Senior Living: Shop for fresh foods at Gorge farmers markets

If you are planning on shopping at a Farmers Market, here are several quick tips to make the best of your experience.

1. Plan ahead by identifying what you need. To see what is available, check out the market’s website or Facebook page. And if you need a ride, call your local public transportation provider to learn how they can help you get there.

2. Bring a bag. Having a bag that can go on your shoulder will help keep your hands free. And a mini cooler with a few damp paper towels can keep highly perishable items like fresh herbs and certain vegetables from wilting on the way home. When you leave, you don’t want to look like a circus performer juggling your newly purchased fresh meats, vegetables, and fruits!

3. Ask questions. Get to know your local farmers. Take the opportunity to ask any questions you may have about the food and how it’s grown.

4. Try something new. Challenge yourself to try at least one new food item. How about the vegetables arugula or kale?

5. Make a farm-to-table meal by using everything you bought to prepare a tasty locally grown meal.

To reduce the risk of foodborne illness, don’t forget the basic sanitary practices. Keep the meat cold in a closed, iced cooler, separate from other fresh produce to prevent cross-contamination; rinse your fruits and vegetables and pat them dry with a clean paper towel; use separate cutting boards for produce and raw meat; and as our parents always told us — wash your hands first.

By visiting a farmers’ market, you are buying fresh — sometimes picked the same day instead of being shipped hundreds of miles, at comparable prices to your local grocery stores, and you are supporting your local agricultural community.

To find information about the farmers markets in the Gorge, go online to gorgegrown.com. But for those of you who can’t, here is a quick listing of the times and places for all six farmers markets:

Hood River: Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Fifth and Columbia in downtown Hood River.

The Dalles: Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; downtown City Park, Union and E. 5th Street.

White Salmon: Tuesdays, 4–7 p.m.; White Salmon’s City Park at 282 N. Main Ave.

Stevenson: Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; waterfront at 140 S. Cascade Ave.

Mercado del Valle Farmers’ Market in Odell: Thursdays, 5-7 p.m.; June 26, July 3 and 17, Aug. 7 and 21, and Sept. 4; downtown Odell on Atkinson Drive.

Trout Lake: Sundays,10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 22, July 27, Aug. 31, and Sept. 28; Trout Lake Grange, 2390 Washington Highway 141.

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Brain Tease: You know you’re getting old when you remember playing solitaire with cards instead of an electronic device! So this week, take time to exercise your grey cells by finding a deck of cards and playing the card game “Concentration,” also called Memory, alone or with a friend, focusing on matching pairs from memory.

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The theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, and European-trained physician who, in 1913, established a hospital in Gabon, Africa, and later in 1952 won the Nobel Peace Prize was Albert Schweitzer. I received correct answers from Jerry Tanquist, Bruce Johnson, Judy Kiser, Lana Tepfer, Rebecca Abrams, Doug Nelson, Dave Lutgens, Eva Summers, and this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket is Steven Woolpert.

And last week, I missed Pat Evenson-Brady, Jess Birge, and Rebecca Abrams.

The richest person in the world has been a contentious figure in the news recently, but in the middle of the 20th century, there was another controversial figure considered one of the richest and most influential people at the time. For this week’s “Remember When” question, who was this talented, reclusive, and very eccentric millionaire and philanthropist associated with RKO Pictures, TWA, and an obsessive-compulsive disorder? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call or text my cell phone at 541-980-4645, or send it with a ticket to see the Spruce Goose at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville.

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Well, it’s been another week, wondering what’s going to be served next. Until we meet again, don’t let the smoke get in your eyes.

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“I am so busy doing nothing... that the idea of doing anything — which as you know, always leads to something — cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.”

— Jerry Seinfeld

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Nutritious home-delivered and in-person meals are available at noon Monday through Friday unless otherwise noted.

Seniors of Mosier Valley (541-980-1157) — Wednesdays with music on second and fourth Wednesdays; Mt. Hood Town Hall (541-308-5997) — Tuesdays; Hood River Valley Adult Center (541-386-2060); Sherman County Senior and Community Center (541-565-3191); The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels (541-298-8333).

For meal sites in Washington, call Klickitat County Senior Services: Goldendale office (509-773-3757) or the White Salmon office (509-493-3068), and in Skamania County call Senior Services (509-427-3990).