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© Oakhill Organics
2006-2009
At Oakhill Organics, we aim for:
- Quality. Although we hope you buy from us to support sustainability and locally grown food—beyond the philosophical motivations—we hope you buy our vegetables because they taste better than conventionally grown produce shipped from hundreds of miles away.
- Sustainability. We hope to grow in a way that does not overly tap our environmental resources, nor pollute them (see 'How we grow' below). We also aim to be financially sustainable so that we may live off of this endeavor, thus allowing it to continue into the forseeable future.
- Community. We have found food to be an amazing uniting force for community, whether it is a family sitting down for a shared meal or a group of CSA members working together to help grow the food they eat. By making our primary market our local community, we hope to directly connect people to neighbors as well as to the land that grows their food.
What we grow
We grow a broad mix of vegetables, including diverse varieties of: arugula, basil, beans, beets, bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, corn, cucumbers, edamame (fresh soybeans), eggplant, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce and other greens, melons, onions and shallots, parsnips, peas, sweet peppers, potatoes, radishes, summer squash, swiss chard, tomatoes, and winter squash. We also grow year-round, offering vegetables to our CSA from February through mid-December. See our harvest schedule for info on approximate availability through the main summer seasons.
How we grow
We are an organic farm, certified by Oregon Tilth. Transitioning our land to organic production has been an honor, and we have done so by focusing on soil health.
We use no synthetic chemicals, pesticides, herbicides or genetically modified seeds. Instead, we utilize cover crops and natural sources of fertility. We have divided our field in half and only crop one piece of land every other year to allow for a full fallow period. To combat pests, we employ barriers, plant spacing, and carefully bred plant varietals. To address weed pressure, we use a restored 1946 Allis Chalmers cultivating tractor run on biodiesel. (Plus those ancient technologies: hoes and our hands.) With every growing choice we make, health and sustainability are our top priorities.
And, our back story (the 'short' version)
Both Northwest natives, Casey grew up in Lincoln City and Katie in the Seattle area. Before moving to Yamhill County in 2006, we lived in Bellingham, WA where we trained for two seasons on another organic market garden, Cedarville Farm. We each hold graduate degrees in non-farming subjects from Western Washington University, read voraciously, love to cook and eat, and like to swim in the river on hot summer days.
To read more about our personal thoughts on farming and life in general, check out our farm blog.
An aerial photo of the northern end of our land & surrounding farms, taken in 2007 ... our farm is outlined in white (Thanks to Jake Rockwood for this great photo):
