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Community Farm Alliance helps farmers, residents open new market in Portland

Louisville, Ky., (June 5, 2003)- The Portland neighborhood and West Louisville will soon have a fresh alternative for high-quality, locally-grown produce when a new farmers’ market opens June 21st .

The idea for a market in the Portland neighborhood was born when CFA member and farmer Ivor Chodkowski met Reda Clayton and Lita Goodrich, Portland residents and owners of the successful restaurant Eve’s Sweet Revenge.

“We were getting tired of driving across the river for fresh produce,” said Clayton. “Ivor was supplying us with produce for our restaurant, and he saw that a market in Portland would be beneficial for residents, local businesses, and for farmers.”

"The lack of supermarkets and other food retail outlets in the Portland neighborhood has left many residents without easy and affordable access to healthy and nutritious food," said Chodkowski. “Residents decided it was time to confront the problem, and with CFA’s help organized to make this market happen. It benefits farmers by giving us another place to sell our products.”

Starting June 21st, the Portland Farmers' Market will operate Saturday mornings 8am-1pm in the Heid Printing Company's parking lot at the corner of 26th and Portland Avenue. All produce will be grown by local farmers and the market will be set up to take EBT cards (food stamps). Over the course of the season, buyers will find the freshest locally-grown fruits and vegetables, plants, natural free-range eggs and meat products.

Community Farm Alliance is a statewide, grassroots organization making the opening of the market possible by dedicating organizational resources to the project, and is encouraging community ownership over the market by helping to form a group of engaged supporters and residents called Friends of the Portland Farmers’ Market. CFA’s long-term vision is to build a local food economy where most of the foods Kentuckians eat are grown in Kentucky.

The opening day of the market will feature information on lead contamination and will offer free soil testing to check if your soil is contaminated with lead. * If you're planning to grow vegetables in your yard you should get your soil tested for lead. Plants can pick up lead deposits in the soil, and children eating vegetables from these plants can then get lead poisoning. Also, children can be exposed to lead merely by digging in contaminated soil. Lead awareness and soil testing is sponsored by the Louisville Metro Health Department.

*Soil testing is limited to two samples per household; bring your soil in a zip lock bag with a label saying where the soil came from (for instance: your name, address, front yard, back yard, etc.). To obtain the soil sample, dig 1 ½ inches below the surface.