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Field Trip – Persephone Farm
Field Trip – Persephone Farm
Rose colored potatoes from Persephone Farm
We recently took a field trip to Persephone Farm in Lebanon to speak with Jeff Falen and Elanor O’Brien about farming in Oregon, running an environmentally and socially responsible business and of course produce availability for small businesses and local customers alike.
Jeff started Persephone in 1985, and his partner Elanor came to the farm as an intern shortly after and never left. They focus on organically farmed produce and also keep a flock of chickens for fresh eggs. Jeff says he’s pleased with the farm’s success and his business expanding yearly.
During the off-season, Elanor is in charge of working on crop plans and ordering seeds, and currently they are starting plants (onions, parsley) in their greenhouse. They store cabbage, onions, beets, and potatoes over the winter in a walk-in refrigerator and continue to sell them throughout the year.
Persephone has a presence at local farmers markets: Portland State University and Hollywood Farmers Markets on Saturday and Salem Farmers Market on Saturday and Wednesday.
During the off-season, Jeff and his staff stay busy with various projects such as working on a loft space for workers to live in as well as spend time together socially. They’re experimenting with hay-bale insulation for this space. Their tractor has also recently been converted to being battery-powered, part of an on-going effort to reduce fossil fuel consumption on the farm. They have been using solar panels to generate a portion of their electricity for years and sell any excess back to the power company.
We enjoyed meeting both Jeff and Elanor, and look forward to using some of their beautiful produce for our events this summer.
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7 comments for “Field Trip – Persephone Farm”
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That’s an Opinel French Country Knife! One of the best knives ever made and takes an edge like a scalpel. I should know, I still have the scars. I always take one camping if I know I’ll be cooking.
Nice catch! I had someone else tell me that recently, and never even noticed it in the photo. It looks nice and portable for a camping trip.
Yum, Southern style food served in the Northwest — where are you originally from??
Hi Charlotte – I’m originally from central South Carolina. I’m hoping to bring that cuisine to the Northwest and use ingredients we can source locally!
[...] Field Trip to Persephone Farm Sassafras Catering Sassafras Catering Posted by root 5 minutes ago (http://www.sassafrascatering.com) By catherine march 29 2009 post a comment and ordering seeds and currently they are starting plants onions parsley in their greenhouse 12 00 38 pm may 26 2009 from twhirl powered by wordpress twitter widget pro Discuss | Bury | News | Field Trip to Persephone Farm Sassafras Catering Sassafras Catering [...]
This is excellent> growing and using your own grown produce.
I recently spent time on a ranch in Northern California. The produce was great and the meat from the cows that were not hormone fed was excellent. Better yet yet is how I actually felt good afterwards. No indigestion!
Good job. Your clients are going to love it!
I think this post was really a strong beginning to a potential series of posts about this topic. So many users pretend to understand what they are writing about when it comes to this area and generally, nearly no one actually get it. You seem to grasp it however, so I think you need to run with it. Thanks!