About
The Farm
Pitchfork & Crow is a new organic farm, heading into our third year of growing vegetables for the Salem, Oregon area. We are a husband and wife team who grow a variety of vegetables, with a focus on heirloom and open-pollinated varieties and local seed sources.
For the 2011 growing season we have moved the farm to a leased 15 acres located just north of Lebanon, Oregon, about 30 minutes south of Salem. We will be selling vegetables at the Salem Saturday Market beginning again in May 2011. We are also accepting members for our growing CSA program, which is in its second year. More information about the CSA can be found on the CSA page.
The Farming
We never use synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides in our growing practices. As of mid-May 2010 our growing operation and field were officially certified organic by Oregon Tilth. We are currently working on the organic certification process for the new 15 acres. Also, prior to leasing this new property we tested for persistent pesticides, such as DDT and Dieldrin, and the tests came back clean.
We look forward to actively managing the new 15 acres we’ve leased for the coming year. We’re lucky to be starting out with fields covered in red clover and alfalfa, both nitrogen-fixing legumes. We’ll plan for rotating vegetable families through the fields, so as to avoid allowing pests to build up in a single location. We’ll also add fertility to the soil by working in composted manure and other organic amendments and we plan to diversify the cover crops and green manure options.
The Farmers
We do not see ourselves as experts, but we are farmers!
Carri has a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources Management from Oregon State University and Jeff has a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of Alabama. Jeff moved to Oregon from Alabama in 1995, and met Carri in Corvallis on New Year’s Eve of 2001.
While living in Corvallis, Jeff worked with people with disabilities and earned a Master’s degree in Special Education at Western Oregon University. After five years of teaching, he has now transitioned to full-time farming. After a year of working for another local farm, Oakhill Organics, where he gained invaluable farming experience, Jeff is now focusing solely on Pitchfork & Crow!
During college, Carri worked for the Forest Service as a Wilderness Guard for the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness and later for the Bureau of Land Management mapping backcountry trails in Nevada. For the past 7 years, she has worked as a GIS analyst, making maps for a software company. She remains the stalwart earner of a stable income and health insurance while the two transition to full-time farming.
Although we do not hold Horticulture degrees and are definitely not experts, we are passionate about growing food sustainably!
Our goal is to provide fresh, organic vegetables while cultivating a lifestyle in harmony with nature and our values of respect for labor, craftsmanship, and community.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Vegetables!
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Pitchfork & Crow | serving Salem, Ore | farmers@pitchforkandcrow.com | (503) 999-7920 |
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