November 10, 2017 Gathering Together Farm

This morning I spent a few minutes on Craig's List looking at free stuff. I do this often, looking for things to help our project along. I find all sorts of things which might  come in handy, and then don't go get any of them because we already have enough junk laying around. But one day I will be able to go get those little gems I see and make use of them.

However, we have been looking for free plastic pallets for a few weeks now. I hope to use them as a base for a foot path from the gravel driveway, over the mud, to the front door of our tiny home. I also intend to use them to elevate the hay bales we will put out as dog bedding inside of our first hoop house kennel, giving the dogs a warm dry place to spend their days while we are at work. This morning one of the first things I saw was a 22 foot camp trailer (which I want but cannot use today) and 14 plastic pallets (which I need). The ad was for a place in Philomath, which is near Corvallis, about two hours drive from the Farm.  I sent a text message to Ann asking if she thought I should take the drive. She said to go.

So I called John and he agreed not to give the pallets away to anyone else. This is a kindness, which he didn't have to give, and I appreciate it. He said that he was also a farmer and that farmers need to help each other out. I got dressed, went out to Creekside, filled up my tank, and headed down the back way through Corvallis to Philomath. After a two hours drive in the rain what I found there was special to say the least. Another Farm in the vein of what we hope Creekside Farm will be some day.

Wait until you get down to the inside pictures of this place.

Upon arrival I immediately spotted that I was on an organic vegetable farm. I came in the side door (so to speak) and found a small band of fairly attractive young people cleaning purple potatoes using a medium sized tunnel washer (a sort of tunnel where the produce enters one end and comes out mostly clean at the other). Asking around I didn't find any John persons, but I saw the stack of pallets I had seen earlier in the picture in Craig's List and ask some nice woman nearby if I could just start loading them up. John came along about three quarters of the way into the loading.

I finished loading and, both because I an nosey and because I'm really interested, I ask about the place. He said I could take a look around, that it was about five acres, and that another guy named John had built the farm over the past thirty or so years. They sell produce at about eight farmer's markets, their own farm store, and maybe an organic produce broker. From where I stood, I counted at least eight workers (all young, all pretty good looking people). I wandered around the back of the place. It looked pretty much like you might expect of an Oregon farm in winter. A bit old, a bit dirty, really beautiful to me (whose aesthetic sense runs a bit farm-y as of late).

Continuing to wander I came around to find the farm store entrance and look around for ideas to steal. If you have been following along this blog you know that this is a fun activity which Ann and I do quite a bit (when we are free to do things). I first ran into the sign above. Nice. Straight forward. When I turned around from taking the picture I saw this next one:

The entrance to Gathering Together.
They have a much better picture on their web site (link below).

It looked more like a restaurant than any farm store I have ever seen, so I had to go in. It started pouring down rain as I mounted the stairs. 

This is not a very good picture of the counter,
but one day  I hope to build something like it.
They have a small baked good case on the counter (at the back).
Behind that us the Coffee Station.
Next to the organic milk case.

Inside I saw maybe seven tables, mostly seated with people eating what looked very much like very good soups served with what looked like very good bread. Taking pictures of this might have been seen as an intrusion, so I continued into the place until reaching better photographic quarry.

The farm store had no people in it, but the parking lot was full, mostly with customers for the restaurant.

Everything looked warm and inviting, the wait staff was nice and everyone, even the potato cleaners standing in the rain, looked happy and shiny.

The place was laid out much as I might have done. Everything was clean and brightly lit. I am taking Ann to lunch there very soon. They have a nice little wood fire pizza oven too.

A horribly blurry picture.
Local organic meats are in a case just off camera to the left.
A refrigerated case next to that,  followed by non-refrigerated produce,
and other products and art for sale on the walls.

I didn't stay long, just enough time to take these few pictures and try to find the guy who built this little bit of genius. But I will return very soon to find out more. I did delve deeply into their web site, reading menus and thinking they do a very nice job of fooding people. They added a few idea to the long list of ideas we already have.

They built nearly everything we intend to and have made a good enough business out of it to have a full parking lot on a rainy Friday morning in late Fall. These are my new farming heroes.

Here is their web site:

Gathering Together Farm

25159 Grange Hall Rd,
Philomath, OR 97370
(541) 929-4270