Eugene weekly., August 16, 2012, Page 13, Image 13

with the ODA, the three took their time to design a compact,
highly functional MPPU. “It’s taken about a year and a half to
go from the thought process to a rig driving down the road,”
Schack says.
“They didn’t chintz on things,” Postlewait says, adding
that while various people have discussed constructing a
MPPU for about a decade, the Willamette Valley partners are
fi rst to build one. “They’ve got a lot of money in it; they’ve
spent a lot of time.”
After gaining experience in running the MPPU and
determining operational and transportation costs, the three
partners plan to make the unit available to other small farmers.
Postlewait says the plan may benefi t small producers because
it would be more economical to rent the MPPU than build an
expensive facility to process a few hundred to a few thousand
birds a year, while using the licensed mobile unit would allow
farmers currently limited to on-premise sales by the 1,000-
bird exemption to sell at farmers markets.
But success is not assured. Gwin points out that in addition
to arranging logistical issues such as scheduling and crews to
run the unit, the partners will have to calculate a rental fee
that will recoup their investment while remaining low enough
to attract poultry farmers working with slim profi t margins.
She says that it is common for the perceived demand for
processing plants to be higher than the actual demand once a
unit is built. “They have the potential to support farmers, but
the farmers have to support them,” Gwin says.
Outreach
In the growing darkness of a late summer afternoon,
Brandow is busily feeding chicks and remolding the new
brooding pens in an old barn on a grassy 38-acre plot on
the outskirts of Thurston. Brandow’s Our Family Farm
has just taken up residence here alongside Jeremy Sherer’s
fl edgling Havarah Farm. Before buying this property,
Sherer’s sum total experience with farming was sharing a
single-acre garden and orchard in town. He talks excitedly
about his plan to graze cattle and other livestock on lush
grass watered by a meandering tributary of the McKenzie
River, taking full advantage of Brandow’s experience with
pasturing animals in the Salatin model. “We believe in a
lot of the same things about farming and our food,” Sherer
says, adding that “havarah” is Hebrew for fellowship. “Not
just making food, but inviting community participation.”
Helping novice farmers get their hands dirty is just
another side of Brandow’s commitment to the farm-
to-table movement. In addition to building Our Family
Farm’s customer base through his CSA program, Brandow
provides the kind of help and mentorship he once received
to other small-scale farmers. Trace Thaxton, who works at
PeaceHealth, was pasturing horses on 80 acres in Marcola
with his partner, Marie Connolly, when they met Brandow,
who convinced them that the property was perfect for
raising chickens. “He recruited us,” says Thaxton, who
comes from a family farming background. “He turned us on
to Joel Salatin. Pretty much the whole operation is a carbon
copy of what Salatin is doing.”
After reading Salatin’s books, Thaxton learned fi rsthand
about the infrastructure and processes necessary to raise food
sustainably from Brandow, who provided Thaxton’s new
Whiskey Creek Farm with its fi rst batch of chicks. Right
now the operation is a hobby farm, Thaxton says. “If we
get profi table we’ll take it more seriously. Right now we’re
trying to make good-quality food we want to eat,” he says. “I
don’t think we’d be doing what we’re doing if Derek hadn’t
convinced us that this facility would make it easier.”
“He’s got the gift of gab and really believes in his
product,” says Eugene Country Club Executive Chef Lee
Jennings, who now tends his own small fl ock of pastured
hens for personal consumption. “He inspired me to raise
them myself. I don’t think I will buy another store-bought
bird if I can help it.”
Though Brandow’s product commands a premium
compared to factory farm fryers, Jennings raves about the
Our Family Farm chickens he reserves for special menus
and lunch and dinner specials. The grass-based diet of the
pampered birds, Jennings says, gives them an exceptional
texture and fl avor. “It’s one of those things you got to taste
for yourself,” he says.
ew
For more on Our Family Farm, its CSA and its chickens go to
ourfamilyfarm.wordpress.com and you can follow Derek Brandow
on Twitter at twitter.com/rfamilyfarm
listen live
KLCC
K L C C Stage
S ta
ag e at
a t the
t h e Eugene
E u g e ne Celebration
Celebratti o n
l
1 ,
,
Aug.
A u g .
24,
2 4,, 25,
2 5 , 26
2 6
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
EUGENE WEEKLY AUGUST 16, 2012 13