JOURNEY
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Trail
Continued from PageC6
An active hive, with busy bees
at work behind glass, can also be
found at the honey stand.
The bees benefit the orchards
by doing what comes natural —
pollinating. Other bees are trucked
to pollinate almond trees in Cali-
fornia and cherries and blueber-
ries in the The Dalles, Hermiston
and Boardman areas.
They also sell bees.
“Tomorrow morning some-
one is coming to pick up half a
dozen queens,” Allen said. “I sell
mostly queens this time of year.
In the springtime we sell starter
colonies.”
Allen said he couldn’t oper-
ate his business without the men-
tors who have helped him over
the years, so he likes to give back
and in the spring and fall and lead
hands-on beekeeper workshops.
The business is a part of an
“agritourism” movement, which
is growing in popularity and
involves commercial enterprises
at a working farm or ranch allow-
ing visitors, in varying degrees, to
observe and enjoy. One might just
call it friendly folks sharing the
work they’re involved in.
Activities for those stopping by
may include educational experi-
ences, on-farm direct sales or out-
door recreation.
Thomas Orchards’ well-known
fruit stand opened on June 25 this
season.
Located in Kimberly off of
Highway 402, they’re open from
8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a
week, and presently, visitors can
buy apricots and cherries, which
they can pick themselves, if
they’d like. There are also pack-
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Jeff Thomas of Thomas Orchards works at the business.
ages of dried fruit and jams.
Near the end of July peaches
will also be available, followed
by plums, nectarines and Bart-
lett pears in August. Early apples,
including golden delicious, cam-
eos and ambrosia are ready in
September with peaches and
pears, and through the end of
October, apples and pears are still
in harvest.
Jeff Thomas said his top prior-
ity is producing high-quality fruit,
but he said the orchards are also
a place where people have the
opportunity to see how the fruit is
grown.
“A lot of people have a discon-
nect between the city and where
your food comes from,” he said.
“They can see how it’s grown and
what we do. Obviously, you want
to sell fruit, and you want to edu-
cate people in what you do.”
He said the “greatest genera-
tion” followed by the Baby Boom-
ers grew up canning fruit.
“With my generation, ‘the Gen
Xers,’ you start to see a little dis-
The Happy Hens Egg Farm owners Dan and
Grima Horgan, located west of Dayville off of
Highway 26, invite visitors to stop in and buy
cage-free fresh eggs and seasonal produce.
connect,” he said. “We were the
first generation with year-round
produce — apples, grapes, toma-
toes out of Mexico.”
Thomas said he’s now seeing
millennials, in their 20s and 30s,
who are part of the “buy-local
movement” and want to pick and
even grow their own fruit.
He’s planning to host a Camp
and Can event with a food pres-
ervation specialist to teach people
how to can.
“It’s a small part, compared to
our wholesale, but it may be the
most important part because peo-
ple get to see where their food
comes from,” he said.
Happy Hens owners Grima and
Dan Horgan have a “fresh eggs”
sign at their driveway off of High-
way 26 west of Dayville.
Grima keeps 70 cage-free
chickens and grows a large gar-
den, selling eggs and produce
at her door and at the John Day
Farmers Market on Saturdays
through the summer months.
She said she enjoys eating fresh
fruit and vegetables she grows,
including watermelon, tomatoes,
lettuce, cucumber, cilantro, toma-
tillos and more.
“It’s fresh and the best taste,”
she said. “The things we grow are
tasty.”
She added, “I know what I put
into the ground — no chemicals in
the ground — I enjoy feeding peo-
ple good stuff and no chemicals.”
Rose and Darrell Howe offer a
look at life on the ranch for their
visitors at Triple H Homestead
ranch in Monument.
They rent a five-bed bunk-
house, which looks like a barn
from the outside, and guests can
tag along as they work on the
ranch, gathering eggs, feeding
cows and pigs and making milk-
based soaps and lotions.
Rose said she started eques-
trian clinics 10 years ago, and
that’s how the bunkhouse started.
She no longer hosts the clin-
ics, but about five years ago, they
made the bunkhouse a vacation
rental and it is now listed as an
Airbnb.
The rental includes four twin
beds and a double bed with hand-
made quilts as well as a kitchen so
visitors can do their own cooking.
“It seems to appeal to folks
with young children, because they
get to see me milk in the morning,
they get to ‘have a go’ at milking,”
said Rose in her English accent.
“They get to help feed the cows
and feed the pigs, gather eggs
from the hen house and, such as
today — a cheese and butter-mak-
ing day for me — they are wel-
come to come in and watch the
process.”
“When we know we’re going
to have the younger children here,
I’ll let them come down to the
chicken house and gather the eggs
from the chicken boxes,” she said.
“It’s amazing how many chil-
dren don’t know where their food
comes from.”
Experiences such as these, and
more, can be found along the John
Day River Food Trail and beyond.
John Day Food Trail business
owners and others include: in the
Dayville area, Prairie Springs Fish
Farm, Bergin’s Organic Custom
Seeds, Guyon Springs Inn, Fish
House Inn & RV Park, Dayville
Café, Dayville Merc and Happy
Hens Egg Farm; in the Kimberly
area, Sheep Rock Unit of the John
Day Fossil Beds National Monu-
ment, Land’s Inn Oregon, Stel-
lar Cabin Hideaway, John Day
River Trading Post, Sage River
Ranch, Thomas Orchards, Apri-
cot Apiaries, Campbell Ranch
and North Fork Ranch; in Mon-
ument, Triple H Homestead and
Hunter’s Rendezvous; and in the
Spray area, which is in neighbor-
ing Wheeler County, Nighthawk
Valley Homestead and Historic
Corncob Ranch.
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