Zenger Farm

Zenger Farm http://zengerfarm.org/

We are a working urban farm that models, promotes and educates about sustainable food systems, environmental stewardship, community development and access to good food for all.

Think it’s the seeds that make a pepper hot? Think again! Slice your pepper open lengthwise and you’ll see the seeds are...
08/27/2026

Think it’s the seeds that make a pepper hot? Think again! Slice your pepper open lengthwise and you’ll see the seeds are embedded in a white pith. That’s the placenta, named that because it nurtures the seeds as they develop. It’s the only tissue in the pepper that generates heat. If the seeds taste hot, it’s only because they’ve been nestled in the placenta all that time. 🥵

The Scoville scale is also scientifically shaky. A pharmacist made it up in 1912 by drying peppers and preparing them with more and more sugar water until a taster couldn’t detect the heat anymore. Human taste is subjective, not just from person to person but across a single day, depending on what else you’ve been eating. But nobody has come up with a better method since. So your own read on which pepper is hotter is as authoritative as anyone else’s.

CSA members, come taste for yourself. Our Fire and Ice event is today from 4-6pm with all the hot peppers we’re growing and shaved ice to cool down. Even if it’s not your pickup week, all members are welcome. 🌶️🍧

This week’s Sharecast is here! CSA members can expect heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, snap beans, shish*to peppers, hot pep...
08/24/2026

This week’s Sharecast is here! CSA members can expect heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, snap beans, shish*to peppers, hot peppers, and Italian plums in their share this Thursday. A few of the following might also make an appearance: Petit Marseillais sweet peppers, Jimmy Nardello peppers, and rainbow chard.

This Thursday is also our Last Thursday event! We’re calling it Fire and Ice. Taste your way through all of the hot peppers we’re growing this year before cooling down with fresh fruit shaved ice. We’re also bringing back marigold garland and pepper ristra making from last year.

Remember, even if it’s not your pickup week, CSA events are open to all members. Stop by from 4-6pm and stay a while!

It’s finally plum season! We wait on these trees all year and then it’s all hands on deck for only about two weeks. You ...
08/20/2026

It’s finally plum season! We wait on these trees all year and then it’s all hands on deck for only about two weeks. You can find ours at New Seasons Market Woodstock and Kiyokawa Family Orchards while they last.

This week’s Sharecast is here! CSA members can expect heirloom or cherry tomatoes, eggplant, snap beans, shish*to pepper...
08/17/2026

This week’s Sharecast is here! CSA members can expect heirloom or cherry tomatoes, eggplant, snap beans, shish*to peppers, serrano peppers, and Italian plums in their share this Thursday. A few of these might also make an appearance: collards, jalapeño peppers, Jimmy Nardello peppers, and shallots.

The Italian plums come with a bit of history. Ulrich Zenger raised dairy cattle here and planted a row of plum trees along the wetland to use as fence posts, keeping the cattle out in the winter. All these years later, those same trees are still giving us delicious plums every late summer. Thanks, Uli!

The trick with eggplant is knowing exactly when to pick it. We harvest twice a week, mostly by feel. Press your thumb ge...
08/12/2026

The trick with eggplant is knowing exactly when to pick it. We harvest twice a week, mostly by feel. Press your thumb gently into the skin. If it gives a little then slowly bounces back, it’s ready. If it stays dented or the shine starts to dull, it’s gone past its prime. That’s when eggplant turns spongy and bitter, and it’s the stage most grocery store eggplant is picked at. Probably why so many people think they don’t like it.

We pick our Taiwanese, Turkish, and striped Italian varieties on the smaller side, with smaller seeds, if any at all. Harvested young, they stay mild and tender. We’re careful after harvest too. The fruit snaps right off the plant, but we still go in with snips to keep the stems short. That way the pointy ends don’t bruise the eggplant stored beside them.

This week’s Sharecast is here! CSA members can expect lacinato kale, eggplant, tomatillos, snap beans, shish*to peppers,...
08/10/2026

This week’s Sharecast is here! CSA members can expect lacinato kale, eggplant, tomatillos, snap beans, shish*to peppers, and parsley in their share this Thursday. A few of these might also make an appearance: Chioggia beets, serrano peppers, Italian plums, and cherry tomatoes.

If you’ve never had a farm-fresh tomatillo, you’re in for a treat. Ours are sweet with a depth of flavor that comes alive when cooked, great diced raw into a slaw or simmered into a sauce. The lacinato kale is a standout too, milder and sweeter than most and tender enough to win over folks who think they don’t like kale.

Curious how to use something in your share? Ask us at pickup! We love talking about what we’re growing and how we cook it.

Heirloom tomatoes are a summer favorite, but the word heirloom is surprisingly hard to pin down. Some say a variety has ...
08/06/2026

Heirloom tomatoes are a summer favorite, but the word heirloom is surprisingly hard to pin down. Some say a variety has to be 50 years old to qualify, but with new versions of old favorites appearing all the time, even that gets fuzzy.

Here’s what growers do agree on. Heirlooms are open pollinated rather than hybrids, which means we can save seed from this year’s fruit and grow a similar plant next season. That matters for food security and for biodiversity, since these tomatoes carry genetic traits that might not shine now but could prove valuable in the years ahead. They’re also selected for exceptional flavor, and on that we can vouch.

Ours come in yellow, pink, red, green, purple, and a bicolor red and yellow. Each one delicious no matter how you slice it.

Wildfire smoke changes a lot about how a farm runs. The plants feel it first. Smoke and ash block sunlight, which can sl...
08/06/2026

Wildfire smoke changes a lot about how a farm runs. The plants feel it first. Smoke and ash block sunlight, which can slow ripening and lower yields. If it only lasts a day or two, most crops bounce back just fine.

The bigger impact is on the people. A farm isn’t wild land. It’s tended every day by farmers whose whole job is outside. Smoke tends to arrive with extreme heat, so the work gets slower and harder right when crops need the most attention. That means more shade breaks and more water breaks, and when the air turns hazardous, the work just has to wait.

We’re grateful the winds have begun to shift and the air is clearing here. But the fires are still burning across our region, and this is becoming a longer, harder season each year. For plenty of farms it’s still a daily reality, and some are facing far more than smoke. We’re keeping them and the people who work their land in our thoughts.

We missed you last week! The smoke and heat have rolled in, but the farm keeps growing and we’re glad to be back at it.T...
08/05/2026

We missed you last week! The smoke and heat have rolled in, but the farm keeps growing and we’re glad to be back at it.

This week, CSA members can expect heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, carrots, snap beans, shish*to peppers, and summer squash. A few of these might also make an appearance: shiso, marjoram, summer savory, serrano peppers, and Italian plums.

Signs are pointing to Thursday being a little cooler and clearer, which we’ll happily take. See you at the farm from 4-6pm!

Figs don’t ripen once they’re picked, so timing the harvest is everything. Lucky for us, the tree tells you when it’s re...
07/29/2026

Figs don’t ripen once they’re picked, so timing the harvest is everything. Lucky for us, the tree tells you when it’s ready. Figs grow upright at first, then start to droop as they get heavy with sugar. When one detaches easily with the stem still on, we know it’s ripe.

You may have heard there’s a wasp inside every fig. Not here. The varieties we grow are parthenocarpic, meaning they set fruit without any pollination at all, much like the cucumbers in our greenhouse. Wasps pollinated their wild ancestors, but our figs don’t need them.

One more fun fact, because figs are fascinating. They grow two crops a year. The breba crop grows on last year’s wood, and the main crop grows on new growth. At our latitude there isn’t enough fall sunlight to ripen the main crop, so we harvest the breba. That’s also why we go easy on winter pruning. Cut back too hard and you lose the very wood the breba crop grows on.

Address

11741 SE Foster Road
Portland, OR
97266

Telephone

+15032824245

Website

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