Oregon grape fruit ripening in a native hedgerow under heavy skies on Summer Solstice.
The summer solstice rolled into Southern Oregon this weekend with a pleasant cold front, rain, and thick clouds. This return to spring weather is a welcome development as we head into the hot dry months ahead. It’s a brief lull between the mad dash of spring and the long summer months of ripening and harvest to come. Looking back, it has already been a busy and productive year on the Farm and in our partner school gardens. On the Farm we’ve planted out the fields with this year’s vegetable crops for the food pantry and our partner schools, as well as native, flower and vegetable seed crops.
Zinnia seed crop and butternut squash between rows of basketry willows. We love this type of planting that incorporates strips of annuals and perennials together in one field. The willows provide erosion control, windbreak, and pollinator habitat for the seed crops, and any excess irrigation and fertility from the annuals is utilized by the willows.
This year’s seed crops include a few new native species for us including Potentilla, Fescue, and Camas. These seeds will be sold to our local partner The Understory Initiative for use in their restoration seed mixes.
Camas flowering on the Farm in June.
We’ve also finished weeding and mulching our many perennials including grapes, raspberries, strawberries, apples, pears, peaches, and cherries. These crops all provide abundant fruit for our kids programs and for our school partners in the fall. As I type, the first raspberry crop is ripening just in time for next week’s farm campers to graze their way through the patch.
The spring is also busy season in the nursery where we have stratified, germinated and transplanted more than 50,000 native plants for restoration projects around the Rogue Valley. This season we have several new and exciting species in the nursery including Penstemon, Lupin, and Rudbekia for our new partner the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. We have also been growing as many trees as we can for a new three year project we are starting this year to provide drought tolerant and disease resistant shade trees for neighborhoods in Southern Oregon that suffer disproportionately from overheating due to the impacts of climate change and recent fires. We are especially excited to partner with Pollinator Project Rogue Valley to provide trees for the communities of Phoenix and Talent that were burned during the 2020 Almeda Fire.
Black Oak seedlings in the nursery.
While the seeds were growing in the greenhouses and farm beds were being prepped, Sarah has been running an epic spring of education programs. We hosted 12 field trips from local schools including the Life Skills Class from Hidden Valley High School. This awesome class also has a productive school garden that provides learning opportunities for the students but also provides tons of produce for families in need. Sarah and Shaun have also been working in the school gardens at our other three partner schools all year, planting, teaching, eating, and getting hands dirty with the kids. Projects this year have included building a new cob bench at Williams Elementary, a new greenhouse and raised beds at Hidden Valley, and planting pollinator plants at Ruch and Applegate. They have also been cooking up a storm with the middle school class at Ruch. Each week the students get to cook and eat an organic fresh meal during garden class. Meals have ranged from tacos to spring rolls to pizza and have been the highlight of the program.
Fresh veggie spring rolls!
Working on lunch in the Life Skills classroom at Hidden Valley High School.
All of this good work in the first half of 2025 sets us up for a great summer and fall. We’re excited for camp next week, and then we move in to harvest season of our food and seed crops. Fall brings the return of school garden programming and field trips, as well as sorting, bundling and delivery of nursery plants. We’re proud of the work already accomplished and enthusiastic for the fun to come. May your summer be safe and abundant and may the fall bring the return of the rains and a bountiful harvest for all! 
Cheers!
