Profiles in Agriculture

Laura and Robin Sage, owners of Red Bird Acres, are nice people and good farmers working to provide high-quality meat and eggs to Corvallis-area customers without compromising on ethics or farming practices. They raise broiler chickens, laying hens, hogs, sheep, and a few dairy goats all on green green Willamette Valley pasture. Recently I visited […]

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Mid-September marks the start of hazelnut harvest season in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Turkish farmers grow a large majority of the world’s hazelnut crop, but Oregon hazelnut growers produce five to seven percent of the world total, making this area a significant player on an international scale. Because of some losses from freezing temperatures in Turkey […]

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My friend Lisa Hargest (you may have seen her in this post) came over for dinner a while back, and we got to talking about the state of things at Gathering Together Farm, the place where Henry and I worked for years and now the place where Lisa has worked for years. She told us […]

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The USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Oregon maintains, among other things, the world collection of Ribes cultivars as well as their wild counterparts. The genus Ribes includes currants, gooseberries, and jostaberries (a black currant-gooseberry cross). Ribes species are native to the Northern Hemisphere, and in cooler, shorter-growing-season climates such as Canada, the United […]

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This morning, Charlotte and I stopped by Provenance Farm (now coexisting with Hemphill Angus) to visit our friend Rachel Prickett and her turkeys. Have you ever been surrounded by 170 highly vocal, full-grown turkeys? It’s kind of a memorable experience. This particular flock of ‘Broad Breasted Whites’ was super friendly and curious. Charlotte, herself only […]

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savoy cabbage Looking back at the photos of my parents’ garden, (Oven & Earth Farm) from just six weeks ago is so strange. The place is barely recognizable. Everything has grown like crazy since then, and that landscape of bare dirt with itty bitty plant starts has turned into an edible eden of green on […]

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The garlic harvest is on at my parents’ farm. This first batch is a little greener than ideal, but it was planted next to crops that still need irrigating, so without the option of drying it out a little further, it had to come out. It was at least 90° today, so after pulling the […]

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Well, my mom and I put about 40 pounds of raspberries in the freezer today. We each brought another few pounds into our kitchens to enjoy fresh. I always say I’m going to bake something fancy after a big U-picking day, but generally, the extra bucket just seems to disappear before I can work up […]

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I woke up sore this morning. And tired. It feels kinda great. The kids and I spent most of this past weekend at my parents’ place, sometimes known as Oven and Earth Farm. My mom bought a big trampoline about a month ago, so now when we’re over there, the kids just rotate from trampoline […]

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Every spring, I remember just how much I love artichokes. They’re a pain to eat, but boy, do they taste good with that earthiness that’s somehow sweet and bitter at the same time. Henry planted a row of artichokes at my parents’ property (that they lovingly refer to as “The Other Place”) a few years […]

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