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Living and working in Portland, Oregon has spoiled us. We are surrounded by talented chefs, winemakers, distillers and brewers that share our core values and work ethic. We choose to work only with people that share these values and then we apply the "beer test" - if we wouldn't share a pint with you, we're probably not going to work well together! It's certainly not a highly scientific approach, but it's served us well and we are lucky to count many of our partners as friends.

While all of our chefs work with local and sustainable farmers, many of them haven't worked with the farm they are partnered with for our dinners, and since the majority of the meal is going to come from the host farm, it's important that we make it easy for the farmer and the chef to work together. The farms provide anticipated harvest lists well in advance of the dinners so the chefs can start thinking about their menus, but they truly can't finalize anything until the dinner date is at hand and the produce is on the verge of being harvested. We ensure that this process goes smoothly, we also deliver produce and in a few instances we've even participated in the harvest.

The determining factors when choosing the participants in the dinners all center around socially responsible business practices as well as earth-friendly farming methods. With the farms certifications are tricky and usually costly so they don't discriminate on certification alone. They work with farmers who are local and sustainable. In many instances that means that they actually go above and beyond the establish standards for organic farming.

With wine they first have to like the wine! Then they look for wineries that are practicing sustainable viticulture and business practices. Many of the wineries that are local and sustainable that they work with have various vineyard certifications (LIVE, Salmon Safe, biodynamic, organic) and many are implementing solar energy and other progressive business practices at their wineries. They are also very luck to have an abundance of small artisan wine producers in Oregon.

“This past summer we had our first farm dinner at a vineyard, which was a great opportunity for our guests to see a different type of farming.”

The chefs they choose for the events support local farms in their own restaurants as well. It's also important that they're creative and have a sense of adventure. Cooking dinner for 100+ in the middle of a field with little more than a charcoal grill and a propane burner is not for the faint of heart.

How Do They Pull It All Off?

“Patience. A ready laugh. A strong back and a dash of insanity,” they told us.

“The day-to-day operations of the event are fundamental and far from glamorous. We load in all of our equipment, set up tables and chairs, brief the amazing volunteer staff, serve dinner, wash dishes, take down the tables and chairs, haul off garbage and recycling then get ready to do it all over again.”

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