In 2010, Brandow volunteered at Afton Field Farm —
learning how to raise and butcher fowl from Tyler Jones,
who interned at Salatin’s Polyface Farm, and how a good
processing facility is set up. Brandow says it felt good to
be part of a holistic process, working with good people
and creating healthy, appetizing food. Always aware of
the ultimate sacrifi ce farmers ask of their fl ocks, Brandow
says he took time each butcher day, almost ritualistically,
to thank the birds for sustenance they would soon provide
for people. At the same time, he started Our Family Farm
on rented pastureland, growing 400 birds that friends and
family members eagerly snapped up.
Encouraged by his early success, Brandow built more
mobile cages and raised more than 3,500 birds in 2011.
His customer base grew to include local restaurants, such
as Holy Cow, Nib, Belly and Marché, as well as Long’s
Meat Market and Capella Market. Firmly entrenched in the
local cuisine scene, Brandow has turned his efforts towards
building a direct customer base via a 300-strong email list, a
blog and a Facebook page. “It seems like everyone wants to
hear what’s going on,” he says. “Restaurants are our bread
and butter now. But we want to get our birds into people’s
homes directly.” Our Family Farm’s CSA has grown from a
single subscriber in 2011 to seven this year and sells fryers
to another 30 customers regularly.
Brandow checking in on chicks in the brooder
Farm-to-table philosophy
A later afternoon sun beats down on a creamy yellow
house in north Eugene. Brandow sits in the shade of his
covered porch with his wife Amanda, his 15-month-old
daughter Addison squirming in his lap. It’s pick-up day
for Our Family Farm’s CSA customers and time for some
community building. As people show up, the Brandows
chat with them, catching up with customers who are or are
becoming friends. Sharing the farm’s latest developments
and the sustainable eating topic du jour, they learn, in turn,
about those they feed. Brandow says the most fun part of his
job is being able to connect with people on a regular basis
around food, getting to know them and hearing their stories.
He might talk to a customer for 10 minutes at pick-up time.
“One of the things we love to do is share what we’re doing
in a way that inspires other people,” he says, echoing a basic
tenant of the farm-to-table movement. “My wife and I are
all about a community of smart eaters.”
Brandow says Our Family Farm operates with three
guiding principles. The fi rst is careful stewardship to heal
the land, much of which in the Willamette Valley is affected
by pesticides and other damages of conventional agriculture.
“But, other side of coin, there is so much available here,” he
says. “People don’t realize the bounty.” This leads to the
second principle: to raise some of the best food in the valley.
Our Family Farm intends to expand beyond the chickens
and turkeys it now raises and introduce cows, sheep or other
grazing animals to its fi elds, fully utilizing a Salatinesque
pasturing technique to satisfy local demand for sustainably
produced meat. Brandow’s fi nal and overriding goal is
to contribute to a growing community of people making
sustainable food choices, through his own farming, by
supporting other small farmers through his family’s own
purchasing power and by outreach.
“I think he defi nitely seems committed to the movement
for slow and local food,” says Bill Bezuk of Eugene
Backyard Farmer, a vocal proponent of urban homesteading
and local sustainable food production. Bezuk and Brandow
have been discussing the possibility of holding chicken
butchering demonstrations for urban homesteaders with
unwanted roosters or non-productive laying hens. The
process can be intimidating to the uninitiated, Bezuk says,
and a demonstration could provide customers with the
confi dence and empowerment to process their own birds if
they choose.
The pinnacle of Brandow’s outreach happens each
butcher day. A volunteer work crew of about a dozen
people assembles to harvest the birds many will soon eat.
“It’s a collection of customers, friends and people who are
interested in good food and the process,” Brandow says.
The crew consists of friends, family members and, perhaps
most importantly, Brandow’s customers putting farm-to-
table philosophy in action: informed consumers taking an
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Pullets inside the Salatin-inspired chicken tractor
Brandow prepares to cut the arteries
of his locally raised chickens before
they are processed in the MPPU
EUGENE WEEKLY AUGUST 16, 2012 11