February 13th, 2021 market —Snow Day in the City
LB and Justin delivering impromptu produce at Coquine in an ice-covered Portland a Saturday morning market got canceled.
Down at the farm we started getting worried about the expected weather in Portland early in the week. I normally feel very comfortable driving the big farm trucks to market, but the ice that was to be expected had me very concerned! Luckily, our beloved Justin went in prepared and confident and took us safely up to the city.
We went up Friday night hoping to beat the worst of the weather and hunkered down for the night. Around 5:00 o’clock Saturday morning, I began receiving texts from market staff that vendors were starting to call out. Within a few minutes, Trimet announced that they would be closed for the day due to unsafe driving conditions, and the market decided to cancel market for the safety of folks trying to commute in.
Since we were already up in the city, Justin and I jumped into gear and started calling around to some of our clients in the Portland restaurant community. Justin tore apart pallets in the truck taking inventory of what we had to sell, and I got on the phone and started slingin’ veg! Thanks to Josh at Rubinette Produce Market and Katy at Coquine, we were able to make about 2/3 the amount that we’d hope to have made on a regular winter market day, and the Portland community were able to get fresh produce that was suddenly hard to come by.
Josh fed us sandwiches from his deli and Katy served us hot chocolate and cookies from hers, and they really came out in support of their local farmers. It was an adventure of a day that I was lucky to get to share with the wonderful and fearless Justin as he navigated with ease through crazy conditions.
And as the cherry on top of such a memorable day was a farm-to-table dinner to-go that I got to take home from the GTF Restaurant upon returning to the farm. Grateful for the day.
