Hood Rivers Farmers Market (Portland, Eugene: university, organic, living)

[upatthecape]

How is the farmers market in Hood River? Is it outside in the summer?

Do local organic farmers bring their crops to sell?

Hood River seems like an attractive town. Is this a resort/vacation town that people frequent for shopping and recreation?
University of Oregon isn't far being in Portland. Do college kids frequent Hood River/ Is the a presence from the University?

Think it would be possible to start an organic farm outside of town( up to 45-1hr away) and sell produce in town? Anyone know about the quality of land for growing is? How brutal is the wind when you leave town up to an hour away(north,east, or south. Not West back over the cascades).

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by upatthecape

How is the farmers market in Hood River? Is it outside in the summer?

Do local organic farmers bring their crops to sell?

Hood River seems like an attractive town. Is this a resort/vacation town that people frequent for shopping and recreation?
University of Oregon isn't far being in Portland. Do college kids frequent Hood River/ Is the a presence from the University?

Think it would be possible to start an organic farm outside of town( up to 45-1hr away) and sell produce in town? Anyone know about the quality of land for growing is? How brutal is the wind when you leave town up to an hour away(north,east, or south. Not West back over the cascades).

University of Oregon's main campus is in Eugene, which is more than 2 hours directly south of Portland. Unless a student was a die-hard wind surfer, you wouldn't find many U of O or OSU (Corvallis, OR) students in Hood River. Portland State University (public) and University of Portland (private) are in Portland.

It's 45 minutes from Portland to Hood River (on a good day). You don't go over any Cascade Range passes between Hood River and Portland - you drive down Hwy 84, through the Columbia River Gorge, which can be very windy any time of the year and icy and snowy in the winter. Hood River is very windy, as the Gorge funnels down to a narrow point and you get a venturi effect. That's why the wind surfers love it there.

Farmland in the Hood River area (including over by Mt Adams in Washington and the White Salmon area) tends to be very expensive, as there isn't a lot of level land in the area. Much of it is in large orchards (pear, apple, cherry). Much further to the west (towards The Dalles) is very dry. To the south is Mt Hood and the rest of the Cascade Range: not suitable for farming.

Haven't been to the farmer's market in more than 5 years, so I can't tell you much. I can say that the Saturday Farmer's Market at Portland State University is one of the best I have ever been to.

[StealthRabbit]

Gorge Grown Food Network ~ Farmers' Market

the local growers are experimenting with a 'mobile-market'
Farmers' Market Today - Food on Wheels (http://www.farmersmarketstoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57&Itemi d=1 - broken link)

http://www.gorgegrown.com/2008%20GGFM%20farmer%20packet.pdf (broken link)

HR land is tough to find organic (been extensively farmed for decades, lots of chemicals). There are days / weeks when it is very tough to tolerate the current spray applications for orchards near HR. If you are at all sensitive to these chemicals, BE CAREFUL, as you could be miserable. Some folks can have very accentuated physical reactions to residue.

While I can't recommend this from the OR forum, you really should check out the area 30 min north, around Trout Lake WA for fertile soils and nice growing (and living climate). Unfortunately Celestial Seasonings has bought up most of the available land.

HR has just opened a Satellite community college campus (CGCC) cgcc home

Wind is less away from the Gorge, and where the gorge is wider (east of TD)