On Saturday, November 22, the Thanksgiving FEASTival promises to provide all the greens, heirloom squash, fresh-dug potatoes, pie fruit, wild chanterelles, hazelnuts, leeks, and Brussels sprouts for a hearty Thanksgiving meal. Purchase natural centerpieces and wreaths, artisan cheese, homemade pies and chocolate, and Oregon wine to enjoy at home or as a gift for the host. Find culinary inspiration--along with practical how-tos—from three great chefs:

On Tuesday, November 25, just two days before the big feast, Portland Farmers Market will host a Thanksgiving Reunion Market, at the Eastbank Farmers Market site, at the corner of SE 20th Ave & Salmon St., from 1pm to 5pm. The Reunion Market provides one more chance to source ingredients as locally as possible for a country-style Thanksgiving and the tastiest of leftovers! Sip hot apple cider, buy a cup of roasted chestnuts and nibble a mini-ginger cookie, prepared by Two Tarts Bakery.

It's easy to fill multiple tote bags with the marvelous bounty of the season. Then, at home, faced with glorious mounds of greens, squash, leeks, apples, wild mushrooms, beans, and more, you ask, "What am I going to do with all this?"

Worry no more-- Portland Farmers Market is coming to the rescue! During the months of November and December, the market’s Taste the Place booth will be converted into a Recipe Station. Over the years, the Market staff has collected hundreds of recipes that let local ingredients shine. Now these recipes have been organized and are available to shoppers, free for the taking. Simply pick-up a free ring clasp at the Recipe Station, peruse the current offering of 40 recipes specially chosen to warm up a fall or winter day, and fill your ring to create a collection to match your family's meal preferences. Look for savory soups, slow-cooked stews, hearty vegetable dishes, braised meats, and yummy baked goods.

So, shop with confidence and plan a stop at the Recipe Station for inspiration on how to turn your fixin’s into meals you'll want to make again and again.

Farm-direct giving just got easier with Portland Farmers Market’s Gift Station. Any Saturday through December 20, share the spirit of the country with family, friends, co-workers, teachers and party hosts by giving boxes filled with the offerings of local Market vendors. After you shop the stalls for unique gifts of honey, chocolates, candles, pears, gourmet condiments, holiday centerpieces, dried fruits, hazelnuts, cider and wine, return to the Gift Station. There you can choose from several options for ribbon and trim while you watch volunteers transform your finds into an eye-catching personalized gift box ready for delivery in person, or secured to send through the mail.

The Gift Station is free of charge, with donations gladly accepted.

When a market shopper picks up a bundle of Asian greens from Kaleng Moua's stall, Moua sometimes tells her, "Maybe it doesn't look very nice, but it's very healthy." To the contrary, most shoppers would agree that Moua's stall is a marvel: colorful flowers fill buckets, and piles of lush green produce, much of it unfamiliar to western cooks, wait to be made into stir fries or chopped into winter gratins.

What Moua means when he says that his produce isn't picture perfect is that he grows everything with methods he learned in Laos, the country where he was born. In Laos, Moua was an "Official Worker" at a state farm. All the work was done by hand--planting, weeding, and harvesting--and the farmers didn't use fertilizer or irrigate their fields. The resulting produce was dense with nutrition and flavor.

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Over the last two decades, “eating local” has expanded beyond an individual lifestyle choice into a social movement with a dedicated community of supporters. Portland Farmers Market has long been at the forefront of this evolution, connecting local growers and producers with passionate consumers. As we look ahead to the national holiday dedicated to giving thanks, Portland Farmers Market would like to recognize the many segments of our community who have helped us grow.

• We thank our vendors, many of whom wake before dawn, travel long distances and put in extended days to bring the best of the country to the heart of the city.
• We thank our volunteers who donate more than 1,000 hours of time over the course of a market season to help with everything from recipe sampling at Taste the Place to leading Kids Cook at the Market classes.
• We thank our shoppers who venture out rain or shine to sustain Oregon and Southwest Washington’s small farms and artisan producers.
• We thank our sponsors, who provide vital support for market operations and educational programs. The Oregonian’s FoodDay, West Coast Bank, New Seasons Market, Food Front Cooperative Grocery, Western Culinary Institute, and Organic Valley all help us highlight the essential need to support regional agriculture.
• We thank our organizational partners who host our markets, providing space for farmer’s markets to thrive and mature within the communities they serve. Our partners include Hinson Memorial Baptist Church, Ecotrust, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, Portland State University and the City of Portland.
• We thank our society of restaurants whose chefs regularly shop the market for menu inspiration when they are not taking a turn on the
  Chef in the Market demonstration stage. Among these eateries are:

• Lastly, we thank Portland Farmers Market’s staff and board of directors, who are committed to connecting consumers directly to local food producers, strengthening urban-rural community bonds and educating the general public on the benefits of eating locally produced food.

When you choose Organic Valley foods, you enjoy the delicious results of our farmer-owned cooperative of families working together to rebuild local, organic agriculture in America. Did you know our cooperative owners include 58 farms right here in Oregon and Washington?

Organic Valley’s mission is to provide local, fresh organic milk to citizen partners as near to our farms as possible. When our cooperative grows locally, we grow locally. We send their farm fresh organic milk to a local organic bottling partner here in the region, and the bottler sends the milk into local distribution where it ends up in your neighborhood store.

It’s a very simple, sustainable vision that’s made locally produced Organic Valley milk available, right here in the Northwest, where sustainable agriculture was born.

We believe the best way to produce milk is to let our cows do what they do best. Many of our Oregon family farms practice an “intensive rotational grazing” system, where the cows are rotated through a series of small pasture “paddocks” each day to browse on fresh grass. Rotational grazing is a very efficient way to feed, because the cows do all the harvesting, saving both labor and fuel (less tractor use). The cows also distribute nutrients uniformly, recycling soil fertility. And of course we produce our milk without the use of antibiotics or synthetic hormones, pesticides and fertilizers.

What’s best, studies show that grass-fed cows produce milk with more Omega-3 fatty acids, which have shown promise at promoting health and preventing some forms of cancer. So not only is grazing healthier for the local cows and the land, it’s good for milk drinkers too.

Organic Valley is proud to support the community of small family farms in the Northwest as a longtime sponsor of Portland Farmers Market. Meet some of Organic Valley Oregon farmers, in-person, at the farmers market during special event days this fall and visit www.organicvalley.coop to find coupons, news and recipes.