Buying Local (Eugene, Medford, Oregon City: co-op, airport, manufactured)

[Smiled]

Oregon strawberries are hard to come by, but far superior to California "strawberries." Les Schwab's tires are all imports - I get BFGoodrich from Costco (yes I know Michelin bought BFG). Anything in the Made In Oregon store is made in Oregon (even the Pendletons, and they're expensive but good quality).
You could add Danner boots to that (the higher-end ones). And finally, organic milk from the Organic Valley brand is raised locally.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by Smiled

Oregon strawberries are hard to come by, but far superior to California "strawberries."

I was going to comment on that as well, but you beat me to it. The Oregon strawberries such as the Independence ones have a really high sugar content so they don't travel well across the country because they go bad too fast.

As such farmers really have to sell their crop here locally, which means we are the only ones supporting those crops.

There is no comparison to a CA strawberry. Those have no flavor whatsoever. The Oregon strawberries are incredible, and my son can't wait for June every year to make strawberry pie and lemonade with them. They are incredible.

[Smiled]

If you're in McMinnville, Golden Valley brewpub not only brews their own beer, but also raises their own cattle. The stuff they don't raise comes from Carlton Farms (delightful bacon). You can find Carlton Farms stuff at fancier groceries, or at their factory store (open during the week, but Sat only from 8-noon).
Also, I forgot Reser's, and Beaverton Foods (horseradish). Beaverton was perfect horseradish-growing country.

[Hawk J]

Sometimes when i go into Grants Pass i see around town a few farmers selling strawberries out of their pickups in parking lots. They are big, sweet & delicious................................... .................

[Hawk J]

UMPQUA ice cream is Delicious....................

[davefr]

Nearly forgot Oregon mushrooms! They love dark and moist. Also Hermiston watermelons however I don't know if they're better then other watermelons.

[lilypad]

I like this website:


Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food

Just find the state of Oregon and many local farms will appear.

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by PeacePlease

We moved to the Portland area about a year ago. Since then we've been trying to buy things that are locally made. Local can mean Portland, or Oregon or the PNW in general. Anyone ran into a website that tracks local products? or can improve my list below?

Here's our list so far:

1. Workout/running shoes from Nike
2. Cheese from Tillamook
3. Wine (either the Willamette Valley or Washington's)
4. Salmon (pacific based)
5. Beer (I like Porter and it comes from a brewery in Bend)
6. Coats and some clothes from Columbia Sportswear
7. Apples (Washington's mostly)
8. Produce from the local farmers market when we can
9. Tires, and winter chains from Les Schwab
10. We make it to U-Pick farms in Hood River when we can for all sort of produce like Cherries..

What else did I miss? Stumptown coffee?

Was that a list of things you are currently doing to "buy local" or things you were questioning? Because as others have mentioned, many of those things are not locally produced. They might be businesses that started out locally (in that case, you could get your coffee at Starbucks... if the PNW region is your "local"...) but the materials and goods themselves are not sourced or produced locally.

Most shoes - including Nike - are made in China, Vietnam, or Indonesia and shipped over the Pacific ocean on huge container ships that often drop containers - and lots of plastic junk - into the giant Pacific ocean trash heap, called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This is one of the reasons many people are trying to buy things made in America, rather than made in Asia or some other country, because whenever your items must be brought over the seas on huge container ships, we contribute more to these giant garbage patches in the oceans (all oceans have them now) and the trash and debris are killing tons of sea life. Most sea animals which wash up on the shores are found to have plastic bits and detritus from the garbage patches in them.

Tillamook is OK, and it's easy to find really good local wines and microbreweries... As far as I know Oregon isn't a suitable climate for growing coffee beans so I don't know how coffee could be considered "local"... those beans have to come from somewhere. Locally roasted, yes, but grown?

Produce is definitely seasonal. There are lots of farmer's markets and natural foods co-ops and CSA's you can join to support local farms. You have to learn to accept what's in season, though, to truly go "local".

Salmon, and other fish and seafood - be careful here. Here's a good website to check out: Seafood Watch Stay away from farmed fish. Always look for wild-caught. And for some fish, it's also important to know the method in which it was caught. Seafood Watch has apps for your mobile devices now, too. Cool!

You might want to check out these links:

SustainLane

LocalHarvest

One of my favorite brands of clothing (for women) that is produced locally by Oregon moms using sustainable fabrics is Sweet Skins...

And there are people here who make great leather shoes, too... don't have a link handy right now... but I've seen them at local craft fairs and the Eugene Saturday Market and places like that...

And one of the best things you can do is just to buy second-hand. Learn to love your thrift stores and local swaps. Rather than having new items always having to be produced, buy gently used things and trade with friends and neighbors - then you're being part of the solution, not the problem.

[haggardhouseelf]

Ooops - sorry lilypad - didn't see you'd already posted a link to localharvest!

And I agree Hawk J, Umpqua is good. I love Nancy's, too... we don't do a lot of dairy, but our kids do... they love Umpqua ice cream. They had a special flavor they did for Oregon's 150th that was really amazing!!!

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by haggardhouseelf

Ooops - sorry lilypad - didn't see you'd already posted a link to localharvest!

And I agree Hawk J, Umpqua is good. I love Nancy's, too... we don't do a lot of dairy, but our kids do... they love Umpqua ice cream. They had a special flavor they did for Oregon's 150th that was really amazing!!!

Nancy's makes the BEST sour cream. Their cottage cheese is not my favorite, though.

Also don't forget Bob's Red Mill over in Oregon City - you can tour the building and everything. Some of the grains they grind might not be local, but they are a fabulous resource for very fresh specialty flours, grains, rice, etc.