There are only 4 weeks to go for the Beaverton and Milwaukie Farmer's Markets, which are the markets that Pacific Pie Company participates in as a vendor.  I am a little bit sad because we get so much of our weekly produce at these markets!  But of course we are so lucky to have access to such amazing markets for 6 months of every year.  There are SO many reasons to shop at a farmer's market...here are my top 5.

1.  Real Food

The fruits and veggies found at Farmer's Markets are truly fresh.  In most cases they will have been picked or harvested the day before, or even the morning of, the market.  No sitting in cold storage or on the back of some truck - this is fresh food, in season, picked at its peak.  Likewise for the meats, eggs, and cheese you can buy at a Farmer's Market - I just love knowing Mike my beef farmer, getting cheese from Rogue Creamery, and beautiful pastured eggs from Champoeg Farm.  I don't have to worry about recalls when I know exactly where my food comes from!

2.  Support Small Farms

Family farms are becoming an endangered species in the U.S. as big agri-businesses take over so much of our food system.  It is hard for the small guys (and gals!) to compete!  Buying directly from farmers gives them a fighting chance, and a better return for their produce.  Small scale farmers work super hard, and are such a vital part of our local economy and community.  I feel so much better about giving my hard-earned dollars directly to a farmer than to some faceless multinational corporation.

3.  Food Miles

Food in the US travels an average of 1500 miles to get to your kitchen.  This of courses uses an enormous amount of resources, contributes to pollution and global warming, and is also just plain crazy.  When you buy produce and othert artisan food products at your local Farmer's Market, they have most likely traveled a pretty short distance.  More flavor for you, less crap into the fragile environment.

4.  Nutrition

I find shopping at most grocery stores pretty depressing, as the vast majority of the products are highly processed and packaged.  Most of it contains artifical ingredients, antibiotics, hormones, and may even be genetically modified.  Go to a Farmer's Market, on the other hand, and you will find minimally processed foods that are nourishing for body and soul.  When you shop at a Farmer's Market you also naturally eat what's in season.  For months now our fridge has been overflowing with beets, carrots, chard, kale, tomatoes, corn - and then our counters are heaped with local onions, potatoes, squash, and garlic.  So our meals are packed full of vegetables, which is of course healthy but also delicious. 

5.  Discovery

Until I started buying produce from the fabulous Sweet Leaf Farms at the Milwaukie Farmer's Market, I had never heard of bietola - a kind of cross between chard and spinach.  Now I am hooked, and we use it almost weekly in stir frys, pastas, soups, fritatas, and anything else I can sneak it into.  There are so many wonderfully weird products and produce to be found at Farmer's Markets, and vendors who are all too happy to tell you how to use them! 

So go grab that market basket and get to your local market! 

With thanks to the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, one of the absolute best markets in the country, where I originally picked up the great handout 'Ten Reasons to Shop at a Farmer's Market.'

As I am sure you have heard before, every time you make a purchase you are voting for the kind of world you want to live in.  This is so true and important when it comes to food.  Having access to fresh, local, seasonal, sustainably harvested vegetables, meats, and artisan products is one of the true joys of living in the Pacific Northwest.  But the only way we can maintain this local food economy is to continually nurture and support it.

The Oregon Environmental Council has just launched the Vote with Your Fork! campaign to educate folks about how to support and sustain the local food system.  You can take their pledge to make at least one change in your eating habits - if everyone in Oregon did this, we would see some major positive impacts on local economies and ecosystems. 

Here are just a few of their ideas about how you can vote with your fork:

Host a local foods potluck.  With the farmer's markets bursting at the seams with the most dazzling array of seasonal produce, it is a great time to invite your friends and neighbors to share the bounty of summer.

Compost your food scraps.  Even if you don't have a yard to establish a composting system, there are great under the sink or counter top composting options, such as Bokashi.     

Support a local farmer.  Buying directly from farmers, either at the farmer's markets or at a farm stand means that your entire food dollar goes to the hard working farmer and stays in the local economy.

To do my part, I am about to go cook dinner with fish we picked up at the farmer's market yesterday, greens from our friends at Sweet Leaf Farm in Eugene, and shallots and tomatoes from the good folks at Deep Roots Farm in Corvallis.  And I think I will mix up some vodka tonics with vodka from New Deal Distillery, which happens to be right up the road from where we live.  Eating local is sweet! 

One of the reasons Chris and I decided to move to Portland is the amazing food culture.  There is such an abundance of local food and even some of the supermarkets are down with the regional and organic movement.  Portland also happens to be an amazing drinking town - from Portland Roasting coffee, which we savor every morning, to lovely Columbia Gorge Pinot Noirs to the incredible selection of microbrews.   

So when it came time to choose beer for our pie recipes, we undertook a highly scientific study of the local breweries.  Meaning we had a reason to go to happy hour all over town and write it off as a business expense!

Recently we sat down for a few (uh, like 10?) pints with Chad Kennedy, Head Brewer for Laurelwood Brewing Co.  Chad's wacky sense of humor and Laurelwood's commitment to local and organic produce won us over, so we will now be featuring Laurelwood Space Stout in our super-popular Beef & Stout Pie.  The rich coffee and chocolate notes in the Space Stout really make for a delicious pie.  We are also working on some other beer inspired recipes so stay tuned!

Oh. My. Gosh.  I had always heard that Oregon berries are pretty wonderful, but I had no idea how amazingly delicious they would be!  We are in the midst of strawberry season, and Chris and I can't get enough of them.  One of the fun things about being a vendor at the Farmer's Markets is trading with other vendors, and swapping pies for berries seems like a good deal to us!  We have been sampling the strawberries from our friends at Deep Roots Farm, Sungold Farm, and Heavenly Harvest, and they are all fantastic. 

Last weekend we came home with half a flat of strawberries (which were traded for a Cheese & Veg pastie and a Beef & Stout pie!), and we have been eating them with yogurt, whizzed up into smoothies, with vanilla ice cream and Two Brothers chocolate sauce, and just by the handful every time we pass through the kitchen. 

I also baked this Strawberry Streusel Cake, which is a recipe from my favorite food writer, Nigella Lawson.  This cake might not win any beauty contests, but it is another sweet way to savor strawberry season!  I used lucsious Seascape strawberries from our mates at Heavenly Harvest farm.

 Strawberry Streusel Cake

3/4 cup sugar

2 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 sticks of chilled butter, cut into small cubes

1 cup sour cream

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 tbl brown sugar

For puree:

2 tsp cornflour

2 tsp vanilla

2 punnets of strawberries, hulled

3 tablespoons strawberry jam (optional)

To make puree, make a paste of cornflour and vanilla, and add to blender with the berries and jam.  Puree until smooth.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

Combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Using tips of your fingers, rub in butter cubes until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Remove 1/2 cup and set aside, and then mix in sour cream, egg, and vanilla to the main bowl.  Mix well.

Use a fork to combine the reserved mixture with the brown sugar.  Sprinkle evenly across the top of the cake, then bake for 45-50 minutes or until lightly golden.  Cool, and then serve as is, or with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of creme fraiche.    

Eating seasonally is a good thing to do for many reasons. Eating fruits and vegetables at the peak of their season means they will taste way better than the pale-fleshed hothouse tomatoes languishing in the produce aisle in the dead of winter. When you purchase local, seasonal food, you are also directly supporting small farms rather than ginormous food companies that ship food all over the world. Taking advantage of whats in season is also a fun cooking challenge, inspiring you to try new recipes and methods of cooking. I remember one summer in Australia when we had grown WAY too many beets in our garden. For weeks we are tons of beet and goat cheese salads - and don't get me wrong, they were delicious. But pretty soon I was making gorgeous beet dips, sneaking beets into lasagnas, and I even made a chocolate-beet cake that was really yummy. So go to a farmer's market and get inspired by what's in season in your area.

Here are a couple of good seasonal eating resources:

Seasonal Cornucopia

Sustainable Table