Community: Sharing Table – Table Talk: Stories of our Dinner

For the Love of Food and Community: The People’s Food Co-op

The story of a unique Southeast Portland grocery store and the perils of climate and COVID-19 crises

The Store on the Corner

In the middle of a quaint neighborhood in Southeast Portland on the corner of SE 21st Ave. and SE Tibbetts St., a tall, unassuming, residential style building stands. Colored by natural wooden siding and organic decor and flanked by trees and a stone courtyard full of plant displays and seating, it feels almost reminiscent of a summer camp. The interior is full to the brim with foodstuffs, but not crowded. The most eye-catching corner is a cornucopia of red, white, and yellow onions, fluffy bunches of leafy greens, pyramids of crisp pink and green apples, and a myriad of other fruits and veggies, all neatly nestled into their particular spots. The other walls are lined with local healthful food and drink and a floor to ceiling bulk section of every dry good one could fathom. The people are as warm and inviting, willing to strike up conversation with newcomers and familiars alike. Most notably, they are all admirably passionate about this tall, unassuming building and what it stands for.

Like many other small businesses over the past two years, this store on the corner and the people within have faced a tidal wave of challenges. From sweltering heat waves and stock shortages, to strains on workers and wavering community ties, they’ve seen it all. But, throughout these trials they’ve stood tall, grounded in a foundation of worker solidarity and mutual love and trust with the Portland community.

Considering Community Before Profits

Born out of the new wave of co-ops of the 1960s, The People’s Food Co-op was initially formed as a food buying club by Reed College students interested in having access to whole foods. In 1970, it was transformed into the non-profit organization that it is today as the “People’s Food Store”. After nearly three decades of on and off operation, in 1998 People’s transitioned from having general managers to having a management team under which profitability, staff turnover, financial management, and wages improved tenfold. This move towards collective management set the stage for the restructuring of their business model to be based around elected representative bodies in 2011, as it has remained since, as a collision of democracy and retail.

This structure is called a cooperative, a model in which the business is entrenched in its community, insofar as it is owned and managed by those who both work for and patronize the organization. In this format, one can become a shareholder or “member-owner” and gain access to patronage dividends, discounts on products, and vote in and run for election for the board of directors.

Naturally this kind of collectively owned business is driven by the values of its community, unlike its corporate counterparts that answer only to a widely dispersed, impersonal group of profit motivated shareholders. People’s member-owners declare that their take on the co-op model was conceived with equitable realities for the community as the foremost priority, stating that “our store is laid out and built in a way that considers our community before profits”. This declaration of care for their community is evidenced by the fact that People’s profits go to member-owners and the only amounts retained are recycled into the co-op for wages, upkeep, renovations, and mutual aid donations.

“Our store is laid out and built in a way that considers our community before profits.”
People’s Food Co-op

Given their cooperative, non-hierarchical business model, the People’s Food Co-op’s foundation is grounded in the intrinsic and explicit value of their workers and member-owners. They receive privileges foreign to the average grocery store worker, such as the ability to vote on wage levels and benefit packages on a yearly basis and an equal starting wage for all positions of $17 an hour (which is notably higher than the $14 an hour Portland Metro minimum wage). Further, the board is working towards providing a living wage in Portland—a staggering $25 an hour—in order to make the co-op a sustainable workplace in a city that suffers one of the most rapid rates of increasing cost of living in the country. The co-op is also one of three brick and mortar pilots for the Oregon Food Bank’s Double Up Food Bucks program in Portland, in which those using SNAP to buy produce earn back a matching amount to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables

In addition to fair wages, member-owners are encouraged to come to board decision making meetings to give their input. Their counsel often focuses on individual experiences and the reevaluation of the store’s anatomy and processes. In this effort, member-owners have formed various focus groups, such as the Anti-White Supremacy Working Group, People of Color Caucus, and Social Justice and Equity working group. Five year staff member and Marketing and Design Manager at People’s, Gabi De León said that having the space to share BIPOC specific grievances and the opportunity to bring meaningful changes to the table has been a really powerful experience for her in the workplace and have cultivated a safe space for both co-op workers and community members alike

People’s also has strict buying guidelines that prioritize affordability and moral soundness, favoring vendors whose politics and procedures are aligned with the Co-op’s, especially in terms of workers rights. Recently, De León spoke of their boycott of the Amy’s Kitchen products because of the company’s rampant union busting, unsafe working conditions, and denial of bathroom breaks and access to drinking water to workers. She said that this sort of economic activism is not an uncommon occurrence for People’s, and that they are doing everything within their scope to show their support for Amy’s workers, down to contacting the union working with Amy’s employees.

One might expect standards like these to be followed only at upscale stores like New Seasons or Whole Foods, whose locations are scarce in low and low-middle income communities and prices are infeasible for the average consumer. This is not the case at People’s. They believe that no individual should be priced out of ethical consumption, which is why they boast competitive prices for all food items. Further, the co-op utilizes a trust based Food for All program that provides discounts for patrons going through financial hardship, and is one of three brick and mortar pilots for the Oregon Food Bank’s Double Up Food Bucks program in Portland.

No individual should be priced out of ethical consumption

People’s and The Summer 2021 Heatwave

Over the summer of 2021, the heat wave and fires in Oregon proved devastating all the way up the supply chain, impacting co-op workers, distributors, and producers alike. Temperatures peaked at a feverish 116 degrees fahrenheit, nearly unprecedented for the temperate summers of Portland, regrettably the third least air-conditioned city in the nation. Sidewalks sizzled, stores became saunas, and crops were scorched in the field from late June through mid July.

Many people couldn’t get to work, much less leave the house because of the intense heat, and farmers suffered notable cutbacks in produce supply as the crops overrippened in a matter of a day’s time without constant irrigation. Overall quality of local produce worsened, and many suppliers stopped delivering altogether because of the heat.

Portland summers normally yield a prolific blueberry harvest, allowing for a huge sale at the Co-op. This sale was nearly halved this past summer as their suppliers struggled to produce at the same rate, resulting in shortages of both fresh and frozen blueberries through the rest of the year and into 2022. PDX Co-op Collab (a joint project of food cooperative providing Portland co-op exclusive products) exclusive Ash Street Wine had to source their grapes from California instead of Oregon for the first time because much of the Willamette Valley grape crop was wiped out in the heat.

Because of the increasing intensity of climate change effects on the Pacific Northwest, these conditions are likely not going to be an isolated event. In preparation for this, the co-op has begun future strategizing to be better equipped for all the summers to come. De León mentioned that they are exploring delivery partnerships as an option to get food to people who may not be able to commute to get their groceries, as well as allocating funds to donate to organizations that are making sure people are being fed during climate disasters. People’s biggest challenge, according to De León, is “knowing when to independently innovate solutions and when to support others in their missions rather than stretching the co-op’s resources too thin”.

“People’s biggest challenge [in the heatwave]… is knowing when to independently innovate solutions and when to support others in their missions”
Gabi De León, Five-year employee at the People’s Food Co-op

The Pandemic and People’s

On top of these climate related challenges, the pandemic has also been a major hurdle for the People’s Food Co-op. De León recounted her experience working through the genesis of COVID-19 and the chaos that ensued, “the board started planning one week before the shutdown in 2020, and we all sat around the table and were like ‘what are we going to do?’, we knew this virus was going to be something big”. De León was right. And like most grocery type stores in the first few weeks, People’s experienced a mammoth surge of panic shopping. Products started zipping off the shelves as a blaze of patrons flew in and out of the store at lightning speed, generating a frenzied energy so intense that front-facing employees rapidly began to burn out.

This inferno of frantic shopping proved wildly unsustainable for both the workers and supply. In response, the board decided to enforce shopping boundaries: a ten in store customer cap, physical distancing, and requiring both shoppers and workers to wear masks. The response to this from the community was mixed. Some were displeased with the new measures, declaring that the store would never see a cent of theirs again so long as they had to comply with the new rules. De León said that the customer loss was considerable. However, there were many that chose to stand behind staff and the store, many were longtime member-owners and patrons who sought to uplift this community pillar.

Because the Co-op’s first priority is protecting the physical and mental health of the staff, the board moved to allow staff to work from home if possible, and even to take a leave of absence without repercussions. De León was included in those choosing to work from home and switched to part time. She stepped away from in person work for four months and worked only ten hours a week remotely and like the rest of the staff, received emergency paid time off throughout 2020 and 2021.

This internal support of co-op workers was bolstered by strong community support, particularly through the “Round Up at the Register for Staff Support Fund”, that was split equally between all staff and made enough for three separate payouts. Despite this, People’s lost a lot of staff over 2020 and 2021 because of both pandemic and non-pandemic related issues, and they experienced difficulty hiring in 2021. However, De León says that “as of early 2022 nearly all open positions have been filled by really solid staff and the co-op is in a really stable place”.

Hardship and Community Love and Trust

This stability, while partially a product of a bit of luck, is largely a result of the community oriented cooperative structure. The store is at once both a place where people go to work, fulfill their grocery needs, and to be in conversation with other Portland residents and the co-op itself about topics impacting the community. Because of this special relationship, People’s has been able to garner strong support from community members in moments of need—like the pandemic and the heatwave—with the caveat that with more trust, comes more accountability. De León commented that the co-op is held to higher standards than chain grocery stores because of the direct answerability to their patrons and member-owners as opposed to a corporate office. Over the past five decades, this ongoing conversation and accountability has enabled People’s to facilitate mutual love and trust with the people of Portland, and De León claims that this has served as their greatest asset in overcoming climate and pandemic related challenges. At the end of the day, the co-op is as reliant on the community as the community is reliant on it, and to be without this bond could have spelled doom for People’s in these taxing times.

At the end of the day, the co-op is as reliant on the community as the community is reliant on it.

So despite these two years of hardship, the doors of the store on the corner remain wide open, inviting to all. It remains a space where longtime patrons can spend hours picking through the milky white and warm brown eggs to find the perfect dozen without feeling rushed or self conscious. A space where one may use a crumpled brown paper bag with countless bulk codes crossed out and rewritten to get their fill of dried fruits, nuts, and grains. A space where anyone may feel welcome to satisfy their whole foods and community needs.

The Taste of Love

How members of the Lebanese community are spreading food and love throughout the Pacific Northwest.

What, you may ask, does love taste like?

The mind immediately goes to Valentine’s Day, a holiday filled with rich, creamy chocolates, decorative cakes, and chemically induced candies that dye the inside of your mouth. Other minds may go a different direction, toward a favorite recipe or a meal made with, by, or for loved ones. Maybe love tastes like a forbidden kiss, or tart strawberries on a hot summer day. Regardless of what love tastes like to you, there is one thing each possibility has in common: the power to bring people together.

For anyone looking for a place to discover what love tastes like, try eating at a restaurant that treats you like family. When you enter, the owners greet you with a hug. They ask you about your family, naming each member and accusing you of not bringing them in often enough. They know your order, your children’s favorite dessert, and how you like your coffee. For Dr. Sylvia Daoud Kinzie, a chemistry professor at the University of Portland, this restaurant is Al Hawr.

Al Hawr: The Dependability of Food

Located in Southwest Portland, Al Hawr serves a variety of different guests. These guests range from students to teachers, old to young, and lifelong Oregonians to recent immigrants. Though the range of guests is large, they all share one common goal: to have a good meal. They are never disappointed. Steaming plates of chicken schwarma fill the air with the intoxicating aroma of cumin and lemon, tingling the senses. Warm pita and chilled hummus fill empty stomachs, resting peacefully in the hearts of each consumer. The crunch of Baklawa echoes from each table, as the flakes of phyllo dough sprinkle like snow down each person’s throat, drips of syrup clinging to eager lips. This is what you can expect from a meal at Al Hawr.

Zeina Mansour and Chadi Hassan, the owners of Al Hawr, opened the restaurant’s first location in the mountains of Lebanon. The restaurant was very successful, drawing in curious food-lovers from across the country and beyond. However, like many of those who call or have called Lebanon home, the threat of war forced them to move themselves and their children to the United States. They left the restaurant in the care of Chadi’s mother, but a war-time inflated economy forced the restaurant to close. This loss didn’t stop them. Filled with a passion for food, they opened a restaurant in Portland and embraced the community, welcoming guests in with open arms.

Like Chadi and Zeina, Dr. Kinzie immigrated to the United States as a result of the ongoing war in Lebanon. She came thirty-two years ago, during the peak of the Lebanese Civil War, which left one-hundred thousand people dead and one million people displaced. Dr. Kinzie made the difficult decision to leave her hometown of Bierut after the war landed too close to her home. She describes feeling hopeless as the war continued, not knowing when or if the war would ever end.

For nearly five decades, Lebanon has faced constant conflict. With tension and war prevailing today, millions of Lebanese citizens have been displaced. Many of these citizens left on their own terms, but not by choice or free will. The war is out of their hands, and staying put only puts themselves in danger. Leaving is a matter of safety and the desire for a future without war.

Dr. Kinzie stumbled upon Al Hawr by accident. In typical Portland fashion, she and her mother were soaking up the sun on a bright, spring day. While wandering the neighborhood, they happened upon a new restaurant, one they had never heard of before. What caught Dr. Kinzie’s eye was the name of the restaurant, called “Al Hawr.” “That’s Arabic!” she declared. Standing outside was Chadi, also soaking up the sunny weather. He waved Dr. Kinzie and her mother over, eager to meet members of the community and enticed by their shared Lebanese culture. He welcomed the two into his restaurant, making them coffee, then lunch, and even telling Dr. Kinzie to invite her father over. Dr. Kinzie remembers the situation fondly. “We were there for three hours.” What started as a simple walk instigated a long and fruitful relationship between the Kinzie family and Zeina and Chadi, a bond over a shared love of Lebanese cuisine, their country, and their culture.

Love and Chemistry

A spotlight dish in Lebanese cuisine is kibbeh. Kibbeh is a Lebanese dish made from bulgur wheat, onion, mint, and either ground beef or lamb. Like many recipes, there is a massive amount of chemistry present in each step, each reaction crucial to the outcome of the dish.

First, you must soak the bulgar wheat in water for at least fifteen minutes. This allows for the alkaline phosphate to be activated. If, like me, you are not a particularly knowledgeable chemist, then you are probably wondering why this is important. According to Dr. Kinzie, the activation of the alkaline phosphate initiates the hydrolysis of starch, making the bulgur wheat easier to digest while maintaining the minerals that are present in the grain which risk being lost in the alternative boiling process.

Next, you must prepare the meat. In many recipes, it is common to pulverize the meat. To this, Dr. Kinzie gives a passionate “No!” In pulverizing the meat, you lose the protein and taste. To combat this loss, Dr. Kinzie describes her grandmother’s method of making Kibbeh: “She would pound the meat on a big marble boulder.” This allows for the meat to be properly tenderized, while maintaining the flavor and the protein.

The rest of the steps involve mixing, frying, baking, shaping, and seasoning. When making Kibbeh, you must not forget the onions and mint. These two ingredients are crucial to the dish’s signature taste. The result of following these steps is an egg shaped, round, brown patty that is bursting with flavor. It is soft on teeth and easily penetrable by fork and knife.

Kibbeh is one of Dr. Kinzie’s favorite dishes to make for her family and to order from Al Hawr. I had the privilege of tasting the Kibbeh from Al Hawr during a field trip I took in Dr. Kinzie’s “Chemistry of Food and Cooking” class. She took the liberty of ordering for the table, eager to expose us to the food she had devoted much of class time to discussing. On tasting the Kibbeh, I was at a loss for words. It had a thick outer layer and soft interior, making for a captivating texture. The Kibbeh shared a plate with housemade Falafels, bursting with the flavors of garlic, cumin, lemon, and coriander- the perfect balance of tart and savory.

A Definite Taste, An Indefinite Feeling

Food is a subtle form of love. This love is reflected in cooking for others, as it allows us to share a part of ourselves with the people who matter. To hold the responsibility of providing nutrients for loved ones is of the utmost importance, and it requires an intense level of diligence and care: love. To share a restaurant, to utter food recommendations, to realize you have the same favorite restaurant, these are all love letters to each other, a way of finding common ground in a world filled with differences. It reflects our culture and our history.

Sharing food takes vulnerability, as it reflects our culture, history, and personal preferences. To share food with others is to open yourself up to criticism that strikes the deepest level of your identity. Yet, the intimacy is what attracts us and keeps us coming back for more. Dr. Kinzie showed love to her “Chemistry of Food and Cooking” class by inviting us to share a meal with her at a restaurant she holds very close to her heart, with food that is ingrained into her identity. Chadi and Zeina showed love to the Kinzies by inviting them in for a spontaneous meal, a shared moment that resulted in a lifelong bond. They show love to each individual who visits the restaurant, pouring their hearts into every dish in order to connect their two homes: Lebanon and Oregon. It is stories like these that highlight the richness of the food scene in Oregon. Though divisiveness is increasingly prevalent throughout the state, people are working daily to combat this darkness by laughing and crying, eating and drinking, and loving a meal together.

Written by Mia Tierney

Join the Shrub Club

How one small business owner has embraced community as a foundation for resilience in response to a changing environment.

Photography by: Christine Noel James

Nestled within a shared warehouse in the NW industrial area of Portland, is a small commercial kitchen where Sascha Archer, founder of Sauvie Shrubs, spends time imagining the next flavor combination for her seasonal drinking vinegars. After tinkering around with different botanicals and playing matchmaker, she achieves a concoction that is greater than the sum of its parts. By forging new connections with ingredients that you may have never imagined together, such as persimmon-apple-gingerbread or concord-grape-shiso, she creates drinking vinegars that captivate the taste buds. Archer lights up with enthusiasm as she shares with me how her ingredients strengthen and complement one another in forming a cohesive community of flavors.

In deciding which fruits, herbs, and vegetables to use in her drinking vinegars, she turns to what nature has to offer her at that moment in time. About ninety percent of all the botanical ingredients are sourced from Sauvie Island, an agricultural growing area in Multnomah County, just 10 miles from downtown Portland. As a resident of the island, Archer tends to her own orchard, but also gathers from neighboring farms and forages for the fruits, herbs, and botanicals to nurture the growth of her 3-year-old business. Gathering, not only her ingredients, but resources, skillsets and people has become her strategy for navigating Sauvie Shrubs, and the communities she is part of, through tough times.

All about drinking vinegar

Drinking vinegars have gained popularity in recent years, due to an increased interest in their many health benefits and use in mocktails. All drinking vinegars start with a fruit base, and the most common one you will find in the grocery store is made with apple cider vinegar. Drinking vinegars are created through a fermentation process where bacteria and yeast are added to the extracted fruit juice. This converts the sugars to alcohol and then to vinegar, leaving you with a product high in antioxidants, and probiotics, all of which support a healthy gut microbiome. According to Archer, the effects of a daily dose of drinking vinegar (aka shrub) can range from improved digestion and a strengthened immune system to helping ward off muscle cramps.

Like many others, the health benefits were what initially sparked Archer’s interest as well. She began doing shots of apple cider vinegar to aid with digestive issues she was experiencing in her 20’s and 30’s. However, like anyone who has tried plain apple cider vinegar knows, it is not the best tasting. In the beginning, Archer wasn’t sure if she could stomach her daily dose, “it’s strong and so intense.” Regardless, she was determined to see it through.

“I began researching how to use apple cider vinegar for gut health and digestion and ordered a book with some real basic recipes, like lemon, ginger and honey with apple cider vinegar. That’s kind of where I started and realized that like, okay, this actually tastes kind of good.” Not only did the addition of these ingredients make the drink more palatable, but they also brought with them health benefits of their own.

After taking her new and improved shrubs regularly once or twice a day for some time, Archer noticed a huge improvement in how she felt, as it essentially cured her digestive issues. She was hooked on shrubs, and the creative outlet that she found in experimenting with different fruits, herbs, vegetables, botanicals, and spices. Moving beyond the recipe book, she started coming up with unique flavor combinations for herself, and soon began sharing them with friends and family.

Transforming a hobby into a business

Archers’ flavor combinations have become far more complex than the original ginger and lemon recipe she started out with. “I work with what’s in season and try to think about what flavors would pair well together. I am an avid gardener and I’ve always grown a lot of herbs and flowers that are edible.”

In her approach to aligning flavors with the seasons, she gravitates toward whatever is growing on the island at that time. “The funny thing, though, is because I’m making seasonal shrubs every month, it’s not like I experiment first. I just wing it and hope that it turns out, and usually, it does. Really, there’s only been one or two times where I’m like, this is okay, but it’s not my favorite. I don’t think there’s ever been a shrub that’s been terrible.”

As interest in non-alcoholic beverages and drinking vinegars grew, Archer saw an opportunity for her newfound passion for drinking vinegars. Sauvie Shrubs was born in 2019, just a year before the pandemic brought about unpredictable challenges in the food business world.

Archer created Sauvie Shrubs after completing a program at Portland Community College called “Getting Your Recipe to Market.” Food and drink entrepreneurs enter the three-month fast track program with a product idea and are then guided through the beginning steps of creating the product and recipe development, all the way to launching it into the marketplace. Archer was very grateful for the guidance and learning opportunities that the program offered. “Once I finished that, got into this kitchen and got licensed, I officially launched.” However, before all these details could fall into place, she needed to have a vision for what she was bringing to life. What prompted this vision was the land her products are named after.

A source of inspiration

Archer recalls that Sauvie Island has always held a special place in her heart. “I used to go out there a lot as a young girl and woman and it always held this magic for me, and I always dreamt of living out there.” After living in Canada and South Africa for several years, Archer returned to Portland and was drawn back to the island. “I got on Craigslist, and the first listing I saw was this little spot on 10 acres on Sauvie Island, and so I jumped on it. It was just a little cabin, but I really fell in love with it. And I think it was just meant to be; it was serendipitous.”

As a self-proclaimed “bird nerd,” Sauvie Island and its constant birdlife is the perfect place for Archer. One of the many things she loves about the island is being able to spot egrets and herons from her kitchen window. It’s no surprise, then, that the Sauvie Island logo also includes a bird.

The sandhill crane, illustrated in the logo, holds special significance to the Chinook tribe, who were the original habitants of Sauvie Island. The crane is also Archer’s favorite bird on the island, and their presence brought her peace and grounding during a difficult time in her life. “I was going through some really hard stuff right before I started the business and took some time off work. I was really struggling, but the thing that brought me peace and joy was walking, being in nature and being surrounded by these beautiful and majestic Sandhill cranes. I really felt incredibly connected to them.”

We don’t like to waste anything

In honoring the land and its abundance, Archer has prioritized creating a circular production system for Sauvie Shrubs. With this model, the remaining shrub mash/ end products that previously would have been discarded are used to make something new. Soon after starting the business, Archer created a zero-waste product line from the byproducts of her drinking vinegars. “I think that it has been one of the most fun and surprising parts of the shrub business that I didn’t anticipate.” Guided by creativity and a drive to close the production loop, she employs the same attitude of fearless experimentation that she uses in mixing up new flavor combinations.

When it came to creating seasoning salt/dusting sugar, fruit leathers, and her newest zero-waste product of ‘shrub snacks’, she knew very little about what she was doing before she took on the projects. In fact, she discovered how to make ‘shrub snacks’ by accident when she left her fruit leather in the dehydrator too long. Archer describes not only her surprise, but her customers’ surprise at the new product. “It’s the weirdest texture, crunchy and chewy at the same time. People get kind of weirded out when they first try it, but pretty soon they are hooked on it.”

As part of Sauvie Shrubs’ eco-promise, Archer encourages customers to return their bottles to her at her kitchen or at Sauvie Shrub farmers market stands. Her bottle return program is possible through a partnership with Go Box, which is a service for businesses to conveniently and cost effectively clean and sanitize their reusable containers. “I take customers’ bottles and once we’ve collected a surplus, Go Box takes them in, removes the labels, takes the sticky off, cleans them, sanitizes them, and then they bring them back, so that we can reuse them.”

Keeping the glass bottles within a closed loop for Sauvie Shrubs to reuse not only reduces waste but assists the financial side of the business. “I wish I could get everyone to do it because beyond just creating more waste, the supply chain issue right now is so challenging for small businesses. And you know, it’s just going to get worse, not to mention the cost of goods is going up.”

Collaboration over competition

The “Getting Your Recipe to Market” program that Archer formed Sauvie Shrubs through, also connected her to a network of small business owners in the area. Her adviser for that program was Hannah Kullberg, who runs a google group called the Pacific Northwest Packaged Food and Beverage Group, which Archer joined when starting her business. “It’s like a resource hub, where people are constantly sharing resources, giving feedback, and providing support. It feels wonderful to be part of a community that’s very inclusive and where people are so open. Definitely a collaboration over competition vibe.”

Archer’s choice for the most recent flavor may have been swayed by the fact that she just accumulated 16 boxes of peeled oranges from a bitters business she has connections to through the Google group. “The Bitter Housewife just uses the peels and so they didn’t want the oranges to go to waste.” This eco-business model of reciprocity between makers and producers is what Archer loves most about being a small business owner. Through these connections, Archer has made friends with many like-minded people, which have given rise to creative collaborations and future aspirations for items such as dried flower wreaths, shrub gummies, and possibly a zero-waste botanical skincare product.

A community builder

Upon moving to Sauvie Island, Archer was really excited about joining in community with the other residents and connecting with neighboring farms and artisans; however, she didn’t immediately find what she was hoping for. Although filled with wonderful people, skilled farmers and makers, the community she moved into felt disjointed. “I kept thinking, it’s so crazy that there isn’t a farmers market out here and that there never has been one. That’s primarily because within the county there are a lot of rules and regulations around land use and permitting.” The majority of Sauvie land is protected and managed by Fish & Game, which is why there are so many rules in place surrounding land use.

Despite roadblocks, Archer was able to get a farmers market up and running after about a year of organizing and looking for solutions. “I eventually had to do it as a rotating market between the three large farms. It’s never in a permanent place because of those strict rules.” Although the process was difficult, her goal was simple. “I wanted to create community for the island and bring people together. To create a meeting place for people to connect, but also to really showcase the smaller farms and the local artisans, the makers, and the small businesses. And it was the perfect way to do all of that.” By forming this space that not only links producers to consumers, but the producers of the island to one another, Archer finally brought to life the community she was searching for.

A challenging time for small businesses and farmers

The sense of community that the market instilled in farmers and people attending was incredibly valuable during a time colored by a collective feeling of social isolation. “Farmers markets are essential services, so they could carry on. There was just a lot more rules and restrictions.” Surprisingly, the pandemic did little to negatively impact turnout of people to the market. “People were just so grateful to be able to still have the farmers markets and to support locally during such a challenging time for so many small businesses and farmers.”

Another challenge arose during the summer of 2021, when Portland experienced record-breaking high temperatures, and as extreme weather events continue to rise as an effect of climate change, farmers are being forced to adapt. “That crazy heatwave took out so many crops. And there are these false springs, and then it freezes again.” The unpredictable weather can make farming work financially risky, as it is increasingly difficult to prepare for and protect crops against extreme weather. “For the farmers especially, it’s so unpredictable and challenging. And yeah, it affects my ingredients and produce too, but nothing compared to the hardships farmers experience.” These weather events made the farmers market and the support it offered for Sauvie Island farmers even more valuable.

The future…

With Sauvie Shrubs growing so quickly, Archer has decided to step down from managing the Sauvie Island farmer’s market this year to recenter her energy. “It’s been amazing starting and running it, but now I’m ready to give someone else the reins.” Closing that chapter has been bittersweet for Archer, but she feels it was the right decision. “My Sauvie Shrubs mission was really to stay hyper-local to support the farms on the island and grow and forage myself.” Archer is looking forward to spending more time as a vendor at farmer’s markets around Portland, as well as working on new collaborations with friends and neighbors. “So much of the joy is around being hyper-local and being connected to the farms and to my customers.”

***

A couple days after meeting with Archer, I was at home looking over my notes and brainstorming where to begin writing. I remembered the two bottles of shrubs that Archer had generously sent me home with, which were now patiently waiting for me in my fridge. At this thought, I took a break from my work and eagerly began preparing myself a drink with the concord-grape-shiso shrub. I shook the small glass bottle, pulled off the seal, and added a tablespoon to a glass of cold water. While stirring the mixture, I was greeted by the aroma of vinegar masked with the gentler smell of grape. I paused, trying to decipher the smell of shiso, which was unfamiliar to me, so I wasn’t sure what exactly I was looking for. After a failed attempt to clearly distinguish where it hid within the mix, I curiously took my first sip.

At the base of the drink, the sharp and sour taste of vinegar is what demands your attention. But it is the sweetness of the grape and the refreshing minty flavor of the shiso together that draws you back in for another sip. Archer envisions the communities she is part of as working together in the same way her ingredients do. As each individual shares their own unique strengths and gifts with the group, they grow exponentially in their power to support themselves and each other. With a greater collective skillset, comes increased possibilities for innovation. It is through community that resilience is born.

Shauvie Shrubs

Recipe From Sascha Archer

Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub Spritzer:

Ingredients:
-1 oz of Strawberry Rhubarb shrub (or any shrub of choice)
2-3 fresh strawberries cut in quarters
-1 tablespoon of honey or agave (leave out if you like it more on the tart side)
-6 oz of sparkling water
Add shrub, strawberries (option to muddle strawberries) and ice to a glass. 

Directions: 
Stir ingredients and top with sparkling water. Option to add an oz of your favorite liquor, we suggest vodka, gin or tequila (makes for a great Margarita).

Written by Maria Wanzek