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THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY BEAN AND GRAIN PROJECT

Hunton Family Farm Tour, August 11, 2010

By Dan Armstrong

The Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project hosted a tour and dinner at the Hunton Family Farm on August 11, 2010. The Hunton Family Farm is just south of Junction City off Highway 99 on Purkerson Road, two blocks from Sure Crop Farm Services, which is owned and run by Tom Hunton. A three-generation family farm, the Hunton Farm had been primarily a grass seed operation until two years ago when Tom Hunton and his son Jason decided that diversification into food crops made sense for the long haul. Last year they experimented with 35 acres of hard red wheat. Now they are transitoning 81.5 acres of what was once grass seed acreage to organic food production, including 38.5 acres of hard red wheat. And yes, when you see that yellow and orange sticker on Bread Stop's Honey Wheat Bread, that bread was made from wheat grown on the Hunton Family Farm.

Freshbread
Bread baked with Wilamette Valley Wheat

Though most of this 2800-acre farm was planted in grass seed and soft white winter wheat, the Hunton's are currently growing emerald lentils, green laird lentils, garbanzo beans, orca beans, black turtle beans, pinto beans, brown teff, and two varieties of hard red spring wheat–all as first year transitonal crops. Additionally, they are growing several other food crops conventionally, including three varieties of hard red wheat (one of these is no-till), hard white wheat (no-till), soft white spring wheat (no-till), ivory teff, brown teff, brown lentils, and hulless oats (no-till). The Hunton Family Farm is also adding a stone grain mill to their operations so that they can provide locally grown flour to Willamette Valley bakeries and restaurants.

Buckwheat at Ground Level When Picks Fly

Shortly after six o'clock the evening of August 11, Tom Hunton loaded up a trailer with bales of hay and attached it to his beautifully refurbished John Deere tractor and took some sixty guests on a tour of his bean and grains fields. More than just a ride through the fields, Tom provided tour members with a detailed talk about his farming practices, what he expects from his first year of growing transitional crops, and how these crops will be used in rotations to benefit the life of the soil.

Dinner at Huntons Bag of Teff

Following the field tour, the guests were served a marvelous dinner sourced from locally grown beans, grains, and produce and prepared by Casa de Dilla and volunteers from the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition. Beer was provided by Oakshire Brewery, and Shepard Smith's string band When Picks Fly added a little toe-tapping music.

To Those That Made it Possible

The following farms, bakeries, breweries, businesses, restaurants, non-profits, and individuals made donations to the Bean and Grain Project farms tours: Casa de Dilla, Hideaway Bakery, The Bread Stop, Sweet Briar Farms, Adam's Sustainable Table, Holy Cow Café and Catering, Hey Bayles Farm, Camas Farm, Horton Road Organics Farm, Groundwork Organics Farm, Oakshire Brewery, Gathering Together Farm, The Earth Smart Store, Hummingbird Wholesale, Lynne Fessenden, Allison Filderman, and staff from the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition, Max Peschel, Krishna Khalsa, Marcia Rhea, Nancy Rohn, Randy at Main Street Coffee in Brownsville, the Ten Rivers Food Web, and, of course, the participating farms–Stalford Seed Farms, Hunton Family Farm, and A2R Farms. Much thanks to all of you for making this happen.

Go to Chef and Baker's Tour. Go to Stalford Seed Farms Tour.

Special thanks is extended to The Willamette Farm and Food Coalition and The Ten Rivers Food Web, Hummingbird Wholesale, and the Evergreen Hill Fund of Oregon Community Foundation for for their continued support of the Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project. Also thanks to Erik Silverberg for farm tour photos.

Prairie Fire

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