Zenger Farm

About

At Zenger Farm, we believe good food is a basic human right. We are a non-profit farm and wetland in outer southeast Portland dedicated to promoting sustainable food systems, environmental stewardship, community development and access to good food for all. Since 1999, Zenger Farm has been teaching people where good, healthy food comes from, how it’s grown, and the importance of eating it every day. In our first year, 200 children visited Zenger Farm. Last year, we hosted more than 18,000 visitors.

Zenger Farm prioritizes reaching the under supported neighborhoods that surround the farm. Our neighborhood is one of the most diverse in Portland. 33% of residents identify as Hispanic, Asian, African-American or multiracial. Poverty rates around the farm are nearly double that of the city as a whole. We strive to ensure that our programming is accessible for all, particularly for our neighbors.

Food affects how we feel, learn, grow and, ultimately, how long we live. The Harvard School of Public Health recently found that zip code is a better predictor of health than genetic code. At Zenger Farm, as we educate kids and families, we also work to address these health disparities and change our local and regional food systems. With your partnership, we are creating a more equitable, healthy, and delicious food system for people of all backgrounds.

Zenger Farm has a robust community engagement program that includes cooking and nutrition workshops, cooking demonstrations, and community outreach events. Over 8,000 of our neighbors attended cooking workshops at Zenger Farm in 2017. Many of these workshops were part of our Community Chef program, which celebrates the diverse food traditions represented in our neighborhood by supporting food leaders to share their knowledge and experience through teaching and sharing nourishing dishes from their countries of origin. Currently, Community Chefs originate from Mexico, El Salvador, The Philippines, and Nepal.

Zenger Farm is a working farm, growing 120 varies of vegetables. We also have a 20-tree fruit orchard, a blueberry patch and a small variety of mixed herbs. Out of the 92 families who participated in the CSA program in 2016, 54 either paid for their vegetable share with SNAP benefits or received a scholarship for a percentage of their share.

Youth education at Zenger Farm provides hands-on educational activities in a natural environment, focusing on students from the outer southeast Portland neighborhoods that the farm strives to serve. Students who come to Zenger Farm learn that carrots grow in the ground, apples come from trees, chickens lay eggs and bees make our honey! Youth Education encompasses multiple activities: Farm School, field trips, camps and after-school programs. Many students who participate in these programs come from our local school district, David Douglas, where 63 native languages are spoken and 24% of students are English-language learners. Our experiential and science-based programs teach kids of all backgrounds about food, farming, wetland conservation, and environmental stewardship.

Products

Arugula, Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Chinese Greens, Sweet Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Garlic, Green Beans, Green Onions, Hot Peppers, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Onions, Peas, Potatoes, Radishes, Salad Greens, Salad Mix, Shallots, Spinach, Summer Squash, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Turnips, Figs, Melons, Fresh Herbs

Farming Practices

Zenger Farm is certified organic, but we strive to adopt sustainable farming practices that go beyond organic certification. Organic certification primarily means that a farm does not use synthetic products but it still allows farmers to use organic pesticides and herbicides. At Zenger Farm, we use farming practices that protect the environment, public health, our community and provide for the welfare of the animals on the farm.

OVERVIEW
Crop Rotation: We rotate our vegetable crops to break pest insect life cycles and to prevent plants from depleting our soil nutrients.
Cover Cropping: While our fields are not growing vegetables, we plant other crops to prevent soil erosion, increase soil organic matter, to retain and add nitrogen for soil fertility, and to feed our poultry.
Native Hedgerow: Near the edges of our fields and property, we grow native plants and plants that provide year-round food and habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects.
Pest Management:
Floating Row Cover: We cover vulnerable crops with a thin fabric that keeps out insects but lets in sun and water.
Fencing: We use mobile fencing to protect our crops from geese who live or visit our wetland.
Beneficial Insect Plantings: We grow small patches of flowers scattered throughout our farm fields to provide food and habitat for a strong population of beneficial insects.
Water Conservation: We use drip irrigation and timers to minimize evaporation and apply only the water that our plants need.
Low Carbon Footprint: We strive to minimize the use of petroleum products. Our tractor runs off biodiesel made from used cooking oil, we never deliver produce beyond ten miles from the farm and we use as little plastic as possible.
Rotating Livestock: Our flock of laying hens live in a mobile coop with mobile fencing that gives them plenty of room to roam. We move them around our farm so that they can have eat insects, eat our leftover crops and fertilize our soil.

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