On December 3rd, 2017, Friends of Family Farmers hosted our 3rd annual Fill Your Pantry at The Redd on Salmon Street in Portland. Ecotrust, which manages The Redd, generously donated the space to help make the event happen. Fill Your Pantry is a one day Farmers market-type event in which community members meet and support their local farmers directly for bulk purchases of produce, meats, honey, preserves and more. Most of the items were ordered online ahead of time which in turn helped farmers and ranchers with planning, harvesting, preparation and loading.
Fill Your Pantry events take place all over the state, organized by different organizations, and have become a financial boon for producers during the slower, winter months. Hundreds of folks attended the Portland event and collectively helped generate over $60,000 in sales that went directly into the pockets of 24 local farms & ranches!
According to farmer Elizabeth Miller from Minto Island Growers, “Fill Your Pantry was an incredibly positive event for our farm. The pre-sale opportunity made for easier preparation and planning and came at a key point in a tough cash flow time of the year. On the day of, spirits were so high among shoppers and other producers. A huge thanks to the FoFF staff for organizing such a successful day for the food community – this is becoming one of our favorite sales opportunities of the season.”
One participant, Nancy Bond, had this to say: “A giant THANK YOU for putting on another successful, fun, beautiful event!! The venue was terrific. You all were super organized (including helping folks park and providing wagons), the vendors had beautiful displays, everyone seemed well organized and prepared, and every customer walked around grinning.”
In conjunction with the Portland Fill Your Pantry, Friends of Family Farmers also partnered with the Culinary Breeding Network and OSU’s Squash Project to host Oregon’s first Sagra, or local food festival, to celebrate the abundance and diversity of winter squash grown in our state. Local chefs gave out samples of tasty dishes made with different squashes prepared in a wide variety of ways. There was a squash ‘butchery’ demonstration, kids activities, and OSU researchers were there to talk all things squash. For more background, information, recipes and videos, check
out www.eatwintersquash.com.