A6
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2022
Trenary: ‘It’s just so amazing that so many people love and care about me’
Continued from Page A1
Through
Kingfi sher
Farms, he spent the follow-
ing decades cultivating the
organic farming industry of
the region, mentoring young
farmers and sharing his
knowledge.
The farm is best known for
its high-quality salads, deliv-
ered to restaurants and hotels.
His produce even made it out
to the James Beard House
restaurant in New York City.
Despite physically drain-
ing radiation treatments and
losing his home to a fi re last
July, his daughter said Tre-
nary was largely private about
his hardships.
“He didn’t want people to
worry about him, and so he’d
always tell people, ‘I’m doing
pretty good. I t’s getting bet-
ter. I’m about to get better,’”
Wild said. He still talked
about returning to Norway,
where he once spent three
years doing a boat-building
apprenticeship.
An old surfboard serves
as his headstone
Family and friends buried
Trenary on his farm, wrapped
in a Pendleton blanket inside a
wooden box built by his son,
Clinton Johnson. They sur-
rounded his body with moss,
sweet grass and fl owers along
with photos of his life surfi ng,
traveling and raising his three
children: Mercedes Trenary,
Wild and Johnson.
It wasn’t his fi rst choice
of burial — which was to go
out in a blazing pile of cedar
wood — because at-home
cremations aren’t legal in
Oregon. But Wild said she’s
glad he returned to the E arth
without any chemicals in his
body. An old surfboard serves
as his headstone.
Trenary
almost
sin-
gle-handedly transformed the
property he was laid to rest in.
In the early years of the farm,
he would drop his kids off at
Fire Mountain School in Arch
Cape and tend to the earth
until it was time to pick them
back up.
A few weeks after his
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Brian O’Dea opens the gate to enter a greenhouse at Kingfi sher Farms.
death, neighbor Larry Smieja
leaned out of the open door
of his truck, cigarette burning
between his fi ngers, to talk
with Brian O’Dea, the new
owner of Kingfi sher Farms.
They laughed, recall-
ing that when Trenary fi rst
bought the property he opted
to clear the blackberries
crawling across the pasture
by ramming a $200 truck into
them repeatedly. They imag-
ined the berries fl ying left and
right, brambles breaking.
“He had fun with it,”
O’Dea said. “Jeff loved to
have fun. He was a great
surfer. He was loved by so
many people, all the clients,
anyone from the farmers mar-
ket, neighbors, the restaurants
and hotels in Portland and
along the coast. He was a leg-
end in his own right.”
Trenary drove into a lot
of things head on, including
business.
“He was not the easiest
person. He was really stub-
born, and his way was the
only way. But that also cre-
ated space for him in the
world to walk his own super
unique path. And nobody
could tell him what to do or
how to do it. He had his own
timing and his own process,”
Wild said.
Chef John Newman, the
owner of Newmans at 988 in
Cannon Beach, was Trenary’s
best friend.
Trenary provided pro-
duce for Newman’s restau-
rant. He summarized Trena-
ry’s approach to sales as, “I
got the food, and you want it.”
“He liked being treated
like the celebrity farmer,”
Newman said, and laughed.
“That was his jam.”
Newman met Trenary
in 1998 during a produce
delivery and they grew close
through philosophical discus-
sions and a mutual love of
food. He said the best thing
about Trenary was he took
people at their word, not their
appearance or status.
“He decided that it was his
responsibility to grow food
and provide it,” Newman
said. “And that’s inspiring to
me.”
Newman said he appreci-
ated Trenary’s commitment
to the community. H e hopes
young farmers understand
that the industry is about more
than making money.
A costly fi re
Last July, Trenary sat
in a chair outside his home
and watched it burn. He lost
nearly everything, including
personal items from raising
his children, and walked out
SHELTER SALE at the Pacific Grange
Saturday, March 12
with only his phone, fl ip fl ops
and a P endleton shirt.
After that happened, the
community gave back.
“I’ll go to the grocery store
and I’ll try to pay them and
they just tell me to leave,”
Trenary told T he Astorian last
August. “I go to my car and
just sit there and cry because
it’s just so amazing that so
many people love and care
about me.”
A GoFundMe for recovery
raised nearly $50,000, with
comments from longtime
customers and friends thank-
ing Trenary for his work.
At that point, Trenary was
already facing his cancer
diagnosis.
“We spent a lot of time
together in his last year. I
would take him to appoint-
ments and things for his
health, and try to recoup
things from his loss with his
house. Because he really had
nothing after that,” O’Dea
said.
Wild said she consid-
ers O’Dea, his wife, Maurie,
and their two sons, Shane and
Damian, to be family. Trenary
had previously sold O’Dea
half of the property, wanting
to pass it on to someone he
knew.
“Brian stepped up, like
no problem. He just imme-
Lucy Wild
Jeff Trenary died of cancer in February.
diately started treating my
dad like his dad, and caring
for him like his dad. And that
was incredibly selfl ess and
really amazing,” Wild said.
“And it made me realize how
much he loved my dad, and
I can’t think of a better per-
son to carry on the Kingfi sher
name.”
Kingfi sher Farms is prep-
ping for the spring.
Under a greenhouse and
behind a wire fence to keep
out deer, an employee har-
vests turnips and radishes,
gloves caked in soil. Rows of
green leaves fi ll the space that
smells like E arth, onions and
basil.
O’Dea said he will con-
tinue to grow produce for
the farm’s iconic salads, and
hopes to continue the pop-
ular Community Supported
Agriculture boxes. They’ll
be focusing on bringing food
to local markets in Asto-
ria, Manzanita and Cannon
Beach, and maintaining cli-
ents such as Fresh Foods and
the Astoria Co+ op.
He’ll be supplying Wild’s
personal produce, too.
“I just want the commu-
nity to know that Kingfi sher
Farms is rockin’, and that
Brian is committed to carry-
ing on Jeff ’s legacy and that
the incredible bounty of pro-
duce will continue coming,”
Wild said.
O’Dea hopes to expand
on what Trenary created, too.
He wants to introduce new
varieties of crops and build
a walk-in freezer to save the
blackberries still growing on
the land. He intends to plant
more native species along
the river. He wants to build
a home and a shop on the
property.
For the time being, O’Dea
is focusing on the invasive
Japanese k notweed, more dif-
fi cult to manage as an organic
farm. Trenary left him tips for
that, too.
“He is just such a good
soul, and loved by so many,”
O’Dea said. “I feel really
blessed to be the steward of
his land now.”
HERITAGE SQUARE HOUSING
OPEN HOUSE
CASA ABIERTA
VIVIENDA DE HERITAGE SQUARE
Shasta, Nutmeg and Maddie invite you to Clatsop
Animal Assistance’s sale to benefit the county
animal shelter. It takes place this Saturday, March
12th from 9:00 to 3:00 at the Pacific Grange located
at 90475 US 101 in Warrenton. CAA volunteers
will be selling a wide variety of beds, toys, collars,
leashes, kennels, clothes, treats and much more.
And talk about feeling good about shopping - ALL
proceeds go to help the dogs and cats at the shelter.
Please join us for an informative and engaging
discussion about the current state of the Heritage
Square redevelopment project. We look forward to
hearing your feedback and questions.
Astoria Armory
1636 Exchange Street, Astoria
Open House 1: March 14, 2022, 4:30 - 7:30PM
Open House 2: March 24, 2022, 4:30 - 7:30PM
Únase a nosotros para una discusión informativa
y atractiva sobre el estado actual del proyecto de
reurbanización de Heritage Square. Esperamos
escuchar sus comentarios y preguntas.
Astoria Armory
1636 Exchange Street, Astoria
Casa Abierta 1: 14 de marzo de 2022, 4:30 - 7:30PM
Casa Abierta 2: 24 de marzo de 2022, 4:30 - 7:30PM
Follow us on
Hosted by the City of Astoria and the Edlen & Co. team
Organizado por la ciudad de Astoria y el equipo Edlen & Co.