Hunting and gathering in Deering Oaks

Spring is my favorite season. I’m a gardener, so the annual thawing of the soil is something I start checking daily in early March. Unlike last spring, starting in March to poke my finger in the ground this year seemed like an act of futility, with winter carrying through in small fits until the first week of April. Now that I’m finally able to till, I have gotten my onions, potatoes, carrots and asparagus in the ground with the late spring seedlings of cucumbers, peas and green beans sprouting in the cold frame.

I’m not alone. There is a movement going on around the state, and indeed the country to grow your own food. The fresh produce available in our local supermarkets is mostly anything but. We’ve all heard the USDA studies that tell us our produce travels an average of nearly 1,400 miles from farm to plate. Add to that fact the rising cost of transportation from ever increasing fuel prices, and a recent revelation from the International Energy Agency that (sweet crude, aka, easy-to-extract) oil production is set to decline worldwide by nearly seventy-five percent over the next twenty years, and you have a recipe for a food crises like we haven’t seen in this country in the modern age.

Unfortunately on my small plot of land smack in the middle of Oakdale, I am unable to feed my family completely on my own. With the upcoming energy crises, and no viable solutions to completely replace oil, finding local sources of food should be on every Portlander’s to-do list.

Luckily, you need not look far. Spring not only gets me and other Portland gardeners back to their eighth of an acre, but it also harkens the arrival of the best farmers market in the state held every Saturday in Deering Oaks Park.

In just a short walk, bicycle ride, or perhaps in the not-so-distant future, horse trot, Portlanders can find local produce, meats, flowers and plants of the upmost quality and, with a farm-to-plate average of only fifty-six miles, the lowest environmental impact. Farmers from around the state travel to the market to sell items that are fresher than you will find anywhere else. It’s also a social event - an opportunity to see your fellow Portlanders who, like you, may be just coming out of winter hibernation.

So what better place to start your very own local hunting and gathering regimen than by strolling on down to Deering Oaks Park this Saturday starting at eleven.

It beats a 1,400 mile drive.