The Applegater

16 Fall 2018 Applegater Farm stands in and around the Applegate Valley Fox Run Farm. Local fruits, vegetables, produce; some organic. 3842 West Main Street, Medford. Tuesday - Sunday 10 am - 6 pm; closed Monday. Greg and Heather Askins, 541-608-7886, foxrunfarm.business.site. Fry Family Farms. Organic produce, plants and flowers, pies, preserves, pickles, ferments, sauces. 2184 Ross Lane, Medford. 10 am - 5 pm daily. Suzi and Steve Fry, 541-622-8154, suzi@fryfamilyfarm.org or fryfamilyfarm.org. Gallagher Family Farms. Apples, pears, other fruits and berries. 6968 New Hope Road, Grants Pass. Variable hours. Mike Gallagher, 541-479-5438. Hill's Corn Stand at Provolt. Lots of corn, also garden produce. Highway 238 between the Provolt Store and Oshala Farm. Open late summer during corn season. No set hours. Old Stage Farm. Organic heirloom peaches, nectarines, apples. 972 Old Stage Road, Jacksonville. Tuesday, ursday, Saturday 10 am - 4 pm. Gary Pellett, 541-245-0503, info@newflora.com, oldstagefarm.com. Oshala Farm. Organic herbs, tea blends, produce; herbal products, beekeeping and canning equipment. 14900 Highway 238, Grants Pass. Jeff and Elise Higley, 541-846-1120, oshalafarm@gmail.com, oshalafarm.com. OSOH Farm Stand. All kinds of greens, tomatoes, and other produce, all organic. 2816 Upper Applegate Road, Jacksonville. 7 am - 5 pm daily. Sean Billingsley, farmer for the Doty family. Pennington Farms and the Country Bakery. Berries, fresh and frozen; baked goods with berries. 11341 Williams Highway, Grants Pass. Monday 9 am - 3 pm; Tuesday - Friday 9 am - 4 pm; Saturday 10 am - 4 pm. Cathy and Sam Pennington and children, 541-846-0550, pnnngtnj@aol.com, penningtonfarms.net. Rogue Artisan Foods. Goat milk; also duck eggs. Milk is in the fridge in the barn behind the commercial trailer; bring clean jar to trade. 10414 Highway 238, Jacksonville. 541-708-1565, rogueartisanfoods.com Twin Pear Farm. Goat milk soap, jam, gift baskets, chips, candy, goat milk, and eggs (when available). 9 am - 5 pm daily; cash box with book to record purchases. 342 Beaver Creek Road, Jacksonville, facebook.com/twinpearfarm. Walport Family Cellars. Eggs. 470 Slagle Creek Road, Grants Pass. 541- 846-9463. wfcellars.com. Whistling Duck Farm. Organic produce, juice, meats, cheese, yogurt, packaged items, fermented products, and more. 12800 Highway 238, Grants Pass. Summer hours: Monday - Friday 10 am - 7 pm; weekends 11 am - 6 pm. Winter hours: Monday - Friday 10 am - 6 pm; weekends 11 am - 5 pm. Mary and Vince Alionis, 541-761-6772, mary@whistlingduckfarm.com, whistlingduckfarm.com. White's Country Farm. Local produce; seasonal U-pick peaches, flowers, pumpkins. 3939 West Main, Medford. 10 am - 5 pm daily. Lanessa Pierce, 541- 773-8031, facebook.com/whitescountryfarm. Strawberry stands are located on the corner of Hanley Road and Highway 238 and on West Main, between Fox Run Farm and Highway 238, during season. Both stands offer other fruits and berries. e berries are not organic. ■ FARM STANDS Continued from page 1 him and fall asleep in his arms. He still has 15 varieties of apples, seven of pears, seven of plums, four of cherries, and seven of grapes. is fall ("with fingers crossed," he says) he'll get a second crop of raspberries. Mike figures he makes $2 an hour. He keeps going, he says, because he's "dumb and stupid," but other young farmers in the Applegate are starting farm stands with his original enthusiasm. Sean Billingsley, with OSOH farm stand (Our Slice of Heaven), loves to talk about the circularity of organic farming: rabbit pellets go into the soil (he opens a pellet with his fingernail to show how it is a time-release energy source); garden scraps feed the rabbits; rabbit fur makes hats and gloves; dogs chew on butchered rabbit heads. Compost tea is sprayed from huge bins onto beautiful long rows of greens. A mountain of compost, made with pulled weeds, waits to be strewn onto the soil. Nothing is wasted. To Sean, the best thing about the farm stand is the opportunity to offer people good food. "Try this arugula… this Salanova lettuce…this kale." Maybe in 50 years he'll be saying he keeps going because he's dumb and stupid, but for him, as for Mike Gallagher, love of growing things and providing good produce is at the heart of his farming practices. "I just want to bring people health," he says. A sign on the refrigerator at the Twin Pear Farm stand that says, "Made with love," could go above the door of any farm stand in the Applegate. Elise Higley, at Oshala Farm, for instance, began farming because of a "passion for herbalism, while her husband, Jeff, has been farming, mostly vegetables, for 17 years. eir stand offers made-with-love organic Oshala herbs, herbal products, and produce as well as products from other farmers within 250 miles. e 113-acre Oshala farm is redolent with aromas from more than 70 kinds of medicinal and culinary herbs, vast rows of chamomile, calendula blooming orange in the field, and barns full of drying herbs, garlic, and more. Cathy Pennington, of Pennington Farms, says the best thing about running a farm stand is "the people we get to meet—locals and tourists both." The stand offers 28 varieties of berries, both fresh and frozen, and berry-centered baked goods. Cathy and Sam Pennington and their five children have been cultivating berries on their 70-acre farm for 24 years. "ere is no leisure in your life with this kind of work," Cathy admits, but hard work hasn't deterred the children: when Cathy and Sam retire, their oldest son will run the farm and their daughter Sloane the store. For Vince and Mar y Alionis, the motivation for running a farm stand on their Whistling Duck Farm is community. "Connectedness in community is key," Mary says. Besides their own produce, Whistling Duck sells local meats, including yak meat from Firebird Farms; cheeses from By George; and raw milk and goat milk from Runnymede Farm. ey are particularly proud of their fish, which comes from Port Orford Sustainable Seafood, a co-op that uses hook-and-line fishing and does restoration work at the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve. e educational component is an important part of what Vince and Mary do. "We're into keeping people abreast of what is happening," Mary says. "People want connection—to know the names of customers and farmers. Food pulls people back to the natural world." Surely that personal connection is one of the best reasons not only for farmers to run a farm stand but for us to do our shopping there—that and the freshness of the food: that spicy arugula from OSOH, rich-tasting raspberries from Gallagher's, turnovers from Pennington, fresh herbs from Oshala, and wild-crafted mushrooms at Whistling Duck. Diana Coogle dicoog@gmail.com Whistling Duck owners Mary and Vince Alionis with Lisa Martin at the farm stand checkout counter. Photo: Diana Coogle. A sponsor of the Applegater's annual fundraiser on October 14, 2018. 541 899 -1770 www.bellau.com 170 West California St. Jacksonville, OR JOIN THE 20 YEAR TRADITION ! $ 1 Oysters and $ 3 Beers Ever y Thursday until April, it 's Oysters & Ale night. Live music - A new beer each week from local breweries and distributors - Specials throughout the night. And,of course oysters on the half shell. It's always a great time at the Bella Union! 937 N 5th Street, Jacksonville, OR 97530 541-899-1081 • jvillevet.com

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