Category Archives: beaverton farmers market

sauerkraut cake on June 4th!

Come to the Beaverton Farmers Market this Saturday, June 4th,  and try some sauerkraut cake!  We’ll give you the recipe, too.

Come early.  We’ll try hard to bring enough cake for absolutely everyone, but please come early if you love sauerkraut, cake, or discovering old-fashioned recipes.   The cake is free.  It’s my birthday, and I just want to share sauerkraut love with everyone.

We’ve been surprised by demand for our live-cultured foods — sauerkraut, kimchi, kvass — and are working hard to produce enough so that we don’t run out at the Market.  Hundreds of pounds of vegetables are fermenting in the Pickle Lab right now, and we can’t wait to share them with you.

Later this week, I’ll post the menu of what we’ll bring to the Market on our Fresh This Week page.

Can’t wait to see you on Saturday!

 

checking in, looking forward

During the first two Market Saturdays, we sold out of four products.  Last Saturday, many of you came back for favorites you discovered the first day of the Market.  Yay!

cabbage ready to fermentWe’re thrilled.  We love that your favorite curious farm products are also our favorite products — like the Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut, which is just so lovely and full-flavored.    If you’re looking for Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut this Saturday (5/21), come early because we will sell out.  The next batch of L-HS will be ready in late June.  (Be patient…  it will return!  All those sweet leeks I showed you need time to relax and get to know the cabbage and horseradish.)

New special sauerkraut flavors are coming down the road.  Remember that sauerkraut takes 6 to 8 weeks to ferment.  We’re increasing our number of crocks/fermenting capacity here in order to have more batches in process.

We’re excited that many of you are discovering kimchi for the first time.  As I hoped, some customers come to the booth and say, “I’ve heard a lot about kimchi, and I’ve always been afraid of it…  but I’m curious…”  It’s wonderful to watch customers’ faces light up when they try the Mild Spring Kimchi.  It has just enough heat (from friendly ginger) to show kimchi-newbies how the taste of a well-made kimchi hits several spots on the palate all at once — including that elusive 5th taste called “umami.”  Every batch of our Mild Spring Kimchi is slightly different, depending on what’s fresh from the garden.  However, the overall spice profile will be fairly consistent because we want this kimchi to be your…  ahem…  “gateway” kimchi.

It also is great to hear from kimchi veterans that we’re producing surprisingly good kimchi.  “Surprise” is the operating word, it seems.  The givers of these compliments expertly navigate a taut bridge over areas of ethnicity and skin color and are so warm and gracious when they tell me how much they enjoy the full flavors in curious farm kimchi.   These compliments mean a lot to me.  I love making all of the products we offer at the booth, but making kimchi is a joy from beginning to end.

(Some of you also are certain that I’m using fish in the kimchi because the flavors are so deep.  Nope.  No fish.  All of our products are vegan — including the kvass.)

I’m thrilled that you all love the Spicy Radish Kimchi as much as I do.  If you missed it last week after we sold out, be assured that I will bring another large batch of it this Saturday (5/21), and today I made yet another batch that should be ready in a couple of weeks.  Your interest in spicy varieties of kimchi gives me permission to explore new recipes.  I can’t wait to share them with you.

Many of you noticed the sign for Beet Kvass and hoped I was selling pickled beets.  This week (5/21), I’ll bring curious farm’s Grown-Up Pickled Beets.  Be forewarned:  these are not the pickled beets your Grandma made.

Cucumber pickle lovers:  there will be pickles.  If you’re anxious, do a sun dance, please, because the cucumber plants won’t grow until it’s sunny and warm.  I understand your frustration and disappointment.  I can’t wait to share curious farm pickles with you.

You can see a menu of what we’ll bring to the Beaverton Farmers Market right here.  We’re in spot #15.  Remember that you can try a sample of anything and everything we offer each Market day.  Our offerings change as the seasons change and as new things become ready in the garden.

To your health!

leeking

sweetrock farm leeks after first shower

Today is the Monday after my first Saturday at the Market.

Although I have been working on Curious Farm projects in a concrete way since January 2010 (and have sold vegetables I’ve grown and pickles I’ve made), today felt like the beginning of a new phase in my business.  Having survived my first day at the Market, now I must continue on and produce new and favorite products in an ongoing way, and somehow I will have to figure out a rhythm for this.

This morning I went out to Sweetrock Farm, off Old Cornelius Highway in NW Portland, to get some leeks that farmer Diane (and baker extraordinaire) has been keeping in her garden for me.  I have harvested most of the leeks at Curious Farm, and Sweetrock Farm has been holding a row of its leeks for my next batch of Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut.

I brought my own gloves and hori hori knife (thinking ahead), but I wore my Keen sandles (not thinking ahead) and sank into the soft soil in her garden while we worked.  Sweetrock dirt is different from Curious Farm dirt, which is a cool thing to notice.  I noticed it a lot because I sank down to my ankles a couple of times and could feel the dirt spoosh between my toes.  It made me really happy.

We also talked about bread and kids and plans and cooking while we worked, and I felt grateful for the connection.  Diane is an herbalist, too, and I asked her if she would make a really potent salve to help with the “cabbage elbow” I’m developing as I grate all this cabbage by hand.

On the way home, I thought to myself, “This is my job now!  I get to visit farms and learn from these other farmers!”

Sweetrock leeks are  squeeky clean, but all leeks require several showers before they’re prepared.  I got to the farm at 9:30 am and didn’t finish processing them (just the leeks) until 9:30 pm.  12 intense hours spent loving leeks –smelling the sweetness, admiring their juiciness…  this will be an incredible batch of Curious Farm Leek-Horseradish Sauerkraut.  I’ll let you know when this batch with Sweetrock Farm’s leeks is on the menu at the booth.

sweetrock farm leeks after third shower

wonderful day at the market!

Yesterday was our first day at the Beaverton Farmers Market — our first day at any market, in fact.

We had so much fun meeting shoppers and other vendors.  (Our booth neighbors on both sides are lovely!)  We were so happy to share our sauerkrauts, kimchi, seasonal pickled vegetables and fresh herbs with you all.  (It was great to watch people discover lovage, and we’ll bring more next week because we love it, too.)

We sincerely appreciate everyone’s patience as we figure out our rhythm in packing up your items.  We learned a lot today and will streamline our system much more in the coming weeks.    Having never done a market before or sold our products by the volume as we are, we just couldn’t anticipate where the snags would be in our system until we were at the market today.  We’re grateful to you for being patient and for helping us learn how to serve you better.

We thought our sampling system worked out well, though.  Yes?  Since our products will change frequently, we want you to be able to try every product we offer before you purchase.  So just ask to try whatever interests you.    Today it was great fun for us to watch you try all three sauerkrauts, for example, and notice the differences between them.

Thank you, thank you for a wonderful day at the Beaverton Farmers Market!  We’ll see you next Saturday!

to market, to market…

I just posted the menu of what curious farm will bring to the Beaverton Farmers Market on Saturday (this Saturday! May 7th!).  We also will bring some fresh herbs this week.

As I said on the “fresh this week” page, I can’t wait to meet neighbors and fellow pickle lovers.  We’re in booth #15 (here’s a map of the market).  Please ask for a sample of anything you’d like to try.  Our offerings will change each week.