Meet a Pedal-Powered Food Peddler

Paige Common of Eatin’ Alive, one of the many new vendors to peddle their wares this year, took a slightly indirect path to get where she is today. She lived abroad working in WWOOF programs (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). Then she pursued a degree in naturopathic medicine, but became a yoga instructor instead. [...]

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The Amazing Disappearing Radishes

On a fine April day at the market last year, I stopped in my tracks. All that had been left of an earlier mountain of radishes was some leafy shrapnel and a sign indicating what you could have had, had you been quick enough. It was like vegetal strip mining. I thought the radish was [...]

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A Year of Eating Locally

A year ago in April, Friend of the Market Jane Pellicciotto began to wonder where her food dollars were going.  As a frequent shopper of farmers’ markets, Jane believed in the benefits of purchasing local, seasonal food directly from the hands who had grown or produced it, so she made a decision: she was going [...]

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Preserving the Harvest

Spring is here. I know it, as my rhubarb told me so. The first stalks sprouting up from my garden shouting ”sunny days are ahead” sounded the alarm that it is time for me to begin planning my food preservation strategies for the year ahead. So I get to work, making my first batch of [...]

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Pievana: Market Life is Delicious

Move over, cupcake- there’s a new pie in town. Not just one pie either, many pies. Sweet ones, savory ones, and tiny little pie tarts that fit right in the palm of your hand. Get ready for a lattice-crust-covered take over. This year, some of the newest additions to the Portland Farmers Market line up [...]

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Parsley & Caper Saves Time

My brother and I not only look a great deal alike, we share some of the same interests namely food, reading and writing. The similarities end there: I like prose – particularly narrative non-fiction and big hearty meals. Carl focuses his energy on poetry and one could argue his cooking takes on poetic edge of nuanced flavors [...]

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Spring Lamb

Every season has its food. Summer has hotdogs and burgers, fall brings squash and turkey, winter is the season of roasts, and to many, spring is synonymous with lamb. Food writer Mark Bittman in an article in the Kitchen Daily web site, noted that of all the domesticated animals raised in the US (cattle, pigs [...]

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Sun Gold Farm Springs to Life

Spring is the season of growth and renewal, a cycle that is even more apparent out in the fields.  Vicki Hertel of Sun Gold Farm shares a vivid account of life on the farm below: An amazing transformation takes place on Sun Gold Farm this time of the year.  Just three weeks ago the cover [...]

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Seasonal Recipe: Pea Shoots and Asparagus Salad

Pea Shoots & Asparagus Salad Recipe by Chef David McIntyre, International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Portland Pea shoots are the young, tender leaves and tendrils of pea plants. If you can find fava shoots, a beautiful early spring crop often harvested from over-wintered favas, they would be equally delicious here. Pair with [...]

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Fiddleheads, Truffles, Nettles…Oh My!

Wild edibles have a mysterious charm. If we were lost in the wilderness we could take comfort in knowing food was available…if only we knew what to look for! Eat wild foods and you connect to the earth, releasing yourself from the clutches of the cultivated hand of man…at least for a meal or two. [...]

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