NEAR JACKSONVILLE, Ore. — If you have a patio and no yard, but you still want to garden, the OSU Master Gardeners have some advice for container gardening. OSU Master Gardener Cicely Fleury explains which vegetables do best in planters.

For more information, consult the OSU Master Gardeners Hotlines: Jackson County: 541-776-7371 Josephine County: 541-476-6613 Klamath County: 541-883-7131 Curry County: 541-247-6672.

WIMER, Ore. — There are dozens of local farms and companies contributing to the supply of food grown and made in the Rogue Valley. While many of those producers have mastered their craft getting a product to the consumer can take a very different set of skills.

The tiny basil plants at The Farming Fish outside of Wimer are going to spend three weeks on the shelves before they spend 4 to 5 weeks in the aquaponic system. Then they are branded and sent to market.

“This is the first official co-branding partnership with a local farm,” Tom Marks says.

At the beginning of the year, The Farming Fish started looking for a distribution partner.

“It just so happened it turned out to be the local guy who happened to have the same morals and ethics as we do and it worked out beautifully,” Olivia Hittner, one of the partners in the company explains.

Hittner and her partner Michael Hasey partnered with Tom Marks who launched the Rogue Nation foods brand.

“It allows a consumer to immediately see, ‘Oh, this is a product that represents the Rogue Valley,’ that represents this high level of integrity and quality,” Tom says.

Produce from the aquaponic farm is not new to the Medford Food Co-Op, but the living basil and its packaging is new.

“You might just see this little local symbol but with a larger brand and notoriety. It brings a real pop to the product line, and we do see that things that are marketed well sell better.”

Both sides expect to benefit from the partnership.

“It really allows them to focus on their skill set and allows us to focus on our skill set,” Tom explains.

The farming fish can now reach a larger customer base.

“The way to do that was to work with someone who could give us the support in marketing and branding and who knew the distribution system and had the experience with that level of distribution,” Olivia comments.

It pumps dollars into the local economy.

“The more we can export, the more money we’ll be importing. So, the idea is that we want to retain dollars in the community and export anything that we can,” Tom adds.

The branding also promotes what’s going on in the Southern Oregon food scene.

“So, the more we can gain notoriety for Rogue Valley brands, sell those to other distributors and other areas, they learn about what we are doing in the Rogue Valley and how we are working toward sustainability,” he says.

Olivia says that’s already happened at The Farming Fish and that recently some visitors stopped by the organic farm, “who were very interested in aquaponics and wanted to learn more about it.”

“I think that is going to happen more and more. That’s one of the reasons why we wanted do the packaging and the branding to help educate as well.”

Yet this week, the biggest and best of these basil plants will be sent to market. The little ones will be turned into pesto and they will be co-branded under Rogue Nation Foods as well and they’ll end up on store shelves.

For more information, consult the OSU Master Gardeners Hotlines: Jackson County: 541-776-7371 Josephine County: 541-476-6613 Klamath County: 541-883-7131 Curry County: 541-247-6672.

NEAR JACKSONVILLE, Ore. – Planting for pollinators is a way of gardening to get the most bang for your buck. “Pollinators” are creatures like bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and ladybugs. Some plants that attract pollinators are herbs like basil and cilantro, or flowers like the Pin Cushion Flower, which butterflies love.

For more information, consult the OSU Master Gardeners Hotlines:

Jackson County: 541-776-7371
Josephine County: 541-476-6613
Klamath County: 541-883-7131
Curry County: 541-247-6672

NEAR RUCH, Ore. — OSU Master Gardener Rhianna Simes shares tips with Dan Pope on how to compost.

For more information, consult the OSU Master Gardeners Hotlines:
Jackson County: 541-776-7371
Josephine County: 541-476-6613
Klamath County: 541-883-7131
Curry County: 541-247-6672

MEDFORD, Ore. — The growing season has started and local produce is once again arriving at stores and farmers markets’. In fact, there are lots of ways to get local food on your table.

There are more than a dozen Community Supported Agriculture programs in Southern Oregon. They are more commonly called CSA’s and they offer a huge variety of local products and produce, so it can be a daunting task to find the one that’s right for you and your family. But, you can make it easy on yourself if you prioritize what’s most important to get your family eating local produce.

The idea behind a CSA is simple, community members buy in, sharing the risks and rewards, a.k.a. fresh food, with their local farmers.

Outreach Coordinator at The Rogue Valley Initiative for a Vital Economy (THRIVE) and CSA member, Becky Brown, describes her experiences: “It’s like Christmas. You open it up and someone else has made the decisions for me. Someone else has decided what is delicious and healthy and fabulous and I even get recipes to go along with it.”

If you’re a busy single mom like Becky Brown, you can choose a CSA that chooses your bounty for you; or if you’d like, you can customize. That’s one of the options you get with Rogue Produce.

“Most stuff you are going to know and be able to identify,” Adam Holtey from the local business explains. “They can choose from another list of available produce and they can choose what they want.”

Some groups offer just produce, others mix in eggs, dairy, meat, dry goods, preserves and breads. Becky says this is, “so that you are not just limited to what grows in the ground.”

The CSA Cooperative is entering its second season and Adam Holtey says it offers something else that makes it unique, delivery, “So we take it right to your door or where you work.”

Most CSA’s offer pick-up options at their farms or in central locations across the Rogue Valley. We have some that are more convenient for people in Josephine County or in the northern part of Jackson County. When finding the CSA that meets your needs you should also consider price. Some offer payment through the Oregon Trail card, others offer sweat equity.

This, Becky says, “For a low income family, would be an important consideration.”

Adam offers a minimum of four deliveries at $85, which can grow to a year long membership, “They don’t sign up for a whole season so they don’t need to invest that whole huge chunk of cash.”

The cost is kept low because Rogue Produce is a mini CSA, which reduces potential spoilage.

“Waste is definitely not what it’s about,” Becky says.

Many CSA’s, including Rogue Produce, offer a hold in service.

“We give people the option of skipping a delivery or however many deliveries they want, then you can skip three weeks if you go on vacation and then get three more,” Adam explains.

Rogue Produce is dropping off about 50 baskets for its CSA this week but Adam says he’d like to see that grow to a couple hundred meaning there is room for people who are interested in CSA’s.

You can learn more about CSA’s in Southern Oregon by clicking here.

Transplant when seedlings have first true leaves (not seed leaves). Water well and use fork to lift seedlings; leave any clinging soil on roots. Bury seedlings to bottom of first true leaves for more roots, stronger plants.

For more information, call the OSU Master Gardeners Hotlines:

Jackson County: 541-776-7371
Josephine County: 541-476-6613
Klamath County: 541-883-7131
Curry County: 541-247-6672

The OSU Master Gardeners explain both ways the hydroponic unit can work – both for germinating seeds for the garden, to get a jump start on both spring and fall plantings, and also for having a continuous supply of herbs, veggies, or flowers in the house all season long. One is able to cut salad or herbs daily as they grow on the kitchen counter.

NEAR JACKSONVILLE, Ore. — In this segment, OSU Master Gardener Janet Rodkey talks to Dan about making your own organic fertilizer, including the the difference between organic and non-organic fertilizers, what nutrients need to be in fertilizer to help plants grow and how to create good, all-purpose organic fertilizer.

MEDFORD, Ore. — Local students who have learned the importance of recycling are now getting a look at how green efforts are helping.

On this Earth Day, TreeSmart Industries visited Hoover Elementary School. The Oregon-based company makes pencils by wrapping newspaper around a piece of graphite. A representative told the fifth grade students that one Sunday newspaper can make more than 200 pencils.

“A lot of recycling that people do, the product goes into a bin, and they’re not really sure what happens to it, but this closes the loop for them,” said John Snider, a
volunteer with TreeSmart.

“I learned how much it could help to recycle, than just throwing things away,” said Hoover Elementary 5th grader, Traven Battenfield.

The class gave TreeSmart old newspapers. Those papers will be used to make pencils with the school’s name on them.