Willamette Valley
In another post I mentioned that farms make the best rambling zones. I was fortunate to visit my Grandparents farm in Minnesota growing up, where I got to wander around and explore. Oregon is another state famous for its farms. There are the vineyards and berry patches of the Willamette Valley, as well as the ranches of Eastern Oregon.
When I lived in Portland and Corvallis, I rented an apartment, and didn’t know anyone with a farm. This made it hard to do farm rambling. Generally, landowners don’t take too kindly to strangers wandering on their land. However, from time to time, local farmers opened up their lands to the public.
These are great opportunities for people to see all the cool things that are grown in this world-renowned crop region. In addition, the farmers stand to make a hefty profit by selling admission tickets or selling the crops themselves. I’ve spent a few weekend days at such events.
Sauvie Island
North of Portland, where the Willamette River flows into the Columbia River, is Sauvie Island. Living in the city, this was one of my favorite destinations for a bike ride. In under an hour, I could cross the Wapato Bridge and escape into the countryside. Sauvie Island is loaded with farms, meaning the traffic is sparse and the scenery is amazing.
A popular activity on Sauvie Island is berry picking. Farms open the gates in the summer and let in the throngs of folks with an appetite for fresh fruit. I took my family there when they visited back in 2015. We rambled around and picked blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, raspberries, strawberries, and more.
Berry identification requires something close to a PhD. When I was a kid, we picked blackcap raspberries, which look like a blackberry, but belong to the raspberry family. A blackcap raspberry, when picked, leaves behind a receptacle. I also learned that boysenberries are a hybrid, unlike blackberries, and they tend to be larger.
Take off your wooden shoes before entering
Sometimes it’s not the food people are after, but the photographs. Every Spring, from March to May, Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm hosts Tulip Fest. It’s located east of Woodburn, a popular shopping outlet. Rita and I visited one year, joining others in the quest to capture the best pictures of tulips.
Spring is a great time to visit the Pacific Northwest. The rains are fading away, the temperatures are pleasant, and all the flowers are in bloom. After paying the admission fee we had free reign to walk around and look at the tulips. We wandered around through the muddy rows, stopping from time to time to literally, “smell the flowers”.
Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm is named that way for a reason. There is a Dutch style windmill, as well as several, large wooden shoes scattered around the property. Along with the tulips, it’s no wonder photographers flock there. In addition, the farm lets in other local produce vendors. We bought some honey as well as two bags of chamomile tea. I would love to have a farm someday and grow tea herbs such as mint and chamomile.
Grape Stomp!
Let’s move further south, up the Willamette, to the little town of Turner. Here, Willamette Valley Vineyards hosts one of the most unique events in the state. It’s called the Oregon Grape Stomp, and it features grape stomping, a costume contest, live music, and wine tasting.
Haven’t heard of grape stomping before? I did not know about it either. It’s part of the traditional wine making process. Instead of crushing grapes with machines, people stomped on them in large barrels. As the grapes are stomped, the juices are released, which then flow out a spigot in the bottom.
We participated in a grape stomping contest and got “crushed”. Rita stomped while I attempted to keep the spigot clear of grape remnants. It might sound like the stomping is the hard part, but the opposite is true. If the spigot gets clogged, juices fill up the barrel but don’t exit into the jugs. Ours got clogged quickly, so our volume of juice was uncompetitive.
We also participated in the costume contest, where we did better. Rita dressed as Wonder Woman and I dressed as Steve Trevor. We didn’t win anything, but at least got some compliments. Besides all the contests, guests got free reign to roam around the property. I took advantage of this and walked between the rows of grapes. Not only were the vines interesting, but the views from the hillside were beautiful. Finally, I should mention, we drank some wine. I tried not to think of whose feet stomped on those grapes.
