Arrowhead Chocolates is owned by Jerry and Tracy Ivy and their daughter and son-in law, Sylvanna and Chad Dotson. The Arrowhead team makes chocolates in small batches, by hand, with an emphasis on the highest quality ingredients, beautiful presentation, and ethical sourcing and sustainability.
Arrowhead Chocolates is the two-time winner of the national Good Food Awards for their huckleberry and espresso truffles. They are strongly committed to using chocolate that is Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance certified, combined with the highest quality local and regional ingredients available.
Photo: Talia Jean Photography
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
Beth Gibans started Backyard Gardens in 2000. Ali Lyons and Christian Niece took over the business when Beth died of cancer in 2021. They continue her commitment to bringing fresh, seasonal, and delicious foods to Wallowa County.
All of Backyard Gardens produce is grown using organic practices in a valley that is rimmed by snow-capped mountains. Its high-altitude location features rich soil, clean water, and a short growing season that helps produce incredibly sweet vegetables.
Bartell Farm is a mother/daughter run operation raising beef, pork, and Morgan horses. Jenny & Tempie strive to produce quality, docile animals that are easy to be worked by women. All their animals are selected heavily for docility. They can pet most of their cattle herd, all their sows are gentle and safe to handle while farrowing, and all their horses have proven themselves to be great mountain rides. Happy animals are very important to them, so they are always working to improve the conditions of their operation in ways to keep their animals safe and happy. Their cows get to spend the summer months ranging family property in the mountains, their sows (when not nursing) are in large paddocks with access to streams for wallowing, and their horses are grazing pastures as long as there is grass to sustain them.
Jenny Bartell also runs Community Merchants, part farm stand, part co-op supporting local producers in La Grande.
Bear Creek Blossoms, operated by Dawn Highberger, is a small flower farm that stands alongside Bear Creek Road outside of Wallowa. Dawn grows naturally farmed specialty cut-flowers using sustainable methods that are kind to the soil and environment. She create her mixed bouquets by hand, using seasonal flowers freshly picked from her farm. BCB bouquets are fragrant and filled with a mix of cottage-garden favorites and other beautiful blossoms and foliage.
Beverly Calder (left) opened Bella in Baker City in 1997, and opened a second store in La Grande in 2010.
RUBY D Quinine Tonics are small batch brewed using extraordinary spices, organic herbs and genuine cinchona bark. We use organic Agave Nectar to lightly sweeten the concentrate which can be used to make your own tonic water. Andy Berglund (right) brews 4 different flavors of quinine tonic at BELLA Main St. Market in Baker City.
Andy Boyd started Boyd Blacksmithing in 2018. While apprenticing with local outfits Rusty Hammer Forge and Ugly Pug Forge, he has "struck" out on his own and is constantly coming up with new designs.
Operating from a fourth-generation ranch at the base of the beautiful Wallowa Mountains, Carman Ranch Provisions focuses on ranching practices that restore the soil, respect the animals, build sustainable businesses in our rural community, and grow nutrient-dense and delicious food. Cory Carman and her team seek lasting change on the land, in their community and in the food system.
Carman Ranch's practices restore the soil, respect the animals, and create business opportunities in rural communities, all while growing delicious, nutrient-dense food.
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
Tyler Carroll grew up in Milton-Freewater on the Carroll Heifer Ranch, home of Umapine Creamery. He married Erica Turner, and the two took over the ranch and opened their own dairy, Creamline Farms, where Erica creates flavored butter.
Pastured Jersey, Holstein and Milking Shorthorn cows. They credit their success to "green grass, great cows, fresh milk, tasty cheeses and great customers."
Creamilne Farms is "a natural dairy, but not organic. We avoid antibiotic use, but we use medicine when cows are sick and especially in a life-saving situations. We have the vet visit every 3 weeks, and our nutritionist visits once a month. Milk from antibiotic cows is dumped and not in our butter. We keep 300 cows - primarily Jersey, with some Brown Swiss and Holstein cross bred. They have access to pasture 365 days/year and are primarily grass-fed. They also eat local alfalfa hay. They are fed daily a mix of grass hay/corn silage/vitamins & minerals. We feed grains depending on the time of year and nutritionist recommendations."
CS (Community Supported) Fishery is doing something different … Jeff Wong and his team are local, small boat fishermen who utilize small independently owned processing facilities that are located near their fishing grounds in Garibaldi, Oregon, where they can immediately offload and process, sometimes within minutes instead of days
CS Fishery provides a superior product over the large fishing fleets and their commercial processing factories. They maintain the chain of custody of their fish, from their boats to your table, and can guarantee that each fish was caught using sustainable harvest methods and handled with care. And the fishermen are compensated for the extra effort and for bringing a superior product to your dinner table.
Debbie Lind has been a photographer for more than 45 years. Her education has come from workshops, books, mentors, and her own photographic and digital experimentation. Her creative inspirations begin with connection to images of the natural world, and oftentimes she uses fractals to push and further shape her creative visions.
Dianne Smith lives in Union. "In 2011 my husband Thom got sick and I was looking for a way to make money to help our family financially. I had alway liked making Salsa for our friends and many would say that I should sale this stuff. So my husband turned my candle shop into a beautiful stainless steel processing kitchen and we got it certified by the state. Then off to the farmers market I went. It’s taken me sometime but the business has grown thanks to all my loyal customers."
Durant Olive Mill is the premier purveyor of Oregon milled Extra Virgin Olive Oil and home to the only Olioteca in the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 2008, Durant Olive Mill is home to 17 acres of olive trees and a state-of-the-art Italian mill. Olive harvest and milling take place each fall with a blend of olives from their own grove and carefully sourced, outstanding growers in Northern California. Certified Master Miller, Paul Durant, is dedicated to ensuring the highest quality at every stage fo the process.
Esther Petrocine, founder of Eagle Cap Kombucha, began creating this probiotic-rich beverage in her home kitchen in 2011. Working with the living culture brought a richness to her belly and her life. A passion to share this delicious and uplifting beverage with her community led her to begin a small-scale commercial production in 2019.
ECK has light carbonation: "Kombucha contains some inherent, yet light, carbonation as oxygen is consumed in the process of fermentation. It bubbles up quite a bit when I am kegging it. Once the product is in the keg, I seal the keg shut with 25-30lbs of CO2 pressure. I only expose the product to that much pressure for a couple of minutes, as opposed to "brightening" it for many hours, or rocking it to infuse more gas. The choice stems from knowing that carbonation creates an acidic environment in the gut that is unnatural and can cause issues for some people. The unique conflict with kombucha is that it is intended to support gut health, so adding CO2, in theory, lessens the benefits. Since part of my mission is to support an internal environment of well being, and not just a tasty beverage, I keep the carbonation light. However, the keg is also connected to CO2 at 10-12lbs of pressure all of the time once it is connected to pour. It is enough pressure to push the product out and add a little bit of bubbly to the beverage. The longer it sits, the more that 10-12lbs of pressure is infusing the liquid with carbonation. So, long answer to say that the first pours are less carbonated than the last pours. I have yet to find a way around this situation and have tried to find a good balance of bubbly and good gut vibes, but I know it doesn't meet everyone's preference.
"Once the kombucha is in a growler, it will lose carbonation just due to the lid being taken off. The larger the vessel (i.e. 64oz growler vs. 32 oz growler) the more flat the last several pours will be. Keeping the lid screwed on tightly helps preserve the carbonation."
Evergreen Family Farm is a family farm using 100% organic growing practices to provide fresh vegetables, fruits, and cut flowers. Sarah Fischer and Nik Hackney are located on 10 acres just three miles from downtown La Grande. "We love growing food for our valley!"
Farmstand Local Foods envisions a food system based on equity for eaters and producers alike, where buyers source their food from farmers whom they know and trust. We partner with local small-scale producers who are committed to using regenerative growing practices and we work to build connections with Seattle’s innovative culinary and food access communities.
Our marketplace (based in Seattle, Wash.) simplifies the local food purchasing process for buyers at restaurants, caterers, commissaries, food trucks, culinary educators, institutions, retail grocers, childcare centers, and other wholesale buyers. We provide sales and marketing support, rural aggregation, and convenient consolidated delivery to decrease the heavy cost and time burdens associated with self-distribution. Our efficient logistics enable us to provide the freshness you associate with farm-direct deliveries - almost all produce is harvested fresh within 24 hours of delivery!
Wendy McCullough began raising and selling goats for meat in 2008. Goat Gourmet goats are raised in Wallowa County on rural pasture with natural grasses, native weeds, and plenty of room to roam. Hormone-free. Goat has a flavor all its own. A mild meat, it has a slight sweetness to its taste. Like all meats, goat is lovely on its own – savor rack, chops, bratwurst and leg roast in simple, unadorned preparations. The sweetness of goat meat makes it a great basis for spicier and saucier preparations.
Toni Marie Jones is an artist who works with wool using the ancient form of wet felting as well as the modern-day invention of needle felting. She designs and creates the wool fabric that comes to be colorful purses and pouches, or soft scarves and whimsical sculptured flora and fauna. Toni’s work is often embellished with beads and unexpected fibers. Toni was born in Wallowa County. Her third-great grandmother was full Cayuse, and two of her third-great grandfathers were interpreters for the Nez Perce and the Cayuse during the 1855 Treaty “negotiations.”
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
Jenny, Mary and Nora Hawkins are the fourth generation to cultivate crops and livestock on land along Bear Creek, near Wallowa. Mary runs the only state-certified poultry production facility in eastern Oregon.
Cornish Cross chickens are the gold standard for tender meat and quick cooking techniques. The relatively slow-growing Cornish Cross start their lives at an Oregon hatchery and arrive at Hawkins Sisters Ranch at two days old. They are raised in open-air hoop houses and fed a custom-blend of local wheat, barley, and legumes mixed with organic camelina meal, fishmeal, minerals, and enzymes. They move from the brooder to the hayfield at about 3 weeks old, depending on the weather. After that they are fed each morning outside on the grass. In the evening they are fed again inside their hoop house and then they bed down on sustainably harvested, soft wood chips. The deep litter, mixed with rich manure, is collected for composting, and eventually it returns to our pastures.
Hayshaker Farm is a small-scale, draft powered vegetable growing operation based in southeast Washington state. 2023 marks our ninth season. The business is owned and operated on leased land by Chandler Briggs.
We farm on 8 irrigated acres, growing diversified vegetables and fruit for local families, grocery stores and restaurants.
Our farm is partly draft horse-powered, thanks to the help of our fuzzy teammates, Dusty, Juni, Jane, Ruby and Gus and sometimes other helpful visiting horses. In addition to the compost they help create daily, they help us plow, disc, harrow, cultimulch, cultivate, spread compost, pull loads and harvest crops. We also use a BCS for tilling the salad field and flail mowing. We have a small tractor for pallet forks, bucket and a rotary mower.
Hayshaker also runs the Walla Walla Food Hub, a food hub similar to GWC Provisions. "We feature our produce but carry many other producers’ goods from across the region. The food hub is managed by the farmers and is a regular part of the work here."
My name is Heather Rudolph. I was raised in Baker City and started raising pigs in high school as my FFA project. I moved to Wyoming and returned about 30 years later, and started raising pigs again.
My two heritage breed pigs include an Old Spot named Pearl and a Large Black/Guinea Hog/Mulefoot named Mama Pig. Their litters are born outside and they spend their whole lives in a pasture. All of the pigs have shelter to get out of the weather, but come and go as they please. They seem to prefer making their own nest to sleep in from straw or vegetation in their pastures, rather than sleeping in a wooden shelter. They have full time access to pasture grasses and various vegetation and a custom mixed hog ration of barley, wheat, and peas with a protein supplement, as well. Their hog ration is non-corn and non-GMO, custom made by Wallowa County Grain Growers with all locally grown grain and peas.
Regenerative farming practices are important for me so in the spring, I will plant a hardy mix of dryland grasses to increase the forage available to them. The pasture they spend most of their time on is unirrigated and grows mostly sagebrush, thistles, and bunchgrass. The seed comes from Oregon Trail Seeds in North Powder. I believe in supporting local businesses and therefore local families. This is my second year raising heritage breed pasture pigs, and I think you will agree the flavor of the pork they produce will make you want to lick your plate clean!
Howling Mountain Homestead is a small homestead on Alder Slope whose owners, Cody and Rose Romine, are looking to share their bounty with neighbors here on GWC Provisions. As they learn what people want, they will grow more of it--so use the Contact Us page to make requests!
"Grown with sustainable practices", we use only organic products while growing our produce.
Hummingbird Wholesale is a Eugene-based, family-owned, organic food manufacturer and distributor that incorporates humanity into the business relationship. We choose our products carefully, considering the sustainability of farming practices, nutritional value, and special dietary needs. We buy local and directly from the farmers whenever possible. Like the hummingbird, we seek to sip the nectar of the earth without harming the flower.
We are a family owned and operated custom beef and poultry operation located in Joseph Oregon. Susan and Chris Brun run the ranch, and daughter Celilo operates Hurricane Cattle Company, a cow-calf operation.
We raise a small number of Angus cattle. Our goal is to offer high Choice to Prime grade beef that is delicious to eat. We do this by custom-feeding corn, oats, barley, and hay to our herd for 6 to 9 months after they are weaned from grass at about 5 to 6 months of age. Our cattle are raised with love and are tame. We keep a close eye on them to make sure they stay healthy and happy. We never use growth hormones.
Our beef is highly marbled, juicy, and very tender. You will taste the difference when compared to other methods of finishing. Thanks for taking the time to learn about our operation and supporting small, local agriculture!
Maura Muhl is a Hood River-based animal lover, passionate baker, and creator of a plant-based butter made from cashews and protein bars. Maura comes from a family of experienced cooks and bakers. Fresh out of college, she was one of the first entrepreneurs to start a line of fruit juice-sweetened cookies, which were sold throughout California and ultimately gained national distribution. Maura was featured in magazines and newspapers including Bon Appetit and the Los Angeles Times, not only for her healthy products but also for her leadership in supporting other young entrepreneurs navigate their way into the business world.
As a creative, critical thinker and artisan, Becky Hostetter rejects homogenization and is in constant pursuit of things that are uniquely beautiful and original. Conveying truth, beauty and light is her ultimate desire and pursuit in all that she produces.
So, when she began to study the art of soap-making, she quickly realized she wanted to do more than make just another homemade cleansing bar of soap—as lovely as that is. She wanted to do something that was not only functional but also unique, and something that reflected her philosophy of life and art. The same is true of her candles.
Irene & Co. candles are handcrafted one at a time using only the finest ingredients. Each and every candle’s fragrance is Becky's custom blend using luxurious, long and clean burning natural coconut wax as well as top-quality fragrance oils and essential oils. Irene & Co. candles are eco-friendly and clean burning. The hang-tags are removable, so you are left with a lovely container to upcycle later on.
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
Founded in 2011, Jacobsen Salt Co. was the first company to harvest salt in the Pacific Northwest since Lewis & Clark built their salt works in 1805. Since then it has transformed from a local, small business to a nationally recognized brand as America’s leading salt maker. Harvested from the cold, pristine waters of Netarts Bay on the Oregon Coast, their flake and kosher sea salts have garnered worldwide favor for their beautiful presentation and pure taste by professional chefs and home cooks alike.
Jacobsen Salt Co. crafts top-shelf cooking ingredients, re-envisions classic products and recipes, and provides unforgettable culinary experiences every day. Grounded in craftsmanship and community, their mission is to provide the finest elemental cooking ingredients and kitchen staples that inspire people to cook, eat, and live well.
Felipe Jimenez started working on farms near Milton-Freewater in 1985. After 22 years of working on other farms, he bought his own. He started with only ½ acre in production. Now he farms 50 acres of land.
Jimenez Farm produces onions, asparagus, garlic, potatoes and green beans. Two gardens also provide tomatoes, peppers, corn and squash, including a special variety of squash from Guatemala.
Joseph Creek Coffee is owned and operated by Scott and Michelle McDonald in Enterprise. They have had a love of coffee since before they were married—they shared their love of coffee with early morning coffee dates while engaged, and have had a morning cup together ever since. Scott began roasting coffee at home in 2012 and has developed his craft year by year. They were able to renovate a space in 2019 in Enterprise and setup a roastery with the help of a number of coffee lovers in the community. Their goal is to see Joseph Creek Coffee grow into a business that employs local talent while supplying the region with excellent coffee.
Joseph Creek Coffee uses single-origin beans from Central America, most recently from a small farm in El Salvador. Their importer specializes in direct trade with small farms/cooperatives, which are sustainably managed but are not strictly organic.
About JCC's current beans:
The farm Finca Miravalle is owned by Luis Duarte, and is located in Apaneca, Ahuachapan, not too far from the Santa Ana volcano. Miravalle is about 1500 meters above sea level, and is only planted in Pacamara. It's part of a much larger group of coffee plots, a few of them demarcated by cultivar separations, and the larger plots a mix of cultivars. Duarte has kept his farm planted in Bourbon and Pacamara for the most part, despite the susceptibility to leaf rust. Many farmers are replanting with disease resistant varietals, but Luis Duarte has chosen to continue with these cultivars because of the commonly held belief that they taste superior to most disease resistent hybrids available and manages to prevent leaf rust and fungal outbreaks with good farm practices (proper space between plants, regular pruning, cleaning beneath the trees, directive spraying, etc). Miravalle is only a few hectares in size, and is perched on the verdant slopes of the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain region. This lot is the result of a new coffee project in the region by one of the local mills, their goal being to identify the top qualities from farmers they already buy coffee from. These coffees are then kept separate throughout the milling process, sold as an individual microlots as opposed to being lost to large blends.
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
Kimberly Morris’s pieces are crafted with the belief that all things functional should be beautiful, easy to care for, and last for a very long time. She lives in Wallowa.
La Laguna was started by Angelica Zurita in Enterprise in 2003, and has since expanded to Joseph as well. Angelica worked very hard to learn all aspects of the restaurant business, training in other restaurants and comparing their practices, before opening her own. Her research has paid off! Angelica developed her salsa recipes using the finest ingredients, including local garlic.
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
Lazy Mule Farm is a draft-powered vegetable farm that grows garlic and salad mix in Enterprise. We are working our way towards organic certification, we use all natural soil amendments and no synthetic sprays. We value the tradition of farming with draft animals, soil health and land stewardship.
Lazy Mule Farm was born out of a mutual love and respect for the tradition of draft farming by Jessica Bass and her partner, Adam McGrath. They met on a draft powered farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Among other titles, Adam was in charge of the draft horse program and Jess had just learned to drive a team and was hoping to keep working with horses. They bonded over their love of ponies, music, and swimming in the river. Just one year later, they purchased a Belgian mule team, without land or a clear vision. They only knew that they wanted to keep working with draft animals, and so this was one sure way to commit themselves to it.
Jess and Adam arrived in Wallowa County in April 2020 and plan to carry out the dream of farming, packing, and skiing their way through the foreseeable future.
Photo by Talia Jean Filipek
Tera Ptacek grew up in Minnesota with a passion to see the world and other cultures. All through her 20s, living in Alaska and traveling the world, she explored much! Reaching a point of wanting to put some roots in the ground, Tera and her former partner moved to Wallowa County and started a leather-working business. Tera feels right at home here, having fallen in love with the landscape and community. Now adventuring on her own, Tera is starting fresh with her own leather biz, LiminaL Leather.
Little Hill Farm, LLC, has been operating in the county since 2005, starting with just a couple greenhouses. The fertile Lostine earth has provided a great basis for organically grown produce using sustainable practices. Most of their produce has been sold to local and Portland restaurants and purveyors, so Carol Dodds enjoys making it available directly to our local community.
It all started when we were 8 years old. We set up a lemonade stand, and fell in love with entrepreneurship. We decided to create a clothing business, which flopped. We then tried jewelry, which also flopped. Finally we attempted lip balm. Our first recipe was too hard, so we kept trying new recipes and we now have the product that we do today, which leaves your lips as smooth as butter.
Lo & Ro lip balm is made from all organic ingredients, and is cruelty free and soft to the touch to soothe your chapped lips. We have 6 different flavors that are perfect for your everyday life!
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
Local jewelry maker Annie Robinson's boys have been cranking out these potholders for years!
Lynne Curry is a writer, introduced to the Wallowas in 2001 by her husband, Benjamin, who grew up on a wheat farm in the North End. A professional cook and baker, Lynne writes recipes for national publications and her blog, Forage. The local ranchers raising grass-fed beef inspired her to write Pure Beef, a guidebook and cookbook for whole animal, sustainable eating that supports the land, animals, and local economies.
Photo: Talia Jean Filipek
Joan Gilbert grew up in Eastern Oregon and has worked as a freelance graphic designer, director for Wallowology Discovery Center, and illustrator for more than 20 years. She writes and illustrates children books, and has recently embarked on a multi-year project in fine art.
Milo Munchies were originally a project of her son's, which she revived at the request of Genuine Wallowa County. They are made with wholesome vegetarian ingredients and love.
Angela Mart is an occupational therapist by day, and president of the Wallowa Mountains Bicycle Club on the side. She launched Mountain Woman Fire Starter as a creative outlet for her, and a fun way for people to get their wood stoves and camp fires lit. Adding to her enjoyment of wandering around in the woods, Angela gathers the tree bark and other elements from the Wallowa Mountains where she runs, backpacks, XC skis, mountain bikes, and calls home.
In 2009, professional artist, mom, and environmentalist Leah Fanning had a large, one-woman gallery exhibition planned and needed to paint full-time for a year to prepare for it. She also found out she was pregnant with her first child around the same time. So, to protect her baby’s health, she ditched every toxic art supply in her studio, including paints, thinners, and primers.
But what was the alternative to conventional paints? Leah drew inspiration from the cave painters through the Renaissance masters and took to nature to find her supplies. “I actually went into the woods and harvested all the pigments myself,” she recalls, smiling. “I would never leave home without a trowel and a bag. If I saw beautiful colors in the strata on the roadside, I would jump out of my car and gather the pigments.” She discovered that using natural pigments and oils creates paintings that are more radiant and archival, and without fillers, natural paints have a brilliant luminosity that can’t be found anywhere else.
After discovering that even conventional children’s paints contain harmful toxins, she had an epiphany.
“It just hit me that I should create a business about this. I should make oil paints and kids paints and educate the world.”
A year later, Natural Earth Paint was born.
Neighborhood Beef is owned and operated by Buck and Chelsea Matthews. Together with their three cowkids, they take pride in raising, buying, and, most importantly, finishing premium beef. Neighborhood Beef is known for having excellent marbling and consistent flavor. Buck and Chelsea’s mission is to make premium beef available at prices everyone can afford.
Neighborhood Beef is grass-raised and grain-finished for excellent marbling and consistently delicious flavor.
Nella Mae’s Farm is a beautiful wooded farm at the base of Mt. Fanny in Cove, Oregon. The farm is on the Native lands of the Cayuse, Umatilla & Walla Walla past and present and honor with gratitude the land itself and its people.
Our Farm: We grow produce both outside and in large hoop houses, which allows us to extend our season. We focus primarily on salad mix and a variety of vegetables throughout the season and offer grass-finished beef in the fall.
The farm is open to visitors when the gates are open. Find us at the second driveway on the left coming up (east) Antles Lane in Cove. We are lucky to be surrounded by wonderful neighbors, so wave when you go by!
Our Mission: To practice fair, clean, just agriculture that enhances the well-being of our land, our family and friends, fellow farmers, and our community long, long into the future.
Our Values: Joy, community, stewardship, solidarity, generosity, and long-term financial, social, and environmental sustainability and justice.
Our Practices: We use natural practices to grow healthy food for our family and yours. We do not use toxic sprays or fertilizers on our produce. Our work is done by hand and with small machines. We build our soil and increase our production through science-based, holistic practices and lots of advice from old timers, hippies, and other practitioners of agriculture. We are low-till working towards being no-till farm.
Our History & People: Nella Mae Parks was raised on a small family farm in Union County, Oregon. She grew up gardening, making hay, and raising animals with her parents. She spent nine years in the local 4-H program and went on to earn a degree in Environmental Science from Oregon State University. She traveled, worked in natural resource science & rural community organizing, and became involved in local agriculture and local food through her work at Oregon Rural Action in La Grande. In 2013 she decided to devote her time to connecting people to the local food she and others grow in the region.
Nella Mae loves the creativity of farming and being connected to the land every day. The most meaningful parts of farming for Nella Mae are feeding & employing people, connecting the community, sharing her knowledge, and helping new and beginning farmers.
Nella Mae is joined on the farm by her husband Michael Hatch and daughter Chloe Jane. Hatch is the Outdoor Program Director at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande as well as an excellent weeder, logger, friend, and cheerleader. Chloe Jane has her own flower business and helps out with all aspects of the farm from digging holes to giving signature “scallion haircuts” (trimming the roots) on harvest days. You will see both Hatch & Chloe Jane at the La Grande Farmers Market with Nella Mae on Saturdays.
Nella Mae first sold produce at the La Grande Farmers’ Market at age ten with the help and tutelage of her parents Bruce & Catherine who continue to help her farm today. Family and friends are integral in the farm’s operation as well as its growth and sustainability.
Nik & Snickers Produce is named after Kay and Brion Buismann's dog and cat, respectively. They all live on the upper Imnaha River, more than an hour from Joseph. They use "no-spray" practices.
Nikki Beachy grew up in rural Colorado at the Wyoming line. As a young adult, she lived and studied anthropology and local languages in Tibet, where she met her husband, Mike. Nikki is a multi-media artist who interprets natural landscapes, textures, and patterns. She loves using natural inks. In addition to painting, Nikki enjoys hiking long-distance trails, fishing, working outside, skiing, and being with friends at potlucks at Wallowa Lake.
Willliam Rehmke captains the Judy S. Built in Monterey Bay in 1975 , the Judy S is a Martin Allen-designed Tuna Jig/Bait boat. Because of her design, the Judy S offers a very nice stable ride with plenty of room in the fish hold. She is a proven offshore vessel, and has fished the South Pacific.
Pacific Tuna Products takes pride in the sustainable and non-intrusive fishing methods the North Pacific Albacore fleet has implemented for decades. With these techniques, they see no by-catch and can easily put juvenile tunas back in the ocean to mature.
Five generations ago the Mader family started farming. Steve and Kevin and their families carry on the tradition today using sustainable farming methods to preserve our natural resources. Our farm operations span across the southeast part of Washington State and are headquartered in Pullman, Washington. In 2001 we acted on an opportunity to add a cleaning facility to our operation. Our cleaning plant, Palouse Trading, is located in Palouse, Washington, just north of Pullman. Originally named Wallace Grain and Pea Company in the 1930s, Palouse Trading was designed for quality instead of quantity. We take raw food product and clean it into food grade edible product, which our customers find appealing because of the nutritional and aesthetic values.
Our Climate Pledge
We believe in preserving our natural resources and treating them with care - growing crops that naturally add nitrogen naturally back into the soils. We look at every input from our farming to our packaging with the climate in mind.
The farm operation uses the latest in sustainable agricultural practices. We have been using Direct Seeding and NO-Till practices since 1982. These changes have greatly reduced soil erosion, have increased soil health and helped us control our cost in an ever-rising input cost environment. In 2006 we became “Food Alliance” certified.
We are committed to improving our farms and we are committed to evaluating new technologies and farming practices that ensure our ground is forever protected as well as viable.
We don’t just stop at preserving the land – it's our packaging too!
Our 5 LB bags are packaged in burlap (aka jute). Burlap is a vegetable fiber that can be spun into strong threads to make fabric. The burlap we use is important in packaging. Although it is much more expensive than other materials, the burlap keeps the inside of the bag dark which is necessary for preserving the color of our food. If we allowed the food to be out in light (natural or unnatural) for an extended period of time you would see a less aesthetically pleasing product. For example, our green peas would fade to white.
Our 3 LB bags are 100% cotton. Cotton is also plant-derived, re-useable and environmentally friendly. The ink we print on all our bags is water-based and environmentally friendly.
Not only do we select earth-friendly fabrics for our packaging but they also play an important role in preserving the aesthetic quality of our foods for your long time enjoyment.
Kristy Athens has a big garden! When she has produce that isn't being offered by other farmers, she will make it available on GWC Provisions. She is very fortunate and privileged to be situated in the "banana belt" on Alder Slope. Kristy is also the owner of GWC Provisions, and the author of Get Your Pitchfork On: The Real Dirt on Country Living. Buy it at The Bookloft in Enterprise, M Crow in Lostine, or contact her directly.
We are a small family that works extremely hard to create quality produce. We try to use natural growing practices which means we till, fertilize, plant, water, hand weed, weed and weed some more. It's food we're proud to put on our table and to share with you. We are thankful for God's bounty and your support.
Oregon Tilth-certified Prairie Creek Farm is located in Joseph, where it was founded by Gene Thiel on the belief that no sacrifice is too great for the farmer who is doing what's best for the health of the land and his customers. Son Patrick has continued his father's legacy, providing a long list of reasons Portland’s most accomplished chefs seek out Prairie Creek Farm's renowned organic potatoes, carrots, and beets.
Glacial silt soil at the foot of the Wallowa Mountains produces a depth and complexity of flavor that simply cannot be matched. The moraine’s soil and the organic methods used combine to produce nutrient levels that one organic vitamin company’s tests determined to be “off the charts.” Its 4,500-foot elevation leads to early sweetness from early freezes.
The Puget Sound Food Hub began as a weekly wholesale market in a parking lot underpass of the Skagit Valley Food Co-op in late 2010.
Today the Puget Sound Food Hub is a robust farmer-owned cooperative operating in the Puget Sound region. We market, aggregate and distribute locally produced food from our partners farms to our wholesale buyers that range from restaurants, hospitals, preschools, grocery stores, universities and more!
Ralph Anderson is a self-proclaimed “Geezer”—retired U.S. Forest Service—who carves utensils and other interesting objects from quaking aspen and other wood, while shaded up at the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland site (Tamkaliks), often in the dance arbor. The wood is sustainably harvested from stand-thinning (allowing the growth of bigger trees); the bark is used for dyeing wool and the poles for whittlings.
Rocking M Cattle Co. is a three-generation family ranch located between Wallowa and Lostine. With deep roots in the community and in the beef industry, Jeremy and Donald McCullough specialized in 2007 in raising Registered Texas Longhorn Cattle. The cattle are selected for their hardiness, cavities, feed efficiency, browsing ability, and overall marketability.
MCC beef is second to none in terms of health benefits and is grass-fed and -finished. Their beef comes from registered calves that didn’t make the cut as breeding bulls and enter their all-natural beef program. MCC is the number-one breeder and seller of registered Texas Longhorns west of Texas; they are able to offer a wide variety of products and utilize the whole animal upon processing. In addition to beef they also offer skulls, hides, and other products.
Lynne Nielsen Price began making batches of "Piquette Salve" on July 4th, 2009. With a life-time of personal use, she had no qualms about crafting this ancient healing ointment and offering it to the general public. Her "Ancient Healing/Tree-sap Salve" is made from an original secret family recipe. Every tin of salve has her respect for the family's commitment to preserving and respecting this recipe. The heirloom recipe has been in Lynne's family for six generations; it was originally a gift from the then local indigenous French-Canadian Native American Indian people in southeast Canada.
Sacred Salve Co. products are made one batch at a time in Wallowa County.
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
"My name is Upingaksraq (the time when the ice breaks). Spring Alaska Schreiner is the owner and Principal Ecologist-Indigenous Agriculturalist of Sakari Farms/Sakari Botanicals and the Central Oregon Seed Exchange. I am an enrolled member and shareholder of the Chugach Alaska Native Corporation and Valdez Native Tribe. Inupiaq lineage allows a unique/diverse cultural perspective of the use of historical food systems ranging from Alaska to Oregon and regional tribal lands on Turtle Island. Spring serves on multiple regional and national agricultural boards and educational committees and advocates for local farmers and tribal members. Spring received the 2019 NASDA Women Farm to Food Award, and more recently, the recipient of the 2021 Na’ahlee Tribal Fellowship. I participate in the USDA Indian Agricultural Council, Made by Native American Export Food Program, Indigenous Seed Keepers Network, Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, American Indian Housing Authority, Warm Springs Indian Tribe Community Garden, PNW Intertribal Food Sovereignty Coalition, and many other regional policy based boards and committees."
Sakari Farms is located in Tumalo, just West of Bend, the heart of Central Oregon. Our farm works in collaboration with the Central Oregon Seed Exchange as a unique Deschutes County based cold climate seed bank, offering free seed and agricultural education to the public. We also host Sakari Botanicals, our Value Added Product culinary and healing tribal business. Our farm also houses a unique NW Tribal Seed Bank dedicated to our regional and national Tribal Members only. Sakari Farms is unique in that we grow Native American Tribal Foods, offer on-farm Technical Assistance through our on-farm classes, and implement research based tribal seed production, contract and wholesale growing. Our current growing creations consist of specialty tribal peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, herbs and one of a kind native flowers. Our farm practices organic and biodynamic growing practices and holds the Intertribal Agricultural Council’s “Made by Native American” patent certification.
Sally B. Farms is a small farm nestled into the base of Chief Joseph Mountain. Wendy McCullough raises around 30 goats and makes soap using her own recipes.
Each bar of handmade soap contains at least 25 percent goats' milk, skin-loving oils, and often wild-harvested herbs. Each bar cures for 4 to 8 weeks, and then is hand-cut and beveled, making it smooth and long-lasting.
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
Leslie Shalduha is an herbalist living in Joseph. Her emphasis is on working with herbs and food in harmony to nourish, support, and strengthen body, mind, and soil, in simple, practical ways, learning how to incorporate them in daily life, in such a way that it becomes nurturing and comfortable. Sassy Llama Apothecary products are small-batch, handmade with intention and high quality. Her passion is in the kitchen – working with food and herbs as her truest passion or on the open road, seeking places and plants to fill her soul.
Kiyomi Koike started Sei Mee Tea as a family business in 2004 (it’s pronounced “say-me-tea” and means “pure beauty” in Japanese). Her passionate journey started when her husband was diagnosed with cancer. She began experimenting with green tea, and was thrilled when he was declared “cancer-free” five years later. Sei Mee Tea’s all-woman staff takes pride and joy in helping their customers achieve their health goals holistically.
Sei Mee Tea imports green tea from Japan. Japanese Green Tea uses the steaming method to stop oxidation after tea leaves are harvested. The steaming method preserves more catechins in tea leaves (research suggests that catechins like EGCG may play a role in protecting human cells from damage and preventing disease), and produces fresher and more flavorful green tea.
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
The Stangel Family includes Bob (pictured) and Nora, and daughters Marta and Theresa (pictured). The Stangels come from a long line of farmers and ranchers who migrated from north central Oregon to their current location, Enterprise, Oregon, in 1958. The three Stangel brothers, Joe, Bob, and Dick formed a partnership that was originally comprised of farming dryland grain, raising cattle, and operating a heavy equipment and machine shop. Bob has managed the farm and ranch portion of the partnership, which began its transition from cattle to bison soon after Bob graduated from college. In 1979 Bob and his brother Joe purchased six heifers and two bull calves from a rancher in Colorado, and by 1987 all of the cattle had been sold and the transition to a strictly bison livestock operation was complete. Throughout the years the ranch numbers have fluctuated from a high point of more than 800 head to its current number of close to 600.
All of Stangel's animals are born, raised, and harvested on their ranch in the beautiful Wallowa Valley. Through out their lives, the bison enjoy time between our pastures that are located on "the slope" and in "the hills" of Wallowa County. When the animals have reached the age for the highest quality product, the harvesting process begins. For locally sold products, a professional mobile-slaughter service comes to the ranch, where the animals are quickly and humanely killed and cleaned. Once that process is complete, the carcasses are transported approximately 17 miles to Valley Meat Services, a local custom-exempt plant.
The Stangels take pride in the fact that their animals complete their life cycle on the ranch, and are then processed locally by people that they have known and done business with for years. They find it is truly amazing that, in such a small area, they have the opportunity to work with people that are so talented in their field and help deliver the highest quality of product possible.
Terminal Gravity Brewing Co. was founded in 1997 in Enterprise. It puts brewing traditional English and German craft beers at the forefront of its business, and has a relaxing brewpub attached to the brewery that embodies the spirit of the Wallowa Mountains.
GWC Provisions regrets that we are not allowed to sell TG beer!
Photo: Talia Jean Filipek
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
AJ & Dani Savage are proud LGBTQ+ women of color, with an inspiration birthed by Mother Nature herself. Our passion was ignited deep in the woods of Imnaha, Oregon where nature runs unbound. We invite you to enjoy these dynamic aromas through our individually handcrafted candles and incense.
Tre-Fin has built a co-op of like-minded local fishers who run small, fast day boats outfitted to bring in the same superior quality albacore caught on the Opportunaty, whose two captains (Barrett and Mike), along with deckhand Malissa, are a hardworking, squared-away, veteran team at sea.
Traditional hook and line method allows Tre-Fin to minimize the amount of by-catch. Each wild fish is handled individually, allowing the Tre-Fin team to control its journey, right up until they hand it off to us.
Few local fishers can claim to bring their catch back within 24 hours, let alone process it themselves. Tre-Fin does both.
We pride ourselves on taking responsibility for every step along the supply chain, to get seafood from healthy populations in OR and WA waters to your plate. The fact that we process what we catch in our own certified facility means we have total control of the quality of our product, and we're creating additional jobs in our community. These are the cornerstones of our business and our mission to support the growth of the sustainable fisheries movement while strengthening the fishing community that serves you.
Todd Kruger has been river-guiding with Winding Waters since 2005. His background includes working with troubled youth and as a master craftsman. He runs Twig, which produces functional items from recycled materials. He has made every one of Terminal Gravity’s tap pulls, about a thousand, he estimates.
Emily Sokolowski gained organic farming experience under Beth Gibans of Backyard Gardens. In addition to vegetable and flower gardening for herself and family, Emily provided native gardening and landscaping work to Portland residents from 2017 to when she moved to Wallowa County in 2020. Two Bear Gardens is located alongside Prairie Creek in Enterprise; Emily grows her produce using sustainable practices.
Umapine Creamery, in Milton-Freewater, is owned by Brent and Yvonne Carroll. Their desire is to introduce and provide local artisan cheeses to Northeast Oregon and Eastern Washington. After many years in the production end of the dairy business, the farm has passed to the next generation (Creamline Farms). The cows are still next door to the creamery and provide the freshest milk possible.
Yvonne spent her childhood on her grandparents' Ayrshire dairy, and has now become an artisan farmstead cheese maker. Brent found very kind and knowledgeable dairymen to usher him into becoming a dairyman. His interest in learning and sharing that knowledge led him to become an agriculture science teacher and an FFA advisor.
These cheeses are a gouda style, which simply means they are a washed-curd cheese. Different results are achieved depending on how the curd is cut and cooked, how the cheese is aged, and what flavorings are added. All cheeses are aged at least 60 days.
Vali’s Alpine Restaurant has been a Wallowa County tradition since 1974 and was the unique dream of Michael’s parents, Mike and Maggie Vali. Michael, a 4th generation baker, and Dionne, a culinary and pastry chef, took over the restaurant in 2004, continuing to serve recipes passed down through the Vali family, like their famous doughnuts, Hungarian dinner and dessert classics and their equally famous dinner rolls.
After running a dairy farm in Tillamook, Oregon for twenty-five years, sun-starved Jeff and Andrea Adams moved to the beautiful Walla Walla valley in 2005. While the two stayed busy, with Jeff as a dairy heifer feedlot manager and Andrea as a veterinarian, they still missed cheese culture (and all of the terrible puns that accompanied it), and sensed a void in a booming industry—with all of this wine, shouldn’t there be more cheese to pair it with?
In 2014 they gave up all hope of a quiet, early retirement and joined the Umapine Creamery, eventually branching out into the Walla Walla Cheese Company. These days, they divide their time between work, cheesemaking, running a small farm of horses, heifers, chickens, cats, and their official greeting dog, Nixie, and bossing around their two kids, Brennan and Kalie.
From founder Jimi Schroeder: "Wallowa RiverSand smoke and spice rub was born on the banks of the Wallowa and Minam rivers. Tested by friends and families who have made an art of giving of themselves to their fellow man. They work hard, and they play hard. Their meals are a masterpiece of family recipes handed down through generations. You no longer just salt your food, you accentuate it with RiverSand. It's an ancient craft of blending spices and smoke in an effort to go beyond enjoying a meal. Like stepping off the bank of a river in pursuit of your passion. A deep breath and a sigh. You -- have -- arrived."
Want to send this as a gift? These products are also available on the Genuine Wallowa County gift box site!
Woodsy Wicks is a business born out of love for the great outdoors and non-toxic living! Putting these
two together, Liz Long created a line of handcrafted home fragrances that range from candles to carpet
freshener. Based in La Grande
Woodsy Wicks uses 100% all natural soy wax grown right here in the US. All of our wood wicks are natural untreated wood from sappy fruit trees that are also grown here in the US. All candles are handmade with love with non-toxic ingredients.
Non-toxic
Vegan
Cruelty-free
Mom-owned business
Zach Lathrop is a 5th-generation farmer living and operating on a century farm in Wallowa County with his family. They raise free-range turkeys without hormones or antibiotics. Their turkeys are fed a high-quality and high-protein feed to produce tender, juicy meat. The turkeys are processed by Hawkins Sisters Ranch, an ODA-certified facility in Wallowa.