By Melissa Wagoner
On Saturday, Nov. 4 “the Silverton Food Co-op is joining forces with GeerCrest Farm for a fun family event” – a community apple cider pressing and fall pop-up food market.
“We’ll have apples be the star,” co-op board member Beth Myers-Shenai said of the occasion, which will include both a cider pressing party as well as the sale of locally grown foods like hazelnuts, turkeys and – of course – apples.
“We’re trying to focus on local produce,” Myers-Shenai said, describing the many ways this fall-inspired pop-up will differ from those the co-op has offered in the past. “We’re going to bake up a few sample goodies and we’ll have… recipe cards so people get inspired.”
Inspiring the community to partake in more locally grown food is what the Silverton Food Co-op is all about and, increasingly, that’s what GeerCrest Farm is focused on as well.
“I envision the next lifecycle of the farm to focus on community food resilience,” Erika Toler – who owns the farm alongside her husband, Jim – said, expressing the goals she and Jim have for the farm as less focused on the farm’s past than its future.
“Now is the time to connect with other food organizations in Silverton,” she said. “I would like to become a food processing hub… to complete the food cycle and become a foundation of the Silverton community. I feel strongly that everyone needs to have access to land and to be involved in food production… This place has the past, present and future. It’s history evolving.”
And what better way for the evolution to begin than a harvest party promoting a more resilient local food system?
“It feels like the perfect connection,” Myers-Shenai said.
Community Apple Cider Pressing & Market
GeerCrest Farm
12390 Sunnyview Rd. NE, Salem
Saturday, Nov. 4, 1 p.m.
Free entry. Apple donations welcome. Bring your own cider container.
