Who’s your
FARMER INSIDE
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Gorge Grown Food Network
aims to build a resilient & inclusive
food system that improves the health
and well-being of our community
Support what we do at our annual
A four-course, locally-sourced meal by chef Ben Stenn
of Celilo Restaurant with local wine pairings, live music, Silent Auction & stunning views
Tickets on sale now! (541) 490.6420 www.gorgegrown.com
Communications@gorgegrown.com
Sponsored by Celilo Restaurant & Bar, Mt. View Orchards & Print It Sign Media 2
SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
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EDITOR Janet Cook jcook@thegorgemagazine.com
PUBLISHER Chelsea Marr cmarr@hoodrivernews.com
ADVERTISING MANAGER Jody Thompson jthompson@hoodrivernews.com
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Suzette Gehring • Diego Serrano Megan Irish
DESIGN Lisa Becharas lbecharas@columbiagorgepress.com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS Paloma Ayala, Kathy Watson, Kacie McMackin, Sarah Sullivan, Suzi Conklin Ben Mitchell, Kirby Neumann-Rea
CONTACT US Hood River News 419 State Street PO Box 390 Hood River, Oregon 97031 541-386-1234 www.hoodrivernews.com Savor the Gorge is published twice a year in June and September by Hood River News. No part of this publication may be used without written permission by the publisher. ©2016. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings, and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our sincere apologies and notify us.
Thank you to Gorge Grown Food Network for contributing to and supporting this publication.
LOCATIONS Pick up your FREE Savor The Gorge publication Hood River News, 419 State Street Hood River, Oregon 97031 The Dalles Chronicle, 315 Federal Street The Dalles, Oregon 97058
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Hood River Farmers Market Photos by Paloma Ayala.
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CONTENTS 5
EDITOR’S NOTE
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FRESH BITES
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A LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM
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AZURE STANDARD
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FRESH START RECIPES
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COOKING WITH KIDS
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WHO’S YOUR FARMER
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THE MOSIER RUBE
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Q&A: TAMARA HUFFMAN
EDITOR’S Note Over the last couple of years — ever since a survey by the Columbia Gorge Health Council and One Community Health found that one in three Gorge residents worry about where their next meal will come from — I’ve become more aware of food insecurity in the Gorge. That same survey found that one in five Gorge residents actually misses meals regularly. One in five. This seems paradoxical, in what looks and feels like a land of plenty. Sarah Sullivan, executive director of Gorge Grown Food Network, delves into this paradox in her story on building a local food system (page 8). Despite our abundance, she notes, 98 percent of the food eaten in the Gorge is imported from elsewhere according to census data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And more than 90 percent of the food grown in the Gorge is exported. We have many of the vital pieces in place to be self-reliant on a thriving local food system, according to Sullivan — one where everyone has enough healthy food to eat. But we’re not there yet. She offers a hopeful vision for that future, though, and some tips on how to help us get there. In a similar vein, the FISH Food Bank Free Summer Lunch Program has expanded this year to serve lunches to children two days per week for five weeks (page 6).
Hood River Farmers Market
Many families whose kids qualify for free and reduced lunches during the school year struggle to feed their children during the summer break. Katie Haynie and Marianne Brevard took a pilot program from last summer and greatly expanded it, with the help of FISH and several other local sponsors, as well as a grant from Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. The free lunches will be served at two sites in Hood River, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from June 27 to July 27. Another story in this issue related to the Gorge food web is a profile of Azure Standard (page 12), whose founder David Stelzer farms thousands of organic acres of grain, vegetables and animals in Sherman and Wasco counties. Stelzer began by selling his organic farm products locally, and then regionally, and then added more organic and natural products sourced from other companies with similar standards and values. Azure Standard is now the largest distributor of natural and organic food in the country, but it still does food drops throughout the Gorge to fill local customers’ orders. As always, there are many recipes in this issue for you to try in your own kitchen — including some from the Fresh Start Culinary Arts Program (page 17), and a delicious spinach salad recipe that’s perfect for summer from Baldwin Saloon executive chef Tamara Huffman (page 26). Here’s to an abundant summer, for everyone in the Gorge. — Janet Cook
Photo by Paloma Ayala.
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Fresh BITES Free Summer Lunch Program The FISH Food Bank Free Summer Lunch Program provides free meals to all children ages 1-18 two days per week for five weeks during the summer. Meals will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at two sites in Hood River: the Indian Creek Apartments, 1615 9th Ct.; and Hood River Mobile Manor, 3300 Cascade Ave. The program has its roots in a smaller, week-long free lunch program launched last year. Katie Haynie, program manager, put together lunches at two sites with the help of volunteers and support from FISH and the Hood River County School District. “It let us gauge whether kids showed up,” Haynie said. They did: the program fed about 30-35 kids each day at each of the sites. This year Haynie, along with program development director Marianne Brevard, set out to grow the program. FISH Food Bank put the program into its budget, and Haynie and Brevard sought and received
Katie Haynie, program manager for the FISH Food Bank Free Summer Lunch Program.
a grant from Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. They also have received support and donations from the school district, May Street Elementary PTO, Pine Street Bakery, Wimmers Orchards, Tofurky, A Kidz Dental Zone, Mike’s Ice Cream, Dog River Coffee, Columbia Gorge Organic, and Fresh Start Culinary Arts Program. “The Gorge Food Security Coalition has identified that one in three people in the Gorge faces food insecurity,” Brevard said. “That really opened our eyes to the importance of bringing food to the children.” The two meal sites were chosen based on their proximity to neighborhoods with high rates of children receiving free and reduced lunches through the school district. There is no screening or qualifications needed to receive lunch at the sites. “Whoever shows up will be fed,” said Marianne Durkan, FISH Food Bank board chair. Haynie anticipates more children will come for the meals this summer, and she said the program is prepared for feeding at least double the number of
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Produce by Season in the Gorge
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kids each day. In addition, she and Brevard are working on possibly putting together some shelfstaple food items that kids could take home with them. “That’s the next step, outfitting the kids with items they can take home that are nutritious,” she said. “To have the unconditional support that FISH lends has been incredible,” Haynie added. “We’re excited to think about the growth of this program for the future.” FISH Food Bank Free Summer Lunch Program Dates: Tuesdays: June 27, July 11, July 18, July 25 (no meal July 4) Thursdays: June 29, July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27
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Apples
Cabbage
Garlic
Onions
Salad Greens
Apricots
Carrots
Gooseberries
Peaches
Shallots
Basil
Cauliflower
Herbs
Peas
Spinach
Green Beans
Chard
Kale
Pears
Squash
Beets
Cherries
Kohlrabi
Peppers
Strawberries
Blackberries
Corn
Marionberries
Plums
Sweet Potato
Broccoli
Cucumbers
Melons
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Brussels sprouts
Eggplant
Mushrooms
Radishes
Turnips
Boysenberries
Edamame
Nectarines
Rhubarb
Zucchini
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FARMERS’ MARKETS OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE
Harvest Dinner The Gorge Grown Food Network hosts its annual Harvest Dinner at Mt. View Orchards in the Hood River Valley on Sept. 22. Chef Ben Stenn of Celilo Restaurant and Bar will serve a four-course meal in the farm’s open pole barn. The evening begins with a cocktail hour featuring appetizers and locally-crafted beer and beverages, followed by dinner served family style with a variety of preparations — including vegetarian courses. Local wine with each course will be from Analemma Wines, Dominio IV, Garnier Vineyards, and Idiot’s Grace/Memaloose Wines. Meet local farmers, enjoy the mountain scenery of a working orchard, savor local flavors and support Gorge Grown in its efforts to build a thriving, vibrant local food system in the Gorge. For information and tickets, go to gorgegrown.org or call 541-490-6420.
GOLDENDALE May thru first week in October Saturdays, 9 a.m.-2 pm. Ekone Park HOOD RIVER May thru third week of November Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. 5th and Columbia, downtown Hood River MERCADO DEL VALLE June thru September First and Third Thursdays, 4-7 p.m. Atkinson Drive, downtown Odell
Why Buy Local? If 20% of the food we eat was purchased directly from a local farmer we’d keep $9.6 million extra in the gorge. Local food is good for the economy. When you buy local, you invest in the community. — www.gorgegrown.org
Hood River Farmers Market Photos by Paloma Ayala.
MOSIER Mid June thru September Sundays, 4-7 p.m. First Street, downtown Mosier MT. HOOD TOWN HALL June thru September Second Thursday each month, 4-7 p.m. 6575 Highway 35, Mt. Hood THE DALLES June thru second week of October Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. City Park, Union and E. 5th Street STEVENSON Mid June thru first week of October Saturdays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. 199 2nd Street, downtown Stevenson WHITE SALMON Mid June thru first week of October Tuesdays, 4-7 p.m. White Salmon City Park more information at gorgegrown.org
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From Local Farms to All of Our Tables
How building a local food system can help us thrive BY SA R A H SU L L I VAN
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” —World Food Summit The Columbia River Gorge looks like a food-rich place. Our valleys are covered in orchards, the eastern hills are golden with wheat, the rivers are famous for salmon, and the forests are full of berries, mushrooms, and wild game. You’d think all of us would be well fed. But no. One in three Gorge residents worry about where their next meal will come from, while one in five actually miss meals regularly, according to a 2015 survey conducted by the Columbia Gorge Health Council and One Community Health. Meanwhile, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture census data, 98 percent of the food eaten in the Gorge is imported from elsewhere, and more than 90 percent of the food grown in the Gorge is exported. Needless to say, the food system needs some repair, and the local food movement is gaining ground. You don’t have to believe in climate change, the Big Earthquake, or going “back to the land” to value a local food system. During last winter’s snow and ice storms, I-84 was shut down, a not-uncommon occurrence in the Gorge, and within a couple of days grocery store shelves and produce aisles were becoming depleted. In addition, Oregon Food Bank trucks could not get to food pantries in the Gorge, elderly residents were trapped at home in rural food “deserts,” miles away from stores, while children who depend on school lunches for the majority of their calories did not eat when the schools were closed for days at a time. Food insecurity is not theoretical here, it’s happening all around us — especially when we are cut off from the imported food so many of us depend upon. Barbara Ayers, emergency manager with the Hood River County Sherriff’s office, recommends having at least a two-week supply of food at home.
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Hood River Farmers Market
Photo by Paloma Ayala.
A statewide study by the Oregon Community Food Systems Network was recently completed on “the state of the local food system.” The study ranked each county, considering 36 different factors. In Hood River County, the average cost of an acre of farmland rose from $9,360 in 2002 to $19,000 in 2012. That’s a whopping 103.3 percent increase, and anyone who has looked at property recently could guess that it’s increased even more in the last five years. The total land in production has gone down by 12 percent. The average age of a Hood River Farmer is 58, and the average annual compensation for a farm job is just $28,404. All of this makes it harder for new farmers to get started, and aging farmers worry about who might keep their farms in business. Sherman County is even worse off. Crop diversity adds to the strength of a local food system, and Sherman County is almost exclusively producing wheat and beef. The number of cattle farms fell by 40 percent between 2002 and 2012. Farm employment? Down 20 percent as of 2014. But the truth is the Gorge used to be self-reliant, and we could be again. For all of the people dependent on imported food, many of our neighbors are growing gardens and raising chickens in their yards. They are putting up food for the winter, and developing seeds suited to our unique environment. They are out there hunting, fishing, and foraging to feed their families. And here is more good news: in Hood River County, overall farm sales went up almost 19 percent between 2007 and 2014. We have school gardens at many of our schools now. There are more small farm owners producing a diversity of crops, and we’ve gone from one farmers market in the Gorge to eight. So who is this local food movement? THE GORGE FOOD SECURITY COALITION When leaders throughout the five-county region of the Gorge learned about how widespread hunger is here, they got together to do something about it. The Food Security Coalition, formed in 2016, is a network of more than 35 organizations and agencies from all sectors working to improve food access for all. Who’s at the table? Tribal leaders, social service providers, economically disadvantaged food insecure residents, healthcare professionals, farmers, distributors, food bank leaders, staff from every hospital and health department in the
Gorge, orchardists — you name them. The coalition’s long-term goals are multifaceted, and we believe in a holistic approach. We need more cold storage and better distribution for locally grown products. We need community meals, food processing facilities, year-round markets, and infrastructure for farmers like hoop houses. Healthcare professional would like the ability to prescribe healthy food with health care funding. Farmers need training in things like marketing, welding and business management. Schools need school garden coordinators. Ultimately, all residents need to make a living wage to afford enough food, regardless of where that food is grown. Hunger is directly linked to poverty, and those producing, picking, and serving our food deserve a fair, living wage. As a pregnant, low-income, mother, Mandi Rae Pope screened positive for food insecurity during a visit to the Health Department a couple of years ago, and she was enrolled in the Veggie Prescription (Rx) Program. Veggie Rx provides $30 in vouchers per month to people like Pope to purchase fresh fruits and veggies. “Food is medicine,” Pope writes. “My heart just about exploded with gratitude when I bought my first pint of fresh, local blueberries. I was able to watch my son enjoy a simple, beautiful pleasure without one worry. He said ‘thank you’ to the guy who grew them with a blue face. A win-win — I get to let my baby eat something good for him and I get to use this as a teaching moment about where our food comes from.” Pope volunteered to participate in the Veggie Rx PhotoVoice evaluation project. She found the process of shaping the program as a participant through her own lived experience empowering. She was so inspired by the community health workers facilitating the focus group’s gritty conversations around hunger that she enrolled in a community health worker training and joined the Food Security Coalition. She now facilitates parts of the coalition meetings, and she leads the Restaurant Engagement group. While Pope was enrolled in Veggie Rx, she was working at a restaurant in Hood River. By courageously sharing her story with her former employer and other restaurant owners, she is inspiring them to take action. Chef Ben Stenn of Celilo Restaurant and Bar committed staff time to teach cookingon-a-budget classes to other Veggie Rx recipients. Solstice Restaurant added a special item to its menu, donating part of the proceeds to the Food Security Coalition. Celilo co-owner Maui Meyer donated funding to enable low-income residents to participate in coalition meetings by providing childcare, mileage reimbursement, and small stipends. This is the coalition’s greatest success: not only are we feeding more people, but leaders from communities facing disparities are on the front lines while business owners are coming together to support the cause. We are learning from, and working beside, the people we aim to serve. I believe this is how the most successful movements catalyze lasting change.
Hood River Farmers Market
Buck Jones is another coalition leader from the Cayuse (Umatilla) tribe. He works as a salmon marketing specialist with the Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission, and he’s spent a lot of time on the river fishing. Jones spoke to the coalition about the salmon that go to waste if fisherman can’t sell it quickly enough. It’s a lot of fish, according to Jones. There is an opportunity to redirect that fish — could we flash freeze it? Market a Gorge-made salmon chowder? Distribute it to food banks? Why not? BUY LOCAL With all of this momentum, we need to increase production of local food, and that means more people buying locally. Contrary to popular belief, local food is not always more expensive. Last fall, Gorge Grown Food Network did a cost analysis of local food sold at the farmers market versus imported food at a several popular local grocery stores. Many products were the same price or cheaper at farmers markets — you just have to look. And, not only can you find a deal by shopping locally, the dollars you spend where you live matter. If just 20 percent of the fruit, veggies, and meat we eat were purchased directly from a local farmer, we’d keep $9.6 million extra in the Gorge.
Here are some other ways to buy local and maximize your dollars:
Join a CSA or Farm Share CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you get a subscription to a farm in the form of a regular share or box of food. Some CSAs are just veggies or fruit; others include meat, eggs, and products like jam or sauerkraut. One benefit of belonging to a CSA is you buy into a club of sorts that celebrates the farm. You may be invited to seasonal potlucks, and by paying up front, you give the farmer security of knowing they have customers they don’t otherwise have when relying on unpredictable markets. You can search for CSAs through Gorge Grown Food Network’s online food directory. Buy grains, meat, and fermented food in bulk You are probably familiar with the bulk section of
Photo by Paloma Ayala.
your grocery store, but have you ever purchased a whole or half hog to share with neighbors? Buying fresh, local meat in bulk can really reduce the cost of eating quality, locally produced animal protein. Blue Bus Cultured Foods sells its sauerkrauts and other fermented foods in bulk for discounted prices from its storefront in Bingen. Cascadia Creamery sells discounted wheels of cheese you could split with your friends. Some farms sell “seconds,” or just-less-thanperfect produce for deep discounts. Want to make some peach jam or tomato sauce? Ask your farmer for a discount on produce that may not be perfect for market, but is still excellent for canning or freezing. According to the USDA, 40 percent of the food grown in the U.S. is thrown out. The “ugly fruit” campaign is gaining ground worldwide. When did we come to expect our food to look absolutely perfect? If you’ve ever gardened, you know about the work that goes in to that strawberry patch or lettuce bed, and you may be willing to eat around the munched leaf or little hole in your fruit. Consider using all parts of the products you buy locally. Carrot top pesto has a delicious, nutty flavor. Kale stems can go right into your smoothie. Beet greens are great sautéed. Homemade bone broth makes the best soup. Animal organs have way more nutrients than the muscle meat we are used to eating; they are packed with heavy doses of vitamin B, vitamin D, folic acid, minerals and omega-3s. Columbia Gorge Gleaning links volunteers with farms to harvest produce that would otherwise go to waste. At least 50 percent of the harvest goes to food banks, senior centers and schools. You can join the group or donate your crop by going to www.gorgegleaning.com. Local food tastes better and is more nutritious All food starts to lose nutrients as soon as it is harvested. Studies through the University of California have shown that most produce loses at least 30 percent of nutrition three days after harvest. Spinach, for example, loses 90 percent of its vitamin C within 24 hours of harvest.
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Sarah Sullivan is the Executive Director of Gorge Grown Food Network, a non-profit working to build an inclusive, resilient food system in the Columbia River Gorge. As former executive director of both Hawaii SEED and The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, Sullivan has extensive experience in movement-building, organizational management and agricultural policy. She is also a trained Permaculture designer and instructor. To find out more about how to get involved in local food system work and hunger relief, visit www.
Hood River Farmers Market
THE FUTURE OF FARMING The most incredible farm I’ve ever worked on was called Tagari, designed by Bill Mollison. There was food growing wherever you looked. Nut and fruit trees served as productive trellises for beans and squash. The sweet potato ground cover shaded out weeds while producing nutritious tubers. Animals were rotated through parts of the landscape. Carefully designed ponds were stocked with fish and placed uphill from the rest of the farm to feed nutrient dense, gravity driven water downhill. I remember catching pike for dinner from the pond edge under the mulberry trees whose berries fed the fish and nearby chickens. Everything was edible. You could gather a meal in just a few minutes including every food group, and many of the plants were perennial so the work was minimal. Mollison called it “permaculture,” a type of closed-loop, super-efficient system based on traditional farming techniques, minimum waste, and multiple yields in one space. It was inspiring. I do believe a thriving, local food system will require more diverse small and mid-sized farms. Innovative farms like Tagari keep the land intact, sequester carbon, and increase production over time without chemicals and oil. Do we all have to go back to homesteading and growing our own food? Of course not, but we need to support our local farmers, prioritize and diversify production in the Gorge, and make sure all of our neighbors are food secure.
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Photo by Paloma Ayala.
I feel hopeful when I envision what our local food system could be. Imagine the most abundant, fruitful land, where every person and animal has more than enough to eat. Imagine every home, school, hospital and belly full of the most nutritious food grown here. Imagine the layers of food: asparagus in every orchard, kale in every yard, all of the high protein hazelnuts and walnuts we can stomach and share. Envision Wasco and Sherman counties growing an incredible diversity of nutritious and heirloom grains, beans, and lentils and our rivers full of fish. Imagine every child spending time in the school garden studying all subjects, foraging in the forest and fishing in the river. Imagine the cross-cultural, cross-county, cross-generational, cross-species collaboration: when we take care of the rivers and salmon, they make more salmon; when we preserve the forest, the deer, bear, and berries abound; when our youth are raised to respect the land, they in turn will feed us well when we age. Imagine if we were the epicenter of crop development — specialty seeds, outrageously beautiful and drought tolerant vegetables and fruits that researchers travel across the world to behold. Imagine local products like dried fruit, nut butter, smoked fish, nettle pesto, pickled fiddlehead ferns and baby food being world renowned. Imagine creative entrepreneurs making living wages producing unique products that celebrate the bounty and wise stewardship of the Gorge. Imagine ingenious ways discovered here to hold water in the landscape, under and above ground.
gorgegrown.com.
And imagine the efficient distribution systems: Portland folks jump on the train or sailing farmers market, and they travel up the river and back into our valleys to come share the abundance. Imagine that the people who pick our fruit and tend our farms all have a place at the table. Those that need help finding more food are not just handed calories, but are empowered through vocational training, healed through support from the healthcare community and taught how to cook and grow food. We are all enveloped in a participatory, celebratory food system. We’ve resurrected the culture of food, together.
Carrot-top Pesto:
Ingredients: 3 tightly packed cups of locally grown carrot tops, parsley, basil or any combo ¼ cup Oregon-grown hazelnuts, walnuts or chestnuts 1-2 cloves farmers market garlic ½ tsp. Oregon sea salt ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 tsp. lemon juice (buy your own little lemon tree to keep indoors from your local nursery) 6 Tbs. or about 1/2 cup Oregon olive oil (Red Ridge Farms) Using a mortar and pestle or food processor, make a paste of the nuts, garlic and salt. Wash and dry the greens. Add them slowly to the walnut-garlic mixture, a little at a time to make a smooth paste. When all greens/ nuts are ground (you may need to do it in batches) mix in the grated Parmesan and olive oil. Eat well.
Improving Food Access
In just six months, the Food Security Coalition in the Gorge has made major progress. “What we’ve learned is that concrete actions arise when we simply gather the right people together to collaborate,” says Sarah Sullivan, director of Gorge Grown Food Network. Here are a few of the victories: • Collaboration between tribal members, the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Food Bank led to the beginning of monthly deliveries of much-needed produce and food to Celilo Village. • The town of Lyle started a “backpack program” to provide food insecure children with food on the weekends. • Gorge Grown Food Network organized farmers and gleaners to donate hundreds of pounds of produce regularly to the Cascade Locks Food Banks. • Orchard View Farms donated 14,000 pounds of cherries per week to the Oregon Food Bank in 2016. • A group in Klickitat is now hosting a regular meal for seniors. • Washington Gorge Action Program dedicated staff time to support Klickitat County community gardens. • Wahtonka Community School in The Dalles is planning to open a food pantry. • 40 food bank clients and community partners attended a listening session in Cascade Locks; as a result, the food bank added an additional day of service each month and is working to address other specific needs of the community. • The City of The Dalles is funding the “Power of Produce” program, $2 tokens for youth to buy fresh fruits or vegetables at The Dalles Farmers Market. • Oregon State University staff recently developed a Food Hero training through the newly formed Gorge Nutrition Education Network. The training will prepare volunteers for food bank outreach, nutrition education and farmers market tours. BREAKFAST & LUNCH SERVED DAILY 7am - 3pm
• One Community Health staff developed an online calendar to promote nutrition classes Gorge-wide. • Gorge Grown Food Network hosted workshops for farmers this winter to help them distribute and market their products.
NORDIC INSPIRED CUISINE
102 OAK ST. SUITE 100 HOOD RIVER, OREGON 541.436.3444 www.brodereast.com brodereast@gmail.com @broderost
• OSU staff organized a meeting to link community garden coordinators in Oregon and Washington; 35 people attended in order to learn from each other to help these programs thrive. • The Next Door facilitated a successful “Seed to Supper” gardening/ cooking class taught in Spanish. • The Eastern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization Local Community Advisory Committee allocated funding for Veggie Prescriptions (Rx) for low-income residents of Sherman County, providing fresh produce access to our most rural residents. • Allen’s Grocery and La Michoacana are stocking healthy fruits and vegetables through Gorge Grown Food Network’s new “Healthy Cornerstore Project,” funded by the Knight Cancer Institute. These stores will provide fresh produce in low-income neighborhoods with very limited access to healthy options.
Innovative Pacific Northwest cuisine with an emphasis on locally grown ingredients. Featuring fine regional wines and full bar. 2017 Oregon Wine A-List Recipient Full catering services for weddings & special events.
celilorestaurant.com 541.386.5710 16 Oak St, Downtown Hood River, OR Dinner Daily: 5pm - close Lunch: Fri-Sun, 1130-3pm
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AZURE Standard Takes Dufur, and Organic Food, to the Nation
A quiet natural foods company rides the e-commerce wave from a small Oregon town BY K ATH Y WAT S ON
David Stelzer, founder of Azure Standard, at his farm near Dufur.
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Driver Scott Gall, above, moves food off the truck into Ed Salminen’s walk-in cooler. The cold storage makes his place a perfect spot for an Azure drop. Customers trickle in during the day to pick up their orders. Azure prides itself on being a zero waste company, and often packs customers’ orders in recycled boxes, like this one from a Portland brewing company, left. Azure does not distribute alcoholic beverages.
Ed Salminen lives on Middle Mountain in Parkdale, on his Upper Valley Farms with his wife Robin Cunningham. It’s 30 minutes to a fullservice grocery store, but that’s okay, because his grocery store comes to him in a big truck with a lift gate, right up his driveway. Ed has been a member of Azure Standard, a natural and organic food distributor, for 10 years. He’s an Azure drop coordinator, allowing his house, driveway and commodious walk-in cooler (used to store his farm’s fruit) to receive a delivery every three weeks for up to 70 local customers. Today, on this cold and very wet spring morning, Ed stands under the eaves of his fruit processing building, coffee cup cradled in his hand, with Phillip Lane, an Azure customer for more than 20 years. The big Azure truck backs in and driver Scott Gall jumps down, rolls up the back gate, and works his pallet jack into the order for the customers at Ed’s drop. Phillip huddles inside his wet rain jacket, waiting for his order—organic dog food for the puppies he and his wife raise, frozen packaged meals, some grains, fresh vegetables grown in Azure green houses, vegetables starts—and says, “It’s a lot easier now. Twenty years ago, we used to go to Dufur to pick up our order. Then they started this network.” That’s right, Dufur, Oregon. That’s where Azure Standard is headquartered. The largest distributor of natural and organic foods in the country, and it’s
located in a small town on the Columbia Plateau. Company owner and organic farmer David Stelzer was a sickly child, so his parents changed the way they farmed, embracing organic techniques, and the food they ate, in an attempt to improve David’s health. It worked. Years later David, who kept the family’s organic values, took his excess harvest in the back of his truck to local stores. Karen Slusher, Azure’s director of customer experience and director of wholesale, recounts the story. “Then the stores would ask, ‘Can you get us organic butter?’ and he started there, just with Oregon customers. Then people from Oregon would move, and he looked for ways to serve them.” Stelzer, now farming thousands of organic acres of grain, vegetables and animals in Sherman and Wasco counties, put together a network of drops, repackaging goods into orders as small as one box, and shipping them across the country. At the time, the network may have seemed odd, or destined to just limp along, serving a few families who wanted access to organic foods in the middle of North Dakota or Oklahoma. But that’s not what happened. Today, Azure’s 168 employees support the Azure catalog, which contains some 14,000 products shipped to 54,000 active customers through 2,773 drops in 37 states across the U.S. Slusher, who calls herself the company’s “cruise director,” describes the scene. “Families come
together at a community center, a church, the side of the road, in a parking lot, and get their boxes off the back of the truck. They could order through the mail, but we like to promote our drops because we see a lot of value in fostering like-mindedness. They see each other at our drops, and it’s more than just about our food and natural products, but about abundance in our relationships.” The customers, says Slusher, are extremely diverse, “from home-schooled families to those who are storing food and who buy in bulk quantities, to a single older person who is dealing with allergies and is cutting certain things from their diet, such as gluten. Azure is to their customers what they want to make it.” Ed, wrangling a bag of dog food from the order, says he sees the customers who come to his drop from two distinct camps. “They are either very conservative and religious, or they are very liberal.” He won’t disclose which of those best describe him, because he says, “I like that people are into this, and I like not making it political.” While it might not be that difficult for either Ed or Phillip to jump in their farm trucks and drive down to Hood River for organic and natural foods and household items, they both think the Azure prices are overall a bargain. “I can get the same loaf of bread from Azure for $3.50 that I’d pay $5 for in the store,” says Phillip Lane. The vastness of the Azure catalog is a draw too.
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Azure Standard organic orchards in Dufur, Oregon.
The most IMPORTANT ingredients are good food, good drinks, and good company with friends and family
FROM VINE TO BOTTLE, WE HAVE YOU COVERED. Get the right protection for your vineyard or winery.
Jeanne M Sreenan Agency STEAK & SEAFOOD HOUSE
1108 13th Street Hood River 541-387-5433
OPEN
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PHONE: (541) 296-4994
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ADDRESS:
2434 E 2nd Street - The Dalles, OR
SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
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A company selling a coffee creamer that included “natural flavors” would not disclose those ingredients to Azure, saying they were proprietary. “So we wouldn’t carry it,” says Slusher. Azure’s network of customers is large enough to permit it to carry unique items that might be hard to find locally too, like large beeswax candles meant to burn for hours in a power outage. But the company also carries more prosaic items such as maple syrup, olive oil and canned goods. Azure’s focus in the catalog is choosing items from smaller, family-owned companies. In some cases, Azure has been the largest distributor for small companies in their early stages, such as Annie’s and Celestial, and played a roll in these small companies’ growth. Many of the items come from the Stelzer’s own farm family. Azure now has a grain mill creating its own flour products, and greenhouses that grow tomatoes, cucumbers, kale and much more. “From frozen to refrigerated to dry goods and non-BPA household products, even 100 percent cotton leggings,” says Slusher, ticking off the list. “If we’re going to eat organic, why wouldn’t we wear organic?” Technology has made the Azure model a simple transaction for customers. No longer dependent on newsprint catalogs that are out of date almost instantly, the company’s website is easy to use and a robust information source on each product. It’s easy to see ingredients and nutritional information, even recipes, and each item has a little heart and a number showing how many other customers have favored, or liked, the product. Signing up is free, and regular e-mails show up, reminding users of order cut-offs and drop location dates. Payment is online
too. Here in the Gorge, nearly 1,700 customers buy from Azure, picking up at one of nine drop sites. The 89 Azure employees at the company’s warehouse in Moro are constantly filling orders and trucks. The trucks scramble over 72 routes across the country, bypassing only the Mid-Atlantic and Eastern Seaboard states. But perhaps Azure will be coming to a drop site in New Jersey soon. In April, The New York Times asked in a headline, “Is American Retail at a Historic Tipping Point?” While Azure is tiny compared to the Amazon behemoth, e-commerce is giving the traditional brick-andmortar shopping experience a shakedown. Azure’s website, with its fast and easy interface, proves you can do this anywhere, even from Dufur. The Times writes, “This shift has been building gradually for years. But economists, retail workers and real estate investors say it appears that it has sped up in recent months.” The story shares these startling growth statistics: “Between 2010 and 2014, e-commerce grew by an average of $30 billion annually. Over the past three years, average annual growth has increased to $40 billion.” Back in Ed’s driveway, driver Scott Gall, who has been with Azure for 14 years, stows his pallet jack and hands Ed a clipboard with paperwork to sign. Ed asks about the house Gall is trying to sell, and they chat about the weather, and then they shake hands. Scott pulls down the driveway, headed for drops in Hood River, and then on to Portland and Gladstone. The entire process took 10 minutes. Watch out, Amazon and Seattle. Dufur, Oregon, is gaining on you.
Locally Owned & Operated for more than 30 Years
• Szechuan-Hunan plates prepared with Fresh Ingredients • Free parking • Cocktails with freshly squeezed juice in our Tiger Lounge • Open Tuesday — Sunday
Grace Su’s
Restaurant
& Tiger Lounge Open Tues.-Thurs. & Sun. 11am-9pm Fri. & Sat. 11am-10pm Intersection of Hwys 30 & 35
(541) 386-5331 • Hood River www.chinagorge.com
PEOPLE REALLY HAVE AN APPETITE FOR NATURAL GAS HOMES. Affordable. Comfortable & Convenient. Efficient. Natural gas is energy-efficient, reliable, and so easy to use. It makes a home warm and cozy, and a kitchen the most popular room in the house. Visit nwnatural.com to learn more about the benefits of natural gas homes and appliances. Or contact your local NW Natural representative to see how much you can save by switching your home to natural gas. Tonya Brumley tonya.brumley@nwnatural.com (800) 422-4012 ext. 8610
SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
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Gorge Grown Food network connecting farmers & consumers since 2006 WHAT WE DO:
• Address food insecurity • Link local buyers & sellers • Educate & train • Food business support & promotion
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
• Buy LocAL Food First support regional farmers • VoLuntEEr with your local food bank or community garden • DONATE to Gorge Grown today
JOIN US! www.GorgeGrown.org
Our Mission: to build a resilient and inclusive regional food system that improves the health and well-being of our community.
GET YOUR WORK DONE,
AMERICA AND SAVE MORE Shown: MAX 26
Bent River Restaurant is located on the beautiful Columbia River in The Dalles. We have delicious meals made from local and fresh Buffalo, Elk, Wild Boar and our mouthwatering handcrafted burgers! Our family friendly restaurant has something for everyone to enjoy! Daily specials and specialty drinks for those 21 and over. Text “Bent” to 55678 to join our text club and receive a free dessert!
1535 Bargeway Road, The Dalles (541) 370- BENT {2368} www.thebentriver.com Like us on Facebook!
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SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
STOP BY YOUR MAHINDRA DEALER TODAY TO ENJOY UP TO $2,200 CASH BACK AND SAVINGS. JTI HAS MAHINDRA TRACTORS FROM 22HP UP TO 105HP. GET UP TO $1,200.00 OFF YOUR MAHINDRA IMPLEMENT PURCHASES.
3002 E. 2nd Street The Dalles, OR 97058 (Located behind Big Jim’s)
* With approved credit. Program restrictions may apply. See dealer for details. All offers expire -i«Ìi LiÀ 30th, 2017.
Rainbow Trosper, chef administrator at Fresh Start.
Recipes for
SUCCESS Fresh Start Culinary Arts Program chefs share recipes that every home cook can perfect — almost as if they’ve gone to, well, culinary school BY KATH Y WATS O N
Matt Patterson and Rainbow Trosper are accomplished chefs with culinary degrees, capable of elaborate, creative cooking. But one thing keeps them focused on recipes that are easy to prepare and that turn out beautifully, the same way, every time: they’re training the next generation of Gorge restaurant cooks. And that’s good news for home cooks everywhere, too. “I like to teach dishes that I’ve made many times before, and that I know are fool-proof. That puts success in our student’s court, it’s setting them up for success,” says Trosper, program administrator for Fresh Start Culinary Arts Program. Fresh Start provides students with a 12-week, 40-hour-a-week culinary training that prepares graduates for entry-level jobs in restaurant or hospital kitchens. The program is 100-percent tuition supported. Patterson, who is chef trainer for the program, and Trosper joined Fresh Start with the program’s launch in February 2016, and have been the guiding hands training four student cohorts. A fifth cohort was slated to graduate June 10. Trosper and Patterson each shared two recipes that they teach students and also cook for their families at home. While they are simple, they teach basic skills—tempering, making a roux, the mechanics of biscuit making—which can be applied to other dishes. And the recipes allow for nearly endless variations, making them an excellent addition to your recipe repertoire. “This is what chefs want from our graduates: basic skills,” says Patterson. “Chefs can put our students right to work making use of those basic skills to deliver the chef’s own particular cuisine.”
EASIER THAN CHOCOLATE CHIP Trosper, who was pastry chef at the Columbia Gorge Hotel in the early 2000s, as well as at Nora’s Table, loves to teach desserts. Two of her favorites, panna cotta and Florentine cookies, are showy and easy. Trosper has built in “troubleshooting” techniques to help you at critical points in the recipes. Let’s start with the Florentine cookies. The recipe comes together in a snap, and doesn’t require the same laborious creaming of butter and sugar and sifting of dry ingredients common in cookie making. “They’re easier than chocolate chip,” says Trosper. Also called “lace cookies,” they are thin and crispy, and look gorgeous stuck into the side of a panna cotta, or used to make Napoleons, in which the cookies are stacked with layers of lemon curd or mousse. Trosper says the trick with Florentines is to not over-boil the sugar, butter, corn syrup and cream mixture. “If you cook it too long, the liquid reduces, making the cookie dough too stiff to spread out evenly as the cookie bakes,” she says. “So, you bring it to a boil and remove promptly from the heat.” You can customize the cookies very easily. The recipe calls for almonds and orange zest, but you could change that up with lime zest, or delete the zest altogether. Or use different nuts, or make the cookies gluten free by using rice flour. Trosper says the cookies are very bendable when you first remove them from the oven, so you can drape them over an upside down bowl to create a cookie bowl for ice cream or fruit. Tools? Trosper suggests making the orange zest using a microplane grater, as it gives you a better zest yield than using the fine holes on a box grater. It’s also really helpful to scoop the cookies with a very small ice cream scoop, one that has a scant tablespoon capacity. Don’t have one? Just follow the directions for using two spoons.
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Orange Almond Florentines Yield 16 or more cookies, depending on size
Ingredients: 2/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup corn syrup 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter Zest from 1 average orange, or 2 tangerines 1 cup sliced almonds 2/3 cup all-purpose flour Method: 1. Heat your oven to 325 degrees. Prepare two cookie sheets with either silicone baking mats or parchment paper. 2. In a medium sauce pan combine first three ingredients. Over medium high heat, stir the mixture until it comes to a boil and promptly remove from heat. Stir in zest, followed by almonds and flour. 3. Using a mini ice cream scooper or a few regular teaspoons, divide cookie batter into tablespoon sized mounds on the cookie sheet, leaving at least 2 ½ inches of room around each cookie to allow for spreading. 4. Bake on the middle shelf, one tray at a time, for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. 5. Let cookies cool on trays for flat cookies, or while cookies are still warm and malleable, drape across a rolling pin to create a curved cookie. Alternately, you can shape them however you like. Panna Cotta Panna cotta is sometimes called eggless custard, and means “thickened cream” in Italian. Trosper has refined the traditional panna cotta recipes, which often suggest heating all the dairy components together and adding gelatin. Instead, Trosper heats just the heavy cream and honey, then dissolves the gelatin and water into this hot mixture, and then slowly adds in, or tempers in, the other dairy. This helps the dish to chill more quickly, and also keeps the flavor of the crème fraiche and other dairy fresh tasting, rather than tasting cooked. Once again, this dish is easy to customize. “You can change up the dairy, maybe using almond milk, yogurt,” she says. “That makes it lower fat, and it will still look like panna cotta, but will have a different mouth feel. Just make sure you keep one-third of your liquid as heavy cream.” You can also add flavorings by infusing the cream. “In Step 3, you could add tea, whole spices, citrus zest. Bring the cream to a simmer, add the flavorings, and set it aside for about 30 minutes, then strain it, and bring it back to simmer and add the gelatin mixture.” Chef Trosper’s favorite topping is berries or stone fruits or citrus curd, but you can also drizzle the tops with chocolate or caramel.
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SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
Honey Crème Fraiche Panna Cotta Yield 5 servings
Ingredients: 1 Tablespoon powdered gelatin 3 Tablespoons cold water 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup crème fraiche 1 cup buttermilk or half-and-half 1/4 cup honey Method: 1. Measure cold water into a small dish and sprinkle powdered gelatin on top. Gelatin will absorb the water, no stirring necessary. Set aside for at least 5 minutes. 2. Measure crème fraiche and buttermilk (or half-andhalf) into a medium bowl. 3. In a small saucepan add cream and honey and heat over medium heat until mixture just reaches a simmer. Remove from heat and add reserved gelatin. Stir to melt the gelatin. 4. Slowly add a small portion of the crème fraiche/ buttermilk into the honey/cream/gelatin and stir before adding the remaining amount. Once combined, strain through a fine sieve into a pitcher to remove any possible clumps. 5. Pour into molds (if using) or pretty glasses/dishes using about 5 ounces per serving. Chill until set, at least 4 hours.
THE BEST BISCUIT YOU WILL EVER DROP Chef Patterson takes Fresh Start students through their breakfast paces every Friday and Saturday morning when the program serves breakfast to the public. And just like at home when everyone is clamoring for breakfast now, Fresh Start needs a fool-proof biscuit that’s fast and easy. “It’s 20 minutes, start to finish,” says Patterson. The recipe relies on an ingenious method to get little bits of cold butter into the biscuit dough, which is one of the things that makes a good biscuit light and fluffy. As the biscuits bake, the butter melts and leaves little air pockets. The common technique to get cold butter into biscuits is to cut it in to the flour mixture, a time consuming and messy task—even more so with early-morning half-closed eyes at work. So Patterson’s method, adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe, is to melt the butter, and when it has cooled slightly (“You should be able to stick your finger in the butter without hurting yourself”) you pour it into very cold buttermilk. The warm butter instantly clumps upside the buttermilk. When it’s mixed with the flour, it does its job in the oven, melting and creating a plump, crumbly biscuit. These biscuits are scooped up with a measuring cup and dropped onto the baking sheet, meaning you don’t have the mess of rolling them out, either.
The biscuits can do double and triple duty. Add cheese and green onions to the dough for a great breakfast sandwich biscuit, or add minced herbs and drop by spoonfuls onto simmering chicken or beef stew for dumplings.
Buttermilk Drop Biscuits (original recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, November 2007)
Ingredients: 10 ounces all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup very cold buttermilk (leave in refrigerator until ready to use) 8 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly (about 5 minutes) 2 Tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing
• Add 1/4 cup of shredded parmesan, 2 teaspoons minced rosemary, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper Biscuits and gravy can fuel you up for a great Gorge bike ride, but there’s another, more subversive reason Chef Patterson teaches this dish to students: it’s the basic technique for any roux-based pan sauce. For instance, substitute mushrooms for the sausage, and you have an excellent mushroom gravy. Patterson’s tips? “Make sure you don’t burn the roux!” he says. “Once you’ve added the flour to the fat in the pan, stir constantly. You are cooking out the raw flour taste, but be careful.” You can also switch the milk in the recipe for a non-dairy substitute, as long as it’s unsweetened. And all flours have different levels of moisture, so you may need more or less flour to get the roux to the appropriate flour/fat ratio. “The roux should be the consistency of wet sand,” Patterson says.
Sausage Gravy Ingredients: 1 lb. good quality ground pork sausage 3 Tablespoons butter 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 4 cups whole milk Method: 1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add sausage, using a wooden spoon to break up the meat into small chunks. Cook until lightly browned. 2. Add flour to pan, and mix with the butter/sausage fat. This mixture should look dry and pasty. 3. While stirring, add the milk, making sure to scrape up and incorporate any flour mixture off the bottom of the pan. 4. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. The mixture should thicken considerably during this time. If too thick, add additional milk. 5. Once mixture has come to a boil, remove from heat and serve atop a warmed, split biscuit.
Method: 1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees (425 degrees convection). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. We recommend NOT using a silicone baking mat, as it will melt at high temperatures. 2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. 3. Combine the cold buttermilk with the butter using a fork. This mixture should be clumpy. 4. Add buttermilk mixture to dry mix, and smear together using a rubber spatula until incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. 5. Portion dough onto the prepared baking sheet, using a greased 1/3 cup measure. You should have 7 or 8, depending on how heavy you scoop. 6. Bake the biscuits for 14 minutes, rotating halfway through. 7. When the biscuits come out, brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, and cool on a wire rack. Additions: • Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar and 1/4 cup of sliced green onions
Fresh from the Farm!
LOCALLY OWNED LOCALLY SOURCED LOCAL’S FAVORITE THE HAPPIEST HOURS IN TOWN AT CEBU LOUNGE
HOOD RIVER’S ONLY RIVERFRONT DINING
• fresh produce • local wines & specialty groceries • on-site bakery • feed & grain • garden center Local favorites: Raw milk, Goat milk, Cascadia Creamery Cheese, farm eggs, local chicken, pork and beef.
DICKEY FARMS STORE & BAKERY RIVERSIDEHOODRIVER.COM
AT THE BEST WESTERN PLUS HOOD RIVER INN •541-386-4410
806 W STEUBEN ST. BINGEN, WA. 509.493.2636 EXT.1 - OPEN DAILY
SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
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Hazardous Waste & Recycling Program
WE COOK. YOU CONNECT.
Here at Farm Stand we are passionate about taking a stand for healthy living here in the gorge.With our organic, grass-fed breakfast and lunch menu's and full market, we hope to get you on board with that vision, and to continue being your destination for healthy eating in your community.
1009 12th Street 541-386-4203 farmstandgorge.com
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SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
Whether it’s a simple cocktail party, or an extravagant formal dinner, a family event or a board meeting, we offer unique cuisine custom designed to fit your needs and budget. We also offer vegetarian, vegan and gluten free menu options. Mark Whitehead, Event Chef
541-399-1299 ahi.catering@gmail.com
Cooking
with Kids BY K A C IE M C M A CKI N
This year, cooking with our kids has taken on a new dimension. We are currently homeschooling our children. This endeavor pushes us to look for every learning opportunity we can find— be that on a hike in the woods, reading a book, or cooking together. Cooking with kids can be an enriched bonding time, but it can also be a chaotic, stressful experience. With more than one kid who wants to participate, and a drive to teach them while we cook, I find that (as with most stressful tasks) dividing and conquering is the way to go. The whole process from dividing to conquering to eating lends itself to simple lessons in mathematics. We tend to focus our mathematic endeavors in the direction of baking cookies, because who doesn’t love cookies? We start by counting the number of ingredients we’ll need. Then the kids sit at the dining table to make decorative numbers while I divide each of the ingredients into small bowls. The kids line up the numbers and we place the bowls in front of each number. Each kid has a large bowl and we flip a coin to determine who will do the wet ingredients, and who will do the dry ingredients. The dry ingredients are poured one by one into a large bowl to be gently whisked or sifted by one child, then the wet ingredients are mixed together in the second large bowl by the other child. We talk about 50/50 chance when we flip the coin. Odd numbers vs. even numbers as we go along using the ingredients. Subtraction and addition as we use up ingredients and add them to the bowls. Subtraction, addition, and fractions as we eat our finished treats—in this case, cookies! Baking and cooking this way has obvious benefits for the kids, but it also makes the process of cooking with my kids more enjoyable (and less chaotic) for me. I have time to divide up the ingredients thoughtfully (and without distraction), and I’m much less likely to forget the baking soda! There’s also less fighting over who gets to do what since the jobs are equally divided and delegated from the start. My kids ask to cook like this all the time. While this method does lend itself well to baking, it’s also easily applied to cooking dinner, too, by simply having each child do either even or odd numbered ingredients, taking turns with each step until the dinner is complete.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES Dry Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon fine salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 tiny pinch of freshly shaved nutmeg (optional) 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chocolate chips Wet Ingredients: 2 large eggs (at room temperature) 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract Directions: Preheat the oven 350 degrees. Sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugars and the butter, then add in the vanilla. Whisk the eggs in another small bowl before adding them to the creamed sugar mixture. Once this is all mixed together, add the dry ingredients to the wet one cup at a time, until it’s incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Using a spoon, scoop up some dough and roll it into a ball in the palm of your hand. Place it on a baking sheet. Continue making your dough balls until you have them spaced out (about 2-3 inches apart) on your cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until golden brown on the outside and light brown in the middle. Enjoy! Kacie McMackin is a food writer, blogger and photographer, and founder of gorgeinthegorge.com.
SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
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WHO’S YOUR
From the mountain to the river, these are your local farmers, growers, and producers — working hard to provide fresh produce year-round.
Farmer
A&J ORCHARDS. LLC
Hood River, OR karenasai@hotmail.com 541-386-1974 Apples, pears, cherries. Family owned and operated for 100 years! Pick up fruit at the orchard or delivery available.
BLUE SKIES BAKERY
Husum, WA, BZ corners www.blueskiesbakery.com infor@blueskiesbakerycom 509-876-7395 Bread and Granola. We are a family owned and operated wholesale bakery, located in the shadow of Mt Adams. We bake our breads and granolas with a combination of organic, local, and non-GMO ingredients. Look for us at your local grocer.
CAMP 1805 DISTILLERY
Hood River, OR www.camp1805.com info@camp1805.com 541-386-1805 Distilled Spirits. Craft Distillery making Whiskey, Vodka and Rum on site. Full bar with food and tasting room. Direct sales to the public from our tasting room. Restaurants, Consumers, Farmers’ Markets
CASCADIA CREAMERY
Trout Lake, WA www.cascadiacreamery.com marci@cascadiacreamery.com 509-395-9339 Artisan Cheeses Family-owned creamery that produces hand crafted certified organic aged, raw cheeses. We get our amazing milk from a nearby 4th generation dairy farm. Commercial, Restaurants,Consumers, Farmers’ Markets, CSAs
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COLUMBIA BLOSSOM ORGANIC ORCHARDS
Mosier, OR www.ColumbiaBlossom.com jim@columbiablossom.com 541-478-2084 Fruit, Wine. Family-owned operation producing peaches, cherries, nectarines, plums, apricots, table grapes and wine grapes. Certified organic by Oregon Tilth for over 20 years. No u-pick. Commercial, Consumers. Call to add name to list for seconds.
COLUMBIA GORGE GLUTEN FREE
Bingen, OR www.columbiagorgeglutenfree.com teresa@gorgeglutenfree.com 541-387-0343 Gluten Free Baked Goods. Woman owned bakery using locally sourced products to create delectable delights that you won’t even know it’s missing the wheat! Restaurants. Consumers, Farmers’ Markets, Online
DICKEY FARMS
Bingen, WA store@dickeyfarmsinc.com 509-493-2636 ext 1 Vegetables, Berries, Fruit, Eggs and Bakery. The farm supplies store in Bingen on Hwy 14. Dickey’s Corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, squash, peaches, apricots, cherries. Local dairy, poultry, pork and beef. Commercial, Restaurants, Consumers.
EMPANADAS MARIA ELBA Hood River, OR www.empanadasmariaelba.com empanadasmariaelba@yahoo.com 541-490-1902 Delicious empanadas made in the
SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
traditional Chilean fashion using grandmother’s recipe. Highest quality ingredients and sourcing locally as much as possible. Consumers, Food truck
GREEN PASTURES FARM
Trout Lake, WA greenpastures@gorge.net 509-395-2233 Multicolor eggs from chickens living the good life, grass and vegetarian feed, lots of indoor barn space for the winter, no medications except vaccinations. Retail, restaurants, on-farm sales, CSA’s. Supplying local eggs since 1993.
HOOD RIVER VINEYARDS & WINERY
Hood River, OR www.hoodrivervineyardsand winery.com hoodriverwines@gmail.com 541-386-3772 Hood River Vineyards is the Gorge’s oldest winery. We are family-owned and operated, and grow and make table wines, ports, sherry, and hard cider. Commercial, Restaurants, Consumers, Tasting room, special events at other locations
HUMBLE ROOTS NURSERY
Mosier, OR humblerootsnursery.com humbleroots@gorge.net 503-449-3694 Plants (starts, seeds, native plants, etc.) Ethically propagated native plants of the Gorge and Pacific Northwest. Consumers, Agencies, Non-profit organizations and Landscapers. Farm sales, contract growing.
JAMES’ ORGANIC BLUEBERRIES
Hood River, OR hyjames@yahoo.com 541-386-5806 Berries. U-PICK blueberries, certified organic by Oregon Tilth. Child-friendly farm has six varieties of heirloom berries on 50-year-old bushes, varieties of chickens and turkeys to visit. Call for availability in mid-June. Restaurants, Farmers’ Market and picked berries at wholesale prices.
KIYOKAWA FAMILY ORCHARDS
Parkdale, OR www.mthoodfruit.com info@mthoodfruit.com 541-352-7115 Vegetables, Berries, Fruit, Beverages, Jams, jellies, and apple cider. Family- owned and operated farm since 1911. Local and sustainably grown produce, some certified organic, and utilize a farm management system that incorporates best practices. Commercial, Institutional, Restaurants, Farmers’ Markets, Farmstands.
KLICKITAT BISON COMPANY
Centerville, WA www.klickitatbison.com maryjean@centurylink.net 509-773-4450 Bison. Grassfed bison raised without antibiotics or hormones on chemical-free high prairie pastures. Field-slaughtered and processed locally. Available by whole or half. Ground and steaks available by the pound. Lean and flavorful, bison is the original red meat. Consumers.
MARYHILL WINERY
Goldendale, WA www.maryhillwinery.com cassiec@maryhillwinery.com 509-773-1976 Wine. 2015 Pacific NW Winery of the Year by Wine Press Northwest, 50+ award-winning wines, views of Mt. Hood and the Columbia Gorge, picnicking, tasting room and gift shop. Commercial, Restaurants, Consumers, Online or at winery
MT HOOD WINERY
Hood River, OR www.mthoodwinery.com linda@mthoodwinery.com 541-386-8333 Wine. Family owned and operated winery located on the Bickford Family Century Farm. 20 acres specializing in estate grown Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and Riesling. Commercial, Online, Customer visits and direct sales
MT VIEW ORCHARDS
Parkdale, OR Mtvieworchards.com Mtvieworchards@gmail.com 541-352-6554 Vegetables. Berries. Fruit. Honey, Pumpkin patch, cider, hard cider. Small family multigenerational farm that grows fruit with our farming friends in our minds. We love being farmers and invite you to taste and see our harvests each year. Institutional, Restaurants, Consumers, Farmers’ Markets, Farmstands, CSAs, Online
PEACHWOOD ORCHARD
ROSEDALE FRUIT FARM
ROOT ORCHARDS
SOLLE FARMS/ BIG BARN ORGANICS
Hood River, OR hoodriverpeaches@gmail.com 562-447-7711 Peaches and Nectarines. Over 20 unique varieties of peaches and nectarines available July and August. We are a small, owner operated pedestrian orchard that has a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood. Available at Farmers’ Markets, restaurants, pick up at orchard, delivery, u-pick by appointment.
Mosier, OR rootorchards.com rootorchards@aol.com 541-478-3425 Sweet Cherries. A 4th and 5th generation family farm established in 1878, Root Orchards raises over 13 varieties of premium sweet cherries. U-pick, Wepick. Pedestrian orchard provides easy picking and beautiful vistas with easy access to our trees. Enjoy a family excursion and enjoy our luscious cherries too! Wholesale Consumer, Upick, Farm Stands.
Mosier, OR www.rosedalefruitfarm.com rosedalefruitfarm@gmail.com 541-478-3368 Cherries. small d\family farm growing eleven varietiies of sweet cherries for UPick. Open seven days a week during cherry harvest — approximately mid June through July. Call or check our website for updates.
Hood River, OR www.vientowines.com 541-386-3026 Wine. Viento wines are created by Rich Cushman, winemaker for over 30 years and native of Hood River, Oregon. Locally grown, single-site wines. Beautiful tasting room, friendly service. Tasting Room, Restaurants, On-line and Commercial
WILDWOOD FARM
Hood River, OR www.sollefarms.com jen@sollefarms.com 541-980-9693 Fruit. We grow 8 varieties of cherries, 8 varieties of organic pears and 4 varieties of organic wine grapes. Direct sales to the public.
SPRINGHOUSE CELLAR
VIENTO
Hood River, OR springhousecellar.com trina@springhousecellar.com 541-308-0700 Producing ten handcrafted, vineyard-designate, Northwest wines. Take home the Springhouse Cellar 1-liter wine growler. Commercial, Restaurants, Consumer
Hood River, OR www.wildwoodharvest.com farm@wildwoodharvest.com 541-436-4181 Vegetables, Flowers, Herbs. Wildwood Farm is a small, family farm growing a diverse selection of vegetables, herbs, and flowers for the Gorge community. CSAs, restaurants, wedding and event flowers.
WILINDA BLUEBERRY PATCH
Hood River, OR Find us on Facebook. lindachamberlain@comcast.net 801-556-7964 Berries. We are a U-Pick Blueberry patch. We DO NOT spray the berries. 9-6 daily starting late June to Labor Day. Contact for availability. Consumers, U-Pick - occasionally for individual orders, i.e. friends, weddings, parties
98% of the food in the gorge is shipped in from other areas. IF YOU SUPPORT LOCAL FARMERS, THEY THRIVE. AND WE CAN HAVE A VIBRANT LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM. WWW.GORGEGROWN.ORG
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Suzi Conklin
Photos by Ben Mitchell
The Tale of the
Mosier Rube
Bad weather inspires a new take on the Reuben sandwich BY S U ZI C O N K LI N
During last winter’s snowstorms, I thought it an opportunity to see how long we could feed ourselves on just what we had on hand. It became a game to me. We started with everything fresh in the produce section of the fridge, making either salads or casseroles, adding grains and cheeses. Then we moved on to the freezer and were surprised how far that got us. Soon, certain cravings set in because we were no longer able to run out to the store to fulfill whatever whim we had for dinner each night.
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SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE
On one of our snowy, frozen winter days, my husband and I were dreaming of Reuben sandwiches but could not get to the grocery store. We were down to the bare bones in the pantry. With a little imagination, we managed to come up with a sandwich that was a facsimile to the Reuben and which has now become a household favorite. Tracking down the true source of the Reuben sandwich is difficult; there are strong, compelling stories of different origins out there, but it is entertaining just looking at a few of the tales. Regardless, our sandwich won’t be called the Reuben. It was created in the hills of Mosier so we’ll come up with the appropriate title eventually. The classic Reuben is made with corned beef, though there are those who prefer pastrami. You will also find fists leveled over the thinness or thickness of the meat, but ours is meatless. The classic is also made with rye bread, and marble rye has become popular, but we had no rye bread. One tale of the original Reuben has it made with coleslaw, but everyone knows nowadays it has to be sauerkraut. We had no sauerkraut. Then, because the sandwich must be melty and messy, Swiss cheese is a must. But we had no Swiss cheese. Finally, there is Russian dressing — which I doubt the Russians have ever heard of — which consists of mayonnaise tinted pink with ketchup. We had both of these on hand but just couldn’t bring ourselves to use the commercial mayo, so we made our own. Even though missing four-fifths of the ingredients to make a “real” Reuben, we managed a Reubenesque sandwich. I’d made honey whole wheat bread the day before so that started our sandwich. The honey came from Mosier, and the wheat was milled at Bob’s Red Mill in Milwaukee, Ore., so we had a pretty good start. In the refrigerator we found a block of locally produced Turtle Island Tempeh. I sliced through the block lengthwise creating two thinner squares, and fried them golden brown in a small amount of grape seed oil. What to substitute for the sauerkraut? Locally made Blue Bus fermented beets. These grated beets, which are naturally fermented, are a staple in our house. I use them in salads, as condiments and now my new sandwich. Cheese? We were down to a few chunks of Cascadia Creamery cheese made in Trout Lake. We grated it as close to the rind as possible. I added a little sheep feta to round it out. To make the sandwich that is always grilled, and the crunchier the better, I smeared a generous amount of dressing on each of two slices for each sandwich. The cheese went over the dressing on one side and the “meat” over the other dressed slice. The fermented beets went on top of the tempeh. There are no rules to the amount of any one ingredient you use. The two sides were combined. I added oil and a little butter to a heated cast iron pan. You need to control the heat so the oil is hot enough to quick sear the bread but adjust fast so the outside doesn’t burn before the cheese inside is melted. Place the sandwich one side down into the hot oil. Sear the bread just enough to create a crunch, then turn down the heat to medium to allow the inside to get hot and to create a deep golden brown crust. Lift the sandwich out of the pan, turn up the heat, add a bit more oil/butter, about a teaspoon each, and when hot, flip the sandwich into the pan to cook the second side, turning down the heat once seared. Once equally browned, you can put the sandwich into a 200-degree oven to finish melting the interior if the frying hasn’t done the job. This was very close to a Reuben sandwich. It had the tang, the mess, the melt, and the rich crunch. You can find Tempeh Reuben sandwiches in specialty cafes. They are a delicious substitute to the original. This version just upped the ante a couple of notches with the fermented beets and Cascadia Creamery cheese, and feta. The best part of this sandwich is it is made mostly with local ingredients. I think I’ll call it after us, the Mosier Rube.
The Mosier Rube Sandwich For each sandwich: 2 slices of homemade honey wheat bread 1 package Turtle Island® Tempeh. With a sharp knife, carefully slice tempeh square in two lengthwise. 2-3 oz. Cascadia Creamery Cheese, Sleeping Beauty or Cloud Cap 2 oz. sheep feta (optional) Approximately 2 T. Blue Bus fermented beets 1-2 tablespoons Russian Dressing * oil and butter for frying salt Heat oil (we use grape seed) until it is hot and shimmering. Add one slice of tempeh and cook to a deep golden brown on each side. Remove from pan and set aside to cool. Sprinkle salt on slab as soon as it comes out of the oil Smear dressing on each of two slices of bread. On one side place grated cheese (and feta if using), on the other side place one slice of browned tempeh. Mound fermented beets over the tempeh. Combine both sides into a sandwich. Heat enough oil and 2 tsp. butter in a pan until hot and shimmering, the butter will foam. Don’t allow butter to brown. Place sandwich one side down into the pan and immediately turn heat down to medium to medium low. (cast iron pans maintain heat a long time, if you are using a thinner bottomed pan, you may need to keep the heat up to start the browning of the bread, or down if the pan is too hot. Lift a side of the sandwich so you can see how it is browning.) Once deep golden brown use a spatula to lift the sandwich above the pan while you add a teaspoon oil and teaspoon butter to the hot pan, When the butter is melted gently flip the sandwich over to brown the second side. Cook to a deep golden brown then remove sandwich to an oven proof plate in case you need to place it in an oven to further melt the cheese.
Check the middle to see of cheese is melted. If not, you can put the sandwich(s) in a 200-250˚ oven to continue to heat and melt the cheese while you prepare whatever else you are having with your sandwich. Serve with a good mustard like Dijon or coarse ground. • You can use commercial mayonnaise or make your own. The recipe to make your own follows. To make Russian dressing, just mix your mayonnaise with enough ketchup to turn the mixture deep pink. Some Russian dressings also include horseradish, minced onion and Worcestershire sauce, but this simple one works great with this sandwich. Homemade Mayonnaise There’s no real secret to making your own mayonnaise. 2 fresh, local egg yolks 1 cup of olive oil, or other oil a tsp fresh lemon juice salt to taste You can make this a couple of ways. With a whisk you whisk the yolks, lemon and salt and keep whisking while you VERY slowly dribbles at a time, add the oil. The more oil, the thicker and you want a thick mayo for your sandwich. OR Toss everything in a blender or container for an immersion blender and blend until thick. The eggs will curdle if too much oil is added. Suzi Conklin is the former co-owner and chef of The WildFlower Cafe in Mosier.
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Q&A TAMARA
HUFFMAN
When did you know you wanted to be a chef? I knew I wanted to be a chef by the time I was 10 years old, when I watched the “Great Chefs” cooking show on OPB. What is your food strategy? My food strategy is working with as much local product and Northwest local foods as I can to create a food experience unique to the Gorge. The Baldwin is known for having a large, diverse menu. How do you pull that off? It’s not as difficult as you might think. Because we make everything in-house, it allows us to utilize everything. For example, we make our bread fresh every day, so the next day we use the previous day’s bread to make croutons, and hamburger buns for bread pudding, etc. Everything just ties together. What are the challenges and rewards of making everything from scratch? It’s not only pride in being able to offer this to our guests — knowing every ingredient that goes into our menu — but by prepping everything fresh daily, we can ensure a higher quality food. The challenge is keeping organized and staying on top of quality for our vast menu. You recently had a baby. How do you balance family and career? I balance family and career one day at a time. It’s rewarding to have my son, and my supportive husband. Being a chef/mom is all about balance on a daily basis, but it’s what I live for and love. What is your go-to family meal? It usually involves my scalloped potatoes. They are a must at every family gathering or I’m in big trouble. What ingredients are a MUST in your kitchen? I would have to say onions and garlic. They’re the basis for most soups, sauces, etc. that I make. What junk food are you ashamed to say you love? My go-to junk food is salt and vinegar chips and beef jerky, and I have to eat them together. Believe it or not, I have converted a few non-believers to this flavor combo.
Tamara’s spinach salad with summer berries, feta and honey candied nuts Ingredients: 2 cups fresh local spinach from your farmers market 3 Tbsp feta, crumbled 2 fresh strawberries, sliced 3 Tbsp fresh blueberries 3 Tbsp honey candied nuts (pine nuts, almonds, pecans or walnuts) 1 oz. of balsamic or poppy seed dressing
Tamara Huffman is executive chef at the Baldwin Saloon in The Dalles. The restaurant is a long-time favorite in the Gorge, with its historic ambience and extensive menu of diverse offerings with a Northwest flair. The Baldwin got its start as a restaurant and saloon in 1876, and was a bustling establishment for decades with its location next to the railroad tracks and near the Columbia River. The building later housed a number of other tenants and businesses — including a steamboat navigational office, a warehouse, a coffin storage facility for a nearby mortuary, and a saddle shop. In 1991, The Dalles natives Mark and Tracy Linebarger, who had bought the building and restored it as a restaurant, re-opened the Baldwin Saloon. Huffman, who also grew up in The Dalles (she used to babysit for the Linebargers), started working in restaurant kitchens at age 17. She went on to hone her culinary skills at the Western Culinary Institute in Portland (now called Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts) before returning to her hometown. She’s been at the Baldwin Saloon for eight years.
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Honey candied nuts ½ cup sugar ¼ cup water ¼ cup local honey 2 cups nuts 2 cups nuts Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix sugar, water and honey in a small saucepan and bring syrup to a boil over medium heat. Place walnuts in a large bowl and pour honey syrup on top. Stir well for about one minute and let nuts steep in the syrup for 2 to 3 minutes. Place a piece of parchment on top of a baking sheet. Top parchment with a cooling rack and gently place the nuts on the cooling rack to drain. You want to make sure that most of the syrup is caught on the parchment. Remove parchment filled with the honey glaze and replace with a new piece of parchment paper. Toss nuts on the lined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, making sure to toss every 5 minutes. Nuts should feel slightly sticky, and look light golden and shiny. Remove nuts from the oven and cool completely before using.
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C.H. URNESS MOTOR CO. 505 Cherry Heights Rd. The Dalles • 541-296-2284 Visit us 24/7 at www.urnessmotors.com 1-888-775-8608
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S U P E R M A R K E T S Quality • Service • Selection
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1867 12th St. • Hood River • 541-386-1119 SUMMER 2017 • SAVOR THE GORGE