Bend, Oregon Farmers Market Gears Up For End of Season

The NorthWest Crossing Farmers Market the Bend, Oregon neighborhood of NorthWest Crossing is celebrating the last two Saturdays of the season with some great live music, and a lineup of vendors that will keep you well-stocked in goodies right through the Fall.

This Saturday and next, McKenzie River Farms will be helping to put the "Farm" in Farmers Market with a great selection of produce. According to their site, they'll have every summer produce item imaginable -from tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries, all the way to August harvested eggplant, garlic and melons.

Couple this with a fabulous selection of delicious specialty foods, wagon rides, a petting zoo and plenty of arts and crafts, and you have a Saturday that screams "SUMMER TIME" in Bend, Oregon. Not to mention the live sounds of Chata Addy (Authentic West African Music) on this Saturday, August 27th and the eclectic folk tunes from Brent Alan and Lino Trio on September 3rd.

See you at the Farmers Market!

NorthWest Crossing's Own Bend, Oregon Brewery: Below Grade Brewing

It's no secret that Bend, Oregon is exploding with craft breweries: the count continues to rise. Here in NorthWest Crossing, we have our own community brewery - Below Grade Brewing. Owned and operated by residents Dean and Bridget Wise, the handcrafted beers from this nano-brewery debuted at the NWX Farmers Market earlier this summer.

Wise built his small brewing "facility" in a corner of his basement, has been home brewing for almost 20 years according to a recent Bulletin article. Wise says that Below Grade is a community brewery that provides fresh, fine ales batch-by-batch to beer enthusiasts. Because each run of each beer differs slightly - expressing the craft of beer making - these enthusiasts become part of the brewing experience.

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive! Come try a pint for yourself this weekend at the Farmers Market, held on Saturday August 6 from 10am-2pm.

NWX Farmers Market Bend, Oregon Starts This Weekend! Dancing Cow Farms to Participate

We're so excited that our much-anticipated NWX Farmers Market starts this Saturday at 10am - look for the Farmers Market every Saturday through September 3. Our lineup of vendors is stellar, and this week we're spotlighting Dancing Cow Farms out of Prineville, Oregon. 

Dancing Cow Farms is owned by Jerre Kosta and Sean Dodson, who grow vegetables (mostly from organic and heritage seed) and raising rare Irish Dexter Cattle, 6-horned Jacob Sheep, Icelandic Horses, Lavender Guinea Fowl, Heritage Turkeys, Indian Runner Ducks and a variety of Heritage Chickens. Believing that healthy foods begin with healthy soils, they practice rotational grazing and planting. Their organic compost comes from the farm and they enjoy working with nature to control growth and pests. With a passion for their work, they consider it a great honor to be farmers and the stewards of the land and these animals.

While Dancing Cow is not a certified organic farm, organic is their practice. Each year they integrate more of Joel Salatin's Polyfarm methods, Bill Mollison's Permaculture design, Rudolf Steiner's biodynamic and Allan Savory's Holistic Resource Management practices. Each year the farm grows!

In rotation we multi-species graze our animals across our pastures moving them often to keep our animals and fields healthy. The cattle come first eating the best of the pasture. The sheep follow enjoying the forbs and grasses left by the cattle. The chickens are behind working the ground and enjoying the bugs, grasses and legumes as they clean up behind the grazers.

The grazer's diet is supplemented with fresh water, free-choice organic mineral and supplements, Redmond Salt and Kelp. The chicken's pasture diet is supplemented with fresh water and a feed mix of the farm's own recipe including grains, Fertrall's organic minerals and supplements, Redmond Salt and Kelp. They crack the grain and make the mix at the farm.

Jerre has sold farm fresh eggs and vegetables weekly in Bend since 2003. In 2006, Sean and Jerre helped to create the first farmer's market in Prineville.

We're excited to see what they bring to this year's NorthWest Crossing Farmers Market in Bend, Oregon! 

Good Earth Farms: Growing Good Stuff for Us!

From our guest blogger, Charlie Rich of Good Earth Farms! Bringing yummy goodness your way for the coming NWX Farmer's Market in Bend, Oregon!

"There was no rest this off-season for Good Earth Farms (formerly known as Paradise Farms).  Starting in December, the farm began its move to a much milder micro-climate on Deschutes Market Rd and expanded acreage in production by more than 200 percent!  We are also expanding our booth at the NWX Farmers Market to accommodate the wider variety of produce we are growing this year.  

Some of the tasty produce currently in production for the Farmers Market is lettuce, kale, swiss chard, spinach, arugula, carrots, peas, beans, onions, cilantro, broccoli, beets, cabbage, cilantro, tomatoes (the best!), potatoes, squash, peppers and maybe some corn and a few juicy melons...! Our special lettuce mix blend is one of our top sellers and we are hoping this year that we have more NWX families buying their lettuce from Good Earth Farms. You are welcome to stop by and sample any of our produce for free and experience tasty, freshly harvested food that hasn't been on a truck for three days...!   

At Good Earth Farms we continue to enhance our sustainable and organic growing methods to provide you with the freshest, most nutritious produce in Central Oregon. We grow varieties you won’t find from the industrial food system - heirloom and open-pollinated varieties that have evolved naturally over the years with a vast array of tastes, colors, sizes, shapes and always high in nutritional value. Our goal is to help create a local, sustainable food system that keeps us healthy, preserves our natural resources, supports the local economy and tastes great!  This can only be achieved with your support and we look forward to seeing you this Summer at the NorthWest Crossing Farmers Market."

Thanks Charlie! We're looking forward to all the yummy local fare at this year's Farmer's Market - starts Saturday, June 25th at 10am in the NorthWest Crossing Neighborhood Center in Bend, Oregon.