Yard Waste Collection
The most recent addition to Rogue Produce’s team of Farm Partners is Evers Ridge Farm, in Medford, owned by Thomas and Hannah Peterson. We first connected with them because they have a giant worm bin and they needed our food-scraps to feed the worms.
Thomas and Hannah’s vision is long term. They are working on beginning a nursery of trees, and they plan on planting veggies between the trees. As part of their preparation, they are creating a giant composting operation to support the soil for the drought-resistant farming techniques they will utilize.
As you are probably now aware, the mission of Rogue Produce’s new initiative, the “1 and 3 Farm Project,” is helping small farms like Evers Ridge; and what they need right now are the food-scraps we currently provide through our Community Compost program, as well as yard waste materials: wood chips, horse manure, leaves, etc. to integrate into their compost operation. If you can use a hand clearing any materials like these from your home or property, please let us know and we will come pick them up! You can call us at 541-301-3426, or email us at info@rogueproduce.com. We will pick-up free of charge, but if you want to donate toward the cause, we’d be happy to accept anything you’d like to give!
The Project at Evers Ridge
So here’s how Evers Ridge Farm is beginning to play into the bigger picture with Rogue Produce, Community Compost, and the RP Farm Collective. The RP Farm Collective is currently farming at Joyluck Farm, in Talent, and we’ll be needing nutrients for the soil to keep feeding our aspiring plants. Evers Ridge is going to help us make this happen!
Our Community Compost program currently drops food scraps at Joyluck Farm, Happy Dirt Veggie Patch, and now, Evers Ridge Farm. Happy Dirt is the first location to reach the goal of creating a nutrient rich final compost product. Matt, the owner, has been feeding his seedlings, and donated a small portion to some of the gardens at our public schools.
We plan to replicate Matt’s composting methods at Joyluck Farm, and Thomas and Hannah have their own unique methods at their place.
Our initial agreement with Evers Ridge Farm is to help them in the collection of supplemental materials (leaves, wood chips, horse manure, yard clippings, etc.), in exchange for small amounts of the final compost product for our farming operations at Joyluck. In addition, Thomas and Hannah would love to offer the finished product to customers of Rogue Produce, eventually. It’s always been our goal to get Compost to our customers to use at their homes. Is that “full-circle” or what!
We’ve got a lot more great news coming soon. Thank you for all of your support: placing orders regularly at Rogue Produce, and participating in our Community Compost program are what make the magic continue to happen!
We’ve started a new initiative, the “1 and 3 Farm Project,” born from the desire to help many of the small local farms we’ve worked with over the years. The “1” is the farm we’re helping, and the “3” represents the number of new farms we hope to start with each project.
We’re working on developing an option in our ordering process that allows you to choose “reduced plastic” when we bundle your produce. With this option, we will place your fresh produce directly into a paper bag lined with wax paper to keep in moisture.
