The CFT in the News

Profiled in Fresh Water here. There goes any attempt at CFT anonymity.

And if you've read it, here are a few clarifications:

Regarding the garage filled with garlic, that was Urban Growth garlic, farmed in Ohio City and sold at the Fig Market and the Peninsula Farmers Market. They're good friends, have been featured in Crain's, and run a tight ship. That the article mentioned that they grow in Peninsula and sell in the Shoreway was somewhat ironic in that I give Pete and Virgina a hard time for selling at a far off fancy pants market ("pillaging a food desert" might have been uttered). Anyway, sorry about the error, and I'm going to try to visit P & V way out there tomorrow a.m. They've got some great plans for next year as discussed by Pete in the Crain's article.

Rural Oregon. I did work in Oregon for AmeriCorps for the long side of 2 years before settling here. Big ups to IHAD Oregon. However I lived in Portland (N & NE) and commuted about 30 min each way to work in Forest Grove, which could be considered rural. City by night, country by day (with huge Nike and Intel campuses between). It was there I developed my love for Mexican and Hawaiian food, mushrooms, and not using an umbrella no matter how hard it rains. It was also there that that I honed my disdain for homeless people with very expensive rain jackets and dogs and cities that shit on their minority populations. Most notably, I really miss the filberts.

Friendships with vendors. That's always been tricky for me, as I think the distinction between friend and acquaintance is a huge one. I sometimes find it hard to figure out when there's an actual friendship or simply a friendly business relationship with vendors and folks at restaurants. Maybe that's part of the charm of farmers markets and restaurants where the chef comes out to give patrons a high five or the staff is particularly cool--there's some type of relationship there. But I sometimes find it confusing, and as such my bright line for determining friendship is . . . non-business home visits. If there's been a non-transactional home visit I tend to think there's a friendship, or at least a burgeoning one. If not then it's a friendly customer relationship, which isn't bad and is quite nice for what it is.

Conversation is a good thing I think, and it makes sense to at least know a little about the people that are growing/making what you're eating and drinking. Are they honest? Is everyone on the same page? Do the profits go to support causes you find abhorrent? Please though, there's not much worse than waiting behind someone in line while he or she is performing psycho analysis on a busy vendor before buying $5 of veggies or a dozen eggs. Maybe we should limit ourselves to one friendly convo topic per visit?

"Libertarian gun enthusiast." I like Tod, count him as a friend, and stand by that statement. What's not mentioned is that I took him up on that skeet shooting offer, and have done so on numerous occasions--he's a much better shot than me. The guy has great meat, and it's raised in a very thoughtful way. While I don't subscribe to all of his political views, I find his thoughts on subjects well considered to the point where reasonable minds may differ. I wish more people gave as much though to their political stances as he does.

That's it. Overall I really enjoyed the article and was flattered by it. The vendors and restaurateur mentioned are beyond reproach, and it's great that there's another periodical covering these types of things. They could use a snazzier webpage though, but I'm really in no place to criticize.