by RENEE PATRICK Cascade Business News Feature Writer
Access to fresh local produce can be difficult when living in the high desert. Short growing seasons and volcanic soil have thwarted many local farmers and backyard gardens. Brenda True of Farm to Friends Country Markets has developed her company to provide Central Oregonians a membership based co-shop and produce delivery service offering certified organic, food alliance certified and naturally grown produce.
The seeds of the company began over three years ago when an illness drove True to seek the help of a naturopath. Part of her sickness lay with the foods she typically ate; prepackaged and preserved items proved to provide little nutritional value, and her naturopath recommended a fresh and healthy diet of primarily organic fruits and vegetables.
Being too late in the season to join a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), she was spending hours visiting several different stores to find the desired produce. True turned her difficulty in finding an easy convenient source of local organic produce into the business, Farm to Friends.
What sets Farm to Friends apart from other sources of local organics, True explains, is the year round delivery service, “I work one on one with customers for door to door delivery. I found they are really happy to see me and working year round sets me apart. I am able to buy from small family farms and it is important to my customers to know where the food comes from.”
Tami Jones of Metamorphasis Salon commented, “I have been a member for two years and have never stopped. The nice part is that I’m a busy mom with three children and my kids eat a lot and it’s hard to get to the store often. I have fruits and vegetables all the time now.”
True visits farms in the area and in the valley as well as works with Duck Delivery Produce service to obtain Food Alliance certified foods. She tries to source as locally as she can, but as growing seasons and availability of certain foods are limited in Central Oregon, she looks to Washington and California to fill the gap.
The co-shop aspect of the business provides savings because True is able to buy organic produce in bulk to distribute among the members. She regularly prices the contents of her baskets in the local markets to ensure Farm to Friends continues to offer a savings over shopping for organics at grocery stores.
Her delivery service ranges from Sisters, Redmond, Bend, Tumalo, Prineville, Powell Butte, Terrebonne and Crooked River Ranch. She can deliver weekly or every other week and also offers the option to split a share.
A popular addition to the baskets are the marketing reports True creates, “I found a good niche with including recipes and helping people learn how to prepare the foods included in the baskets,” she said. The market report lists the sources of each item in the weekly basket along with their rating of certified organic, food alliance certified or naturally grown.
True has encountered some confusion in the differences in the certifications. In order for foods to be certified organic and carry the USDA seal, they need to be grown without synthetic chemicals, genetically modified organisms, irradiation, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives and need to be kept separate from non-certified products; the certification is managed by the National Organic Program, a federal regulatory framework governing organic food.
Food alliance is a third-party certification that ensures foods are grown in safe and fair working conditions, have humane animal treatment and include the careful stewardship of ecosystems.
Certified naturally grown is a peer to peer program for small scale producers. The guidelines include no synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics, hormones or genetically modified organisms.
Memberships to Farm to Friends are $38 a year. Basket contents vary seasonally and usually contain four to six fruits, four to six veggies and/or herbs. True offers a growing list of additional products like free range eggs and flats of fruits and vegetables. She hopes to have meats available soon.
“I am old enough to remember when Eberhards would deliver milk to the door step and how nice that was,” said True. “I think people will enjoy receiving a basket of fruits and vegetables to their door. Each delivery isa surprise!”
Farm to Friends Country Markets, 66961 Lance Road, Bend, OR 97701. 541-480-5221. www.farm2friends.com.
