Over 120 local eaters joined OSA’s plant breeders to celebrate a cornucopia of fresh farm flavors at our third Community Field Day and Variety Tasting on September 25 at the Finnriver Cidery and Orchard. From a rainbow of raw and roasted carrots to sweet corn bred for and grown on the Olympic Peninsula, to a creamy ‘True Magenta’ chard dish, the menu featured the culinary potential of the many vegetables OSA is improving and evaluating for performance on organic farms.
Visitors also enjoyed a guided tour of our Chimacum research farm and learned about organic plant breeding from OSA’s Laurie McKenzie and Micaela Colley and guest researchers Drs. Philipp Simon and Lindsey du Toit. Earlier in the day, local farmers engaged with the researchers, evaluated carrots in development, and explored the trial beds to see which new varieties are flourishing.
Feedback on new varieties from both farmers and variety showcase guests will help inform future plant breeding efforts.
OSA is enormously grateful to everyone who participated: our many guests, local farmers, research partners, our hosts at Finnriver and our dedicated volunteers led by event coordinator and board member Amy Grondin and chef Arran Stark. We also thank markets who donated to the event or to our “bag of swag” raffle: the Jefferson County Farmers Market, the Finnriver Store, Chimacum Corner Store, Port Townsend Food Co-op, Sunrise Coffee, and Pane d’Amore.
Thank you all for supporting this flavorful event!
