By: Dana Martin

The annual Living on a Few Acres Conference, held March 15 in Redmond, proved to be a success as 125 people from throughout Central Oregon attended a variety of classes taught by OSU Extension faculty, agency and business specialists and small farm producers.

Classes covered topics ranging from horse care, hay production, weed control and irrigation management to growing fruit trees in cold climates, food preservation, fire-resistant landscapes, rodent control, wildlife habitats and small equipment repair and maintenance.

A panel of small farm producers, including Jim Fields of Fields Farm in Bend, Jerre Kosta, Dancing Cow Farm in Prineville and Gary Bishop, Bishops Farms in East Bend, shared stories of their operation and discussed what practices work best for them. Jim also shared some tricks of the trade for extending growing seasons in Central Oregon.

Dr. Jim Hermes attracted a large group of people interested in raising free range chickens while Dr. Bernadine Strik spoke about growing requirements of berries in Central Oregon as well as possible markets for berry crops.

A few statistics were gleaned from the 80 event evaluation returned by participants. More than half of those attending LOAFA live on fewer than 10 acres; 65 percent have resided on their property for less than five years; and about 64 percent of the participants listed their previous farm or acreage experience as a “new experience”.

More information from these evaluations will be evaluated as we move forward in assessing the needs and developing the OSU Extension Service Small Farm/Small Acreage program in Central Oregon.

The most obvious point revealed from the evaluation shows that 90 percent of those attending the 2008 LOAFA conference (of evaluations returned) rated it at a high level. Nearly everyone expressed that the classes were too short and they want more information! We are now in the process of setting up more indepth workshops to cover many of these topics.

^{Mylen Bohle of the OSU Extension Service in Crook County, teaches a class on identifying quality hays.
Photo provided by Dana Martin}

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