The Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project hosted two farm tours in mid-August.  Attendees were treated to views of ripening crops, stories from farmers, wonderful meals with many locally-grown and organic ingredients, and live music.  Coming away from these events, it struck me that each season, project organizers continue to solve problems, make progress, and move ahead toward local self-reliance.  The grand goal of providing the Willamette Valley with locally grown and processed organic staples (beans, grains, and edible seeds) moves closer to reality every year.
The big news this …

Slow Food Corvallis will sponsor delegates to attend Terra Madre in Torino, Italy in late October. On Saturday, August 21^st, they will host a fundraising dinner to help support the travel to Italy of John Eveland, Sally Brewer and JC Meersman, farmers and chef of Gathering Together Farm in Philomath.

The Fresa Feliz (Happy Strawberry) non-profit buying club invites you to join them in purchasing fresh organic produce weekly from Deep Roots Farm at wholesale prices this summer.
The coop will run weekly for 12 weeks and members should commit to purchase at least 10 of the 12 weeks.  There is not a minimum order at this time but $10 or more is recommended as a weekly purchase.
To sign up, members need to sign a registration form and make an
initial deposit of $10.  This money is used to secure your order and
is put into …

We first met grass seed farmers Clint Lindsey and his dad Mike Robinson of A2R Farms last fall. Grass seed sales had plummeted because of the recession and their bank had started foreclosure proceedings. Lindsey and Robinson had worked out a farm plan to grow more food crops than grass seed and Julie Tilt, co-owner of Hummingbird Wholesale, a natural foods distributor in Eugene, had agreed to testify that she would buy as much of it as possible.