Livin' in the Blurbs: Plowing, Cheeses and Changes at Culinate

There are a few annual events that make me extra happy to live here: Jim Dixon's Olive Oil Garage Sale. The apple tasting at Portland Nursery. The farm ramble at Ayers Creek Farm. And the one that totally brings back my horse-loving eight-year-old self, the Yamhill County Farm Fest and Plowing Competition sponsored by the Oregon Draft Horse and Mule Breeders Association. This year the rock-em, sock-em competition, featuring classic draft breeds like Belgians, Percherons, Haflingers, Shires, Suffolk and Clydesdales, plus teams of doughty mules, is coming up this Saturday, April 12, on what's predicted to be a stunningly gorgeous day. The event includes blacksmithing demonstrations, historic farm equipment, quilts from local quilting clubs and other family-friendly activities. So throw the kids in the buggy and trot them out to the country for a day of country fun. (Be sure to say hi when you see my eight-year-old self patting the horses…)

Details: Yamhill County Farm Fest and Plowing Competition. Sat., April 12, 10 am-4 pm; $5 admission, kids 12 and under free. Yamhill Co. Historical Society and Museum, 11275 SW Durham Ln., McMinnville. 503-434-0490.

* * *

Community Supported Cheese is an idea whose time has come. Fortunately, Sasha Davies is all over it with her monthly Cheese Club at Cyril's. Unlike many buying clubs, where you're stuck with whatever that month's featured product is, Sasha has created a club where participants can opt in depending on how they feel about the selected cheese and whether their budget that month will support the purchase of a pound of cheese. How awesome is that? She does it by (get this!) posting the month's featured cheese to Kickstarter, then letting folks commit or not. Plus if it doesn't get funded, then everyone's off the hook! That's my kind of club.

Details: Community Supported Cheese Club at Cyril's. Thurs., April 10, 6:30 pm (pledge must be made before Thurs., April 10 at 6 pm; future monthly meetings and cheeses will be posted); $10 to taste the cheese of the month; price for the pound (or piece) varies monthly. Check the website. Cyril's at Clay Pigeon Winery, 815 SE Oak St. 503-206-7862.

* * *

Some sad news came this last month from my friend Kim Carlson at Culinate. After seven years of publishing a nationally recognized online food magazine, she and her husband James Berry will be closing up shop, or at least that part of it that publishes stories and recipes. I've written stories and contributed recipes to Culinate over the years and found their passionate commitment to the cause of good cooking, great ingredients and sustainable sourcing to be thoughtful and inspiring. The good news, if it can be spun that way, is that they are keeping the website's content available for the foreseeable future. The website was only part of their business, and now they are turning their focus to the partnerships they have with cookbook authors and publishers to create mobile apps from cookbooks. These have included Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything series and the app for the incredibly successful Hello, Cupcake! series, recently awarded the iTunes App Store Editor’s Choice and Best App of the year. Now rumor has it they're about to release a huge new cooking app project that will rock the foundation of the cookbook world. Stay tuned!

Livin' in the Blurbs: Oregon's Uniqueness Exemplified

Health care is a big topic these days in many sectors, not just in Congress, and many Portland restaurateurs are taking the unusual step of providing health care their employees, including servers, kitchen staff and dishwashers. Businesses of 50 or fewer employees are not required to do so by the Affordable Health Care Act, so providing this vital access costs small employers a great deal. Local restaurant owners Gabe Rosen and Kina Voelz of Biwa have debuted the innovative practice of adding a 5% "Health and Wellness" service charge on guests' checks, with a card accompanying it explaining that the money goes into a fund to pay for health insurance for all of the staff, as well as bonuses for the cooks and dishwashers. The response from customers has been universally positive, as has been the response from staff, some of whom have never been able to afford health care before or have put off surgeries due to the expense. Happy and healthy employees committed to a place that cares about them—now that's a good business model.

Details: Biwa, 215 SE 9th Ave.. on the corner of SE 9th and Ash. 503-239-8830.

* * *

Draft horses, working breeds almost lost to the mechanization of farming, are experiencing a resurgence of interest, not just from preservationists and horse breeders, but from young farmers who are integrating them back onto the land. Seen as less expensive and easier on the land than trucks and tractors, they're also used as part of a rotational system of fertilizing and renewing pastures. Oregon is a hotbed of the return of plowing with teams of horses, and you can see these gorgeous creatures doing the work they were bred to do at Heiser Farms' Draft Horse and Mule Plowing Demonstration on Sat., Oct. 26. Some of the best teams in the area will be making an appearance and the farm store and farm activities will be running, so it should be a great day to get out in the country.

Details: Heiser Farms' Draft Horse and Mule Plowing Demonstration. Sat., Oct. 26, 10 am-2 pm; free. Heiser Farms, 21425 SE Grand Island Loop, Dayton. Map.

* * *

When Ben Meyer first started his restaurant-cum-beer parlor Grain & Gristle on NE Prescott, he wanted the menu and pricing to be modest and accessible to we average Joes and Janes. That ethic of accessibility has gone several steps further with his new establishment, Old Salt Marketplace, a combination restaurant, bar and butcher shop. Designed to serve the diverse communities and incomes of its neighborhood, think of it as Laurelhurst Market for the rest of us. Imagine delicious food, simple wood beam construction and affordable prices, and you've got the vibe. Along with its own farmers' market set up on Thursday evenings in the parking lot, it also boasts a cooking school, Good Keuken, owned by Blake van Roekel, formerly of Robert Reynolds' Chef Studio. Offering classes on a wide range of topics from urban foraging to butchering to baking holiday cookies, she's about to debut an innovative series of classes with top Portland chefs, all priced to sell.

Details: Good Keuken, 5031 NE 42nd Ave. 503-753-1655.

Livin' in the Blurbs: April Events, No Foolin'

It's shocking to me that more people don't know about the annual Farm Fest Plowing Competition in McMinnville. For horse lovers young and old it's a no-brainer. For history buffs, it's like stepping back into a piece of Oregon's agricultural past (and more and more, its future). For Trekkies…well, that one's a stretch unless you pretend you're on the holodeck. But really, the chance to have a drive through some gorgeous country, to see these beautiful animals at work and the men and women who train and work with them, is a real privilege. And we're not just talking hobbyists here. Many of the competitors actually plow their farms with these horses and mules and are available for questions and photos. Plus you can take  a tour of the museum, see a quilt show and hear live old-time music. Seriously, it's well worth a couple of hours on a Saturday to see it.

Details: Farm Fest 2013 Plowing Competition. Sat., April 13, 10 am-4 pm; $3 per person, kids 12 and under free. Yamhill Valley Heritage Center, 11275 SW Durham Lane at the intersection of Hwy. 18 and Duram Lane, McMinnville. 503-434-0490.

* * *

Before we remodeled our kitchen we spent a lot of time looking at other people's, gathering ideas and making lists of what worked and didn't, what we wanted and, of course, what we could actually afford. Home tours were a part of that, but the most helpful to us, at least, was the Architectural Heritage Center's Kitchen Revival Tour featuring an array of homes from the 1890s to the 1950s. It's coming around again on April 13, so those considering a remodel at some point in the future, or those of a just-plain-snoopy bent should definitely put it on their calendars.

Details: Architectural Heritage Center Kitchen Revival Tour. Sat., April 13, 10 am-4 pm; $25, tickets available online. 503 231-7264.

* * *

"Going Beyond Happy Farmers & Recipes" should be the title of an upcoming day-long workshop on food journalism and issues. Called the Food + Agriculture Media Project (F+AMP)—I like to think of it as "FoodAmp"—it's being put on by the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) and Ecotrust on April 12. Coordinator Jackleen de la Harpe says that with the increasing interest on the part of consumers about where their food comes from, "it's time to go beyond the 'plate-centric' approach to food writing." She promises reporters, bloggers and writers an engaging exploration of the deeper issues of our food system, including sustainability, climate change, poverty and health disparities. Sounds like a worthwhile way to spend a day!

Details: Food + Agriculture Media Project. Friday, April 12, 8:30 am-3:30 pm; $40 with preregistration online. Event at Ecotrust Building, 721 NW 9th Ave.

Speed the Plow

Blue skies and a wide green field beckoned hundreds of visitors yesterday to watch teams of gorgeous draft horses turning over perfect rows of black earth for the 46th Annual Farm Fest in McMinnville.

There were Percherons, Clydesdales, Belgians and Shires, along with lesser-known breeds like Halflingers and Fjords, as well as a team or two of mules. They were harnessed to comparatively delicate-looking plows steered by men and women who walked in the furrows they dug, directing their teams with whistles, calls and an occasional pull on the lines.

The sweat dripping off both horses and handlers showed how hard this work was, despite their methodical speed and the undulating waves of turned earth left in their wake. Each team was competing to plow a 50 by 150 foot section, which would take about three hours, with prizes awarded based on the straightness of the furrows and the performance of the team.

There won't be another chance to see these magnificent beasts (equine or human) demonstrating their skills until next year, but mark your calendar for early next April…you can even combine it with wine tasting or a picnic and make it the perfect day trip!

Photo at top of Clare Carver of Big Table Farm driving Huston and Hummer, her team of Halflingers, in this year's competition.

Big Horses: The Future of Farming?

Nascar and monster trucks have their fans, but for me an afternoon spent out in the fresh air listening to the heaving breath of big horses and the sound of plows turning the earth is a slice of heaven. This year's Farm Fest 2012, sponsored by the Yamhill County Historical Society and the Oregon Draft Horse Breeders Association, will give you a rare chance to see a wide range of draft horse breeds doing what they do best.

Lest you think this is a quaint historical reenactment, know that plowing with draft horses and mules is coming back in a big way on many small Oregon farms. Its low impact on the land and multiple benefits—manure for fertilizer, ability to do multiple tasks like plowing, haying and harvesting, relatively low maintenance costs—have many pieces of farm equipment being put out to pasture, especially in an era of sky-high fuel prices.

So whether you're into history, horses, the future of farming or simply want a nice drive in the country, put this event on your calendar with a big red circle.

Details: Farm Fest 2012. April 14, 10 am-3 pm; $3 adults, kids under 12 free. Yamhill Valley Heritage Center, 11275 SW Durham Lane, McMinnville. 503-434-0490.