Portland Chefs Collaborative

To register online and to view the full schedule, click here>>

“Lexicon of Sustainability” is a  series of portrait collages by Douglas Gayeton that speak the language of the growing movment towards sustainability in America.  This large-format, pictoral display will be interspersed throughout the conference center during the Farmer-Chef Connection at Clackamas Community College.

Registration is open for Farmer-Chef Connection 2012, happening Monday March 5th!

Click here for more info>>

With the 2012 Farmer-Chef Connection fast approaching, we want to hear from you about what workshops and panels you’d like to see/hear/participate in this year.  Send an email to Piper with your ideas!

The 12th annual Farmer Chef Connection will take place on Monday, March 5th, 2012 at Clackamas Community College. Co-hosted by Portland Chefs Collaborative and Friends of Family Farmers, the steering committee is diligently planning this year’s event, coordinating sessions, food and raffle donations, and volunteers.

The Farmer Chef Connection is always a sold out event, bringing together over 300 chefs, farmers, ranchers, and fisherman to learn, make connections, and eat great food. The event is from 7:45AM to 4PM, and we’ll serve a light breakfast along with a lunch donated by local farms and prepared by chefs. The entry fee is worth the amazing lunch on it’s own!

We’ll also have multiple learning sessions, a keynote speaker, and raffle prizes donated by local businesses. Don’t miss this great event – we look forward to seeing you there!

Details of a Sustainable Seafood panel will be coming soon…   In the meantime, here is a great poster to help figure out when the fresh seafood that we get in the great Northwest is available.

Fresh_Fish_dates_2011 – download

Thanks to everyone who participated, both as attendees and as all the volunteer work that it takes to pull this off!  Great products donated to the lunch and the raffle, tons of work preparing all the great food, the many tasks that had to be done throughout the day to make the event run smoothly…

The steering committee behind the Chefs Collaborative is David Barber of Pickleopolis/Three Square Grill, David Yudkin of HotLips Pizza & Soda, Jon Beeaker of New Seasons, Jaret Foster of Portland Farmers Market, Sarah Curtis-Fawley of Pacific Pie Company, Tricia Butler of Sasafrass Catering, and Michele Knaus of Friends of Family Farmers.

Clackamas Community College always steps up by providing the great event space and a bunch of fantastic volunteers from their Horticulture Program.  New Seasons provides an incredible amount of staff support in addition to being our biggest sponsor, after Friends of Family Farmers and the Portland Chefs Collaborative.

Online registration is closed so that we can get badges printed off, but you can still join us tomorrow at the Farmer-Chef Connection.  Just bring check or cash  ($20, $10 for each additional employee/family member), and we’ll make up a badge for you at the door.  Scroll down to the previous post to see the schedule and agenda, it should be a great day!

Location: Gregory Forum, Clackamas Community College (Main Campus), Oregon City

8-4pm, includes a great lunch and a raffle ticket!

Email portlandchefscollaborative@gmail.com or call Michele at 503.841.0305 with last minute questions.

7:45-9:15        Registration & Networking

8:00-9:00        Early Morning Workshop: FCC 101 – McLaughlin Auditorium

9:15-10:15        Keynote Panel: Pioneers in Portland Local Sourcing

- Gregory Forum

10:15-10:25        Friends of Family Farmers – Kendra Kimbirauskas

(Mobile Meat Slaughter Project & State Legislation) – Gregory Forum

10:30-12:30        Mid-Morning Workshops – Gregory Forum & McLaughlin Auditorium

12:30-2:00        Lunch & Networking – Gregory Forum

2:00-3:30        Afternoon Workshops  – Gregory Forum & McLaughlin Auditorium

3:35-4:00        Closing Remarks & Raffle – Gregory Forum  Raffle Prizes!

Keynote Panel – 9:15-10:15

Pioneers in Portland Local Sourcing – Gregory Forum
A discussion of the original motivations for forming Portland Chefs Collaborative and Farmer-Chef Connection; with the current awareness and popularity of eating local and “sustainably” at new levels, how to best stay true to the goals of a place-based, economically viable, environmentally sound, local food community…

David Yudkin (Hotlips Pizza), Greg Higgins (Higgins Restaurant), Linda Colwell (founding Co-Chair of the Portland Chefs Collaborative), Sheldon Marcuvitz (Your Kitchen Garden)

Early Morning Workshop – 8-9am

Farmer-Chef Connection 101 - McLoughlin Auditorium
The art of buying and selling direct.  Learn the do’s and don’ts when interacting with food producers and buyers.

Anne Berblinger (Gales Meadow Farm), David Knaus (CREST Farm; West Linn Wilsonville School Dist), Kelly Myers (Nostrana), Abby Fammartino (Abby’s Table)

Mid-Morning Workshops – 10:30-12:30pm

Sustainable Seafood – McLoughlin Auditorium
Local sourcing seafood in Portland; sustainability perspectives and suggestions from Oregon experts.  Farmed fish, frozen seafood, what customers should know and ask, and the challenges of selling direct will be discussed.

Paul Shively, (Pew Trust Pacific Forage Fish Campaign), Bryan Szeliga (Chef), Reid Ten Kley (Iliamna Fish Co), Brandon Hill (Bamboo Sushi), Laura Anderson (LocalOcean), Lance Schultz (Newman’s)

Farmer-Chef Connection 401: Overcoming Conflicts Between Values and Scale - Gregory Forum
Distribution, Production, Marketing, & Sourcing – the pros, cons, and necessity of increasing scale in order to provide economic stability and stable supply chains.   Join a conversation that will discuss the values inherent in local food supply and the impact that increased production has on those values.

Piper Davis (Grand Central Bakery), Laura Ohm (Grand Central Bakery), Mark Anderson (Champoeg Farms), Scott Laney (Eat Oregon First), Amanda Oborne (Food Hub)

Afternoon Workshops – 2-3:30

Season Extension Using Food Preservation for Chefs and Farmers – McLoughlin Auditorium

In August and September, our farms produce an incredible bounty of vegetables. This panel will describe some farmer-chef partnerships to preserve the harvest and explore both potential products and ways to structure deals. We encourage chefs and farmers with experience in this area to attend this panel as there will be opportunities to share your ideas.

Tricia Butler (Sassafras Catering), Erin Meeker (Sassafras Catering), Clare Columbus (Gervais School District), Anne Berblinger (Gales Meadow Farm)

Local Specialty Flours: A Willamette Valley Update - Gregory Forum

Stallford Farm’s transition to organic agriculture and to local grains on a large scale,  re-establishing the infrastructure needed.  Getting the grain to the baker:  the milling process, the marketing, adapting Willamette Valley wheat flour, and baking with whole grains.

Charlene Murdock and Richard White (Nana Cardoon/Murdock & White), Willow Coberly (Stallford Farms), Mary Ann Jasper (Greenwillow Grains), Kim Boyce (author Good to the Grain)

Thanks to a good suggestion from an attendee, we set up FCC 2011 as an event on RideShare.us.  You can post there for free (you just have to register) if you have space or if you need a ride.  Happy travels, see you on the 7th!

http://www.rideshare.us/page.php?next=eventdisplay&lookup=FCC2011