PORTLAND, ORE. (KOIN) – The annual Community Supported Agriculture Share Fair not only offers locally-grown, fresh food but also gives Portlanders the chance to meet the farmers behind the harvest along with other local businesses.
With options for any budget or household size, the fair also features cooking demos, including one by Three Sisters Nixtamal, which makes organic yellow, white and blue corn tortillas in southeast Portland.
For their cooking demo, Three Sisters Nixtamal co-founder Wendy Downing uses local seasonal ingredients from the farmer’s market to craft mushroom tacos with red cabbage slaw on the side.
“I’m going to use some seasonal ingredients I got from the farmers market, some beautiful oyster mushrooms, some shiitake mushrooms. If I had some wild mushrooms I picked up at the market, I’d use those too,” Downing explained.
Downing says she loves to shop at the farmer’s market or through a CSA.
“I love it cause I feel it’s almost a challenge to make sure you get everything in your box sometimes, like ‘what am I gonna do with the kohlrabi?’ And ‘I guess I’ll have three bunches of kale this week.’ So, it’s just wonderful getting things that are so fresh — so much fresher than what you can find in a typical grocery store,” Downing said.
Downing and Three Sisters Nixtamal co-founder, Adriana, will cook up tasty dishes along with other local businesses showing ways to use local ingredients. Fair visitors can also meet over 45 famers and sign up to buy shares from them.
The eighth annual CSA Share Fair runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26 at The Redd on SE Eighth and Salmon St.