Golden Tradition Saffron

18/10/2024

Mom caught a shot of the comet over the greenhouses tonight.

27/09/2024

Keep the farmlands!
Hello wonderful farmers, vinters, and farm advocates in Washington county (or really close to WA county!

It's Aaron again, reaching out about land use, again! I bothered you all for a bit about SB 4 last year and North Plains this year and now we have one more big issue that affects us all as farmers and residents in and around the county and as Oregonians. I'm reaching out separately to you all because this issue - outlined in the call to action below - is something that really affects us as small scale growers right here where we farm.

The ask, from our group, Friends of Smart Growth, is below: it's mostly sharing with your lists. But I wanted to reach out more personally to you all since we'll be the most affected. If you are interested in helping out more or just learning more, let me know. We'll be assembling a group to lead the campaign and you all are certainly invited!
Thanks,
Aaron

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Hello wonderful friends of smart growth,

As you probably know, the governor called a public meeting as a first (and pretty much only) step in activating her supposed powers under SB 4 that would let her bypass 50 years of Oregon's land use laws, the laws that have protected forests, farming, hiking, and recreation in our state during times of massive growth. It has been reported in the Oregonian, OPB, and KGW among others. As stewards of the land, as caretakers of our democracy, as residents of Oregon we have to fight back against this. And we are.

This really is the biggest threat to our land use system in a generation. If Hillsboro convinces the governor to give it 373 acres of rural reserve land, some of the farmland with the most protections from development, this time, there will be a precedent and a road map for Kotek and every future governor to take land for whatever purpose they want. We will see land use go from a community decision to one made in Salem by the most connected and the wealthiest.

Hillsboro and the governor are taking what should be a long and thoughtful community decision and giving the power to one person to make in 20 days. This alone is unacceptable. The best way to stop autocratic decision making and secretive lobbying is to be involved and to raise awareness. We need you!

Here are ways to help, most of them take only minutes and cost nothing:

1.) Put one (or more!) of the attached graphics on your social media and send folks to our website, www.friendsofsmartgrowth.org This is an issue for everyone in Oregon who cares about our working and wild lands or who eats! Feel free to use the pitch above in your post if you want.
2.) Sign and share our petition. Let the governor know you oppose this land grab.
3.) Share with your lists. If you have a list for your CSA, farmers market, local community group, Nextdoor, or anything else, please put a blurb in for us. You are welcome to use the graphic or take anything you want from our website.
4.) Donate and, if you can, mention donations on your lists. We are entirely community funded and volunteer-led and we're up against the city of Hillsboro and the governor! We need some help.
5.) Come to the public meeting on October 10th in person or on zoom and submit testimony by the 30th. Info on that to be posted here as it comes out and on our website.

Thank you for your help, your dedication to Oregon, and for being willing to do the work to protect what we love about the state.
Aaron Nichols and Nellie McAdams
For Friends of Smart Growth

Protecting Oregon’s working and wild landsWe are an Oregon Advocacy group dedicated to promoting smart growth in our cities and protecting what we love about Oregon: open space, working farms, and scenic beauty. Learn more Sign the Petition Donate Help us fight sprawl in Washington county - sign o...

29/08/2024

Meet two of the vendors who will be participating in this year's IDA Marketplace!

25/06/2024

When w**ding has been happening for months, and you thought you had them all, so you go w**d a couple of other farms….
Well, we didn’t get them all, and now there will be more w**ds. But this is how we keep the seed heads from blowing everywhere.

10/06/2024

We’ve been helping an uncle friend on his farm the last couple of weeks. It’s been a complete joy. Every day, I noticed something new and wonderful. From owlets growing, to wind direction, to crazy grass roots. I’ve had so much help from folks, and am incredibly grateful, and am so happy I can pay it forward.

11/04/2024

I so love Finnriver

29/11/2023

Working late has its perks.

04/11/2023

Views from the north houses today. 2 of my girls took part of their morning to help out. Photos by Zeza.

02/11/2023

I had help picking today. This little buddy couldn’t find its way out of the greenhouse this evening. So I scooped it up on my sleeve, and it rode around with me while I picked the last row.

27/10/2023

20/10/2023

As my flowers are coming up through layers of soil, I’m still repairing beds. It could easily be a 2 person job. It would probably be exponentially faster. Yet here I am, doing the steps solo. And to be completely honest, even though at first I had doubt I could do it alone, it feels really good to be doing it on my own. No, I would not make it on a construction crew anymore, lol. So I gotta set my personal pride aside, and just go one step at a time, slowly.
Today I got one run of hardware mesh down covering the old stuff. The second run, I went from dropping the f-bomb every other word in all its forms, to angry animal sounds, just trying to fight that wire into place. In my years, I’ve learned this is a great stopping point. Tomorrow is a new day, and if I need help, I’ve been reminded to ask for help.

18/10/2023

What a lovely day. The flowers are starting to come in in the southern houses. And I found a 5 stigma flower yesterday, and a 2 stigm today. Sometimes these things happen.

17/10/2023

A question that we sometimes get from people is “why is saffron so expensive?” 🤔💭 let’s talk about that right now! Here are 6 reasons why saffron is expensive:

🌶️ labor-intensive harvesting process —> each flower produces just 3 crimson threads hand-picked during a brief fall harvest period, so we’d need approx. 150 flowers to yield just 1 gram of saffron.
🌶️ vast land required for cultivation —> saffron requires specific environmental conditions and substantial acreage for optimal yields. Annual replanting is also needed.
🌶️ time-intensive drying process —> it’s critical to maintain controlled conditions to preserve both the spice’s flavour and vibrant colour, and this is an essential part of the process.
🌶️ strict quality standards —> saffron’s exclusivity and cost are heightened by its grading based on colour, flavour, and aroma.
🌶️ limited geographic range —> this hampers it’s availability and amplifies it’s price due to the ideal climate and soil conditions required for saffron cultivation in these limited areas.
🌶️ demand and market forces —> saffron’s prized unique flavour and vibrant colour contribute to its high demand in both traditional and modern cuisine.

We talked more about this on our blog! Click the link on our bio to read more about it 👓📖

13/10/2023

Coming soon!

12/10/2023

Plants are our teachers. Saffron is no different. I’m continuing to learn as a human from these ladies.
It’s been a few years that I’ve neglected gals, and it shows in the size. Yet see how these layers are stacked? That’s four generations I hold in my hand. Each daughter becomes a mother, and gives herself for the next generation daughters.
In order to produce healthy daughters, the mother must be well cared for. This is true for all of life. This is why right now, we are both our ancestors and our descendants. As we honor the past and future, so should we honor ourselves.

11/10/2023

Staying dry and working outside! I sure do love these storms. It’s that time of year where it gets so loud I can’t even hear my music in my pockets. That’s ok. This is still music to me though.