In Corvallis, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscriptions provide fresh local produce to residents about half of the year. In a traditional CSA, residents receive shares of the farm’s product dispensed on a weekly basis in exchange for a one-time fee. Outside this season, farmers may attend the Corvallis Holiday Markets or the Indoor Winter Market or offer products online and in-store. Here are nine local producers with products available outside the regular CSA season.
Blueberry Meadows in Corvallis
Lynn and Kevin Thompson moved to Corvallis sight-unseen with their two young children in 1991. Two years later, they became the owners of a decades-old blueberry farm off Highway 20 named Blueberry Meadows.
“From the beginning, we wanted to sell the crop locally,” said Lynn Thompson. “It wasn’t until we learned about a nearby cold storage facility that we could stop using a broker entirely.”
The Thompsons offer frozen blueberries during the winter for $15 per five-pound bag in the Berkeley, Jersey, Dixi, Bluecrop, and Blueray varieties. Frozen berries will likely be available into late spring.
Camas Country Mill in Eugene
In 2011 — the year Tom and Sue Hunton opened Camas Country Mill — 85% of Oregon’s grain was shipped overseas. Today, the mill has processed more than 2 million pounds of flour from local wheat farmers and regularly donates food items to school districts and their local food bank.
Their brand, Schoolhouse, is available in grocery stores and online.
Coastal Range Quail Farm in Philomath
In 2021, Joe Napier decided to get a booth at the farmers market to share the excess from gardening, foraging, and raising quail with his two children, Hank and Lucy.
“I have no intent to quit my real job,” Napier said, “but the farm has done better than I was expecting.”
On Hank and Lucy, Napier said, “I would not be doing this without them… I do the best I can for them and my wife.”
Over the winter, Coast Range Quail offers a variety of preserved goods, like pickled quail eggs, home-grown habanero jelly, candied jalapenos, and smoked pepper jack cheese for free local delivery in Philomath and Corvallis.
Honey Tree Aviary in Alpine
In addition to removing unwanted swarms and providing pollination service to Willamette farmers, Ethan Bennett of Honey Tree Aviary makes honey as naturally as possible. Most comes from wild plants, it’s only heated to 90 degrees in the extraction process, and it’s strained — not filtered. This results in a richer, more nutritious honey.
Honey Tree Aviary sells honey in half pints, full pints, quarts, gallons, and 4-gallon buckets at their location in Alpine or at the Corvallis Winter Market.
Red Bird Acres in Corvallis
In 2012, Robin and Laura Sage visited a farm in Washington, intending to buy it. Instead, they bought the farm’s stock of growing pigs. The first year they raised pigs, the Sages harvested four. Nine years later, they harvested five pigs last week alone.
Robin Sage explained that they usually raise chickens — “normally 2,600 or so” — but decided to take a break this year to accommodate the birth of their son.
“It’s a lot of work to do chickens,” he said. “Takes up most of our lives.”
Red Bird sold out of holiday turkeys this year, but they have many cuts of pork available by weight and thickness. Use the online ordering form to place orders.
Riverland Farms in Corvallis
In April 2020, brothers in-law Inder Singh and Talvinder “Tal” Singh bought a farm from retiring farmers Tom Denison and Elizabeth Kerle. They renamed the 20-acre farm Riverland in reference to the Willamette River and five tributaries of the Indus River that run toward Punjab, India — both immigrated to the United States from Punjab at ages 12 and 20.
Inder Singh told the First Alternative Co-Op in June 2021, “Sitting in an office wasn’t really my thing. Every time I drove by an open field I was like, okay, that’s where I want to be.”
At first, they found the 20 acres intimidating. Today, they offer a 22-week Harvest Box CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and attend multiple farmers markets. Tal Singh said they anticipate having a variety of produce at the market and an especially good supply of salad mix, spinach, carrots, and radishes.
Stahlbush Island Farms in Corvallis
In 1985, Bill and Karla Chambers opened Stahlbush Island Farms with two crops on about 300 acres; today they grow on 5,000 acres. Their frozen produce, grains, and legumes are available in grocery stores and online, in single bags or variety packs like “The Best Berries” and “The Best Veggies.” Stahlbush Island Farms has even shared a number of recipes that incorporate their products.
In addition to farming at Stahlbrush, Karla Chambers is an acrylic painter whose work has been featured in museums, galleries, and magazines. Her paintings are bright, textured, and full of movement; she says “I mimic the colors from the farm in an effort to highlight the raw, powerful beauty of farming healthy, nutritious foods.”
Stahlbush utilizes a biogas plant, which uses fruit and vegetable byproducts to generate steam, electricity, hot water, and hot air. The Chambers use the byproduct of this process to irrigate and enrich the fields. From 2009 to 2019, the plant converted 295,163 tons of byproducts.
“There is no such thing as waste,” Bill Chambers says on their website. “Only underutilized resources.”
Trempler Family Farms in Corvallis
In 2016, Lindsay Trempler opened Trempler Family Farms on a half-acre in South Corvallis. Two years later, she began leasing another half-acre of land. In addition to a traditional CSA, registration for which opens in November, Trempler offers a non-traditional one-off, single-share CSA waitlist for $15-25. Jams and preserves are available year-round in the online shop.
Trempler uses organic methods; on the Trempler Family Farms website, she notes that her “pesticide” is insects and chickens, and her “herbicide” is manual weeding.
Winn Farms in Corvallis
Terrill and April Winn opened Winn Farms in 2009 in North Corvallis. On two acres, they raise pigs, turkeys, chickens, quail, ducks, geese, and lambs without hormones. They sell cuts of meat, processed meats like sausage, and live animals.
They anticipate having many whole chickens and pork sausages available this winter. Use the online ordering forms to place orders for chicken eggs, whole chickens, cuts of chicken, and some cuts of pork.
Sample Recipe: Bleeding Heart Blueberry Biscuits
The 2022 Corvallis Indoor Winter Market will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday from Jan. 8 to April 9, 2022 in Guerber Hall at the Benton County Fairgrounds.
With product from these local producers — and a little salt and baking powder — you can make Bleeding Heart Blueberry Biscuits, which require the following:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- A pinch or two of salt
- 1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons honey
- 1 ¼ cup lard
- 1/3 cup water (or less)
- 1 cup blueberries
Below are baking instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Measure water and put in fridge to chill.
- Cut lard into half inch cubes and place in fridge to keep cold.
- Sift flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.
- Drizzle honey into flour to make it easier to incorporate. Add blueberries. Add lard. Use a pastry card or a wide wooden spoon to mix until the dough is shaggy and rough. If the blueberries are very cold it’s okay to use hands, but it’s important the lard doesn’t get too warm. The dough should look rough and powdery at this stage.
- Add cold water until ingredients just barely come together. It is not necessary to use all the water; the blueberries add a lot of liquid as they melt. The blueberries should begin to seep blue and purple.
- Pat or roll the dough flat, a little taller than half an inch. If the dough is sticky, dust with flour. Cut the biscuits into rectangular strips three inches wide. Beginning at one end, cut an inverted triangle into the dough. Continue down the strip at the same angles, forming a chevron / heart pattern. The biscuits are rich and should be made small enough to eat in a couple bites.
- Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes until the biscuits have risen and browned along the edges. Turn once for even baking.
- Serve warm with whipped cream and honey.
By Grace Miller
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