Portland Farmers Market is proud to count Zusman as one of their stalwart volunteers. Zusman can honestly say he was there when it all began. He recounts his days in the early 90s as a regular shopper at the original Albers Mill location where, on a good day, 35 vendors would sell their wares. Then, as now, Zusman loved what the Portland Farmers Market stood for – local food and the promotion of local agriculture. “I love the idea of knowing the people who grow or make the food I eat,” he adds.

Zusman joined the Portland Farmers Market board in 1999 and served for 6 years. During his tenure, Zusman has shared not only his enthusiasm for the market, but offered his time and expertise for the Summer Loaf Festival – a yearly celebration of artisanal bread making in Portland. Now you will find him center stage at the Chef in the Market table at PSU each Saturday at 10am – introducing chefs who share their culinary trucs with shoppers. Asking questions, eliciting comments and pulling the quieter chefs out from under their toques, Zusman enjoys his latest role, calling it a “riot”. He is also behind the scenes during the year, booking chefs throughout the season for Eastbank, Ecotrust and the downtown PSU markets.

Zusman recognizes and rejoices in the fact – an unusual one he says – that Portland enjoys the close proximity of so much farmland. “You just can’t get fresher food,” Zusman points out. “And, you can get stuff at market you can’t get anywhere else, Hood Strawberries, blacktop mushrooms and artisan cheeses -- the list goes on.”

Zusman’s favorite time at the market happens to be Hood strawberry season – for him the harbinger of summer. No special preparation for this fruit, it speaks for itself. Just buy a pint and eat them, he says. Blackberry season is a close second for Zusman, who will buy flat after flat for weeks. He pours them into blackberry pies and freezes the remainder, so winter won’t be devoid of his favorite fruit-filled dessert.

Not being part of the Portland Farmers Market is hard for Zusman to fathom. It’s his celebration of local, his support of the local farmer and a place to buy fresh groceries for the week, and it has become what he refers to as “his palpable connection to the passage of the seasons.”