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.