Interview by PFM Board of Directors alumni, Mike Zusman

PFM: Marven, tell us who are the people behind Winters Farms and what do you do?

MW: Winters Farms is a family operation. There is my dad, Howard Winters, my brother, Chris, and me. We sell at farmers markets, wholesale houses and grocery stores throughout the Portland metro area.

PFM: Where is the farm located? How big is it?

MW: We are located outside Troutdale, between Troutdale and Corbett actually, at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge. We farm about 150 acres total.

PFM: What do you grow? Or perhaps I should just ask what are your major crops?

MW: There are too many crops grown to count all of them! Before we started selling at farmers markets, we stuck mostly to staples such as potatoes, cabbage and corn. These are still our biggest crops, along with beans. Our cabbage has been shipped to New York City, Kansas City, California, Washington and Texas in the United States, and to far away places such as Russia. A long, long time ago my dad primarily ran cattle. That was until the late 1940's. Then he got out of livestock and into produce.

PFM: How long has your family been farming?

MW: My dad started working for other farmers in the area in the 1920's. Then, during the ‘30's he started working for another grower who also had a trucking business. Dad's employer made him a partner in the farm/trucking company a few years later. Eventually, in the 40's, Dad kept farming on what became our family land, while his partner kept the truck company. Maybe we were ahead of our time, but before “sustainability” was ever a big deal, twice we were named East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District Outstanding Co-operator of the year. This was for just what we have always done - nothing outside our normal conservation routine.

PFM: What do you most like about being a farmer? What do you like the least?

MW: The best part is no commuting every day! What is hard are all the new regulations that we need to follow. It seems like no matter how "clean" an operation you run, someone will always come up with something they think that needs to be improved on. Another thing is that even as all our expenses continue to rise, the wholesale buyers try to pay us less rather than pass along the extra costs. So we get squeezed, and that is hard.

PFM: Have you ever thought about doing something else besides farming?

MW: Maybe computers. I was interested in them coming out of high school, but I didn't follow up on it. It would also be nice to go fishing once in a while!

PFM: What piece of advice would you give a young person from the city who might be thinking of becoming a farmer?

MW: If you want to work only 40 hours a week - don’t do it; get a desk job. If you are sure you wouldn’t mind having to work 60 to possibly more than 80 hours per week, and you have the finances, then go ahead. Just to put in perspective, on a recent summer Monday, we got the irrigation pipe laid out and the pump running before noon. We put out enough pipe so we can keep it going 24 hours with about 45 sprinklers going at a time. I had to move the set-up at around 8:30 Monday night. Then a few other things came up, and the next thing I knew it was time to change the water again at about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. I finally got to bed at 1:30 a.m. Then, I was up to change the watering set-up again about 4:30 a.m., which took roughly 45 minutes. I laid back down until a little before 7:00 a.m. when I got up for the day. Tuesday it was more watering and a lot of other work during the day and into the night. You get the picture.

The Portland Clinic first opened its doors in 1921 on the idea of integrating multiple medical specialties under one roof in order to create an environment that fulfills a person’s every healthcare need. Just like the Market, The Portland Clinic has expanded to include four locations, including downtown, providing products and services that contribute to the health of Portland’s residents and communities.

With the strong connection between good food and good health, The Portland Clinic was a natural fit to sponsor the Saturday Market’s “Taste the Place” booth. Taste the Place is a celebration of what the Market likes to call “under-appreciated,” yet tasty and healthy, vegetables. Since this year’s opening, The Portland Clinic and the Market have worked together to provide market goers with a produce education combining a product’s usage, storage, and nutrition information. Recipe cards handed out at Taste include nutrition information provided by dietitians at The Portland Clinic demonstrating that every fruit and vegetable has a nutritional component beneficial to combating illnesses and improving overall health.

Celebrating its 85th Anniversary, The Portland Clinic is proud to sponsor Taste the Place as the organization continues to strive to contribute to the health of Portland families. Starting in May, The Portland Clinic has held monthly health events at the Market, adjacent to Taste, to provide information and answer questions on important health topics and provide services such as free skin cancer screenings and blood pressure checks. Be sure to stop by the Market for The Portland Clinic’s great upcoming events: 9/30 - 85th Anniversary Celebration, 10/7 - Breast Cancer Awareness, 11/4 - Diabetes Prevention and Management, and 12/9 - Staying Fit Over the Holidays. For more information on The Portland Clinic, please visit www.theportlandclinic.com.

The average piece of produce sitting atop the average American’s dinner plate travels 1,500 miles from field to table. In an attempt to close that gap, the Portland based conservation organization Ecotrust is challenging Northwest residents to commit to eating local and seasonal foods during the months of August and September, a time when locally grown foods are readily available and at their peak.

The impetus behind the 2006 Eat Local Challenge is to increase awareness of where food comes from and to get people to think about the environmental, health, economic and aesthetic costs of buying and consuming food grown many miles away from our community.

“Draw a 100-mile-radius around Portland and let’s call that your local “foodshed,” recommends Deborah Kane, vice president of Ecotrust Food and Farms program. “Within that circle, try to purchase all your foodstuffs for one day, a week or a month; involve your family and friends and track your progress. That’s the essence of the downright delicious Eat Local Challenge.”

Take part in the challenge by committing to the following for one week:

• Spend 10% of your grocery budget on local food – food grown within a 100-mile radius of Portland.

• Try one new fruit or vegetable each day.

• Preserve seasonal foods to enjoy later in the year.

You can head to the project’s dedicated website, www.eatlocal.net, for sustenance during the week-long challenge. Here you can find bite-sized pieces of information on how to best stick to an eat local routine, including farmers markets schedules, u-pick farms, stores that specialize in local products, food preservation classes and information and more. To track your progress, you can use the Eat Local Challenge Scorecard posted on the program’s website.

Additionally, you can read up on the convincing benefits of eat local, which include keeping dollars within the community, decreasing the use of fossil fuels in transport and how the direct support of a nearby farmer keeps Northwest farmland alive and thriving.

Finally, send in your completed scorecard or submit your personal account of your experience about eating locally. You will be entered in a raffle for subscriptions to Edible Portland, a bi-monthly, community-based publication that promotes the abundance of locally grown food and artisan producers and chefs dedicated to using fresh and seasonal foods.

The Eat Local Challenge was originally introduced in 2005 by Ecotrust’s Food and Farms program, Portland Farmers Market, Sauvie Island Organic Farm, Celilo Group Media, People’s Farmers Market and Plate and Pitchfork with support from Burgerville and Shorebank Pacific. This year’s version has been modified by Ecotrust Food and Farms program. Enjoy the challenge!