We visited the "Favorite Five Farms" this afternoon. Since my father grew up on a dairy farm, we were expecting some fairly large, organized agricultural settings. Not quite what we got. These are all small farms, run by one or two people.
Five Favorite Farms are located in Wilsonville and Sherman, Oregon. They consist of Barn Owl Nursery, Tollen Farm, Pure Pizzaz, Stone Mist Alpacas, and the Barron-Wahl Winery. Most of them are small farms (Pure Pizzaz is basically a gift shop, although the owners do some berry farming).
Barn Owl Nursery sells seedli
ngs, and has a gift shop full of herbal- and bird-related gifts. They have lavendar teas, soaps, honey, and other items.Tollen Farm (entrance shown at left) has some livestock -- small donkeys, a llama, four horses that were rescued from negligent owners, and a cat. The owner also sells antiques and small gift items.
Stone Mist Alpacas has several pens of alpacas (animals resembling and related to llamas), and the owner has been sending the wool to various places for processing, including the Pendleton Woolen Mills. The owner spent 15 minutes telling us about the animals and their backgrounds. Her gift shop included hats, scarves, socks, other woolen items, and some things made by local artists and herbalists.
Pure Pizzazz hosts a large selection of hand-made jewelry, some done by the owner, some by local crafters. Some of the items were purchased as charitable donations (the purchase price went to various good causes).
The Barron-Wahl Winery was offering tasting of five different wines, three of which they made on the farm itself. I'm not a wine person, so most of the experience was lost on me, but the owner was friendly, and we did talk about wineries in the Finger Lakes area.
The admission to each place was a non-perishable food item. However, since we were from waaaaayy out of town, no one turned us away when we didn't have one.
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