A TUESDAY IN PORTLAND, OREGON - THE OHSU FARMERS MARKET AND ELK ROCK GARDEN Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

Elk Rock Garden, Portland, Oregon.

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took the photos in this post in August 2025.

Portland, Oregon

Or how the end of one trip provided the opportunity for another......

In the summer of 2025, in an airport baggage claim area, my husband and I found our suitcase, but its telescopic handle was stuck in the retracted position. The back of the suitcase had a shallow dent, as if a baby elephant had sat on it. So after we got home, we took the injured suitcase to a luggage doctor in Portland, namely Fink’s Luggage & Repair shop. We chose to pay $85 to replace the whole mechanism assembly thingy, rather than $300 to $1,000 to replace our aging suitcase, even though it will still have one missing zipper pull and wheels that make a racket because their rubber tires wore off last century. No sentimental attachment here, only personal values that favor fixing things over throwing them away. 

OHSU Farmer's Market

Market performers' tent.

After taking care of business, we drove to the nearest farmers market for lunch: the OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University) Farmers Market, open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from June through September. We drove past the market vendor trucks and parked in the hospital “Patient and Patient Visitor” structure, for free!

Chinese food.

Coffee.

We walked back to the market tents outside of the Medical School Mackenzie Hall. From the menus at the tents offering bagels, boba drinks, Chinese food, cookies, food from Ethiopia, Myanmar, Mexico, tamales, Vietnamese coffee, and wings, we sampled Chinese chowmein from LoLo S. San Xiang, plus one sausage (soft, boldly seasoned with a herbal hint and a spicy kick) and one chicken wing from Juicy JV’s Wings, and a coffee, drip-brewed over ice and sweetened condensed milk, from Vietnamese Coffee. The longest line was a strong recommendation for Tamales Poblanos, but we didn’t want to spend that much time on lunch. We appreciated the sustainable metal forks and ceramic plates, to be returned at a clearly labeled spot for washing and re-use. We sat on the shaded, clean grass, to eat in view of the trickling fountain and guitar player.

After this fun and yummy lunch, we used the impeccable restrooms in the Auditorium building adjacent to the market. We didn’t buy any produce, flowers, meat, candles, extra large scrunchies (hair ties) or anything else. Many lunch patrons were medical staff members and students in scrubs, wearing identification cards on lanyards, a reassuring sight in case of indigestion, as was the emergency room we had passed in the car.

Elk Rock Garden.

For a post-lunch adventure, we visited Elk Rock Garden. This estate is the former home of Peter Kerr, a Scottish immigrant and entrepreneur. After he purchased the land in the late 1800s, he spent a lifetime developing the garden as a manicured “wild” landscape full of Scottish and Pacific Northwest plants.

Today, the non-profit Elk Rock Garden Foundation owns and maintains the property. The house is not open to the public, but the Foundation uses it. Visiting the garden is free, with an opportunity to drop a donation in a box.

What a pleasant place for an hour-long stroll in cool shade on a warm afternoon! In the Visitor Center (a tight spot under a rooflet with no walls on three sides), we signed the guest book, noticed the binder of info about the garden plants, and took a photo of the garden map. Then we set out on the path that essentially loops around the perimeter. We skipped the other paths, across the middle. 

On the way to the uphill side of perimeter path, I took photos of the fairy tale woods (above and at the top of this post). Soon something bluish-gray appeared on the left, through the trees down the steep slope. What could it be? Water? It was so big! It was water—the Willamette River.

Fish pond.

After reaching the farthest point, we headed back along the downhill side of the perimeter path, past the fish pond.

Lawn.

From the lawn, we saw the house, on the other side of which we had parked initially.

Mount Hood.

Beyond the river, we saw Mount Hood, the highest peak in Oregon, more than once. For visitors in a contemplative mood, the place is quiet, in part because no dogs, picnics, or lawn games are allowed. If I’m lucky enough to go back some day, I’ll spend time at the Visitor Center to look inside the binder of info about the plants.