Rainshadow OrganPICS

Third time's the charm! This album is all about my time at Rainshadow Organics. Just follow the link and all shall be well.

https://picasaweb.google.com/112922538146548988762/RainshadowOrganics?authkey=Gv1sRgCM2ui5ipvZilJA

Mmmmmm Farmer's Markets

I’m a lucky guy. Every Sunday, for the last 19 years of my life, local vendors have gathered just past the end of my street for the Takoma Park Farmer’s Market. Although the Takoma Park parking scene becomes supersaturated, often blocking our driveway, the ability to walk 45 seconds and be surrounded by fresh, local, organic produce more than makes up for it. I thought that I appreciated farmer’s markets when I left Takoma Park in September, but after working on the other side of the counter with Rainshadow Organics and falling in love with the farmer’s market in Bend, Oregon I have a much greater appreciation of the organic produce that I have been able to enjoy.

Setting out all of the goodies at the Bend Market

Maybe it was the buzzing sound of hundreds trapped flies, or maybe it was the smell of moldy, decaying melon plants, but upon cleaning out the greenhouses one day I asked Sarah a simple question: why should I buy from organic farmers, like her, at markets? My parents have always prioritized and provided organic produce and here I am, thousands of miles away from home, dedicating two months of my life to organic farming, and the best answer I could come up with was that organic produce just tastes better. And that is not good enough.
She started off listing some of the arguments that I had heard before, ranging from the additional nutrients and health benefits to knowing that your food is not going to be treated with nasty pesticides and herbicides. But then she began to make the really convincing arguments. Buying from markets supports not only the farmers themselves, but also the ability for our society to grow sustainably. To keep up with the population demands, giant food corporations, such as Monsanto, have resorted some dangerous practices. Here is a short list:
1. They grow genetically modified crops, such as corn with the pesticide Round Up ingrained in its DNA.
2. They dedicate their fields to a single crop (known as a monoculture), which has created a crisis with the bees that pollinate our plants. Also, the lack of biodiversity creates a farm that is overly dependent on a single crop and could really struggle with unforeseen circumstances, such as a pest or fungus that targets their crop, drought (ex. corn farmers in the Midwest this summer), etc.
3. They use fertilizers that kill microorganisms in the soil that apparently convert as much CO2 to Oxygen as a rainforest. I was unaware of how our agricultural practices significantly affect global warming.
4. I am not sure about other big food corporations, but Monsanto acquires legal patents on many species of plans. Then, they dedicate 50 million dollars a year to suing small farmers who had previously been growing said crop.*
So buying from farmer’s markets is not only supporting sustainable practices, but it is also just not

Action shot!

supporting these jerks. So that is the real reason that I will continue to make such a big effort to buy from farmer’s markets, but it is not the reason that I fell in love with the farmer’s market in Bend, Oregon.
I fell in love with the black market of the Bend farmer’s market. In addition to selling the vegetables, flour and meat at the stand, I took on the super serious and completely important duty of “trader,” responsible for transforming vegetables into other goods. After about 4 p.m., once the market had been busy for an hour, I would spring into action, traveling to other stands and offering to trade vegetables for their goods. Most venders were used to this dollar free form of trade and ready to trade for our fresh veggies**. In a rather beautiful transaction of goods, we ultimately left with gelato, ground beef, cookies, cinnamon buns***, bread, pastries, brownies and sliced bread (and an understanding the phrase “the greatest thing since sliced bread”). I’m a lucky guy.

We were at the last market of the
year. So these were the last
precious scraps of the 2012
Rainshadow Oraganics season.

*Due to my limited internet access, I have been unable to double check these stats. Everything I have learned as been via word of mouth. But even if the specific details are not accurate, I feel that the ideas are important enough to be shared.

**One family was known for sending their kid around to do their weekly grocery shopping via trading. He was famous throughout the market as “Ground Beef Kid.”




***CINNAMON BUNS!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to Rainshadow Organics

Holy Shmoly, we are more than half way done WWOOFing! I cannot believe how fast this time has flown by. But, somehow, I find myself at the third farm, Rainshadow Organics. For the first time in my journey, I feel confident referring to my current residence as a farm, not a homestead nor an absurd Cuke-Asaurus-growing and emu-and llama-having place.
Rainshadow Organics lies in the rain shadow, a desert like region which receives fewer than 10 inches of rainfall a year, west of the Cascades in central Oregon, about 40 minutes north of Bend. Somehow, within only five sentences, I have presented you with seemingly contradictory ideas: this is the first place I have been to that is actually a farm, but it is in a desert with minimal rainfall. I was confused when I discovered that I was in a desert because deserts are for cactuses, not vegetables and, also, no farmer would possibly decide to farm in a desert.

View of the 2 acre garden

When our host, Sarahlee (who unfortunately does not provide us with cake mix), bought her father’s 100 acre hay farm she decided to expand the hay production to 180 acres of vegetables, grain, hay and meat. The meats include chickens, pigs, cows, turkeys and she grows over 250 different types of vegetables. I did not even know that there were 250 vegetables! She combats the grueling, dry and freezing* desert climate with a extensive irrigation system and 7 greenhouses. With only one full time employee, Sarahlee spends most of her time in her 2 acre vegetable garden, while her husband to be, Tall (the origins of the nickname become obvious upon meeting him), manages the animals and hay and grain fields. Although, through the power of language, I can consolidate their work efforts into a single sentence, their days are not that concise. On a typical day, Sarahlee wakes up at 5:30 am and works and works and works and works and works and works and works and works and works until she finishes sometimes as late as 10:30 pm, often missing lunch. Such is the life on a farm.

500 onions. Less than a third
of the onion harvest

But that is why she brings us in, unpaid WWOOFers, who cost her nothing more than excess vegetables from her garden, some meat (but delicious organically grown meat at that) and basic kitchen essentials. She actually has rather comfortable accommodations for us though: a large platform tent and a three walled kitchen, complete with oven and flat top griddle. We often work from 8:30 am to around 6:00 pm, harvesting, weeding, clearing greenhouses, doing CSA drops and market deliveries with her and harvesting some more.
Although the days are long and the desert nights are cold, most nights dropping below 20 degrees, this farm is crazy awesome. My knowledge of farming and food seems to grow exponentially each day here. I have gotten the opportunity to harvest vegetables that I did not even know existed, such as kohlrabi and ground cherries**. At nights, Reed and I take advantage of, or at least try to, the high quality beef and pork, and produce that we know is fresh, because we pulled it from the ground that morning. This place is awesome and makes me appreciate organic farmers more than I ever have.




*According to the Oregon State Extension service, a trusted source of farming, gardening and other helping information, this region has zero frost free days within the last 100 days. So on any day throughout the year, she could be dealing with frost!

**On the first day, Sarahlee said to us, “I have a treat for you” and threw us what looked to be a small, underdeveloped tomatillo. Upon peeling back the papery husk and popping the small, yellow fruit in my mouth, I was hit by a candy like sweetness and one of the best tasting raw foods I’ve ever had. If you ever come across ground cherries in the grocery store, buy them. In bulk. And save some for me.

Because who doesn't love some Cloudplay pictures

Just like the last album, just follow the link to see my pictures documenting my time at Cloudplay.

https://picasaweb.google.com/112922538146548988762/Cloudplay?authkey=Gv1sRgCPf11ITYkLK2lQE

Best Day Ever

Sorry for the lack of blog entries lately. The intensity of farm work at Rainshadow Organics, the third farm, and lack of electrify at Cloudplay have made it rather difficult. But better late than never, right?

After spending 10 days pruning trees, pulling young Douglas Firs, splitting firewood, doing dishes, expanding the garden, weeding the garden, watering the garden and just about anything to help at Cloudplay, our host decided that our last day would be a treat. This entry is about that day. The Best Day Ever.

The day began just as any Best Day Ever should begin, we got to sleep in. After a quick breakfast, we were off to our first stop: Secret Beach. Although our host assured us that this was his favorite beach on the Oregon coast (a coast famous for its beautiful rocky beaches), the unmarked highway pull off with only enough space for three cars gave us no indication of why. But that is why it is Secret Beach. Now some of the views here have commanded my attention in a “Look at how pretty I am” type of way, but after a ten minute walk through the forest, my initial view of the beach smacked me in the face with a “I AM SO AWESOME, LOOK AT HOW FLIPPIN BEAUTIFUL I AM” type of way. After about an hour of playing in the waves, watching seals and hanging out at the Secret Beach, we left for our next stop: Fort Dick, CA for Ocean Air Farm’s Shindig.




 










         It is a little strange to be a WWOOFer at a farm and then on our time away from the farm, visit another farm. But this Shindig was worth the return to farm life. As a chance to connect with the local community, Ocean Air Farms invites the pubic onto their farm so that people can see how their produce grows. They had hay rides, sheep shearing demonstrations, live authentic folksy, farm music and even a giant zucchini slingshot (although we left before the flying zucchinis). But the highlight of the event was definitely the 2 o’clock lunch: garden fresh salad, garden fresh potato salad, garden fresh beet and carrot slaw, fresh bread, fresh goat cheese, fresh ham from their pigs and fresh over-night roast beef. The food was pretty fresh. I had seconds. They had dessert. I had seconds on dessert. There was no need for dinner on the Best Day Ever
      Our final stop was the Northern Californian Redwoods. Apparently the largest tree in the world (think about how many trees are in the world, and the very largest one) is located in the county where we went.* If you have not seen the Redwoods, just imagine the tallest tree you have even seen, then multiply that by ten. If you can picture that tree, then your imaginary tree still is not big enough because you cannot imagine trees this big. Here are some pictures to help where my words fall short.

      We made a quick stop on the way home to watch the sun set over the Pacific. Then, after being gone all day, we finally returned and ate ice cream by the moonlight, which was so bright just a night after the full moon that we could see colors. That day fully encompassed our time at Cloudplay: beautiful Oregon coasts, great food and gigantic old growth forests. It was the Best Day Ever.



*They will not disclose which tree is actually the largest due to concerns of people taking souvenirs and damaging the tree.