The secret’s out: The Mid-Willamette Valley is a world-class agricultural hotspot. While spring and summer are ripe time to explore the blooming flower gardens and cherry orchards, popping into family-run farm stands and picking strawberries and petting alpacas — any season is a great time to take the self-guided Marion Farm Loop and Great Oaks Food Trail and sample the bursting bounty firsthand.
6/12/2024
HONEY, LAVENDER AND STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
The Marion Farm Loop includes 30 family-owned stops and is located in Salem’s backyard, making family day trips a breeze. Salem’s Minto Island Growers farm stand is typically open June through October and sells organic produce and homemade goodies just steps from where you can U-pick tomatoes, green beans, flowers and strawberries. Be sure to nab a box of handpicked tea from Minto Island Tea Company, one of Oregon’s only dedicated tea farms.
Next up, swing by family-run E.Z. Orchards Farm Market in northeast Salem for a plate piled high with shortcake and farm-fresh strawberries in spring and peaches in late summer. The market also sells local produce and homemade cider doughnuts year-round. Just a few miles south on Lardon Road, belly up to the complimentary honey-tasting bar at Flying Bee Ranch and sample an impressive lineup of raw Oregon honey, including meadowfoam honey. Lavender lovers flock to nearby Arrowhead Lavender Farm & Co. to shop for handcrafted lavender bath salts during spring and pick fragrant bouquets of lavender blooms in summer. Check the website for events, including July’s first-ever Lavender Festival.
GARDEN FESTIVALS AND BUCOLIC BEER GARDENS
About 20 miles north of Salem, the 500-acre French Prairie Gardens is a family-friendly day destination in itself. In addition to the farm store stocked with produce and from-scratch baked goods (try the chicken-pot hand pie), you can browse the lush blooms and hanging baskets at the garden center, hit the U-pick strawberry and flower fields, or just enjoy the barbeque and live music while the kids scream down the mega-slide during the farm’s many festivals.
The Mid-Willamette Valley was once known as the “Hop Center of the World” and Woodburn’s TopWire Hop Project lives up to the legend. Located in the middle of Crosby Hop Farm and surrounded by hop vines, the spacious beer garden has picnic tables, food carts and nearly a dozen taps of regional craft beers created with hops grown just steps away.
If all of these growers and farms get you inspired to glow up your own garden, stop by Godfrey Nursery, about 10 miles southeast of Salem, and peruse the abundant selection of annuals, perennials and Marion County’s own marionberry bushes — and get growing.
PET CUTE ALPACAS AND PICK CHERRIES GALORE
On the west side of the Willamette River, take the kiddos to Briarwood Acres where they can see baby alpacas (called crias) and pet the llamas — and then hit the Great Oaks Food Trail. Polk County has a farming history that spans generations and plenty of orchards, vineyards and sweet shops to get everyone buzzing. If U-picking is on your agenda, you’ll love the low-hanging fruit at Perryhill Farm. Pick plums, seven varieties of blueberry, over 15 varieties of cherry, 30 kinds of peach, and three kinds of apple throughout summer and late October. Then grab a glass of homegrown hard cider and a bite from one of the rotating food trucks at Salt Creek Cider House and relax while watching the enormous Muscovy ducks fly around the 20-acre estate’s tranquil pond. Next up, Pat at nearby Wildman Farm keeps her fruit stand stocked with strawberries, cherries, plums, blueberries and marionberries; look for fresh peaches and apples in fall. Pat is your go-to if you have any questions about canning or pie-making, too.
SHEEP’S-MILK ICE CREAM AND HANDMADE PINOT NOIR
Refuel your crew with creamy scoops of sheep’s-milk ice cream at the family- and women-owned Dreamies Creamery in Dallas. Sheep’s milk is lower in lactose than cow’s milk, so even sensitive tummies can enjoy handcrafted flavors like C‘ewe’kies and Cream. After a day of meeting growers and nibbling on farm-fresh treats, relax on the wraparound deck of the new tasting room at Illahe Vineyards. The vineyard’s 1899 Estate Pinot Noir is made entirely without electricity, with horses to haul the grapes and bicycle-powered pumps. Get your fill of fresh air and valley views and then start the short drive back to Salem — but not before making a pit stop at Monmouth’s Maui Melts for a bag of handcrafted sea-salt caramels for the road.
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