Riverwood Island

Farm:

Riverwood Island Farm is located on 70 acres along the Applegate River riparian/bottomlands of the diverse southern Oregon Siskiyou Bioregion. We are a small-scale direct market garden farm, guided by sustainable practices and principles. The farm is currently obtaining its Oregon Tilth Certification.

We grow a wide range of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers on approximately 5 of our 70 acres for local growers' markets, restaurants, and natural food stores.

The farm is participating in the formation of a local organic marketing cooperative/processing facility and planning of our local yearly Applegate Valley Harvest Festival.

Farmer:Dorothy Hartshorn

Dorothy Hartshorn of Riverwood Island Farm has had a lifelong love affair with the Applegate Valley. Her parents bought Riverwood Island Farm in the 1950s, and Dorothy spent grades 1 to 5 at the Applegate school. After that, she and her family moved back to California, but kept their property on Hiway 238. Dorothy has fond memories of playing outside as a child and felt deeply nurtured by their land. She wanted her own two sons to experience rural farm life, so she moved back to the Applegate 11 years ago. Determined to use their large acreage for agriculture, Dorothy enrolled in the Master Gardeners Program and joined the Siskiyou Tilth group. There she met members of the local farming community and taught herself how to farm. She is most passionate about growing berries, flowers and arugula. Dorothy has loved the opportunity to grow and eat foods she had never heard of before. She also enjoys engaging with customers both at Growers markets and though the CSA. Two interns, Jennifer Marasco and Dave Williams, and her son Briton helping out on the farm. She reports that they are a hard working and enthusiastic group.

Interns Riverwood is listed on Attra.org as a learning site for interns.