In 2007 I started working on a project that took me on the road with my sketchbook. After spending time in the Willamette Valley in 2006, painting in the vineyards of Yamhill County, I decided to research other specialty Oregon crops. If what they say is correct—“You are what you eat”-- we Oregonians are what we grow.

Here are some of the locations and ingredients that I have explored so far:

Location	Primary Crops
The Hatfield Ranch	Cattle
Stahlbush Island Farms	Berries and other organic produce
Lone Pine Ranch	Cherries
Liepold Farms	Strawberries

How it all started...

A few summers ago I was one of 50 artists invited to Illinois to participate in a project called “Art in Agriculture”. Artists were invited to stay with farmers and learn about their lives and how our nation’s “breadbasket” operates. It was an enlightening experience in a land of rich soil and empty farmhouses.

It’s a new reality there… family farms have given way to corporate farming of soy and corn. Cow pastures are empty but confinement lots are full of cows and pigs. Farm families stop at Walmart on the way home from other jobs and pick up bagged lettuce and canned fruit cocktail for dinner. The son of the family I stayed with got a good job at the landfill using his farm tractor skills to move piles of refuse. His mom went back to school to become a nurse at the local hospital specializing in gastric bypass surgeries…I’m not kidding.

It isn’t like that everywhere . Here in Oregon good wholesome farm fresh food is kind of a cult. The most popular restaurants in Portland and around the state specialize in flavorful, seasonal produce. Menus boast of free ranging chickens and organically grown greens. Trendy grocery stores specialize in locally grown produce and fruits. Country Natural Beef, raised on the wild grasses of the high desert in Central Oregon without hormones, is featured in the finest restaurants and also in Oregon’s own healthy fast food provider – Burgerville.

So I decided to create a menu—a wonderful dinner featuring the finest specialty foods that Oregon has to offer, and use that as a basis for a painter’s journey. I picked up the phone and started to call farmers and ranchers who have made a commitment to producing high quality foods for public consumption. I wanted to meet them, talk to them about their ideas for sustainable farming—to see how they are marketing their products. I thought I could spend a day or two painting on location and that body of work might serve as a way to let the public know that if you want to honor the earth, eat well, and help a farmer stay economically viable… buy their products.