So often, folks ask us -- what do you do all winter? Or, are you all farmers? Or, What was the inspiration behind this project? Can it happen in my community too?  We decided we could take a few minutes every month to share some of the answers to these questions, and let you get to know a little more about the amazing things happening around the Gorge with food and farms, as told by the folks doing it.

This second piece in our monthly series is from Todd Dierker, our Market Manager Extraordinaire!

We hope you’ll enjoy learning a little more about what we do -- and why we do it! And look for your Gorge Grown Farmers' Market update tomorrow.

- The Gorge Grown Team

Todd Dierker

One day this past winter, my 3-year-old daughter looked up from her Legos project and said, “I am making a farmers’ market truck Daddy”.  I smiled back knowing that my work for Gorge Grown is already making a difference.  One child at a time we can rebuild a society where farmers and the goods they produce are highly valued and a source of local pride.   This is why I have dedicated much of my time serving as the manager for the Gorge Grown Farmers’ Market and supporting all of the markets throughout the region.

I do it for the kids.  I want them to feel connected to their home through every meal they eat.  My mother instilled in me a deep relationship with gardening and the value of eating a meal grown in the backyard.  I am taking it a step further by introducing them to the local farmers, bakers, cheese makers and ranchers that are part of their foodshed and whose operations will hopefully continue and feed my grandchildren someday.  

News of oil spills and climate change often leave me feeling hopeless and fearful that humans are slowly destroying the world.   This work has given me focus and a tangible way to know that our efforts ARE making a difference.  When I connect other families to their farming neighbors, see the berry stained faces of kids laughing at the market or help a rural farmers’ market develop into a self sufficient operation, I feel whole.  It is important for our family to do our part at home too.

Last week my 6-year-old son and I worked on trellising our raspberry patch.  I didn’t have any wire around, but am thrilled to report that we ripped off enough old TV cable from the rooflines of our farmhouse to support all of the growing plants perfectly.  Now it should be a bountiful berry harvest and much easier for the kids to pick.  And with all of that berry picking to do, our family will have even less time to worry about which washed up TV celebrity has the best dance moves.

Kids are incredible sponges and I am very thankful that mine know the incredible taste of a fresh heirloom tomato, how to tell if an Asian pear is ripe and how bland a world is if food travels 1,500 miles to the table.  They share with me some great insights too, like how fun it is to chomp bites of broccoli off the plant like a Triceratops and how hilarious it is that one vendor at the farmers’ market sells worm poop, which happens to be great for growing plants.  Lastly, I offer my gratitude to all of the other parents that are sharing this journey with their children.  Together we are planting the seeds of hope that will slowly grow and mature into a diverse and tasty future.