We are located on headlands along the southern Oregon coast, at 160 feet elevation, within a mile of the beach. Our soil is poor for agriculture, mostly sand and clay with low pH from conifer litter. The summers are not hot, it is generally windy, and the length of a typically clear summer day is long at 43°N latitude. So many vegetable plants struggle without protections; this limits what grows well. On the other hand, it rarely frosts or freezes. Throughout the winter the garden has arugula, lettuce, carrots, parsley, thyme, sage, oregano, lemon balm, peppermints, and calendula.

We started Rogue Wave Farm as a 'modern homesteading' experiment, an action response to our times, our era. How much of our food can we produce and what can we do on our own with what we already have? How can we moderate our needs and expectations to lower the energy and products we require from a global supply chain? As teachers in the public schools, we also intended Rogue Wave Farm LLC to be a learning center where life skills anchor academic standards in a 'hand, heart, and head' approach to education.

Sustainability’ represents a goal that we are far from achieving. Our dependance on plastic, mostly for irrigation, can feel defeating. But our substantial harvests eliminate a need for the commercial activities of picking, packing, processing, transporting, and retailing food. Moreover, we connect with the seasons and nature and find peace. That's the successful part of this lifestyle. Managing our production and consumption of energy and products is what we can do locally.

MAR 2024 - HTML & CSS only