Snapshots from 2021
“Not sure how we had time to write a weekly blog last year, this year there were never enough hours in the day. Below is our attempt at documenting our second season. Can’t wait to see you in the spring!”
“Not sure how we had time to write a weekly blog last year, this year there were never enough hours in the day. Below is our attempt at documenting our second season. Can’t wait to see you in the spring!”
We had a family of baby skunks living under the shop. They loved coming out during the day, when the most folks were around.
With some fruit and marshmallows, the babies were easily lured into our old pet carrier and then we moved them to a far corner of the farm.
We spent a lot of time working to save the 8,000 square feet of greenhouses from collapsing under the weight of the snow and ice.
Our biggest purchase, besides the farm itself. We needed a 4WD tractor and more power, so we could work the fields earlier and faster than last year. We also upgraded the disc and cultipacker attachments.
Kat, installing the heated lines for the greenhouse tables. This allowed us to get our starts going early and is much more efficient than heating the greenhouse air.
A new entrance for the Sauvie Island Center’s storage, one of the many off-season projects on the farm completed by Kat’s brother, Peter.
Getting the market ready to open for the season.
We opened for a couple days in spring, so folks could pick up their vegetable starts and Mother’s Day flower baskets.
Opening day!
So proud of our herbs and greens.
Two Jims! Jim Dixon, right, from Wellspent Market came to visit and teach folks how to cook fava beans.
Before and after scenes from the Gilbert River. Nurturing the land also means nurturing the water. We added few gallons of healthy microbes and molasses to the water, near our irrigation pump. The water went from looking like chocolate milk to being clear enough to see fish within two months. Even our upstream neighbor, a quarter mile away, said they could see a significant improvement.
Our soil guru, Cuauhtemoc Villa, shows off the healthy microbes aka compost tea we’ve been making to add to the water and the soil.
We make a lot of bokashi to feed the soil. Bokashi is made with the healthy microbes mixed into organic material, then used to add nutrients to the soil.
Our niece adding bokashi to our strawberry fields.
Cuauhtemoc aka Mr. V putting on a workshop of how to make Bokashi at home.
Alejandro building a play area with old tractor tires.
Nothing tastes like an Oregon strawberry!
U-Pick berries (and Sauvie Island Coffee)!!!
Meeting our animals up close is one of the perks of coming early in the morning or during the week. Shown, Rita, our dwarf cow.
Adam and Kris walking the pigs, Sophie and July, from one pen to another.
We lost our good friend Jill this year. Planting a tree was a small way for us to celebrate her life. We miss you XOJ.
Flame weeding is one way we were able to get rid of weeds without chemicals.
We flame weeded our corn at the time of planting and again when the corn is approximately 6” tall. The flames kill the weeds, but the corn plants are able to survive, and hopefully out grow the weeds around them.
Close up, right after flame weeding.
The weeds are terrible for many of our crops. The deer also destroyed a lot of crops, especially strawberries.
One of the highlights of the summer: hosting the Sauvie Island School 8th grade graduation at the farm.
Our arborist, Ryan, giving a check up to our historic Oak tree. He’s the second arborist to estimate the tree is between 400-500 years old.
Most of our farm to plate meals take place under the historic Oak tree.
Chefs Janelle and Christian Ephrem create the most incredible meals. They worked for multiple Michelin star restaurants before teaming up with the farm. Their passion for creating the most amazing experiences have made them focus on every single detail, including where their food comes from.
The outdoor farm to plate kitchen.
The menu from this year’s Celebration of Corn dinner. Each week the chefs create a unique menu based on what is being harvested on the farm.
Macy getting ready to serve dinner.
Chef Christian Ephrem at the grill.
Robyn preparing the corn silk to top some fried green tomatoes.
Kat seating guests at their tables.
Berries and greens from the farm.
The Oak tree also became the backdrop for live music at our Harvest Festivals. Pictured here are Kat and her brother Peter working on the portable stage.
The portable stage, being put into place.
We spent months cleaning garbage out of turtle pond, a wetland restoration project.
The restoration of turtle pond will continue to take many months. Shown here, the removal of invasive Himalayan berries, which we’ve begun replacing by planting native plants, including Wapato.
We wouldn’t be able to have all our animals without our daughter, Odessa. She makes it look easy, but it’s hard work. In addition to feeding them and changing their waters twice a day, she cleans their stalls, gives them their vaccines and monitors their health.
PJ joined our family this spring. His initials come from his name, Phillip Jr.
Pros and cons. We have lost very few chickens to hawks and other predators because they are housed with our goats. But sharing the same pen isn’t without issues. Odessa has to stay on top of deworming and other issues that arise by having multiple animals living together.
Bonnie had her first two chicks this spring. During the same time, one of our turkeys became very aggressive and started picking on the chicks and the ducks. He has been re-homed, and now lives on another farm with three other turkeys. Whenever an animal comes or goes the entire pecking order changes.
Our rooster, Clyde, and our goat, Rolo have a special friendship. Clyde can often be seen sitting on top of Rolo.
Clyde also loves to hang out with Bonnie on the dirt piles.
Besties. Odessa hanging out with Rita, the cow, and donkeys Mayday and Trooper.
Don’t let this sweet photo fool you. Sophie (right) is the boss, and if July tries to eat her food, she will chase her away.
Kris returning from spraying the fields. Spraying in this case refers to spraying compost tea on the crops. Though spraying typically refers to pesticides, we do not use any pesticides at the farm.
117 degrees. Record heat waves destroyed rows and rows of the raspberry plants we planted months earlier in the year.
We made lots of carrot and watermelon popsicles for all our animals during the heat wave.
Chef Doug Adams, from Top Chef fame, teamed up with us this summer. First by bringing the Holler truck, then by popping up to smoke pulled pork sandwiches throughout the season.
Luis setting up a water system for the Sauvie Island Center and their campers to use to water their Lunch Grow Garden.
Luis’ niece, Antonina, made tapestries on her loom, in Paxtoca Totonicapan Guatemala, which we sold in the market.
Tapestries on display in the market.
The upside is we are very lucky to have a steady supply of water to irrigate with on Sauvie Island. Not so lucky when one of our big guns tips over in transport.
We have been adding more and more drip line to different fields on the farm. The drip lines really helped our greens and tomatoes this year.
The aerial view of the island’s first sunflower maze. We are excited for our second annual sunflower maze in 2022.
We used graph paper to sketch out where the pathways would go, then created them using our mower.
The sunflowers bloomed in early August and lasted just over two weeks.
Kris and Libby testing out the maze.
Hidden rooms.
Luis created a dome in the center of the maze.
Rhylie cutting sunflowers for us to sell in the market.
Peter Rockwell helped us make the corn maze “old school” again this year.
This year, Aaron Draplin crteated the design and then Peter translated it to graph paper, which was then drawn on the field.
Addy and Peter measuring the field. Stakes were placed every 100’.
Jake and Peter then flagged the field.
Aerial shot by our friend Johnny “Midnight” Cage of Midnight's Aerial Imaging
Maze art created by local artist and badass Aaron Draplin.
Jason Sturgill in artwork by Jason Sturgill! Six local artists created artwork that was hidden inside the maze.
Ayo Elise of KPTV in the maze artwork by local artist Jonah Spaay.
Our daughter, Odessa, taking Rita and Sammy for a walk together.
Celebrating Grandpa’s 83rd bday! We couldn’t keep this farm running without him or the rest of our three-generation family running and working the farm.
Jose harvesting tomatoes.
We planted grafted tomato plants, added drip lines for watering, feed them with healthy microbes and bokashi, planted marigolds between each plant to deter pests, and ended up with a giant crop of the most delicious tomatoes.
Our friend and neighbor, Joann, came by everyday to water our flowers at the farm entrance, and around the buildings. We have the most generous friends and neighbors. They helped us in so many ways this season.
Our friends and neighbors, Melinda and Paul, came over almost every day in October, to make all the caramel apples. They are by far the best we’ve ever had. All made with local Honeycrisp apples.
Our U-Cut flowers were so beautiful growing in front of the market. But the ground is so full of horsetail and sledge that it costs more to weed the area than we make selling all the flowers. Because we don’t use any pesticides - even on our flowers - one of our most expensive costs is hoeing. We are going to move some of our U-Cut flowers next season to a different spot in hopes of reducing our labor.
Assembly of the portable stage used in the Harvest Festival live music performances.
Our cosmos grew taller than our sunflowers.
The U-Cut flowers were still blooming in October this year.
Red sunflowers.
Dahlia.
Piano. Push. Play. generously brought a piano to the farm again this year, for folks to come play.
This little one walked right up and picked up Bruce like a pro. Bruce and his brother Lee are both Silkies, and they happen to be our most aggressive roosters. But you would have never known it. <3
Crazy view, shot by our Midnight’s drone.
Getting ready for our first Harvest Festival, featuring live music under the historic Oak tree.
Tucker and Addy set up “Greenroom B” for the opening acts to have a place to hang out backstage.
Colin Meloy of the Decemberists. Click here for more photos of the bands.
Scenes from the first Harvest Festival.
No hot dogs here! Chef Christian Ephrem made sure folks experienced food from the farm when they came to hear music. Burrata and arugula on grilled stone fruit, custom ground brats with beet sauerkraut, heirloom tomato salad with basil . . . and Farm Pops.
Between the view of the tree, the sun setting, the neighbors riding by on horseback and Christian’s food, every night felt magical.
Another perk of island farming and living; awesome neighbors.
One of the most emotional Harvest Festival nights was Blind Pilot’s performance. Tears were seen by band members and farm guests.
After Harvest Festival performances, this crew helped with the stage take down and equipment hauling.
We had amazing artists at the Harvest Festivals. And for the last two shows, Pickathon came and co-presented. They taught us a lot, including to make sure we bring more of the market closer to the music, so folks could more easily take a little Sauvie Island produce home with them.
DJ Anjali and The Incredible Kid, saying hi to the mini donkeys after a set.
Each week the sun set earlier, creating some pretty epic moments.
We were proud that the Harvest Festivals raised thousands for the Sauvie Island Center.
The Sauvie Island Center’s “Grow Lunch Garden” is near the historic Oak tree. It’s especially rewarding when kids who have come to the Sauvie Island Center for a school field trip, come back and walk through the garden, picking food for their parents to try.
Our Farm to Plate tent, which we started to use in September, on the lawn near the farm stand.
Before the pandemic, the Sauvie Island Center had fields trips from multiple schools each week. This year, they mainly had students from the Sauvie Island School. Trying to adapt and survive, like so many non-profits and other businesses this year, they created a lot of volunteer opportunities. Shown here are employees from Salesforce, who came to the farm to volunteer and team build.
Volunteers having fun and getting so much done.
Our youngest daughter, Odessa, was not old enough to legally drive a car, but she learned how to drive the big John Deere this year.
Not sure if anyone noticed, but this year we had an all female crew driving the tractors for the hayrides. The only time Luis or Jim would drive was when someone needed a lunch break. Thanks Mollie, Alyssa, Maggie, Erin and Odessa!
We restored and covered one of our wagons this year.
One of the best spots to look for the perfect pumpkin.
We broke down this year and changed our rule that kids couldn’t climb on the tractors. Even though they might look like relics, they are working tractors, and they have many sharp parts. But the joy of watching how happy the littles are to drive a tractor was so great, we just couldn’t take it anymore. <3
Almost weekly we had to take apart the corn roaster to fix it, and grease all the bearings. Worth it.
We broke down and bought a new Little John Deere. Also worth it!
This fall, like so many businesses trying to navigate the pandemic, staffing was a challenge. Our farm to plate chef and friend Christian Ephrem helped us by keeping the grill going. Thank you Christian! Shown here two favorites: Heirloom Apple Salad and Three Cheese Grilled Cheese (not shown: his amazing Heirloom Tomato Soup).
Meanwhile, inside the market, farm to plate chef Janelle Ephrem made the most amazing pastries and jams. Fall favorites: Apple Cider Donuts and Pumpkin Bread Slices, Apple Hand Pies . . .
Rita will knock over her pen mates in a second for carrots and apples.
So proud of how our pumpkins and gourds grew this year. We added molasses to the irrigation system when we watered them. Not only did the farm smell great, but it prevented powdery mildew and gave them a shot of sugar.
Mark and Sue who own nearby Oregon’s Best Honey, not only filled our market with the best local honey, they also brought lots of honeybee boxes to help pollinate our fields.
Pumpkins!
Squash and greens!
Unlike our first attempt at planting strawberries, this time we made mounds (thank you Columbia Farms for letting us borrow your hiller). Then we ran drip line and plastic. Shown here Adam is making the holes and filling with Bokashi before putting the plants in that we’ve been growing in the greenhouse.
In smaller mounds, but also with drip line and plastic, Jose is planting garlic and shallots for next year.
We planted three different types of garlic this fall for harvest next year.
Fall brings so many rainbows and eagles.
Biochar mounds. We burn all sorts of organic material and then use the carbon rich char in our compost and bokashi to enrich the soil.
Maybe Bob!
The market at it’s fullest.
The final two nights of the season, we had a haunted maze and party. The haunted maze was a blast, and so were marshmallows around the fire, and the live music. But Mother Nature reminded us how brutal October weather can be. There was so much rain that we had to close our main maze because of mud. The heavy winds blew part of our shop roof off, knocked down a tree and prevented us from having a larger bonfire has we had hoped.
Again this year, some were lucky enough to see glimpses of the Headless Horseperson when she rode by.
I wish we had taken more photos. The entire farm looked magical with all the lights.
The tradition continues. Island kids made the jump scare maze the best ever.
Right after we close for the season, so much work begins. It’s a race against the weather to get it all done. Shown here, our neighbor Nick, who planted our corn maze, came over to cut it down to feed to his cattle (which eventually, we sell in the store).
I love this photo. Cuauhtemoc had just picked some greens out of the field during the last week of November, for an employee lunch. One of the many perks of being on the farm, is continuing to be able to pick greens almost year round.
Time to move Rita, Trooper and Mayday to a neighbor’s pasture. Their pen is too muddy for them to winter in.
Luckily they are just down the road.
Stocking up on hay for all the animals to eat this winter, with the help of our friends at Hoffman Farms and neighbors, the Fazios. With the extreme heat this summer, there is a real shortage of hay for feed. And what hay is available is very expensive.
Pruning trees means more wood to turn into biochar!
Time to look for a walk in freezer, for the dozen Angus that are being raised down the road at the Sauvie Island Cattle Co. We are super excited to expand the high quality meat we will be selling next season.
Planting cover crops. Our goal is to cover every field. The challenge is getting to all the fields before it is too wet.
Another farm investment; an 8’ box scraper. Scraping and leveling out the roads that have become riddled with potholes.
Our new flail mower, which allows us to cut down our cover crops to enrich the soil. At 16’ it was definitely intense driving it home on Highway 26, I-405 and Highway 30. Many thanks to AJ Fazio.
November thru March is the best time of year to see all the birds of prey and Sandhill Cranes. We just built two dozen more hawk perches to put in the fields, which will help reduce the rodent population on the farm.
Tried to capture this Northern Harrier before she started flying. She is one our favorite hawks to watch hunt on the farm, because she glides so close to the ground when hunting.
The animals definitely miss all the attention after we close, so we try to spoil them a little by letting them wander around. Funny though, they don’t like to go far from home.
We were worried about running out of pumpkins. We ended up having lots remaining that we were able to give to donate to schools and other farmers to feed their animals.
Jose digging up the dahlia bulbs for the winter.
Kris harvesting yet another banana tree that grew near the building. Many years ago, one banana tree was planted. And like bamboo, it sends many shoots and continues to grow. We’ve had to remove as many as we could because they were growing - even inside the building walls.
This healthy coyote was out during the day shortly after we closed. We love coyotes as they help keep our animal population in balance.
Every week we donate food to local food banks. The day after we closed it was a great feeling to send off the remaining squash, pumpkins and other produce. Thank you Grandpa and a huge thank you to all the other volunteers who helped distribute the thousands of pounds of fresh food.
Every week, we grab a truckload of discarded coffee bean shells from a local roaster, and use them as the organic material in our bokashi.
The mycelium in the soil is most likely a couple hundred years old to produce the ring of mushrooms around this tree.
Using indigenous practices, we grabbed some of the mycelium from around our neighbors tree. Watch the video for more info on how and why we did it.
We were able to offer farm to plate Thanksgiving and Holiday dinners to-go again this year. The market was open for a few hours for pick up and to sell last minute stocking stuffers (and some of Janell’s jam and granola).
Friends sent us their Snow-Pumpkins - leftovers from the October u-pick!