sweet peppers, greens, cucumbers, and zucchini. 
Little Gnome Farm
will have a variety of heirloom tomatoes. DeMartini Family Farms will have dill for pickling, green beans, corn, beets, Napa cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, kohlrabi, squash, all lettuces, radish, parsley, cilantro, potatoes, rhubarb, collards, green onions and white onions, and more!
Winters Family Farm is selling tomatoes, hot and mild peppers, carrots, potatoes, corn (now bigger and cheaper!), onions, green beans, squash, and parsnips.

Raymond Kuenzi Farms will have also have potatoes, eggs, walnuts, bosc pears, d’anjou pears, lemon cucumbers, and those adorable pattypan squash.
Our meat vendor is not able to attend this week, but visit their website here Sweet Home Farms, to sign up for their CSA where you can get your meat order brought into town for you all throughout the winter!
Of course, you can get your instant-gratification meat fix from Fetzer’s German Sausage who will be grilling up traditional old world German-style sausages as usual.
And for dessert…
Gabriel’s Bakery, will be there with all kinds of sweets and pastries as well as sliced artisan bread and bagels, and even burger buns. 
Missionary Chocolates will bring all sorts of mouthwatering goodies: salted caramels, passionfruit lime, dark chocolate, raspberry, meyer lemon, ginger.  Vegan, gluten free deliciousness!!
Loyal favorite, gluten-free baker Amaranth will be here as usual with her business, Ammie’s Goodies.  She will have her gluten-free “hy-bread,” chocolate chip dunkers, and lots of other baked treats made with seasonal fruit and other top-quality ingredients.
Did you get a chance to buy some spiced peaches from Sage and Sea Drinking Vinegars yet? She’ll be here on with her vinegars in wonderful flavors, which make great holiday gifts, so think ahead! Yum!
And if you need to grab a quick dinner…
Thai Mama will have their fabulous Pad Thai, egg rolls, coconut chicken (a favorite!), mango juice, chicken skewers with peanut sauce over jasmine rice, wontons.  And Hacienda/Micro-Mercantes, will have their tamales and agua fresca that are sooo delicious on a sunny September evening!

Bring home something pretty for the table from Herr’s Family Farm, fresh-cut flowers cut the same day they’re sold.
…or to ease your aching muscles…
Judith Moran, LMT, is back and offering chair massages at $1 per minute. Ahhh….
So come on out to the last market of the season; we’re gonna go out with a bang!

Thanks so much everyone for your support throughout the season…we had a great time, and we’ve seen the real difference it makes for our vendors, our neighborhood, and our community.  We appreciate you!  We’ll continue to have recipes, info and tidbits on our Facebook, Twitter and website throughout the off-season, so stay with us…we’ll be working hard to bring you the biggest and best IFM ever next season, and boy are we excited!!

Thanks and take care,
Lisa Bersani, Market Manager
and the IFM Community Board

Market Day ~ Bounty Abounds at the Market!

Any sunny day after Labor Day feels like a bonus summer day, especially if it’s actually the first day of fall. And WOOHOO! We have it on good (enough) authority that Wednesday will bring sun and 70 degree weather. Perfect for cruising the market!

When we look over the list of what our vendors are bringing for us this week it’s hard to find a late-summer crop they’re not bringing! This time in September really is the peak of the Harvest Bounty.

Preserving…or just eating!

If you missed our canning demonstration with master gardener and home cook, Leann Locker with our own board president and expert pickler, Erin McGoveny, you can hear their conversation about Canning & Preserving at this podcast on Lelo Homemade.

If you’re ready to take on your own preserving project (or you just want to eat this fabulous fruit at its freshest) this is definitely a good week to stock up on apples, pears, plums, pluots, peaches. A great variety is available at Kiyokawa Family Orchards and Baird Family Orchards.

And don’t forget those veggies!

Deep Roots is bringing orange cherry tomatoes, big heirloom tomatoes, two kinds of cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, rainbow chard, basil, onions, big and beautiful green, yellow and red bell peppers, along with yellow watermelon. Cully Neighborhood Farm will have beets, carrots, tomatoes, eggplant, basil, Thai basil, hot peppers, sweet peppers, greens, cucumbers, and zucchini.

Little Gnome Farm will have a variety of heirloom veggies. DeMartini Family Farms will have green beans, corn, beets, Napa cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, kohlrabi, squash, all lettuces, radish, parsley, cilantro, potatoes, rhubarb, collards, green onions and white onions, artichokes and more!

Raymond Kuenzi Farms will have also have potatoes, eggs, walnuts, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, lemon cucumbers, and those adorable pattypan squash.

Winters Family Farm is selling tomatoes, hot and mild peppers, carrots, potatoes, corn (now bigger and cheaper!), onions, green beans, squash, and parsnips.

Mmmm….Bacon….

Did you hear? Have you tried it? Sweet Home Farms, our awesome meat vendor now has BACON! Plus delicious dried meats including smoked beef strips, all natural beef jerky, teriyaki beef sticks. And of course their usual lineup of ethical steaks, ground beef, leg of lamb, goat meat, and more. Sweet Home is dedicated to sustainable farming and humane animal husbandry. They raise grass-fed and finished beef and lamb, pasture-raised poultry and eggs, natural pork, and goat, using a holistic production model that includes intensive grazing practices to improve soil health and forage diversity.

And Fetzer’s German Sausage will have their spread of traditional old world German-style sausages.

And when you’re ready to move on to the yummy & sweet stuff…

Gabriel’s Bakery, will be there with cheddar bagels, whole wheat bagels, all kinds of sliced artisan bread and pastries, and even burger buns.

If you’ve been to the North Station food carts on North Greeley you may have experienced the little bowl (or cone, as it were) of heaven at Scoop Organic Ice Cream. The salted caramel? TO DIE FOR. There are also great vegan options, too!

Missionary Chocolates will bring all sorts of mouthwatering goodies: salted caramels, passionfruit lime, dark chocolate, raspberry, meyer lemon, ginger. Vegan, gluten free deliciousness!!

Loyal favorite, gluten-free baker Amaranth will be here as usual with her business, Ammie’s Goodies. She will have her gluten-free “hy-bread,” chocolate chip dunkers, and lots of other baked treats made with seasonal fruit and other top-quality ingredients.

Did you get a chance to buy some spiced peaches from Sage and Sea Drinking Vinegars yet? She’ll be here on Wednesday with her vinegars in wonderful flavors: ginger, raspberry, grapefruit, huckleberry, Rainer cherry, and cherry-lime. Yum!

And if you need to grab a quick dinner…

Thai Mama will have her fabulous Pad Thai, egg rolls, coconut chicken (a favorite!), mango juice, chicken skewers with peanut sauce over jasmine rice, wontons.

And, did you know that when you buy from some IFM vendors, you’re participating in revolutionary programs supporting very low-income members of our community, especially those who are women and people of color? Hacienda/Micro-Mercantes, is a microenterprise in which the women involved not only make tamales, but also serve as role models, and build self-confidence and solidarity with each other as they provide marketgoers with high quality ready to eat food and drink.

Bring home something pretty for the table from Herr’s Family Farm, fresh-cut flowers cut the same day they’re sold.

…or to ease your aching muscles…

Judith Moran, LMT, is offering chair massages at $1 per minute. Ahhh….

Lots of parking!

Don’t forget! You are welcome to use the KAISER PARKING LOT right next the market. And there’s also BIKE PARKING in front of the little Kaiser building next to the market facing the park. Of course, you can always take MAX, too. It’s easy to get here!

Thanks for your great support, and we’ll see you at the market! And don’t forget: Next Wednesday, Sept. 29th is the LAST market of the season!

Market Day ~ 2 more to go: Sept 22nd and Sept 29th

Thanks for another great day at the market folks!  We had a blast, even in the rain (hey, we’re Oregonians, right?)

Please join us next week for more great local food, live music, and more!

Market Day ~ Today!

Well, it looks like it’s going to be another true Oregon market day…get out your raincoat and meet us down at the market!
 
Our vendor lineup this week includes favorites such as:

Scoop Organic Ice Cream (…and vegan options like sorbet, YUM!)
Thai Mama (you know them, you love them, they are here for you.)
Fetzer’s German Sausage (locally made, top-quality products, and oh the portions…!)
 
And, did you know that when you buy from some IFM vendors, you’re participating in revolutionary programs supporting very low-income members of our community, especially those who are women and people of color?  Hacienda/Micro-Mercantes, is a microenterprise in which the women involved not only make tamales, but also serve as role models, and build self-confidence and solidarity with each other as they provide marketgoers with high quality ready to eat food and drink. 

If you’re ready to make your own, this is definitely a good week to stock up on apples, pears, plums, pluots, peaches.  A great variety is available at Kiyokawa Family Orchards and Baird Family Orchards.

Loyal favorite, gluten-free baker Amaranth will be here as usual with her business, Ammie’s Goodies.  She will have “hy-bread,” chocolate chip dunkers, and lots of other baked treats made with seasonal fruit and other top-quality ingredients.
 
One of our big produce vendors, Deep Roots is back after a week off for farm work, and they’ll have yellow watermelons, slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, basil, squash and more.  Cully Neighborhood Farm will have salad mix, chard, kale, beets, carrots, cabbage, scallions, tomatoes, peppers, baby eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, beans, basil, parsley, squash, and cukes.  Little Gnome Farm will have lots of different varieties of tomatoes, some cucumbers, chard, basil, collards, garlic, and DUCK EGGS!!

Raymond Kuenzi Farms will have also have eggs, as well as d’anjou pears, red bartlett pears, lemon cucumbers, walnuts, blackberries, pattypan squash, and zucchini that are Certified Organic by Oregon Tilth. 
 
Sweet Home Farms, our awesome meat vendor now has BACON!!  Plus delicious dried meats including smoked beef strips (seasoned with brown sugar, garlic and spices), all natural beef jerky (seasoned with pineapple juice, jalapenos and garlic), teriyaki beef sticks.  And of course their usual lineup of ethical steaks, ground beef, leg of lamb, goat meat, and more.
 
Gabriel’s Bakery, will be there with cheddar bagels, whole wheat bagels, all kinds of sliced artisan bread and pastries, and even burger buns.  Missionary Chocolates will indulge your sweet tooth with their decadent truffles including espresso, ginger, lemon, salted caramel, and raspberry.

Did you get a chance to buy some spiced peaches from Sage and Sea Drinking Vinegars yet?  Besides her well-loved drinking vinegars, Deb now has spiced peaches for $9/pint…put them in the cupboard and save them for a couple months and they’re sure to cheer you up when it’s not only rainy out, but cold too! 
Music this week will be courtesy of Rita Saverchenko, so come sit under the music tents, enjoy a bite to eat, and have a good time!

Don’t forget! You are welcome to use the KAISER PARKING LOT right next the market. And there’s also BIKE PARKING in front of the little Kaiser building next to the market facing the park. Of course, you can always take MAX, too. It’s easy to get here! 
 
 
Thanks for your great support, and we’ll see you at the market!

Market Day ~

Wow, what a great day at the market! 

We had music, grilling, fresh berries, corn, peppers, green zebra tomatoes (and lots of other hierlooms), squash, cukes, thai ice coffee, tamales, chocolate, and…

Join us next week for music from Rita Scaverchenko, more ripe peaches and nectarines, new flavors of Drinking Vinegars, lots of tomatoes, and Deep Roots Farm will return from their week off.

Email [email protected] or call 971-344-0115 to volunteer

We accept Food Stamps/Oregon Train/SNAP!  Just come to the Info Booth (near the music) and we will swipe your card and give you tokens to spend with the vendors. Most vendors accept WIC/Seniors checks…those vendors will have signs posted.  Spend your checks directly with those vendors.  Thanks for coming to IFM!!!

Market Day ~ Peppers, tomatoes, melons and more!

IFM supports our farmers RAIN OR SHINE…and so can you!  Come on out to show your farmers and small business owners that you appreciate and value them enough to go out in the Oregon weather.  They truly appreciate YOU!

You know what’s a good cure for the rainy day blues?  ICE CREAM!  Well, it’s a technique that’s always worked for me. Scoop Organic Ice Cream will cheer you up with cones and hand-packed pints if you want to save some for a sunny day.
 
If you’re into steaming hot things on a drizzly day, then head to Thai Mama for pad thai, grilled chicken skewers with peanut sauce over jasmine rice, curries, eggrolls, wontons, and more.  Or check out Fetzer’s German Sausage for their brand of comfort food.  They’ll have smoked bratwurst, spicy beer sausage, their very own farmers market mustard, kraut and delicious buns.
 
“But what kind of produce is in?”  you may be asking.  For growers more skilled than myself in this difficult weather, it’s pepper season, and whether you like them hot, mild, sweet, or pickled, you’ll find what you’re looking for at Winters Farm, Deep Root Farm, Little Gnome Farm, Raymond Kuenzi Farm, and DeMartini Farm.  Here are some of my favorite recipes for peppers of any grade on the Scoville heat scale.
 
Pickled Peppers (hot, sweet or mild)
Yield: 1 Quart
1 Pound peppers, rinsed seeded and sliced lengthwise
4 Cloves garlic, peeled
1 C. Vinegar (I like Apple Cider Vinegar, but White is ok too)
1 C. Water
2 Tbslp Salt (use pickling salt if you have it)
2 tsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Ground turmeric
1/2 tsp. Ground black pepper
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
Pack peppers and garlic cloves into a clean quart jar.  Put remaining ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.  Strain brine and pour into jar with peppers, and attach lid.  Keep these pickled peppers in the fridge, since they’re not shelf-stable.  Let them sit in the fridge for at least a week, and then eat them within a 9 months.  They’re good in tacos, salsa,  bloody marys, egg scrambles, chili, and …well whatever you want.
 
Roasted Red Pepper Coulis (See our Recipe page)
 
Stuffed Bell Peppers (see our Recipe Page) 
 
The Better Bean Company is still offering their new, lower prices so we can stock up on fresh refried beans for less!  Their products are an instant, healthy source of protein, and delicious either on their own or with ground beef in tacos, or anything you can think of.
 
Did you know that when you buy from some IFM vendors, you’re participating in revolutionary programs supporting very low-income members of our community, especially those who are women and people of color?  Hacienda/Micro-Mercantes, is a microenterprise in which the women involved not only make tamales, but also serve as role models, and build self-confidence and solidarity with eachother as they provide marketgoers with high quality ready to eat food and drink. 

If you feel like doing some baking to warm the house and, as my baking genius grandmother would say, “the cockles of your heart,” look to Kiyokawa Family Orchards for all your apple, pear and plum needs, and to Baird Family Orchards for peaches.  Did you see the peach canning demo last week at the market?  If not, swing by the info booth for instructions on putting up peaches for winter, and grab the low-sugar peach jam recipe too!  Seriously folks, these peaches are out of this world!  I really can’t quite describe now good they are.

If you’re not so much into doing the baking yourself, check out Ammie’s Goodies for some sustainably produced local baked goods.  I’m picking up dessert from there to serve at a dinner with friends on a gluten-free diet (and these tasties are vegan too!)  They don’t just use white rice flour like some GF bakers.  Instead they use top-quality, high-protein flours like almond flour and amaranth.  Support your local baker today!
 
Remember, any of the fruits or veggies on your grocery list this week can probably be found at the market — save the Freddy’s trip for TP and shampoo folks.  Cully Neighborhood Farm will have salad mix, chard, kale, beets, carrots, cabbage, scallions, tomatoes, peppers, baby eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, beans, basil, parsley, squash, and cukes.  Little Gnome Farm will have lots of different varieties of tomatoes, some cucumbers, chard, basil, collards, garlic, and DUCK EGGS!!

Speaking of eggs, none of our vendors have had products recalled!  Raymond Kuenzi Farms will have eggs, d’anjou pears, red bartlett pears, lemon cucumbers, walnuts, blackberries, pattypan squash, and zucchini that are Certified Organic by Oregon Tilth.  Besides eggs, Sweet Home Farms now has BACON!!  Plus delicious dried meats including smoked beef strips (seasoned with brown sugar, garlic and spices), all natural beef jerkey (seasoned with pineapple juice, jalapenos and garlic), teryaki beef sticks.  For scientific puropses, yours truly took on the burden of tasting them all, and I have to say, I give them all my coveted Meat Seal of Approval.
 
Gabriel’s Bakery, will be there with cheddar bagels, whole wheat bagles, all kinds of sliced artisan bread and pastries, and even burger buns.  Missionary Chocolates will indulge your sweet tooth with their decadent truffles including espresso, ginger, lemon, salted caramel, and raspberry.

Sage and Sea Drinking Vinegars will have popular flavors of ginger, raspberry, strawberry, huckleberry, lime, peach, AND spiced peaches too for $9/pint.
Music this week will be courtesy of Tia Jacobs, so come sit under the music tents, enjoy a bite to eat, and have a good time!

Don’t forget! You are welcome to use the KAISER PARKING LOT right next the market. And there’s also BIKE PARKING in front of the little Kaiser building next to the market facing the park. Of course, you can always take MAX, too. It’s easy to get here! 
 
 
Thanks for your great support, and we’ll see you at the market!

Market Day ~ Another great time was had by all

Thanks for coming out to the market again this week!  We’ve got 4 more Wednesdays of IFM this season, so it’s crunch time.  Speaking of crunch, come see us this Wednesday to get your picking cucumbers, plus lots of other crisp, crunchy treats like:

• red, yellow and green bell peppers
• 3 varieties of Hood River apples
• lemon cucumbers and slicing cucumbers
• BACON!  Ok, it’s a different kind of crunch, but SweetHome Farms now carries their delicious bacon.
• carrots
• celery
• ice cream (the cone part is crunchy!)
• fresh apricot crisp

…and more!

Plus music by Tia Jacobs!

See you Wednesday!