Tomato Tasting!!
Farmers baskets are overflowing with tomatoes….. it REALLY tastes like summer at the Market now! Even though you may have tomatoes planted in the garden (some that you bought from the vendors perhaps?), this Saturday you can taste ALL the amazing varieties at the Market and discover new ones that you love! A true Heirloom tomato is open-pollinated and introduced before 1940, however now you can find varieties that are crosses of the older types, creating new ‘heirlooms”. These tomatoes have thinner skin, often look ugly, appear in many different colors, including yellow,orange, green, pink, purple…even striped, but it’s the flavor that sets them apart from hybrids. We encourage you to taste them all, vote for your fave, find the farmer who grows them and to prepare meals with them this coming week. From the earthquake-ravaged area of Italy comes this simple sauce, prepare it with pancetta or plain bacon from Shy Ann Meats or Campfire Farms. This recipe calls for cherry tomatoes, but any sun-ripened delicious market tomato would do! http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/bucatini-allamatriciana-232097 Chef’s in Italy and other countries are adding it to their menus and collecting a small portion of the proceeds to send for earthquake relief. http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/europe/italy-quake-pasta-fundraiser/
Maggys Farms is back with Certified Naturally Grown Fall and Winter Veggie Starts..ask farmer Tim how you can pick greens in the cold weather!
Finally a not-too-hot Saturday is forecast and we have a beautiful market setting up! Returning are Diana’s Delights (jams, relishes, chutneys, lemon curd) Portlandia Granola, Cada Dia Cheese (raw-milk cheddar) and Souper Natural (soups and sauces…for real)! Back too is Wild Oregon Seafood with Chinook (Roe also available) Steelhead, Albacore Tuna and (Bacon of The Sea) Tuna belly…try grilling or smoking it for a treat! Maggy’s Farm is back now temps have moderated with a wide selection Winter veggie and herb plant starts….grab a bag of Sunshine Fertilizer (their last day at the Market!) to side dress the plants now and again in late February.
Chuck Scott did so many things in his life, but making the kids pancakes at the Market was one of his favorites!
Earlier this month Oregon City lost a great man, dedicated to community service, an ardent market-lover and a valued market volunteer. Some of you may have seen Chuck Scott as he patiently helped the POP kids make buttons for Fave Farmer Day and cooked pancakes for the kids each summer, when he and his wife, Elizabeth, would bring their stationary bike with a grain mill.
The kids would pedal like crazy, grinding their own wheat berries into flour and Chuck would make them all pancakes…non-stop for hours. As noted in his obituary, (Oregon City News 8/17) ‘ Two passions carried Chuck’s heart, giving back to the community and education. Contributions of community service in Chuck’s honor are a most fitting gift’. We will all miss you Chuck.