TOUR REGISTRATION CLOSED – SOLD OUT
Pre-conference Tour
Kick start the 10th Organic Seed Growers Conference with a tour of seed operations in the Willamette Valley sponsored by Oregon Tilth! This year’s day-long tour features small- to medium-scale seed production, cleaning, and business management. We’ll visit organic seed companies, plant breeders, and farmers who integrate seed into their diverse vegetable operations, and glean knowledge from these successful seedspeople and each other. There is a lot to learn from our hosts and we can’t wait to hop on the bus with you.
WHEN: Thursday, February 13, from 7:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.
COST: $150 (includes tour, breakfast, and lunch)
Tour Locations
Hunton Family Farm and Camas Country Mill, Southwest of Junction City, OR
Camas Country Mill is an extension of the Hunton Family – a third generation farm deeply rooted in the Willamette Valley landscape and community for over 50 years. They grow organic, transitional, and conventional cereals and legumes, and mill small batches of artisan flour down the road at their stone-burr mill. They are committed to building a strong, sustainable, and vibrant regional grain economy, and supply home and commercial kitchens with grains and mill products from the heart of the valley.
Adaptive Seeds, Sweet Home, OR
Andrew Still and Sarah Kleeger established Adaptive Seeds in 2009. They are a certified organic farm and seed company that stewards rare, diverse, and resilient seed varieties for ecologically-minded farmers, gardeners, and seed savers. Their seed is adapted to the Pacific Northwest and other short-season northern climates. They sell only public domain, open-pollinated (OP) seed, as well as diverse gene pool mixes. They grow all of their seed with the exception of a few regional friends who help with isolation needs. If they didn’t grow it, they say who did in the variety description.
Pitchfork & Crow, Lebanon, OR
Pitchfork & Crow is a small organic farm, heading into their seventh year of growing vegetables. The husband and wife team grows a variety of vegetables with a focus on heirloom and open-pollinated varieties and local seed sources, and some organic seed. After 3.5 years of leasing farmland in Stayton, Dayton, and Lebanon, they were able to purchase their 15-acre farm in August of 2012.
Carol Deppe
Oregon plant breeder and author Carol Deppe holds a PhD in Genetics from Harvard University and specializes in developing open-source crops for organic growing conditions, sustainable agriculture, and human survival. Carol is a board member of the Open Source Seed Initiative and is very passionate about and committed to the work they do to keep seed freely available and accessible. On this year’s Willamette Valley Seed Tour she will be giving a talk, entitled: “Taking organic plant breeding to the next level.” She’ll be using examples from her own breeding work as well as that of others.
