Help me save Oregon strawberries

I can't eat the whole 2008 Oregon strawberry crop, but I've been trying. So help me out – buy local, buy often.

I was pleased to see Loaded Orygun's recent post on this important subject: "Not just strawberries – OREGON strawberries. Please?"

It mentioned my "As Oregon strawberries go, so the state" musing from a few years ago. What I said then still is true now.

Oregon strawberries are special. Research has proven that they're sweeter, redder, and simply better. But they're on the decline. Just like our state. Like a canary in a coal mine, the Oregon strawberry reflects the health of our previously vaunted livability.

I've been doing my best to keep Oregon strawberry growers in business. Almost every day I buy a carton or two from Roth's Sunnyslope Market in south Salem, which admirably sells quite a bit of local produce.

It isn't hard to decide between the delicious Oregon variety and the tasteless (by comparison) California berries. The latter travel better, so most of the country has never tasted a real strawberry.

When we were in Bend last week I made the mistake of buying a big container of California strawberries at Costco. They tasted fine.

Until I got back to Salem, walked into Roth's, and saw that local strawberries from Blue Heron Farms were on display. Now I can barely bring myself to eat the California berries.

Loaded Orygun's Torrid Joe has some good news. After describing how tests show Oregon strawberries to be objectively better than competitors from other states, he writes:

And so armed with those selling points, the push is on to identify Oregon strawberries by name in order to drive demand and a taste for a specific variety--like Alaskan salmon or Maine lobster, Vermont syrup or Wisconsin cheese.

Excellent idea. The decline in Oregon's strawberry acreage has to stop, or local berry addicts like me are going to face serious withdrawal problems one of these Junes.

Comments

[torridjoe]

Thanks for the hat tip, Brian. I usually think product marketing ideas, slogans and whatnot are shallow ploys, but as we discussed there really are objective reasons to prefer ours.

Did you know the Swiss make a surprisingly huge amount of wine? I bet not. You know why? THEY DRINK IT ALL. 9 out of 10 bottles of Swiss wine never make it across the border, because they know a good thing and keep it to themselves. And you make an excellent point, implicitly: if we were to eat enough, we wouldn't have to market it to other states. Come on--3 million people can't eat 5,000 acres of strawberries? That would still be well off peak levels when my sister was picking them, but at that level the industry would at least be sustainable I bet.

I must confess however that the softest spot in my Oregon fruit heart is definitely for the northwest Bing or Ranier cherry. I will sell the clothes off my back if someone will take me to a stand, during a break from knocking on doors in Hood River for Bus Project. And next month will be our annual family trip to deflower a few trees singlehandedly. The last two years we've pulled down over 20lbs...and they don't last. :) (We give some away, like $25 bags of cherries that cost us $5 to pick. A surprisingly good and near-universal gift.)

Eat Oregon!

[Bpaul]

Great post, thanks for keeping this type of information in the public mind.

Bp

[Deb]

I was at my favorite fruit stand (Greens Bridge on Jefferson-Scio Rd) and picked up a mixed crate of berries today. They were offering 4 different varieties.

They grow so many different varieties, they will have strawberries for (probably) a month or more - depends some on the weather. Before they're gone the cane berries will start, and again, they have lots of different varieties.

It's a real taste treat to eat one, then another, then one from that box, and one from over here, and try to decide which tastes best. One thing my Dad and I agreed on, it wasn't the prettiest one that tasted the best. But, they were all better than the California berries someone had brought to a recent potluck.

Greens Bridge also has fruit trees - several different black cherries and Royal Annes, peaches, pears, etc... and the occasional vegetable too.

I've never left there with just what I went for. I just can't pass up the fresh produce.

They don't pay me to say these things. ;>

[Harry Vanderpool]

Olson Farms.
Head east on Mission St which will end up as HWY 22.
At the top of the hill is the Joseph St Exit.
Take a left and drive under the HWY and there you are.
Best Quality, flavor and selection, IMHO.
Peaches, blueberrys, cherrys, strawberries, apples, honey, etc.....
Tell them that Vanderpool sent you for a special 0% off.
;-)