Welcome Andrea!

Andrea is the newest staff member at NCFW joining us as our Communications & Admin Assistant. Her connection to the food systems is deeply rooted, as her grandparents were corn, bean, and jicama farmers in Mexico. Andrea is passionate about farmworker rights and brings several years of experience leading work with the local Spanish speaking community. She has also been a part of the Oregon Food Bank’s Policy Leadership Council and was part of our Advisory Board before joining the team. She loves spending time with her family and in her spare time enjoys reading, foraging, and rockhounding.

This Summer: Taste of the Food Web returns!

Hot Winter was founded on a simple idea: to make the best tasting hot sauce possible. They believe that flavor is key and that the right combination of spices and peppers can elevate any dish. Founder, Shaun Winter, cultivated his own variety of chili, the Hot Winter Pepper. Shaun wanted a pepper that was unique and flavorful, something that would stand out in a crowded market. He spent years perfecting his chili, and today it's the centerpiece of all Hot Winter sauces. The Hot Winter Pepper creates unique flavor profiles that you won't find anywhere else. They also are proud to support small-scale farmers in the Pacific Northwest by sourcing peppers locally. When you choose Hot Winter Hot Sauce, you're supporting local farms too.

Hot Winter sauce makers are fascinated with the art of fermentation! They use traditional fermentation techniques to unlock the full flavor and nutritional potential of the ingredients, resulting in hot sauces that are not only spicy but also rich and complex.

Hot Winter is committed to using locally sourced, organic ingredients and crafting sauces that are as delicious as they are unique. Whether you're a hot sauce aficionado or just looking to spice up your meals, order your Hot Winter Fermented Hot Sauce to your next North Coast Online Farmers Market Day Order. 

Our new kitchen workshops have been popping off this Spring! Click here to get tickets for these upcoming workshops:

• Wild World of Salads with Nord (April 4th)
• Know Your Butcher with Joe from Gullery's Butcher Shop (April 9th)

Are you interested in helping out with a Community Cooking Workshop? Jobs could include helping to set up the class; assist during class time; and the all-important lynchpin of any kitchen: dishwashing. Are you a food producer? Because as an added perk, you can swap one hour of volunteer time for an hour of commercial kitchen rental! We’ve got a full roster of workshops on the calendar, so please email Andy (andy@northcoastfoodweb.org) if you are interested in helping out.

Food Producer Spotlight: Nord

New Instructor! We recently saw the debut of a new instructor in the NCFW kitchen: FOTFW (friend of the food web) and local chef dynamo Nord! Nord has been a professional chef for 24 years and is eager to share his knowledge, tips, and techniques with our local community of food enthusiasts. Nord’s first class was a deep dive (ladle?) into the world of soup, and future classes will be focussed on knife skills, technique, and a wide array of other culinary topics. Check out the NCFW website for details on upcoming workshops!

Nord is also in the process of getting his open air food cart - Nord Nosh - up and running. He’ll be prepping out of the NCFW kitchen and serving at the Astoria Sunday Market. He’s got some seriously tasty ideas brewing, so look for his cart and his vibrant presence at 12th and Marine come May!

Supporting Farmers

On a site visit to Spring Up Farm last year, Farmer Kelley mentioned that many local farmers make an annual trip or two in to a soil amendment supplier in Milwaukie, OR, where they load up their Subarus with bags of worm castings and agricultural lime and haul them over 100 miles back to the farm.

Wouldn’t it be nice, she mused, if they could just all get delivered to Astoria for local pick-up?

Thus a program was born. We started small this year, piloting our very first Soil Amendment Program by organizing the distribution of over 10,000 pounds of soil amendments for 6 local farmers. It was modest in scale but impactful to those who participated. We will be gathering more information from local farmers later this year to be able to improve & scale up this program in Spring 2025!

Farm Visits

In the effort to create more farmer and community connections as well as peer learning opportunities, we are planning some local  farm visits, with tours and an onsite demonstrations in April or May. We are looking forward to the time of year when things really begin to bloom!

Interested in being a part of this as a participating farm or visitor? Email info@northcoastfoodweb.org to let us know!

 Workshops in the Works

You may remember our Value-Added Producer Workshop in October when we paired with the SBDC and covered the basics of starting a value added food business. We heard from the ODA about basic regulation and licensing, as well as local value added producers about their experiences and knowledge gained through that.

Stay tuned for a revamp of the workshop, as we await the implementation of the new SB 507 ruling and regulation from the ODA!

Oregon Farm to School Equipment & Infrastructure Grant Program

The goal of this grant program is to provide financial resources for Oregon farmers, ranchers, seafood harvesters, fishermen, and processors with specific equipment and infrastructure needs, and who intend to sell food produced (grown, harvested, gathered, raised,

caught or processed) in Oregon to any of their listed programs.

Full Program Info Here!