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Backyard roots by lori eanes: lessons on living local from 35 urban farmers
Backyard Roots is a unique project by California-based photographer Lori Eanes that evocatively and intimately explores the lives of 35 urban farmers in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. In these stories and photos you'll find people like Laura Allen, the Oakland-based cofounder of Greywater Action, a policy and education nonprofit that promotes the use of greywater systems. In Vancouver, aquaponic farmer Jodi Peters sustainably grows and harvests tilapia in sync with her organic vegetable garden. Or meet Jonathan Chen, a young cancer survivor who now manages the Danny Woo Community Gardens in south Seattle, where a group of Southeast Asian immigrants farm in a vibrant mix of cultures.
The Side Yard Farm is featured in Backyard Roots as one of Portland's urban farms that is working towards its goal of a CSR (a community supported restaurant).
Order your copy today!
The Side Yard Farm is featured in Backyard Roots as one of Portland's urban farms that is working towards its goal of a CSR (a community supported restaurant).
Order your copy today!
Queer Voices Community Spotlight
Published March 13th, 2013 by Aaron Spencer
While some feel the need to choose between farming and cooking, Stacey Givens, 31, couldn’t decide. Instead, she’s made a career of doing them both. “Farming and cooking are my life,” Givens says. “My girlfriend gets so mad at me because I’m either reading a cookbook or a farming book or writing a menu or something.”
Givens’ business, the Side Yard Farm and Kitchen, provides various and sundry services from private catering, farm-to-table dinners, locally grown produce for restaurants, and cooking classes. “It’s always been about food for me,” she says. “I loved instantly the whole family feeling you get from being a part of a kitchen – the fast paced environment and your adrenaline pumping.” >>READ FULL ARTICLE
While some feel the need to choose between farming and cooking, Stacey Givens, 31, couldn’t decide. Instead, she’s made a career of doing them both. “Farming and cooking are my life,” Givens says. “My girlfriend gets so mad at me because I’m either reading a cookbook or a farming book or writing a menu or something.”
Givens’ business, the Side Yard Farm and Kitchen, provides various and sundry services from private catering, farm-to-table dinners, locally grown produce for restaurants, and cooking classes. “It’s always been about food for me,” she says. “I loved instantly the whole family feeling you get from being a part of a kitchen – the fast paced environment and your adrenaline pumping.” >>READ FULL ARTICLE
Unearthing Inspiration
Read the Oregon Wine Press article featuring The Side Yard's Chef/ Farmer, Stacey Givens.
They have published Stacey's Beet Pinot Redux recipe!
Published: October 1, 2012 By Oregon Wine Press
Read, cook and enjoy!
They have published Stacey's Beet Pinot Redux recipe!
Published: October 1, 2012 By Oregon Wine Press
Read, cook and enjoy!
'It's Eliz' Blogged about The Side Yard!
Posted: July 16, 2012 By it's Eliz
This past summer The Side Yard celebrated Bastille Day buy hosting a beautiful four course dinner with wine pairings.
Eliz attended and blogged about us! Check out all the lovely pictures of the farm and the food.
This past summer The Side Yard celebrated Bastille Day buy hosting a beautiful four course dinner with wine pairings.
Eliz attended and blogged about us! Check out all the lovely pictures of the farm and the food.
Cooking Up a Story
Published: July 18, 2012 By Food.Farmer.Earth
Chef Stacey Givens, founder and owner of The Side Yard in Portland, Oregon, and Chef at Raptor Ridge Winery in Newberg, talks about growing micro greens and selling them to the city's finest restaurants. Check out the video on Cooking Up a Story!
Chef Stacey Givens, founder and owner of The Side Yard in Portland, Oregon, and Chef at Raptor Ridge Winery in Newberg, talks about growing micro greens and selling them to the city's finest restaurants. Check out the video on Cooking Up a Story!
Edible Portland's Local Hero Award 2012
We were nominated for Edible Portland's Local Hero Awards, where outstanding supporters of Portland's regional food community are recognized and celebrated. We will share the results as soon as they are available - we're honored to have been nominated among amazing local farms.
Thank you to all of our supporters who took the time to shout out for The Side Yard - we can't thank you enough!
Thank you to all of our supporters who took the time to shout out for The Side Yard - we can't thank you enough!
Interview with The Side Yard: Urban Farm Brings Specialty Produce to Some of Portland's Top Restaurants
Published: November 9, 2011 By BePortland
The Side Yard also brings the Portland community together with larger events, in which chefs come together to cook good food and enjoy music with like-minded people. Earlier this year the garden had a massive pig roast. “There were nine chefs, a hundred and forty pound pig, and 50 people,” Givens recalls. “I'll continue to do the brunches until the weather's nice, and then once that stops I usually do monthly hoop house dinners. I'll put picnic tables up, lights, and do like six courses.”
Combining specialty farming with quality food and hard-working people, The Side Yard truly boasts creativity and community within a Portland population that is so passionate about its food. >>Read full article
The Side Yard also brings the Portland community together with larger events, in which chefs come together to cook good food and enjoy music with like-minded people. Earlier this year the garden had a massive pig roast. “There were nine chefs, a hundred and forty pound pig, and 50 people,” Givens recalls. “I'll continue to do the brunches until the weather's nice, and then once that stops I usually do monthly hoop house dinners. I'll put picnic tables up, lights, and do like six courses.”
Combining specialty farming with quality food and hard-working people, The Side Yard truly boasts creativity and community within a Portland population that is so passionate about its food. >>Read full article
Growing Portland's Vibrant Food Scene on Urban Acres
Published: August 23, 2011 By The Oregonian
Stacey Givens is an unlikely farmer, having spent most of her working years tending not soil but simmering pots in a professional kitchen. But now the Portland chef makes part of her living growing food on two urban lots in Northeast Portland's Cully neighborhood, and selling tiny radishes, beets and culinary herbs to eight local restaurants.
Neighbors don't complain, she says, about the leafy landscape at Side Yard Farm, or squawk about her chickens, pygmy goats and bees. In fact, quite the opposite: "I get people walking by all the time who say, 'You need help today?' I cook them lunch or give them vegetables," Givens says. >>Read full article
Stacey Givens is an unlikely farmer, having spent most of her working years tending not soil but simmering pots in a professional kitchen. But now the Portland chef makes part of her living growing food on two urban lots in Northeast Portland's Cully neighborhood, and selling tiny radishes, beets and culinary herbs to eight local restaurants.
Neighbors don't complain, she says, about the leafy landscape at Side Yard Farm, or squawk about her chickens, pygmy goats and bees. In fact, quite the opposite: "I get people walking by all the time who say, 'You need help today?' I cook them lunch or give them vegetables," Givens says. >>Read full article
The Side Yard Micro Crops Growing in Popularity
Published: August 23, 2010 By Neighborhood Notes
"What truly inspired me to start The Side Yard was my drive to be just as creative with growing food as I am with cooking food," she says. "I don't want to be just another urban farm, I want to be a chefs' candy store.'" So Givens decided upon two twists: she'd sell her yields to local kitchens, and she'd think small. In 2009, using some of the money she'd saved,
Givens went to work, finding land to lease and then planting it with shoots she started in her Irvington apartment. For the next several weeks (while cooking for Lincoln Restaurant, gardening at Noble Rot and helping open The Original restaurant as a prep cook), she and handfuls of "volunteers" (very good friends upon whom she heavily leans and pays with goods during harvests) helped her clear land. They built raised beds and compost bins. They installed an irrigation system that would water plants from the rainwater caught by the rain barrels they built. Everything would be reused. And then, over several weeks of long 10-hour days, they planted the first crops. >>Read full article
"What truly inspired me to start The Side Yard was my drive to be just as creative with growing food as I am with cooking food," she says. "I don't want to be just another urban farm, I want to be a chefs' candy store.'" So Givens decided upon two twists: she'd sell her yields to local kitchens, and she'd think small. In 2009, using some of the money she'd saved,
Givens went to work, finding land to lease and then planting it with shoots she started in her Irvington apartment. For the next several weeks (while cooking for Lincoln Restaurant, gardening at Noble Rot and helping open The Original restaurant as a prep cook), she and handfuls of "volunteers" (very good friends upon whom she heavily leans and pays with goods during harvests) helped her clear land. They built raised beds and compost bins. They installed an irrigation system that would water plants from the rainwater caught by the rain barrels they built. Everything would be reused. And then, over several weeks of long 10-hour days, they planted the first crops. >>Read full article
The Original Restaurant Presents ‘Pig and Pinot’, a Farm‐to‐Table Wine and Dine Event
Published: August 17, 2010 by Portland Food and Drink
“The ‘Farm-to-Table’ factor is the true taste of this dinner”, says Executive Chef B.J. Smith of The Original Dinerant, “because using local ingredients loses the need for preservatives and other flavor-killing treatments of the foods.” Mr. Bacon will be freshly slaughtered and prepared, packed full of nutrients and flavor. And the vegetables for the meal will be local as well, from The Side Yard, a nearby small-scale urban farm owned by The Original’s own cook, Stacey Givens.
“By using locally grown vegetables,” continues Smith, “we not only enjoy the abundant flavors of freshness from the just-picked foods, but also enjoy knowing that we’re making a smaller eco-footprint with the meal, too.”
“The ‘Farm-to-Table’ factor is the true taste of this dinner”, says Executive Chef B.J. Smith of The Original Dinerant, “because using local ingredients loses the need for preservatives and other flavor-killing treatments of the foods.” Mr. Bacon will be freshly slaughtered and prepared, packed full of nutrients and flavor. And the vegetables for the meal will be local as well, from The Side Yard, a nearby small-scale urban farm owned by The Original’s own cook, Stacey Givens.
“By using locally grown vegetables,” continues Smith, “we not only enjoy the abundant flavors of freshness from the just-picked foods, but also enjoy knowing that we’re making a smaller eco-footprint with the meal, too.”
