Food Farmer Earth: A Farmer's Sensibility

In my interview for FoodFarmerEarth with Gaston farmer—and GoodStuffNW contributor—Anthony Boutard, he allows as how farming, for him, isn't just crop yields and calculations. There's also a place for whimsy, experimentation and even an aesthetic sensibility.

The son of a renowned Massachusetts botanist, Anthony Boutard was raised with the rich aromas of the earth and an appreciation for the changes in the natural world that come with the turning of the seasons. Educated as a forester, he came out West to work with a new organization, 1000 Friends of Oregon, dedicated to preserving a balance between urban and rural life.

After a few years of living and working in Portland, he and his wife, Carol, decided to move out of the city and engage their growing commitment to local, organic food. Looking for a farm that was close enough to the city to make deliveries, in 1998 they found a 140-acre working farm on the banks of little Ayers Creek in Gaston, Oregon.

“If you’ve got one and a half million people who are potential customers, it makes it a little more workable than if you were 350 miles away,” he said of their choice, adding that it wasn’t all cold calculation. “It just had a good feel to it.”

Read the rest of Anthony's story.

Watch part two of this interview, Meditation on Winter Fields. This week's recipe is for easy street-style enchiladas with adobo sauce. Get regular updates on this series about our local food scene by subscribing.