Welcome to Revolution Gardens
Welcome to Revolution Gardens. We are a revolutionary new way to do CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture)! Based in the Nehalem Bay area of coastal Oregon, we are many small farms who have joined together to bring you the best in local foods, directly to your door, year round. Our family farms and bakeries produce pasture raised meats, a wide range of organic fruits and vegetables, free range eggs, honey, baked goods, cut flowers, hand made crafts and more. Order today!
Kerry's Farmer in Training Blog
  • Markets, CSA, and Surfing! - Jun 28, 2010 - I finally graduated from Evergreen State College! Successfully completing my last quarter in a farm ...
  • Farm life - Apr 7, 2010 - Sitting in the classroom at Evergreen State College receiving a lecture on soil science my ...
  • Daily Journal

    R-evolution Gardens at the Oregon Country Fair!

    July 3rd, 2010

    We are very excited to be a part of the most amazing, creative, sustainable party that happens in Oregon every year!

    The Oregon Country Fair is in it’s 41st year this summer and will have over 40,000 visitors during the July 9-11th weekend.  The OCF is an incredible demonstration of what makes Oregon such a fabulous place to live.  An entire village springs up in a beautiful lush forest each summer that is powered off the grid, recycles everything,  and is volunteer run.  But most importantly the OCF blows peoples minds with a nonstop display of live music, poetry, art, dance, acrobatics, comedy, fire spinning, stiltwalking, organic foods, yoga, spontaneous naked mud parades,  a handcrafted marketplace and informational booths on everything from acupucture to zero waste.

    This year our farm was invited to be a part of fair known as AG ALLEY located in ENERGY PARK.  I am thrilled and honored to be shairing the Sustainable Agriculture alley of the fair with some of the founders of the organics movement on the west coast.  These are the people who were doing organics in the 1970s when the entire food system was stacked against them.  We still have a long way to go, but without folks like Amigo Bob of EcoFarm and Mushroom of Peace Seeds my career as a small organic farmer could not be a reality.  I am hoping the our booth can speak to a new generation of farmers looking to make their way into food production.  We are showcasing how we farm off the grid, off petroleum and with local distribution only.  We also are showcasing how our farm has changed our lives for the better and made us rethink what we value.  We call it “Homesteading in the 21st Century” and we are bringing lots of great photos and information about our farm, samples of our locally made sea salt and food, a mini solar panel, our micro hydro turbine, a copper wood fired water heating coil and more!  Our booth will be open all days of the fair so stop on by and say hello!  And if you see us in a naked mud yoga bellydance session- well, don’t say we didn’t warn you!

    For those of you visiting our site after picking up information at the OCF- please click on the links across the top bar of this homepage for more information on 2011 classes, Full Moon farm dinners, tours and volunteer opportunities. We gratefully accept all donations to help our little homestead and farm grow and thrive.  It’s challenging to make a living as a small farmer, especially when you are starting up. See the donate here button to send some green energy our way and we thank you!!

    New photos from the farm!

    May 30th, 2010

    The spring in photos.  There is little time to blog away when so much needs to be done on the land in the spring months.  Our spring CSA deliveries start this Wednesday!  We could use more sun and less rain to make the markets happen on the third week of June and our Full Moon Feast on June 26th.   Pray for sunshine- we need those plants to grow big and healthy!

    Annette is our best volunteer, chef, motivational supporter of the farm! We owe so much hard work to her. Thank you!!

    Fig and Mickey interplanting onions in our new field. We turned in an acre of solid clay with nothing but strong backs and wonderful volunteers!

    We celebrate the blooming of a Slow Food movement on the North Oregon coast this spring. It is bringing together folks dedicated to growing, cooking, preserving and eating really good local foods. Slow down and enjoy one of these fabulous potlucks- next one is on June 6th!

    We had a wonderful kickoff to our CSA season with our May Day CSA Soiree! In spite of the rainy weather we danced the traditional May Pole to ensure good health and fertility for the farm this year!

    Kerry dancing the May pole in her cute spring dress!

    We also took time to party at the annual Trash Bash Trashion show sponsored by our local recycling center CART"M. Kerry went as a burlap sack bride- very farm appropriate!

    Some lovely beets harvested last week. Golden and Chiogga beets are so fancy when placed side by side. Find these on the menu at the Rising Star Cafe in Wheeler- our good farm customers!

    Another new local foods event for the coast! InFARMation is a monthly event that is moving up and down the north coast highlighting local food and farm issues. We hosted the first one here in Nehalem on local chickens and egg production. Cannon Beach held theirs in late May on pastured meats vs. scary industrial meat. And In June- Astoria will host their first InFARMation on growing food in your coastal backyard. These are fun events and have been well attended. Come and mingle with your farmers, drink a beer and taste some local goodies.

    Kristin and Kerry (the farm grrrlz) digging in the new beds. Takes muscle- but no petroleum!

    May 3rd, 2010
    A Mother’s Day present that is
    healthy, fun and full of flavor!
    salad dressing


    Just in time for Mother’s Day! Our very first R-evolution Gardens cooking class will take place this Saturday, May 8th from 2-4pm right here on the farm!

    With fresh arugula, spinach, lettuce and mustard growing fast in the hoop houses we are eating and selling lots of spring salad mix these days.

    These freshly picked greens are rich in vitamins and fiber and can be prepared in a flash to make healthy and delicious salads, sides or even dinners!

    The trick to elevating simple greens to high culinary delights is the right Salad Dressing!


    One of our favorite professional chefs, Jonathan Hoffman (winner of the coastal Iron Chef competition!) will be teaching us how to craft a variety of different dressings using local ingredients

    Learn how to:

    Create a basic vinaigrette.
    Create flavored oils for dressings.
    Create creamy dressings using homemade mayonnaise with farm fresh eggs.
    Create a fruit based dressing for sweeter dishes.

    R-evolution salad mix

    On the farming side, we will also show you how to:


    Identify and select different greens for a salad mix
    Cultivate and grow local greens in your garden
    Harvest and store for best tasting and lasting mix

    Take home a jar of your favorite creation for Mom or for yourself to enjoy along with a freshly picked bag of organic salad mix that you get to choose and harvest! You will also get a salad dressing recipe sheet of the chef’s top picks for highly flavored dressings that utilize local ingredients.

    The price is $30 for 2 hours of instruction with a professional chef and includes all cooking materials, a take home dressing , organic salad mix and the chef’s own recipe list.

    Spaces are fast disappearing in this limited size class!! Sign up as soon as possible to reserve your place at the table. Moms get 10% off of registration!!


    Sign up by emailing us at info@revolutiongardens.com

    Upcoming Local Food Events!

    April 18th, 2010
    InFARMation (and beer!)
    Thursday April 29th

    5:30pm-8:30pm
    At the Treasure Teahouse in Wheeler, OR!
    Topic-”What came first, the organic chicken

    or the free range egg?”

    The popular Portland InFARMation series sponsored by Friends  of Family Farmers is going coastal starting on the last Thursday of April!

    R-evolution Gardens is very happy to be throwing the first one at the Treasure Teahouse in Wheeler April 29th from 5:30-8:30pm. The event will move up and down the north coast over the next year with four held in the Nehalem Bay area, four in Cannon Beach and four in Astoria.

    In keeping with the spring season we chose to have our first InFARMation on chickens and eggs! If you are considering having a small backyard flock to provide your family with fresh eggs or want to meet your local egg producers, taste test local vs. corporate eggs, pet some chickens and ask the eggperts all questions chicken related or maybe buy a dozen farm fresh eggs to take home – this event is for you!

    InFARMation is a way to mix and mingle with your local farmers in a social setting, and learn how to get involved with local food production.

    Local farmer Teresa Retzlaff with her farm and beer!

    Local Farmer Teresa Retzlaff with her farm and beer!

    Oh, and there will be BEER! Our farm customers the Rising Star Cafe in Wheeler has a wonderful space across the street from their restaurant called the Treasure Teahouse where we hold our event.

    Folks at InFARMation can order beer, wine, food and desserts from the Rising Star during InFARMation- even salads that feature R-evolution greens! So come and have dinner, drink beer, and mingle with your farmers!

    Infarmation Schedule for evening:
    5:30-6:30 pm mingle, beer, food

    6:30- 7:30 pm speaker/presentation
    7:30-8:00 pm questions and answers
    8:00-8:30 pm announcements and networking,


    Please call Ginger for more information about

    InFARMation and beer.
    503-368-3044

    The event will take place across the street from:
    Rising Star Cafe
    92 Rorvik St., Box 284
    Wheeler, OR 97147
    risingstarcafe@yahoo.com
    www.risingstarcafe.com
    503-368-3990


    Our Spring CSA is Full! Thank you!

    February 22nd, 2010

    Wow that was fast! An overwhelming wave of farm enthusiasm for so early in the season! One of the reasons we can farm on the coast is that we have an amazing community of folks eating our food and supporting our CSA! Thank you.

    Zach, our intern of 2009 with sunflowers at market

    Zach, our intern of 2009 with sunflowers at market

    We are not accepting anymore applications for spring CSA shares. However if you are interested in starting your CSA in summer or fall, or just doing one of those seasons- we can still fit a few more folks in. Please email us and let us know!

    Thanks everyone again for the love- we love you right back!!

    xox

    Ginger

    The next generation of R-evolutionaries!

    February 22nd, 2010

    “Has anyone ever cooked with ginger before?” I asked the group of 6-12 year olds assembled around my dining room table and a pile of organic cookie ingredients. I was talking about the ginger root but I realized the unanimous “no” in reply could have just as easily meant “no, we have not made cob oven carrot cookies with a crazy tattooed farmer named Ginger before”. Well, what did I expect? This was my first try out as a 4H leader in Tillamook county.

    Picking out seeds to plant

    Picking out seeds to plant

    The This n’ That (TNT) 4H group of Nehalem got to experience something different by visiting our little off the grid organic farm and my goal was to make it fun. This is my goal most days- how do we make this intensive job of farming and homesteading be fun? Well, it’s easier with kids along!

    We had gathered together on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in February to plant seeds literally and figuratively. I was also seeding some thoughts about possible future projects for the county fair with our farm and some visions of what farming might look like if perchance one of them decides to grow food for a living one day. With the dire lack of young farmers in our country (over 50% are 65 and above) we need to get started the next generation of food producers. Again, now how to make this look fun?

    Gathering eggs from the coop!

    Gathering eggs from the coop!

    Chickens. Let’s face it- kids love animals and chickens are incredibly likable creatures. Nothing in the plant kingdom, with the possible exception of picking strawberries or pumpkins in season, really can hold a candle to engaging kids like those old hens. Watching chickens, feeding them and gathering the eggs was a big hit. We have 40 chicks and ducklings on the way in March- so hopefully one or two will be lucky enough to be adopted by a TNT 4Her and be raised to win a blue ribbon!

    Scooping out the fire from the cob oven

    Scooping out the fire from the cob oven

    Cookies. Call me crazy, but when I was a kid I could pretty much put up with anything if I knew it ended with a freshly baked cookie. Just so happened that the old cob oven needed to be fired up after sitting under a soggy tarp all winter and this was the perfect time to show the 4H group and their wonderfully patient and supportive parents our natural building project. Our still unfinished oven was stuffed with a hot fire (kids like fire too) and kept burning while we attended to other projects. A helpful dad kept the flames going as I got seed trays ready and attempted to explain the botanical families of garden crops (not that fun- but hey, we’re learning!)

    Future farmer, notice how she likes to play with dirt!

    Future farmer, notice how she likes to play with dirt!

    Kids like playing with dirt and so do farmers! Mixing up seedling formulas and adding worm poop (eeew!) then planting all those sizes and shapes of little seeds had everyone busy marking rows and carefully placing their new seeds in the soft mix. Then covering the seeds and watering them in. Some final care instructions and we have several gardens worth of food planted in a jiffy. There are few things more satisfying than having those tiny seeds sprout and watching them grow into a pepper, onion or broccoli!

    Carefully recording which seeds were planted where

    Carefully recording which seeds were planted where

    The cob oven was heating up nicely and so we turned to mixing up those cookies. Of course I chose organic honey sweetened carrot oatmeal cookies (hey I’m an organic farmer!) Healthy eating is a good goal for everyone so why not start with dessert? The honey was from our very own hives and is dark brown with a rich sweetness. I pull out a frame from the empty beehives stored on the porch and let them break off honeycomb and taste. Forget white sugar in a bag, this is the fun way to eat your sweets and much better for you- plus it was made right here on the farm!

    Adding the local honey to the mix!

    Adding the local honey to the mix!

    Cookies got mixed up with some fresh ginger root added and the kids scooped the fire out of the clay dome of the cob oven to get it ready for baking. We slid pans of cookie dough in and set off to explore Brian’s salvaged cedar timber frame house with recycled blue jean insulation, our hoop house full of peas, spinach, arugula, beets and carrots sprouts, and -more chicken time!

    A beautifully marked seed tray with cob cookie oven smoking in the background

    A beautifully marked seed tray with cob cookie oven smoking in the background

    Just in time I pulled slightly blackened carrot cookies off of the steaming brick floor of the oven and everyone gets to bite into cookies made with fire, clay, honey, organic carrots and a good dose of – “whew, I made it through the afternoon with no kids being bored or crying!” The cookies that were too burned got fed to the chickens and then parents helped load up seed trays and headed for home.

    Sunny day with the chickens- farm life can be fun

    Sunny day with the chickens- farm life can be fun

    What a great day! I sure had a good time showing the TNT 4H group our farm and I think they had fun too. Hopefully we will see them again soon and introduce more R-evolutionary style of farming to this future generation. I would love to see some colorful organic carrots with a blue ribbon on them or a kid proudly showing a heritage breed free range chicken! Watch out Tillamook County fair- here we come! I want to thank 4H leader Laura Swanson and the great 4H parents for making this program happen for young folks interested in agriculture. Also thanks to the White Clover Grange for hosting two 4H groups and for holding a local Nehalem 4H fair where the kids can show off their hard work.

    P.S. The next day found me with another group of great folks. The Unitarian Church in Astoria invited me to come and speak about local food and community supported agriculture. It’s dangerous to let me near a pulpit on that subject! Preaching to the choir was never so fun- thanks for the opportunity to spread the good word!

    Join a CSA and eat more veggies- can I get an amen?!

    Join a CSA and eat more veggies! Can I get an amen?

    As the compost turns….

    January 28th, 2010

    happygingerJust back from Thailand!  I am glad to be home on my little farm and already feel the pull of spring and work calling.  Now that I played my fireside dreamy time away in the tropics, it feels like I skipped over winter and suddenly I find myself on the edge of a new season of growth.  Buds are on the trees outside and it was downright warm in the hoop house this afternoon. Feb 2nd is the official midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox (also know as Imbolc, Candlemas, and Groundhog’s Day).  Whatever you call it- in Oregon it means it is time to turn the compost pile, get those peas in the ground and start seeds for spring greens.

    asiangreensI was lucky enough to attend the 30th anniversary of the EcoFarm Conference in California this year and came home with lots of new ideas and information. I also spent time visiting farms in Thailand and soaking in the amazing agricultural systems you can build in the tropics.  Imagine growing mango trees under storied with cacao plants and coffee bushes- now we’re talking good food!

    strainingcoconutmilkI loved the way Thai farmers cooked with their produce and created every curry, soup and noodle from scratch.  The Thai people are true localvores!  You couldn’t walk a block without coming across someone cooking up a fresh caught fish on the grill (sold whole-blackened with spices- yum) or a coconut curry with fresh chiles, lemongrass, galangal root and basil.  Gardens were everywhere- and 65% of Thais are still farmers for a living (compared to fewer than 2% of Americans).  Food knowledge was extensive and the flavors were impressive as a result.

    streetfood

    fishmonger

    tealadypai

    And the fruit, well.. let’s just say we in the US live with a very poor idea of what pineapples and bananas, papayas and passion fruits taste like.  Fruit shipped green to ripen in transit is no comparison to eating these fruits ripened on the tree.   I guess I  just have to wait for our local strawberries in June to come close to the kind of flavor packed into those pineapple shakes I was sucking down everyday!   Rum (made from local rice) only enhances the flavor I might add.

    coconutdrink

    I feel truly blessed to have been able to escape some Oregon rain and soak in the sights, smells and sounds of Southeast Asia.  The thing that kept coming back to me as I traveled was how beautiful this planet we call home is.  The turquoise seas, million year old rain forests, mountain sides terraced with rice fields, fish covered coral beds, limestone caves and rushing rivers.  The diversity of people I met reflected the landscape in which they made their homes.

    hilltribeweavingMoken sea gypsies living fishing off the Surin islands, Karen hilltribe women weaving baskets from the bamboo forests around them, Cambodian villagers living in a floating village created by the seasonally flooded Mekong river, Thai farmers growing rice, garlic, herbs, ducks and fish in the same field worked by their grandfathers.  fishingvillage

    ricefeilds

    I have a hard time understanding why some feel superior to others based on where they are from.  The earth is everyone’s home.  All the life and food and experiences we have depend on the abundance of our land and seas.  Diversity is the key to survival and so we must strive to honor and hold on to our connections to place.  I live on the North Oregon Coast and grow food here- (what some call Salmon Nation).  That means it’s my job to protect and love this place as best I can.  I send so much gratitude to my fellow humans in Thailand and Cambodia who are likewise respecting and caring for their unique ecosystems.

    ankorbuddha

    As we grow food without pesticides, herbicides, gmo seeds or chemical fertlizers we are giving back to the earth from which we take so much.  We clean the water, add health to the soil and diversity to the seeds and pollen of the planet.  Working together and connecting the strands of community across the globe we can weave a web of peace and abundance for all.  Let’s make it happen in 2010!!

    hilltribegirl

    and now some pics just for fun of my trip:- hooray!!

    lakeautumn

    Autumn at the lake- we were not told of the alligators until after swimming

    newyearsevetemple

    Sunset offerings of flowers, candles and incense on New Year's Eve. On the mountainside temple in Pai, what a gorgeous way to end the year.

    reservedformonks

    Sign on Bangkok river taxi seat.

    The eye of a lifeform much wiser than I.

    The eye of a lifeform much wiser than I.

    Thais are amazing at farmers market displays!

    Thais are amazing at farmers market displays!

    They stack fish just as well as fruit!

    They stack fish just as well as fruit!

    Total addiction to these handmade rice crispy treats made from local rice hand pressed into molds, dried in the sun and then deep fried and drizzled with palm sugar.  Soooo much better than our version.

    Total addiction to these handmade rice crispy treats made from local rice hand pressed into molds, dried in the sun and then deep fried and drizzled with palm sugar. Soooo much better than our version.

    Lost in translation

    Lost in translation at the local hot springs

    Fig overcame her fear of water and my goddess what awesome water it was- 80 degrees with 35 feet of visibility!

    Fig overcame her fear of water and my goddess what awesome water it was- 80 degrees with 35 feet of visibility!

    I have found my new love- mopeds!  Cruising in the mountains near the Burma border.

    I have found my new love- mopeds! Cruising in the mountains near the Burma border.

    The Asparas of Angkor Wat- Cambodian divas!

    The Asparas of Angkor Wat- Cambodian divas!

    Don't think all Thais are farmers!  Punks at a show in Chiang Mai.

    Don't think all Thais are farmers! Punks at a show in Chiang Mai.

    Who let this guy into the country??

    Who let this guy into the country??

    We made it! Our first year of CSA farming was a great success!

    October 24th, 2009

    gingerpumpkinThank you to everyone who became members of the R-evolution Gardens CSA this year.  We signed on 20 families to our 3 season (spring, summer, fall) 21 week CSA that stretched from the beginning of June through October 24th. Our CSA farm members received a bag of vegetables every Saturday morning delivered to their door.  Some folks signed on for one or two seasons, most were on board for the whole harvest.  We tried to put as many different items in the weekly bag as there were members.  15 items in a spring bag for our 15 families included; ; head lettuce, radishes, carrots, green onions, beets, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, turnips, spinach, peas, parsley, wakame dried seaweed, strawberries.  All grown by hand, using organic methods and love for the land. The seaweed we wild crafted from the ocean nearby on a low spring tide and dried in the sun.

    Summer CSA bags included heat loving foods like tomatoes, basil, peppers, mini eggplants, beans, summer squash, walla walla onions, blueberries.. and much more.

    Fall CSA featured the cool season veggies like butternut squash, pumpkins, potatoes, mustard greens, and even pears we harvested from an organic orchard in Hood River.

    gingeratboothredtop It was quite a challenge to plan for growing such a diversity of veggies on our 1/2 acre of garden space in one season.  I had to do quick rotations, and intensive planting, inter-cropping plants with each other (basil under tomatoes, carrots under  lettuce) and it was a nonstop whirlwind of seeding, transplanting, harvesting, processing, and selling for the last 6 months.  I am actually still planting garlic and shallots.  I am harvesting the last of the tomatoes now, transplanting kales and other hardy brassicas into the hoop house and cover cropping and mulching bare beds.  I have seeded some of the indoor beds with lettuce mix and arugula for overwintering salads.  And we have winter squash, pumpkins, potatoes, carrots, beets, in storage – and lots of greens and late maturing brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbages, collard greens) that will produce in the winter garden even during the dark cold months.

    All I can say is, “Whew! I can’t believe its over already!”  When you are growing food for a living you gage time by what you are harvesting and planting.  From the first peas shooting up the trellis, the first tiny spinach leaves you thin and harvest for that February fresh salad to the first strawberry eaten in the garden- to the first ripe tomato and then the first pumpkin to turning orange.  Your harvest is your diet and it also shifts with the season- focusing on what is most ripe and plentiful at the moment.

    I recall two years ago struggling to make a Thanksgiving dish with ingredients grown within 100 miles of my apartment in Manzanita.  Back then I was mostly eating from the health food store and in November they didn’t have much produce from Oregon.  Now it is the rare day when I don’t most of my meals  from my own garden= 0 miles.

    farmformalNot only that but I know the complete history of what I am eating from seed to stomach and I appreciate food in a way I have never done before in my life.  Feeding others through my market booths and my CSA is like sharing food with an extended family.  As more people join the local food circle the family grows.  We sat 50 of our CSA members, volunteers and farmer friends down for a 10 course local food feast in September as a thank you to all who helped us get through our first season.  It was my Thanksgiving.  More real to me than pilgrims and turkeys because this meal reflected so much about what I was truly thankful for.

    beets09First of all I am thankful for the food.  Amazing, abundant, and life sustaining. Food coming forth from the earth is incredible and it’s hard to appreciate it enough as far as I’m concerned.  There is no religion that I have experienced that covers how holy a honey bee is when it is dancing in a squash blossom sticky with golden pollen. Or when a nightly rainstorm brings forth hundreds of sprouting lettuces unfurling in the morning light. The king bolete mushroom magically appearing along the trail amongst misty shore pines after the first fall rain, the bowed branches of laden pear trees in a sunny hillside orchard, the giant volunteer potato unearthed from the compost pile.  What gifts!  What magic!  Food does not come from a store!  It comes from this living planet, the incredibly complex, mysterious, generous, powerful force of life begetting more life.

    How is it that we as humans have been conditioned that food is something we buy from a box or a can with a list on it describing how many calories and fat grams it has per serving?  How is it that women in particular see food as an enemy to be fought with or surrendered to?   It is something I have done my whole life up until this year.  This year however, I finally got back in touch with something that is nourishing for my body and soul.  The art and magic of how we feed ourselves and others. For this I am truly thankful.

    theinternSecondly, I am thankful for the people.  You can’t grow food alone.  Well, you could but it would be so much harder and it isn’t the way it’s meant to be done.  Agriculture was a key part of human social development, the cornerstone of civilization and all attendant arts and technologies.  When humans discovered how to work the land they discovered how to work together for so many things.  As we become more isolated by modern living, growing food is a wonderful way to bring us back together.  Much of farm work is repetitive and lends itself to talking to pass the time.  Conversations ranging from music to politics, to sex and gender , to travel and philosophy, and of course to food- happen with gleeful abandon over weeding the carrot beds or cutting sweet peas for market.  The people you garden with become your friends in ways that people you party with do not. Garden friends can know your more about your thoughts and dreams over one 25 ft row of broccoli transplants than folks you see at the bar will know about you for years.  It is good  healthy work, set in the morning sun with bird song and rooster crows for a soundtrack.  You breathe fresh air, your hands dig in living soil, your attention focused for hours on the real moment and engaged with life and death matters of who grows and who is pulled.  And it is necessary work- so your farm volunteers and your intern, and those folks who show up and roll up their sleeves when you are staring at a task that no one person should even contemplate taking on alone- become deeply bound to you through sheer gratitude.   I also feel this way for folks who come to farmers markets in the pouring rain and buy carrots, for farmers who arrive with tractors to help pull the damn chicken coop to a new location, and for CSA members who write checks months before they will ever see a scrap of lettuce because they have faith in your vision for the year.  I am thankful for the people.

    jessebdaydinnerThird and lastly, I am thankful for the place. This community on the North Coast of Oregon has become my home.  I am not from here and in many ways am not of here.  I struggle with the feeling of being in such a small place for my ever expanding ideas and with feeling isolated from the grander more important goings on in the wide world.  I struggle with being single and secluded on a small farm in the middle of “nowhere” and turning 35 this year.  I struggle with feeling broke and owing on a mortgage with a small farmer’s income.  And yet I never can think of where else I would go that could be better than here.  What holds me is the good heart of the place.   Water moves through this land all around me and into the Pacific ocean which is powerful enough to smash illusions of “smallness” into bits on any given day.  Fog drenched forests give way open green pastures and sandy beaches with plenty of room for the eye and heart to roam wild.  Here I have joined a local Grange that was the original one room school house 100 years ago for this place and is still being run by some of the folks that went to school there.  Here I wake up to the east sun coloring the majestic top of Onion Peak, part of the coastal mountain range that frame the backdrop of my life.  Here night time is dark and quiet and holds no terror for the late night star gazing walking woman wandering alone down the empty country highway near her farm listening to coyotes yipping and the owls calling as they hunt the fields and woods.  Here is support and love from friends that I live with who are struggling with me to sustain a vision; live off the grid, eat from the land and overall heal our relationship to this planet.  Here are other folks who choose to live here because they love it, and they want community and change too.  Here we laugh our asses off sitting around after dinner, we swim naked in the river across the street and dry off on the warm rocks in the sun, we build large fires and bake cob oven pizzas, trade vegetables for massages, watch ants instead of television and ride bikes to sauna with our old school hippie neighbors down the road.  I am thankful for this place.

    beachviewThanks everyone for a great season of food, folks and farming!

    Peace,

    Ginger