Our friends at the wonderful Zenger Farm are holding a springtime fundraiser in support of their educational programs. Between March 14 and 20, a slew of local restaurants and nurseries will donate some of their proceeds to Zenger. A few of these sound pretty good to us… So keep up the great work, guys!

Over the past two years, we’ve tried to keep you up-to-date on the Urban and Rural Reserves process for the Metro region, which will determine how rural lands are protected at the edges of our Urban Growth Boundary. As the final votes on Washington County Reserves quickly approach, we share this message from our partners at 1,000 Friends of Oregon, urging you to take action and let the Metro Council hear your voice.

This Thursday, the Metro Council will make its final decision on Rural and Urban Reserves for the Metro region, and it looks like it will be business as usual. Instead of embracing the opportunity to protect farm and forest land and natural resources for the next generation, it looks like a majority of the Metro Council may vote to make land available for sprawling urbanization for the next land development.

We need you there.

The Reserves process is supposed to protect the heart of the region’s farm land and significant natural resources for the next 40-50 years, while also providing some areas for urbanization over that same period.  Clackamas and Multnomah counties, and the cities in those counties, conducted a thorough analysis of their future urban needs and balanced them with the needs of food and fiber production and natural resources.  Both urban and rural reserves in those areas reflect that balance.

Washington County did not.  Urban reserves are slated for thousands of acres of the region’s – and indeed the nation’s – most valuable farm land, in the heart of the Tualatin Valley.  The proposed urban reserves in Washington County represent a noose of urbanization slowly tightening around the Tualatin Valley - north of Cornelius; north, west, and south of Hillsboro; and around North Plains. Washington County has taken a very short-sighted view of economic development – as though more land is all it takes.

A majority of the Metro Council stands poised to approve this.

Please email Metro Council and your County Commisioners (emails below) or attend the final Metro hearing and testify or to show support for local agricultural and natural resources.  We will have stickers for you to wear showing you care about local farms.  If you plan to attend the hearing, please contact 1000 Friends Field Organizer, Tara Sulzen, to let her know so she can keep an eye out for you or answer questions regarding testimony.

Those wishing to testify will have 1 minute to do so.  Let the Metro Council know that this is their “Senate Bill 100 moment.”  That’s the bill that established Oregon’s land use planning system – it’s why this is a place we all want to call home today. Will our children?

Date: Thursday, February 25
Time: 2:00 pm
Place: Metro Council, 600 NE Grand Ave, Portland, OR

Photo: Adelante Mujeres

This week, The Oregonian ran a short article about an exciting pilot program taking off in Forest Grove. The new program - which is run by the Hispanic women’s development group Adelante Mujeres -  provides and farm land and training to Latinos who’d like to practice organic agriculture. While Latinos make up an overwhelming majority of farm laborers statewide, very few own and operate their own farms. According to Alejandro Tecum, director of the agriculture project, “Many Latinos grew up in the fields and know a lot about farming. When they move here, they miss this contact with the earth. We see the people’s happiness when they come to farm, to be able to cultivate the land once again.” The group, which also runs the Forest Grove Farmer’s Market, hopes that the recent $300,000 federal grant they received will help new Latino farmers to learn alternatives to the conventional, chemical-intensive agriculture practiced on many farms.

This is a very inspiring project taking place right in our local counties, and a good reminder of the breadth of issues surrounding farm labor. While working conditions for Latino farmworkers have garnered more attention over the past year, very few people make the leap to consider what it takes to assist Latinos in starting their own economic enterprises and farms. But that’s not to say that the issue has been entirely overlooked in Oregon, either. The fledgling Adelante Mujeres project will find good company in a similar program run by Zenger Farm, The Immigrant/Refugee Farmer Training Program. With the support of the surrounding community, there’s hope that these programs will be just the first step towards sustainable, farm-based economic development for many new populations.

Make sure to read the full article on the farmer training program, and also check out this Oregonian article on Adelante Mujere’s farmer’s market cooking.

We’re a few days into 2010, and it’s time to start taking stock of just how exactly we’ll all hold true to our New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you swore to cook more foods from scratch. Maybe you resolved to raise a larger garden this year. Whatever new food promises you made, it’s always helpful to seek out some expert advice on the subject. Luckily, this is the perfect time of year to enroll in a workshop and learn how best to accomplish your Good, Clean, and Fair food goals. We recently mentioned a series of intensive Oregon Tilth Classes, but if those courses seemed a bit more “urban farmer” than “kitchen gardener,” you’ll be happy to hear that Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has tripled their already diverse workshop offerings for this year’s Urban Growth Bounty series.

Classes take you from seed to table (or egg and hive to table!) and cover subjects including fruit orcharding, urban beekeeping, gardening, cheesemaking, preserving the harvest, and how to make delicious meals from the foods you’ve raised. The series offers some incredible opportunities to learn from some knowledgeable Portland food figures, including cookbook author Ivy Manning, community-supported kitchen owner Tressa Yellig, backyard apiarist Glen Andresen (featured on last summer’s bike tour), and farmer (and Slow Food Portland committee member) Josh Volk.

To learn more and enroll in workshops, check out the class lineup here. Just don’t be surprised if your list of resolutions grows when you see all of the great subjects you could cover!

Kathy teaches transplants. Photo: Oregon Tilth.

You might be thinking that it’s too early to planning for next year’s harvest, but Oregon Tilth is already booking out their gardening classes for 2010! Each year, Oregon Tilth hosts a broad lineup of courses for beginning and advanced gardeners alike. Their workshops cover subjects including year-round gardening, intensive urban agriculture, container gardening, garden planning, and fruit tending. A (lengthy) list of their just-announced classes follows the jump. Take a look and get a head start on sowing your crops!

Read more

We don’t normally post employment opportunities, but this particular position is too important for us to let it slide under the radar. Oregon Department of Agriculture is hiring a Farm to School Coordinator, and the application deadline is coming up fast. As Slow Food joins other organizations in continuing to push for school lunch reform, the Farm to School Coordinator will be someone whom we all depend on to facilitate farm to school connections and enhance the use of local products in our cafeterias. If you are someone who is uniquely qualified for this challenge, or if you know someone who is, please take a look at the job posting here. The deadline for applying is this Friday, November 13th.

Photo shared under a Creative Commons license by cafemama

James McWilliams, food movement skeptic and author of the new book, Just Food: Where Locavores Get it Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly, recently took his argument to the New York Times, where he blogged about his feeling that local eating might be elitist. In the post, the crux of his argument comes down to a single statement: “Think about it,” he writes, “if there’s one thing you do not see at the farmers’ market, it’s socio-economic diversity.” It’s a tired argument that we’ve heard before, and one that is based on a narrow look at the issue.

Luckily, the excellent Sam Fromartz wrote on his blog and on Civil Eats in response to McWilliams’ claims. He responds:

“But try as I did to find the market-research to support that image, I could not. In fact, the largest and most authoritative study on that issue found that the median income of an organic shopper was right around the national median. The Hartman Group, which studies such things and sells their data in pricey reports to the food industry, has said that income is the least important factor in determining whether someone is an organic shopper or not.”

“Here’s another factlet: one of the largest factors in determining organic food purchases was availability. What looks like a white, upper-middle class trend might simply be a function of availability. Or to flip the notion on its head, do low-income people prefer buying fast food and chips from corner stores, or are those purchases disproportionate because of the lack of alternatives?”

Fromartz raises an important point, and one that is all the more valid because it stops to consider the broader systemic pressures and norms that establish access to healthy, local foods.

Just this week, the Oregonian reported that Multnomah County has convened a food initiative task force that draws together local food movement heavyweights including Ecotrust, Community Food Security Coalition, Growing Gardens, Oregon Food Bank, and New Seasons. Programs under the committee’s consideration would include expansion of the community garden programs, more school-based garden education, and local food labeling. And, according to County Sustainability Coordinator Kat West, “a key to the initiative would be driving development to ensure every neighborhood has access to a full-service grocery store and possibly the creation of the ‘healthy corner store,’ which stocks fresh food instead of junk food.”

This right here is the answer to McWilliams’ claim that local eating is elitist. Rather than throw up our hands and say there is nothing to be done, we need to examine the foundations of the system and implement ways of increasing access to local foods for every demographic. To take McWilliams’ argument is to accept that a locally-based system would gentrify neighborhoods and eliminate jobs from our current, over-reaching food system. But what about the many (more) jobs and businesses created by supporting a diversified, local economy? As Fromartz replies:

“Following McWilliams’ logic, a superstore would offer more cohesion. They have the lowest prices. Low-income people can afford it. Oh yeah, only one problem. You don’t need a lot of other businesses or even a Main Street when a superstore comes to town. You don’t even need a lot of farmers. Just a few big ones. So how would a superstore create community cohesion? By spinning it from a fantasy determined solely by price.”

As the county moves forward, this will not just be an issue of food, but one of community. Any county-based food plans will need to ask the important question: what do we want our neighborhoods to be like? Improved local food systems will not only create communities in which everyone has access to good food, but will also create communities in which people want to live and where they are connected to the other people who live and work in their region. This certainly won’t be accomplished by encouraging big box grocery chain development that feeds off of far-flung supply chains.

“Here at Slow Food we have delighted in watching Douglas Gayeton’s growing body of work documenting the slow lives of farmers and ordinary people. These photographs are rich and undeniably authentic, and could only have been made by someone with a deep sensitivity and understanding that goes beyond the boundaries of nations and languages, and represents the principles at heart of the Slow Food movement.” -Carlo Petrini, Slow Food International President

The third part of Slow Food Portland’s month of food and art takes place this Saturday with a special visit from artist and author Douglas Gayeton. While spending a year abroad in the small Tuscan town of Pistoia, Gayeton took to documenting the stories and lives of his adopted home. Blending thousands of photos together with hand-written anecdotes, digressions, recipes, and biographies, Gayeton’s work provides a seamless collage of Italian life at the beginning of the 21st century. His sepia-toned photo montages are richly textured and engrossingly detailed portraits of families, traditions, and everyday routine. Visitors to last year’s Slow Food Nation were treated to an exhibition of his full-scale photos, and now, with the release of Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town, people across the country will be able to delve into his work and stories.

Join Slow Food Portland this Saturday, October 10, as we welcome Gayeton to Portland with a prix-fixe dinner from Nostrana, inspired by his Italian travels. Gayeton’s photos will be on display in the restaurant, and he will be on-hand signing books and talking about his project. Nostrana will be open for normal dinner hours with their full menu, but make sure to try the special three-course menu, which includes a signed copy of Gayeton’s book. Come share a glass of wine, a comforting meal, and conversation about these stunning photographs.

Nostrana and Slow Food Portland present photographer and author Douglas Gayeton

Where:Nostrana, 1401 SE Morrison, Portland
When: 5:00-10:00pm Saturday, October 10
Prix Fixe Meal: $65 (including a copy of Gayeton’s book at 20% off)
Reservations: Contact Nostrana at (503) 234-2427. Reservations can be made for anytime between 5:00 and 10:00pm.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Slow Food

SLOW Menu ($65 includes a copy of Gayeton’s book. $25 without book. At least one Prix Fixe menu must include a copy of SLOW):
zuppa di peperoni gialli
sausages and grapes with sweet corn polenta
biscotti/cantucci with vin santo

Check out this short video below, in which Gayeton talks about the process behind his book.

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we hope that you’ll join us in the audience for the Portland premiere of Ingredients, a new film about our current food system, and how we can get back to its healthier, tastier roots. It’s a very Portland story that not only chronicles the nationwide issues affecting the way we eat, but also the Northwest solutions to those obstacles. While the film features such national food luminaries as Gary Paul Nabhan, Alice Waters, and Joan Dye Gussow, it also turns its lens on the many amazing Oregonian farmers and chefs who’ve made our state such a wonderful place to eat. Keep an eye out for appearances by chefs Cory Schreiber, Greg Higgins and Cathy Whims, and farmers Carol and Anthony Boutard, Shari Sirkin, Laura Masterson, and John Neumeister, among many other local food celebrities. Each night’s screening will benefit a different local food organization, which should give you one more reason to make sure you can attend.

INGREDIENTS
Bagdad Theatre, 3702 SE Hawthorne Ave (map)

Friday, September 25, 7 PM
Hosted by Multnomah County, to benefit the Multnomah Food Initiative

Saturday, September 26, 5 PM
Hosted by Burgerville, to benefit Meals on Two Wheels

Sunday, September 27, 7 PM
A benefit for Eat.Think.Grow, a sponsored project of the Portland Schools Foundation

Slow Food Portland continues its artistic exploration of food with WORD, a special exhibit/collaboration with the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center and the upcoming Wordstock literary convention. Wordstock is the largest gathering of writers and readers in the Pacific Northwest and this year the festival opens the book on food writing. To get you in the spirit for the October festivities, we’ve teamed up with IFCC to put your tastes in print, with a series of events that will lead up to a self published “cook-zine.”

Thursday, September 24
Recipe For a Gallery Opening:
WORD: A celebration of font & text
5:00-7:30 pm
Free

1 part art, 2 parts words and 3 parts food, mix well?. At the opening of WORD, the IFCC?s annual celebration of text and design, bring the preparation instructions for your favorite dish to the Slow Food Advice Booth and transform it into a “Good, Clean, and Fair Food Recipe.” All recipes will be submitted to the “IFCC food, art, and words cookbook zine.” Poetry and short stories about food are also welcome. Refreshments provided by Traeil’s Food for the Soul. Regular Gallery hours for the WORD exhibit are Tuesday-Friday 11-6:00 and Saturdays noon-4:00 through October 24.

Tuesday, October 6
IFCC and Slow Food Portland present
U-Pick: The IFCC food art and words cookbook zine
A recipe workshop, party, and performance
5:00-8:00pm Gallery and Workshop
8:00-8:30pm Performance
$8.

Now those Good, Clean, and Fair Food Recipes, in addition to any poetry and short stories about food that you want to include, will come together in a community-created and published book. Yes, that’s you! Learn how to lay out, edit, and print IFCC food art and words cookbook zine. The Slow Food Advice Booth will on hand again for any new recipe additions. Personalize your copy by creating a veggie stamp print cover in the IFCC’s kitchen print workspace. Drew Iwaniw of the Dirty Printmakers of America will be on hand with his etching/relief press, so bring your own t-shirt to print with a snazzy design. Enjoy a food-friendly performance by the hilarious gals of Eastland Academy.

All events take place at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC), 5340 N Interstate Ave. Tickets available at 503-205-0715 or at ifccarts.org.

For more information, visit the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center or Wordstock.