Avery Yale Kamila's Page

Portland Winter Market off to a busy start

The new indoor Portland Winter Market opened this morning to huge crowds. I heard from one of the vendors that shoppers started trickling in at least a half an hour ahead of opening time. You'll find a number of familiar faces from the Portland Farmers Market - including Freedom Farm, Thirty Acre Farm, Fishbowl Farm (above), Lalibela Farm and Sumner Valley Farm - plus a number of vendors new to the city.

The organizers of this market - who also organize the indoor winter market in Brunswick - have had a rough go trying to meet all of Portland's regulations and licensing requirements. Four vendors, including organizer Mother Oven Bakery, who intended to be part of the market couldn't get approval to be there today. Their exclusion happened after the city gave the organizers 24 hours notice that certain vendors would have to set up in the space yesterday for a health inspection. A coffee roaster that couldn't get city approval is there, but instead of selling coffee, the vendor is handing out free samples.

I'm hoping things can be worked out so everyone can be there next Saturday. Judging by the crowds, it seems clear that Portlanders want year-round access to local food.

The market runs every Saturday until the end of April from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 85 Free St.

Organic eats at the Common Ground Fair

A fabulous cocktail party Friday night (thanks David, Vanessa and Lauren!) delayed our departure last Saturday morning for the 33rd annual Common Ground Country Fair. But eventually Adam and I hit the road for Unity, a tiny college and farming town in the central part of the state.

The celebration of natural living always draws a big crowd, and the day we showed up so did 26,000 others. We all wanted to check out such things as the state's only organic farmers market, the renewable energy demonstrations and the angora bunnies and pygmy goats.

Without a doubt, the food court is the biggest attraction at the fair. The walkways along the concession booths were jam packed throughout our visit. By closing time many stands had run out of popular items.

The fair's vendors use local and organic ingredients whenever possible, and the emphasis is on freshly prepared whole foods. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free offerings abound, without forgetting fair staples including organic fried dough and locally grown french fried potatoes.

I snapped these photos of a few of the booths we sampled from:













Even with food everywhere and more than 700 talks and performances, my favorite thing about the fair continues to be finding myself surrounded by natural foodies as far as the eye can see.