Video Tour of the Pioneer Square Market

If you missed today's fantastic market opening at Pioneer Courthouse Square, have no fear. Take a stroll through the market through the magic of digital video! (I'm working on getting the smells of Tastebud Bagels and fresh strawberries to come through your screen, but progress on the smell-o-vision is rather slow.)



Though the sun taunted the early-risers this morning, prompting a flurry of PDX sun-break tweets in the Twitterverse, the official first day of summer was ultimately yet another chilly gray example of Portland's trademark Junuary. You couldn't tell the sun's been shy by looking at the array of produce that filled the Square, however. Zucchinis, tomatoes, cherries, blueberries, and basil were flaunting their colors and aromas, putting on quite the show. Maybe if we all take a hint from the fruits and vegetables by dressing in our brightest clothes the sun will hang around a bit more. It's worth a shot!

I want to hear from you! What did you buy today? Any great bargains or early season surprises? I was so excited to see blueberries at The Berry Patch, and had a very hard time refraining from eating them all on the walk home. Share your own stories in the comments!

(Photos and video by Me, music by Sam Cooper)

Market Monday: Grand Opening of PFM at Pioneer

Today marks the first day of the Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmers’ Market, which will fill “Portland’s Living Room” with fresh fruits, vegetables, and artisan foods every Monday from 10 am to 2 pm throughout the season. If you work downtown, skip the food carts and come over for Monday lunch, or pick up some carrots and bread for dinner on your coffee break. Even though I'll likely stick to Wednesday's Shemanski market for my primary PFM outpost, I'm so excited that the market staff was willing to give up one of their only "days off" to start up yet another star of a market. Where would we be without those superstars? I don't even want to think about it.

This addition to the Portland Farmers’ Market line-up means that Portlanders can shop for local, fresh, and organic foods five days a week at six different locations throughout the city, from Southeast off of 20th and Hawthorne, to NW 23rd, to NE at King Elementary (for a list of all locations, times, vendors, and more, check out the PFM website). That means that wherever you live in Portland, you have easy access to the best food in the Northwest. Every quadrant has an opportunity to experience the “best of the country in the heart of the city.”

Pioneer Square Market Dates: June 21 through October 25

Times: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Location: The Monday Market at Pioneer Courthouse Square is located between SW Broadway & SW 6th and SW Morrison & SW Yamhill.

Check out these photos from this morning's opening, and look for a full market tour video later today (...ok, well, probably tomorrow. What am I, a professional blogger or something?)

Kids Cooking Classes at the Portland Farmers' Market

Last weekend, in the middle of the Portland farmers' market at PSU, a cheerful group of youngsters enjoyed a personal, hands-on cooking class from James Beard award-winning chef, author, and local food systems expert Cory Schreiber. Strawberries were cut, cream was whipped, caramel and chocolate sauces were in abundance, and crepes were successfully flipped! Well, most of them were...

It was all part of the Portland Farmers' Market's ongoing Kids Cook program, where kids learn about the seasonality of food, meet local farmers and chefs, and gain first-hand experience preparing ingredients purchased fresh at the market. Classes include a guided market tour, hands-on instruction and recipes to take home so students can share what they learn with family and friends. What better way to teach kids the benefits of fresh, local food than by giving them a chance to cook (and eat) it themselves?

Sign up today for a chance to see your kids truly excited about new cooking skills and our local food system. For cost, class descriptions, and registration information, download the Registration Form. Advance registration is required, so grab a spot before they're gone.

Check out the fun that awaits your kids every Saturday!

Season Schedule and Class Topics:

June 26
Smashed-Fruit Yogurt Parfait

July 10
Grated Carrot Salad with Peaches, Dried Cherries & Basil

July 24
Summer Vegetable Sushi

August 7
Stone Fruit Gazpacho

August 21
Super Summer Salsas

Lynne's Farmers' Market Tips

Hi guys! Here are some tips for shopping at farmers' markets from one of my idols, Lynne Rossetto Kasper of the Splendid Table:

The biggest challenge here is always how not to overbuy. Of course, the whole idea of shopping at your local farmers' market is to build what you'll eat for the week around what's in season and looks good. This turns the idea of having a list and sticking to it into not such a good thing. So hold back wherever possible.

Keeping Everything Fresh
• Keep an inexpensive cooler in the car, complete with bags of ice cubes or those frozen blocks.
• Have a big bucket half filled with water in the car to keep flowers fresh.
• Bring your own tote bags to the market. Recycle individual plastic bags by bringing them with you and asking dealers to use them instead of theirs.

Enjoying the Market
• Don't buy until you've walked the entire market to see what's there. This is the time to stroll leisurely, enjoy the light, the sights, and seeing friends. Talk to the farmers. Find out who they are and what exactly they grow. Build relationships; everyone benefits from them.

• Look for organic growers and support them if at all possible. Their work helps the environment, besides often giving us safer and better-tasting food. If you're curious about what it takes to raise organic foods, these are the people who are usually delighted to answer your questions.

• Try new foods. Every week buy one thing you've never had before. Ask the farmer the best way to enjoy it. This way you may find you love the burgers from the dairy woman, or the fresh kohlrabi in mustardy dressing.

Finding the Best
• Taste. Always ask for a taste and offer to pay for it. Buying one tomato may save you from putting up a bushel of tasteless ones. Don't assume that because the food is fresh and local, it's going to be wonderful.

• Know when it was picked. With foods such as corn and peas that can lose their appealing sugars quickly, always ask when they were picked and always taste them raw before purchasing. Store in the refrigerator.

• Look. Know that often the prettiest peach or apple may not be the tastiest, but if anything is bruised, wilted, or tired-looking, don't buy it.

• With peaches and apricots, once the area around the stem is no longer green, the fruit is ready for picking. A few days at room temperature will soften them slightly and bring them to good flavor. The darker the yellow portion of a peach, usually the sweeter it is.

• Size isn't everything. Often the smaller ear of corn, zucchini, or green bean is sweeter. Remember, pickling cucumbers can be delicious eaten raw. They often have a distinctive, especially appealing character.

• Compare prices. The best buy might be down the next row.

Once You Get Home
• Store everything green in plastic bags in the refrigerator.
• Always keep tomatoes, garlic, onions, peaches, nectarines, and apricots at room temperature.
• If you have completely lost your head and bought far more than you need, get on the phone with friends and invite them to a cook-it-yourself farmers' market party. Have everyone bring an apron and a knife, and make it an evening of cooking together. Just keep the dishes simple - with the gorgeous flavors of just-harvested foods, you don't need to do much. Make sure to have some good bread, iced tea, and maybe wine. These are usually the best parties.

Market Photos: Wednesday PFM at Shemanski Park

Full disclosure: the Wednesday installment of the Portland Farmers Market at Shemanski Park is less than a block from my apartment. Nine flights of stairs and half of a Park Block are all that separate me from fresh Pearl Bakery baguettes, Gathering Together greens, Willamette Valley Havarti and Springwater Farms shrooms. I'm so spoiled.



It was POURING on Wednesday morning, so I put on a sweater and a hat (a full blown winter hat, on June 2nd... come on Portland, seriously?) and skipped up to the smiling and/or tired faces of the market staff and farmers. I picked up some garlic scapes, crazy delicious strawberries, breakfast radishes (which I'm enjoying right not on the aforementioned baguette with butter, salt, and pepper), new potatoes, and my first market tomato of the season. Then I suffered the long and tortuous trek back to my apartment, cradling that yellow tomato like a baby chicken, shielding it from the rough and tumble world of my market basket to keep it from bruising.

Less than five minutes later, I'm back in my kitchen, slicing her up for the first taste of Portland "summer", glancing out my window at the rainslick streets of downtown. You can't beat that first bite of a good tomato, especially when it was picked hours before by the smiling from man who sold it.

It's a rough life, this Portland living.

Ultimate NW Farmers' Market Map

Check out this great map from Good Stuff NW, compiling all of the farmers markets in the Portland Metro area. You rock, PDX.


View Portland Farmers' Markets in a larger map