Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgivings

Last weekend, PFM staff headed to the coast for what inevitably became an eating retreat, dotted with some team-building, farm education and walks on the eerily beautiful beach.  We ate heaping platters of barbeque at The Ribcage–a restaurant owned by market vendors Chenin and Sean Carlton of TWIST Wine. Tom and Patreece DeNoble graciously spent the day leading a tour of their gorgeous, lush coastal farm, where we ogled rows of purple artichokes, feathery fennel, larger-than-life parsnips, multi-colored carrots and what may have been the World’s Most Beautiful Compost Pile.  We capped the day feasting on dishes of roasted white, purple, orange and green cauliflower that came fresh from their fields.

Beautiful, right?

We also cooked up a market-sourced meal of epic proportions: farmstead cheeses from Ancient Heritage and Goldin Artisan, Pono Farm pork shoulder braised in cider and onions, pork loin crusted in apples, shallots and Springwater Farm matsutake mushrooms, grilled local oysters slathered in garlic butter, a salad of (more) roasted DeNoble’s Farm cauliflower and Persephone Farm treviso radicchio, planked smoked-salmon-draped wild salmon (yes, salmon on salmon action) and packets of roasted La Terra Vita potatoes with shiitakes, garlic and herbs.  Clearly, we love food.  And knowing where our food comes from just makes it taste that much better.  Thank you to all our vendors that made this feast possible.

If you want to ramp up to Thanksgiving with your own epic market meal this weekend, the Saturday PSU Market is where you want to be.  The aisles will be bursting with autumn goodness like winter squash, wild mushrooms, hazelnuts, chicories, apples, pears, brassicas, greens, leeks, chestnuts, cranberries, plus these new items you will want to try–though probably not together:

• Pickled Fish from Linda Brand Crab – Scandinavian style wild troll caught Chinook Salmon or Black Cod, cured in salt and brined in vinegar, sugar, onions and pickling spices.
• Chocolates from Pearl Bakery – their new line of artisan chocolates feature hand-crafted, small-batch bonbons made from sustainably-sourced chocolate in flavors like cinnamon and pink peppercorn, orange chile and milk chocolate hazelnut.
• Egg Nog from Lady Lane Farm – farm fresh egg nog.  ‘Nuf said.

Gathered around the table last weekend at the retreat, we were all struck with profound gratitude for the incredible food our hardworking vendors bring to market each week.  We know how lucky we are to have such agricultural bounty at our fingertips and we want everyone to be able to enjoy it.  Our companion nonprofit, Farmers Market Fund, was created to help make fresh local food available to all, especially those in underserved communities.  This year Farmers Market Fund is featured in Willamette Week’s Give!Guide alongside over 100 other give-worthy local nonprofits.  Check out our Give!Guide listing (find us in the Health & Wellness section), watch our video, and help us spread the word!