Friends and farmers | Oregon

In the fertile Willamette Valley, just south of Portland, Oregon, small farmers grow organic food and sell it at farmers’ markets in the cities. The Friends of the Family Farmers work hard to keep industrial farming at bay. We sent our hickest reporter to an open-air dinner to learn more.
Words  and photos: Jonas Larsson

In the late afternoon, the warm, yellow fall sun paints the Willamette Valley’s harvest-ripe fields in beautiful earthy colors. In places, this is broken up by a splash of color: a ripe pumpkin, a bright green head of cabbage, or a sea of sunflowers. It’s a bit like being in one of Van Gogh’s paintings. Laura, my Oregonian friend, and driver for the day, fearlessly steers her Mini Cooper into a stubble field, as though it was a Ford Bronco from one of the nearby farms rather than a small, British city car. I think to myself that this might spell trouble, but it all works out; we park the car and walk out into the middle of a farmer’s market. People are hanging out on bales of hay, there’s a little band playing bluegrass and Americana in a party tent, and there are long lines of people waiting in front of stalls full of all kinds of wonderful goodness: Honey, vegetables, home-made fruit punch, pickled vegetables, and other tasty treats. About a hundred smiling people are milling around, many of them carrying drinks which were, naturally, poured from glass jars. 

Why Oregon?

When Laura tells me about the Friends of the Family Farmers, and their efforts to protect small farmers, I’m not at all surprised. It’s also no surprise to me that this is all happening in this particular state. Oregon is a state with an incredibly varied landscape: The Oregon coast is breathtaking, and a classic road trip; Mount Hood is a paradise for skiers and hikers; the mighty forests and mountains invite hiking and mountain biking; and the Eastern region of the state is all plains, as in cowboy land. So, naturally, it attracts people who are passionate about nature and looking for quality of life, including getting to eat good, local produce.

There is a strong local aspect to most of what goes on here; this wonderful West coast state, and Portland in particular, is renowned for its “farm-to-table” approach and sustainable lifestyle. Urban agriculture and a small business ethos common here, and somehow, they manage to be creative, inventive, and often tremendously hip. All at once. One of the reasons for this is the strong sense of community; everybody here seems to help others achieve stuff, together. The whole is more than the sum of its various individuals.

I was raised in a Greek family, we cooked all food from scratch, so it’s no big surprise that I do what I do.

Friends of Family Farmers

One of the more dedicated non-profits in the region is the Friends of Family Farmers. They help farmers with marketing, training, seminars, legal assistance, and selling their produce. They organize farmers’ markets, and in the winter, when everybody’s income streams dry up, they organize “Fill your pantry” events. Inside a large indoor space, they sell off winter vegetables in bulk. Most of the sales are pre-arranged online, and the whole affair is surrounded by a great atmosphere.

When I talked to people in Portland I noticed a concern that industrial farming corporations might take over the small farms, and the organization works hard to promote specific farming-related issues. At Alberta Garden in trendy Alberta I met Joy who often visit the garden.

– When agriculture is run by big business, to maximize profits, the work is often carried out in unhealthy ways, and the land and the animals are often treated in shortsighted and undignified ways. Their produce is often of a lesser quality, and often full of chemicals and other stuff that has no business being there–but they do keep the prices down! It’s often said that we must live in harmony with nature and animals in order to produce well-flavored, healthy agricultural products, and there’s not really any arguing with that, is there, she says.

Willamette Valley

Back to the countryside. The farm is about 20 miles south of Portland, and we’re here to enjoy an outdoor dinner party, or fundraising dinner. The Friends of Family Farmers organize these to raise money for the organization and spread awareness of the challenges small farmers face, and the products they produce. Of course, we’re also here to meet new people, eat locally produced foods, and rinse them down with excellent local wine.

Before dinner, we’re given a guided tour of the farm. Tomato plants with bunches of yellow-red tomatoes vie for our attention in competition with huge pumpkins, cabbage, sunflowers, and loads of other plants and flowers I can’t even name. We listen, or, rather, most of us listen–personally, I’m too busy photographing vegetables. The lighting is absolutely perfect, and I often find myself stooping or lying down to get the shot I want. I see Laura explain to a couple of guys in Cowboy hats and plaid shirts that I’m a journalist, and thus a bit of a nutcase. Their slightly surprised faces burst into laughter when I tell them they’re the most handsome cowboys I’ve ever seen and that they simply have to let me take their picture.

Dinner in Nature

After walking through the fields, we’ve arrived. The place is a lush meadow with a little pond further back. Here, dinner tables have been set out, with lanterns hanging overhead, and a string of lights leads the way to the bathroom–this turns out to be a wise precaution once the dark, fall night envelops us.

Farmers from the area have brought along vegetables, honey, meat, and other products. Stacey Givens from The Side Yard Farm and Kitchen is working the stove.

I was raised in a Greek family, we cooked all food from scratch, so it’s no big surprise that I do what I do.

Now Stacey runs an urban garden, a catering business and a monthly supper club. She produces organic vegetables, and collaborates with other organic farmers to make first-rate produce available to the restaurants of Portland. Stacey also organizes farm tours and other events.  But tonight, she’s standing in a field, cooking a rustic meal for all of us. And we’re so grateful for that: the food is amazing! Ben, the local winemaker, has brought his own wine, and the dogs are roaming free in a collective state of intense excitement.

We all enjoy Stacey’s food, and even the band playing in the background take little breaks from time to time, when they can’t keep away from the table and their glasses of Pinot Noir. The farmers here have done a great job; some of them look nothing like the farmers of the Uppsala plains where I grew up. No, this is the hippie generation, all grown up and turned into farmers and ranchers. The vibe is highly contemporary, and they seem very naturally at home in the urban environments where their products are sold. It strikes me that it’s interesting how a country so dominated by market forces, in which there is such a great emphasis on the individual, could still has this powerful idealistic tradition of take care of the commons, in a much more genuinely friendly way than I’m used to from work in Swedish associations. People here seem to have more fun, basically.

Right here and now, with banjo notes trickling around in the background, enjoying this dinner in the grass, with happy voices all around, I fully grasp the essence of one of the more endearing aspects of the USA. There is a great mix of people here, of all ages, styles, and fairly firm and unmoving political convictions, but they all share the common goal of protecting and respecting each other, and nature.