Vancouver Food Network

Vancouver Farmers Market is currently open on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. featuring local farmers and many other types of vendors. Vancouver Farmers Market runs for 33 weeks so has a longer market season than many in our area.

Since starting as Market Master five years ago, Robert Ray has been using a different approach from most markets regarding booth alignment and displays. It seems to have worked well for the vendors and the customers. Ray’s favorite thing about the market is being outside with the community and says they have the best customers. When asked where the market is going in the future, Ray said he would like to see a better connection with the downtown businesses with perhaps a lane of vendors through Eighth Street making the market a big “L” on Esther and Eighth Streets. He has been working with the City Manager with that idea in mind.

Ray said Vancouver Farmers Market is extremely friendly and clean with close-in parking, and has become a community center on the weekend. Everyone seems to go to the market. He said there is a lot of synergy with business the best it has been in 20 years, up 70 percent from two years ago. More vendors are participating both Saturdays and Sundays, perhaps a sign of the times. The Sunday crowd of customers has responded by increasing though Saturday is still currently much larger.

Vancouver Farmers Market is important to the local economy; the money cycles locally with every dollar spent generating three dollars. Ray said this market alone contributes $2.5 million to our local economy with what the customers and vendors spend at the market and what they spend on the way to and from the market.

A potential addition to the market is a Friday night market with hours anticipated to be 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., it will allow customers to stop and shop for the weekend on the way home from work. Ray is also working with the Downtown Business Association for it to start its own market on Wednesday afternoons.

Contact

Vancouver Farmers Market
505 West Eighth Street
Vancouver, WA 98660
(360) 737-8298

For Further Information

• www.VancouverFarmersMarket.com

Posted by Glenna at 03:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A charming little red and white storybook house used for shareholders to pick up their produce greets visitors who enter 6-Acre Farm in Camas. Owned and operated by Paula and Scott Korell, this is the second year for their CSA and the fourth year at this property though Paula has always had a garden. Providing shares to others seemed the way to go for them so they researched the idea and put together a business plan. Operating a CSA farm also gives a venue for their three children to participate in a very real way, making it truly a family-run business as the years pass. Some crops are grown in raised beds which are made primarily of lumber recycled from old barns. To help ensure pollination of the crops, they have two hives of honey bees to do that very important work.

Last year, they offered ten shares but decided to reduce offerings this second year to ensure the continued high quality. They are serving a total of 12 families with the seven and one-half shares this year with some families sharing a single share. More shares may be offered in future years but they are want to ensure "the balance stays good." Paula said, "Our contribution is to the health and well-being of our family and the community." Their food is grown naturally and offers the benefits not found in the grocery store in that it is fresh with the shareholder being able to visit the farm and see how their food is grown. Additionally, it is affordable to the average family.

The traditional foods found in most gardens are offered by 6 Acre Farm but with different varieties of those foods and some new items to add depth to the baskets. The 2009 season started the first of June and runs 16 weeks to the end of September. Eggs are also available for those who wish to purchase them.

Recipes and herbs included with shares help teach people to cook seasonally. Paula said that people's palates are numbed by the sugars and salts in our diet. Learning to cook seasonally and naturally can help reduce reliance on those unnatural additions common to our food and open an entire new eating and tasting experience while helping to improve health.

Paula stated the favorite part of being a CSA farmer is when the families come to get their produce. The children can play and run in the open space and visit the chickens as well as see how the food is grown. She laughs as she adds, "taking extra dirt with them."

Visitors are welcome, but please call for an appointment and driving directions.

Contact Information

6 Acre Farm, CSA
1036 S.E. 283rd Avenue
Camas, WA 98607
Paula and Scott Korell
(360) 834-7000
6acrefarm@comcast.net

For Further Information

• 6 Acre Farm at Local Harvest
• KATU Article and Video

Posted by Glenna at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recipe courtesy of Paula Korell of 6 Acre Farm

Ingredients

• 1/4 lb garlic scapes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 3 T. fresh lime juice

Directions

Puree in a food processor and toss with pasta/rice of choice or spread and toast on crusty bread.

Hmmm SO GOOD!!

Posted by Glenna at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For folks who cannot wait to get started on jams or shortcake, the Sunrise Rotary club of Vancouver is having its annual berry sale just now, with quantities of berries immediately available for souls who wish to get started on gluttony (or processing) straightaway. In addition to strawberries, raspberries and marionberries are also available this year. Fort Vancouver Lions are also taking orders for local strawberries through June 17, for delivery on June 20th.

Strong History of Berries in Southwest Washington

With its seeds on the outside of its fleshy hypanthium, the strawberry is a delightful food, and every local knows that the most flavorful berries are from nearby. Tender flesh and natural sweetness cannot be shipped hundreds of miles and survive.

Strawberries have long been a staple of Clark County agriculture, and residents over forty can often remember the early-morning busses that would collect schoolchildren and other works for the fields of Erickson and others, when Fruit Valley was an obvious name. The rich soils deposited by the Missoula Floods provided a moist medium to grow berries, which could then be processed into jams and other products for distribution throughout the year. Strawberry season, however, usually begins around the first of June, with commercial harvest before the "u-pick" season.

Although it doesn't match the pleasure of getting out with the family to pick berries directly, bulk sales by civic organizations such as the Lions and Rotary provide a quick and simple way for folks to jumpstart the eating season, while providing a slightly better profit margin for growers than conventional bulk sales to processors.

How Bulk Sales Work

Like other civic organizations, Sunrise Rotary of Vancouver takes advance orders for produce in quantity, then delivers it on a specific day at various "drop points," much as a CSA might. Berries come pre-cleaned and ready to use, with sizes this year from Rotary Club Sunrise as follows:

• Fifteen-pound bucket(s) of STRAWBERRIES at $30 per bucket
• "Convenience packs" of six three-pound buckets STRAWBERRIES for $38
• Thirty-pound bucket(s) of STRAWBERRIES for $44 per bucket

• Fifteen-pound buckets of MARIONBERRIES for $30
• Fifteen-pound buckets of RASPBERRIES for $45

Strawberries are normally available mid-June, with cane berries (raspberries and marionberries) in the first week or two of July. Fortunately for us, though, the berries get to decide when they are ready, with proceeds going to fund various community programs.

2009 Pickup Locations

• Fisher's Landing @ Beacock Music, 1420 SE 163rd Ave, 98683
• The Heights @ the corner of MacArthur and East Mill Plain, 98661
• Downtown @ Red Lion parking lot at The Quay, 100 Columbia St, 98660
• Orchards @ Minuteman Press, 10705 NE Fourth Plain Blvd, 98662
• Hazel Dell @ Alpine Auto Repair, 7631 NE Highway 99, 98665
• Portland @ Lloyd Center, Corner of NE 13th Avenue & Multnomah, 97232

For Further Information

Vancouver Sunrise Rotary

Post Office Box 1734
Vancouver WA 98668

http://VancouverSunriseRotary.org

Download a PDF order form online, telephone (360) 281-0053 or fax orders to (360) 750-4404.

Woodland-grown strawberries are also available from the Fort Vancouver Lions, (360) 281-6766

Posted by Rory Bowman at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)