In August of 1999 we purchased 10 acres on the Luckiamute River in the Hoskins area of Kings Valley, approximately 20 miles west of Corvallis. In addition to our land and water rights we acquired a 30 year old mobile home (now gone) and about 2 acres of young blueberry plants. After a wedding, a house (still not done!), the addition of two small farm workers (aka Ella and Cole), and countless hours pursuing a graduate degree and full-time jobs, we are now officially a "farm."
We envision our farm as a place for our family to work, grow and play. Our large kitchen garden offers us space to spend time together grazing on greens and berries and playing in the sandbox and playhouse in addition to providing us with much of our families food needs. The river supplies us with irrigation water and is a place to picnic and play on the tire swing. Assorted sites on the farm offer habitat for wildlife as well as opportunities for exploration and creative play.
Currently, we grow blueberries for sale at First Alternative Cooperative Grocery in Corvallis, Corvallis Local Foods, for U-pick and for bulk sales. Our vegetable crops include garlic, potatoes, winter squash and onions. Our mission is to provide unconventionally grown food with a minimum of off-farm and petroleum-dependent inputs for the people of our local community. To us, unconventionally grown means we take a systems approach in our efforts to balance our food production with our responsibility for our local forest, field and river life and with the health of our planet. While a good portion of the farm is fenced to keep out deer and predators we do have wildlife corridors, hedgerows of native plants, and insectary plantings for native pollinators and beneficial insects. We plant disease resistant crop varieties, especially in our orchard where we practice ZERO spraying (and are pleased to report we harvested our first, blemish-free peaches last summer!). Animals are an integral part of the farm system. As they rotate through our perennial crops the geese and sheep (coming in June!) turn grass and legumes into fertilizer. The chickens pick up dropped berries that can harbor disease causing organisms and scratch for grubs and larvae in the soil. They also "recycle" the manure of the other animals, picking out any parasites and grain that passes through. As we incorporate more animals into the system we hope to become less dependent on imported compost for fertility and fuel for cultivation. We also plan to farm with horses in the near future and are avid readers of the Small Farmer's Journal.
As our farm grows we expect our market to stay local. Currently we sell directly to consumers through u-pick and bulk sales. In the future we may expand direct sales to include Farmer's Markets. We plan to continue our relationship with First Alternative and develop markets with other locally owned stores because we believe such vendors deserve local suppliers and they offer a dependable and convenient market for both producers and consumers. In every scenario we plan to cultivate relationships as well as crops.
In addition to farming Beth works part-time for Demeter Association and Stellar Certification Services. Adam also does computer programming at Oregon State University.