Blooms... here's a close up of the berry blooms... nice to take time to look at each piece closely..

Marionberry Bloom at Stahlbush Island Farm

Karla and Bill Chambers own Stahlbush Island Farms located in Corvallis Oregon on the banks of the Willamette River. Karla and I are both members of an organization called Oregon Women’s Forum and at the annual meeting I explained my new project to her. She invited me to come and visit the farm during marionberry bloom in May.

Stahlbush Farms is a wonderful example of a new philosophy in agriculture. Their 1500 acres produces berries, rhubarb, pumpkins, spinach and other organic produce. They process and sell their own crops as well as organic produce from other farms. Their products are sold largely to the ingredient market ( when you buy a jar of organic baby food you probably are serving Stahlbush Island Farms product just served under another vendor’s labeling) and to the retail marketplace as Stahlbush Island Farms—get this at places like Whole Foods.

It’s not just that the crops are raised without the use of toxic sprays but that they are using sustainable farming practices to keep the soil from eroding into the river by planting grass (which they keep mowed) between the rows of berries. This keeps the dust down and makes for a wonderful place to spend the day with my paintbrush!

Last Mow Row at Creekside I did a few images just for reference with some notes... you'll see here I put down that the vines did have thorns and  a little comment about the buzzin' bees. Berry Beginnings

Marionberry Blooms

The marionberry is a hybrid variety of berry developed by the agriculture department at Oregon State University in the early 1950’s. It grows from a cane that is pruned in the winter and trained along a row of wires in a spiral formation. The plant leafs out in the spring and begins to fill the spiral with a profusion of bright green leaves and shoots. By May the plants are in full bloom but you can still see the pattern of the original spirals if you spend some time and look for them.

The Stahlbush lands include berry fields near their home and across the river. When we toured the Riverside fields the space was dominated by a large pole with an osprey nest. It struck me that the Ospreys had a great view of the fields and I took some time to paint a little image that included a birds eye view from above.

Osprey’s Vantage At Riverside

 

Oregon Goat Cheese

 

I wanted to get out and do some painting at a specialty Oregon Goat Cheese place... I took a sidetrip to "practice" painting these guys at a friends... it was a lucky thing, cause I wasn't really aware that goats would like to eat just about anything you put in their area... including paintbrushes, sketchbooks and painters.