Tomato and Salsa Fest spices up Lebanon

The eighth annual Tomato and Salsa Fest brought all the sweet and spice it promised on Sept. 12. About 300 community members came to taste and browse the tomato-based foods on display at Timeless Gardens in Lebanon.

Owner Trudie Bason coordinated the vendors and activities. Booths ranged from garden-based research from OSU Extension Service, fresh produce for sale, tomato tasting, and 18 homemade salsas competing for bragging rights as the best.

Patrick and Rebecca Bordwell, daughter and son-in-law to Bason, oversaw the salsa tasting tables. They served guests their selected salsas on a plate paired with tortilla chips. Numbered one through 18, salsas included recipes made with fruit, shrimp, corn, and some more traditional blends using cilantro and jalapeno.

“Thirteen and 14 are pretty spicy,” Patrick said. “I hear people sniffling when they walk by.”

Event-goers cast their vote for their favorite in three categories: best overall, most spicy that you can still eat, and most unusual. Jason Vincent filled his plate before choosing his bests.

“Four is one of my favorites, but I keep going back to number one,” Vincent said. “Even though it’s subtle, it’s very interesting.”

Local couple Steve and Grace Christensen came hungry. Upon arrival they also got their plate of salsas and sat in the shade to pick their favorites.

“So far so good,” Grace said.

“So far too hot,” her husband joked, as he reached for a water to wash away the heat of his bite.

Attendees were able to bring their biggest tomatoes to enter in the biggest tomato contest. The winner, brought by Shelby Juhl, weighed in at a hefty 1.5 pounds.

Barbara Rowe of Rowe’s Garden had a booth with a variety of tomatoes and peppers grown in her gardens for purchase. Customers had their choice of her specialty peppers such as the padron, also known as Spanish roulette peppers for their unpredictable spiciness.

“One and 10 are hot, the rest are not,” Rowe said.

The tomato tasting booth with Master Gardener Lisa Almarode had over a dozen flavors, colors and shapes of her homegrown tomatoes. With a dry-erase board displayed at the booth, she recorded the votes from tasters of their preferred fruit. The plump Italian heirloom and bite-sized sun gold were tied for first place.

“For Trudie I’m sort of donating this because it’s fun to do and a good cause,” Almarode said.

The fest featured a passport challenge in which guests would visit each booth and have them sign off on their “passport.” Those who completed the passport and made a purchase at Timeless Gardens nursery would be entered into the drawing for the grand prize. Valued at more than $300, the gift basket contained treats and items that could make the whole family happy.

“All things were donated and at least half the things are from Lebanon,” Bason said.

The event raised $500 for Hannah’s House, a non-profit organization for women and teens with life controlling problems.

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Winners:

Best Overall: Torrey Bason (tomato, serrano peppers, onion, lime, cilantro)

Most Unusual: Lisa Ochoas (unknown)

Most Spicy: Jolene Mullenix (unknown)

Grand prize drawing: Jan Boucot

Biggest tomato: Shelby Juhl

Lebanon: Master Gardener makes salsa on TV

"Garden Time" producer Jeff Gustin films host Judy Alleruzzo looking on as Trudie Bason makes salsa for the show.

The eighth annual Tomato and Salsa Fest is days away and Master Gardener Trudie Bason from Timeless Gardens was busy in the kitchen this Labor Day giving a local TV show a sneak peek at her homemade salsa.

“Garden Time,” a Portland-based gardening show, visited Bason at her nursery in Lebanon Sept. 7. The episode will air the morning of the Tomato and Salsa Fest, Saturday, Sept. 12. The show visited Timeless Gardens two years ago in preparation for a past Fest.

“It’s a fun event,” said Jeff Gustin, owner and producer of the show. “That’s why we came back.”

The Tomato and Salsa Fest is hosted at Timeless Gardens off Brewster Road from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday. It’s free to attend and features a salsa contest and biggest tomato contest. A family friendly event, there will be carnival-style games for kids, vendors, hourly door prizes, and a grand prize valued at $250. 

“I had this idea of the Salsa Fest because every time someone buys tomatoes in the spring they’re bragging about their salsa,” Bason said.

The Fest will have demonstrations and samples of tomato foods such as roasted tomato soup, fried green tomatoes, and green tomato bundt cake.

Each year the event gets bigger. Last year saw about 300 locals and this year she expects more. 

The salsa competition is open to anyone that brings $3, a minimum of one quart of their homemade salsa, and enters before 10 a.m. on the day of the event. 

There are three categories for salsas: hottest that you can still eat, most unusual and best all-around. “Most unusual” entries in the past have included oddly delicious salsas using beets, shrimp, or strawberries and chocolate. Creativity is encouraged.

Tasting tables will display entries and judging is a group effort by all attendees of the event voting for their favorite. At 4 p.m. the recipe with the most votes wins. Bragging rights included.

During the visit from “Garden Time,” hosts Judy Alleruzzo and William McClenathan sampled a recipe with Gustin that won several years ago. It included cucumbers, tomatoes, cantaloupe and mint. The crew was silent between their “yums,” surprised by its flavors, and asked for more. 

“It has no gluten. It has none of the things you can’t have,” Bason said proudly.

All proceeds from the event will go to Hannah's House, a non-profit faith-based program helping women and at-risk teens with life controlling problems.

To find the local time Bason’s episode of “Garden Time” will air, visit their website gardentime.tv. The site includes a plant of the week, tip of the week, how-tos, and a blog for all things relevant to gardeners in the Northwest.

Get off my TV, Senator Ted Cruz

I just watched an interview on FOX with Sen. Ted Cruz about the fundamental wrongness of gay marriage. Despite what the people of this land have voted into the law, Sen. Cruz is a supporter to Kim Davis, the now infamous Kentucky clerk who is jailed for her refusal to issue gay marriage licences regardless of legality, citing the Constitution. 

Without going on a rant about how people in public office are supposed to uphold the law, because we all know those lines are blurred as much now as they were then, I think it’s best to remind them that this country is not the country it was when our forefathers wrote the Constitution in 1787. 

The Constitution had its first 10 amendments in 1791, the Bill of Rights. In 2015, there are now an additional 15 of them—proof that things have changed as society has progressed. There were 13 states back then, not the 50 we have today, and the country was still two years away from electing George Washington as its first-ever president.

When the Constitution was signed, the men who wrote it wore those silly white wigs. They wore clothes we wouldn’t see at the grocery store or mall today. We would chuckle if we did, I’m sure. 

They arrived to the Philadelphia Convention to sign the Constitution by horse and carriage, not by car. They worked at night by candlelight, not by the flick of a switch. They knocked on each other’s doors when they needed to talk; not by phone, email or social media. Samuel Morse wouldn’t even invent the telegraph for nearly 100 years.

When the Constitution was created slavery was legal, and blacks had no right to declare themselves citizens. Today, a black man sits in the most powerful position in the country. I wonder what George Washington would think about that.

Back then, people were condemned in public regularly as a spectator sport at the drop of a hat. The West was certainly still wild. The country wouldn't see their first multimillionaire, John Jacob Astor, or the world's first billionaire, John D. Rockefeller, for over a century.

Back then, welfare didn’t exist. It was each man for himself. Women didn’t vote. They rarely had a job. Healthcare for citizens was a distant conversation. It wouldn’t be until 1954 that Dr. Joseph E. Murray would perform the first successful kidney transplant. I’m sure many people in 1787 would tell you it was impossible to do so. Man had yet to fly. We certainly hadn’t gone to the moon. 

Back then, a woman was ready to wed and start a family at the age of our middle-schoolers today. Statutory rape wasn’t even a concept to the men they often married. Jared from Subway wouldn't have been jailed for relations with a minor. Marriages were arranged by families, and personal choice was not often a consideration.

Gay marriage wasn’t even on the radar. Procreation and lineage were important to the survival of the country and to a family tree. Most people wouldn’t consider not finding a person of the opposite sex to create their legacy with because that’s what you were “supposed to do.”

Sperm banks didn’t exist. Artificial insemination was in its infancy. Scientist Lazzaro Spallanzani had only just performed the first successful artificial insemination on a dog three years before the Constitution was signed. The procedure in humans wouldn’t come for almost a century. Today, people have options.

With 319 million people in the U.S., the possibility of our country not surviving is minimal, except for us destroying ourselves with the technology we’ve developed since the birth of the Constitution. At the time, flintlock on guns had just been introduced - automatic or nuclear weapons...forget about it. Our forefathers had no idea of the progression to come.

So I say to you Sen. Cruz and Kim Davis: referring to the Constitution as “proof” that gay marriage is fundamentally wrong and “illegal” under its words is bogus. You are living in the past. The future is now. The people have spoken in the same way our forefathers did. If you insist that we must live as our forefathers did then get off the TVs, which didn’t exist back then, put on your silly white wigs, sell your car and buy a horse, and relinquish your use of electricity. Go out and pound the pavement with your words like our forefathers did - oh wait, there wasn’t pavement back then either. Get off my TV, I’m living in 2015, you are not.

Package drive honors fallen soldier

Photo by Nicole Patterson

The family of fallen Army Ranger SPC Cody Patterson would like to thank the community for their unwavering support in another successful package drive sending goods to soldiers overseas.

July 24-26 marked the fourth package drive since the Oct. 6, 2013 death of Philomath-born Patterson, when he was killed in action in Afghanistan. The Patterson family has since started the Cody Patterson Memorial Fund and sponsored package drives for his fellow soldiers.

“We think this was our best drive yet,” said Nicole Patterson, sister to Cody. “These were really high quality boxes and we were really able to focus on quality versus quantity.”

A few hundred Benton County residents came to support the cause at the Safeway on Philomath Blvd. last month. Each had items they felt could brighten the day of the men and women stationed overseas, bringing them the comforts of home.

Cody’s immediate family—including four sisters, two brothers, mom and grandmom—organized the drive and manned the booth, along with extended family and friends.

In total they put together 79 packages for soldiers in Cody’s battalion and to those in other battalions upon specific request with a provided APO address. Packages included favorites such as beef jerky, energy drinks, trail mix, items for s’mores, magazines, books, and movies.

This time around the family added a twist to the packages enclosing some fun for the soldiers.

“One was a ‘wild card box’ which had all the things for beer pong. They can’t have alcohol so we put Starbucks java shots in for them to play with,” Nicole said.

The family plans on continuing the drives annually.

“As long as we have troops overseas we’ll keep sending them packages,” she said.

Holding the package drives is a way the family has decided to continue honoring Cody’s legacy. He loved getting packages sent to him during the course of his two deployments.

“One of his favorite things was the chocolate Yoo-hoo drink. We sent some of them to the guys in his battalion that specifically asked for them because it was a Cody-favorite,” Nicole said.

Each package costs about $16 to send, and all packages were paid for by cash donations to his memorial fund.

In the past few weeks the family has received thanks from soldiers receiving the gifts. One soldier, Max, who was a close friend to Cody and serves as a Ranger in the same battalion sent his gratitude.

“They are perfect. They guys love them. I can’t express how thankful we are for them and your support.”

"Plant a row" program feeds families

As summer comes to an end and gardeners are preparing their fall crops, some are adding an extra row of plants to help fight hunger. Elementary schoolers in Albany are even getting involved.

Oregon Food Bank’s “plant a row” program gets gardeners, farms and nurseries alike involved in providing fresh produce to low income families. OSU Extension Service, an educational outreach program with an office in Tangent, supports the “plant a row” program.

Nutrition educator Iris Carrasco works in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for community and family health at OSU’s Extension Service. In partnership with Sunrise Elementary in Albany, Carrasco has managed the “plant a row” project in the school’s quarter-acre garden.

For the last five years the kids have had the opportunity to grow fruits and vegetables, journal their plants’ growth, and learn from master gardeners. Their garden club meets with Carrasco once a week year-round, educating them on the value of fresh produce and healthy eating habits.

“The principal was highly motivated to get the school in a healthy state for the kids,” Carrasco said. “Making a healthy decision was an easy decision.”

Of course, the kids love the opportunity to get their hands dirty too.

“It’s the most popular club at school so we have to switch the kids out every 10 weeks,” Carrasco said.

The garden is open to community members who help tend it, giving them and the kids first pick of produce to take home to their families. Much of what is grown is also used seasonally in the school cafeteria.

“We’re stressing to eat more vegetables and fruits,” Carrasco said. “That happens a lot easier when the kids are involved with the growing of their fruits and vegetables.”

Produce not used is donated to FISH of Albany, a non-profit organization providing care packages to an estimated 30,000 underprivileged people in the surrounding area annually. FISH also receives other food donations from local farmers.

“Very little of it spoils. We get rid of it as quick as it comes in,” said Linda Baker, representative of FISH.

The garden at Sunrise Elementary is supported by local businesses that donate to help sustain the program. Tom Krupicka, owner of Tom’s Garden Center in Albany, donates soil to Sunrise Elementary and several other schools in Linn County.

“Both my wife and I believe in supporting the kids and helping them in their education in any way we can,” he said. “It’s just the right thing to do to help the community, and kids are the future of that.”

Casteen Family Farms in Lebanon is one of several local businesses that donates seeds and starts for the garden.

“We grow whatever is donated to us, and whatever we grow is donated to the community,” Carrasco said.

This summer the Sunrise garden club grew peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, raspberries, and strawberries.

As the season changes, the kids will be busy with a new round of crops for the fall, and  community members will benefit from the fruits of their labor making a healthier community all around.

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Did you know...

FISH of Albany serves an estimated 30,000 Linn County residents each year.

This year, Linn Benton Food Share has already distributed 1.4 million pounds of food to over 34,000 households in Linn County.

Last year, Oregon Food Bank distributed 44.2 million pounds of food to hunger-relief agencies.

To donate you can contact FISH of Albany, Linn Benton Food Share in Corvallis or Oregon Food Bank in Portland.