Valley Flora, nestled on the banks of Floras Creek near Langlois, Oregon, is a diversified family farm producing over 100 varieties of vegetables, berries and fruit for local restaurants, grocery stores, foodbanks and a community-supported agriculture program. We're passionate about growing good food and are deeply committed to ecological farming practices. We use cover crops, compost and crop rotations instead of synthetic fertilizers and sprays and do most of our work by hand - with the occasional help of a tractor and two draft horses. Whether you're biting into a crimson strawberry, savoring a vine ripe tomato, or heaping your plate high with Abby's Greens, you'll know you're getting the freshest local produce a person can find in this neck of the woods. We love what we do - so much you can taste it. 

Come one, come all! Valley Flora is giving away FREE DAHLIA TUBERS this Saturday, February 4th. The only catch is that if you want some, you have to come help dig them! Details:

• This Saturday, February 4th, 1 pm until ???

• At Valley Flora (directions)

• BYOSBB (Bring your own SHOVEL, BOXES, and BAGS)

We are downsizing our dahlia patch to make room for perennial herbs and would love to share our diverse dahlia collection with all of you! Please come, dig up some tubers, and take them home to your garden! It's supposed to be a beautiful sunny day on Saturday!

Mid-day on January 19th, Floras Creek topped its banks and flooded the farm. The high water completely inundated all of our perennials - artichokes, asparagus, raspberries, strawberries, dahlias, grapes, marionberries, and the orchard - plus a good bit of our annual cropland. U-pick would have been possible only by canoe. Our equipment shed flooded, but we had moved most of our valuables out of it in anticipation of high water.  Fortunately, the flooding lasted only a half day, so we are crossing our fingers that some of our more water sensitive plants like raspberries did not drown altogether. We won't know until spring.

The last time the farm went under was in the high water event of 1996, when the field was still just pasture. We've been waiting with a mix of curiosity and anxiety for a flood event like this - unsure of how our cropland would fare. We have not yet assessed the full extent of the damage, but we are hoping that the deposition of some lovely new topsoil will make up for any setbacks. Our fall-planted strawberry field is sure to be a mess of drip tape and weedmat, but hopefully nothing that a few days work can't repair. The flood made us ever-more grateful for the trees we planted 20+ years ago along the bank. They not only helped stabilize the riparian zone, they also kept large debris from crashing through our fenceline and into the field. At least this time.

Ah, farming - never a dull moment...

Floodwaters at their peak	3 feet of water at the entrance to the farm	The farmstand	Looking east across the perennial field
The river tops its bank and enters the field	U-pick by canoe only...:)

If you are interested in joining our Harvest Basket program in 2012, please add your name to our waiting list. Joining the waiting list now will  get you in the queue for our 2012 sign-up process, scheduled to begin in February or March. If you are currently a Harvest Basket member, you do not need to join our waiting list; you will automatically receive priority sign-up for 2012.

Thanks for supporting local food and family farmers!