Urban Farming at Red Truck Homestead
We were sad to leave the serene setting of the Stand Family Farm near the end of June, but we also were excited to experience another approach to organic farming at an urban homestead. When we arrived at the Red Truck Homestead, Mike, the farmer, showed us around the property. Mike was very kind and personable from the start, and we could tell that he was a man who always had multiple projects on his mind. From the street, their property looks like an ordinary suburban plot, but when we walked behind their house we saw that their land was an island of fruit trees and gardens hidden within the city. Mike first showed us the camper that we would be staying in. There are three on the property. Since our camper would have to accommodate two people, we took the larger of the three. The plumbing, stove, and refrigerator weren’t hooked up, but we had access to those utilities in the house. And the most important thing was that I was able to fit in the bed! Beyond the campers were three green houses, a garage, a workshop, many raised bed gardens, and three duck coops. The property was also dotted with fig, plum, and apple trees.
Once we were acquainted with the homestead, we delved into scheduling. Mike is a machinist for Boeing and works from 2pm to 10pm. He’s rather particular about his work (as a machinist probably should be), so we only worked on the farm while Mike was home in the morning, from 7:30am until noon. Having a regular schedule every morning was nice because it freed up the rest of our day and it also meant that we were done with work before it got too hot.
The daily animal chores were simple: feed the ducks, harvest their eggs, give them clean water, feed and water the bunnies in the workshop, and feed the dogs. As with any organic farm, there was always weeding to be done, but aside from that we were often planting, harvesting, and generally maintaining the gardens. Mike grew a pretty diverse set of crops including arugula, lettuce, blueberries, raspberries, basil, tomatoes, scallions and various herbs. Some days, Mike would drive us over to another one of his properties in the Culley neighborhood a couple of miles away, where he was leasing out about ¼ acre of the backyard as a garden. The Culley farm had rows of beans, garlic, lettuce and kale. One day we installed trellising for tomatoes by pounding T-posts into the row and zip-tying panels of cattle fence to them. Andrea even learned how to bundle garlic and hang it out to dry to save for next year's planting.
It was actually pretty late in the season to be planting tomatoes, but that was because Mike’s previous set of WWOOFers apparently made things harder instead of benefiting the farm. Fortunately, Mike now had four farmhands that are eager to learn and work. The other two WWOOFers, Amber and Abby, were a pleasure to work with. This was the first volunteering experience either of them had had on a farm. We told them all about our experiences WWOOFing, and recommended our favorite farms for their future work-trading adventures.
Because we were now in Portland, we took multiple opportunities to ride our bikes around town. Portland is a great city for cyclists, as there are many dedicated bike lanes and bike trails all over the city, and lots of infrastructure such as signs and signals at intersections. One Tuesday, we rode along the I-205 freeway on the 205 Corridor Bike Trail to the Academy Theater in the Montevilla neighborhood to watch Labyrinth. The Academy Theater shows second-run films and older movies for only $4 per ticket, and Tuesdays are 2-for-1 ticket days! Besides great movie ticket prices, their concession stand also sells fresh pizza slices from the pizzeria next door and local craft beer. Riding out to the theater, enjoying dinner and a movie, and riding back to the farm made for a wonderful mid-week date.
On a particularly hot day, we purchased a bus pass and met up with Amber and Abby to explore the Hawthorne and Belmont area together. In the Hawthorne neighborhood, we stumbled upon a little store called Fernie Brae, which sold all kinds of fantasy-themed art, collectibles and books, including some by the artists who worked on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. It was a fun little shop to check out, especially after seeing Labyrinth only a couple of days before. After strolling through the Hawthorne neighborhood, we walked North to the Belmont neighborhood, where we stopped for a cold brew at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, had a $3 happy hour cocktail at Aalto Lounge next door, then headed over to Straight from New York Pizza to have a couple of slices of New York-style pizza. We were having so much fun hanging out, that we all drove over in Abby’s car to a new ice cream shop, Fifty Licks, where we had some refreshing ice cream before heading back to the farm for the night.
On the weekend after we arrived, Charlie, the farm manager from the previous farm, was having a birthday party. We were excited to attend but weren’t sure about biking all the way up into Corbett, as there were no bike lanes (or even paved shoulders) after leaving the urban areas. Luckily, Merna, who lives at the Stand Family Farm, works at an animal shelter that was ten miles from where we were staying. She agreed to drive us and our bikes to the farm if we met her at the shelter after she was done with work. We rode about half of the 10 miles on the I-84 Corridor Bike Trail, then took to the streets to find the shelter. It was a great ride, and we loved how easy it was to ride our way across town on a corridor trail that kept us out of intersections and away from car traffic. We had a great time at the party meeting many of Charlie’s awesome friends and the new WWOOFers, who were working on finishing our outdoor shower project. Everyone brought food and we spent most of the night talking around the campfire. Some of his friends brought instruments, so there was an impromptu jam session. Someone had brought a djembe and asked if anyone wanted to play it, so I jumped in and had a blast playing along with a guitarist and a clarinetist.
The new WWOOFers at the Stand were working hard to finish our outdoor shower project!
The next day everyone slowly woke up and pitched in to make breakfast. Once everyone was up and ready, we all drove over to the river to go for a float. This sounded refreshing, but we wanted to get back to the homestead before dark, so we said our goodbyes and biked back the 12 miles into Portland and back to the farm.
On the first Thursday of the month, Portland Art Museum has free admission from 5-8pm. It was very hot the first Thursday in July, and we thought it would be nice to visit an art museum, so we hopped on the bus to go to downtown Portland. We had a nice time at the museum, then walked a short way to a food truck stop to have some dinner. After eating a delicious burrito, we walked over to Powell’s books, where we checked out their latest Science Fiction and Fantasy book selections, and enjoyed the A/C. Once the sun had gone down, the evening was nice and cool, so we headed back to the bus and rode home to the farm.
Two weeks into our stay at Red Truck, Andrea came down with some sort of bad stomach bug, which knocked her out for days. She tried to power through it, but it kept her from working for several days, and it didn’t seem to be improving much from day to day. We decided that it would be best for us to head back to Los Angeles early so Andrea could visit her own doctor and recover with her family rather than in a camper far away from home. Mike was very understanding, but we were a little bummed that we had to cut our stay short. We had a great time at the Red Truck homestead and we learned a lot about raising ducks, maintaining gardens, drying garlic, and harvesting greens for restaurants. We said our goodbyes to our fellow WWOOFers, Abby and Amber, packed our things, headed back into downtown, and rode the Amtrak back to Los Angeles. It was hard to leave on such short notice, but we were also excited to return to our friends, family, and pet dogs back home.
Andrea went to the doctor the morning we arrived in LA, and learned that she had caught Gastroenteritis (stomach flu), likely from something she ate. She was able to rest more easily in her own bed in her own home, and after a few days, felt a lot better. Now that she is doing better, we have more time to prepare for our next adventure...moving to Guatemala with Andrea’s parents to help them start their retirement homestead!
