The End of an Era: Ayers Creek Farm Has Sold

An Astiana tomato. Photo credit: Rubinette Produce Market

I was reading GoodStuffNW this week and Katherine Bauer’s latest post was entitled “Farm Bulletin: A Farewell.” It is essentially an update from the farm in the form of a goodbye note from Ayers Creek Farm in Gaston, Ore. Anthony and Carol Boutard, who ran the farm for 24 years, has sold the property and they are moving on to new adventures.

They put the farm up for sale back in January (listing details) and sold it to their neighbors, the Huserick family, who runs the nursery next door. They had a good relationship over the years, so I figure they thought it was a no-brainer kind of transaction. The Boutards are relocating to upstate New York to be with their family.

I know Ayers Creek Farm mostly because of their Astiana tomatoes. For a while now, you could order a bulk box of these tomatoes from Rubinette Produce Market inside Providore in late summer. Here’s how they describe them:

“If you know us, you know Astiana tomatoes. A pure expression of seed-selecting artistry from Ayers Creek Farm, these tomatoes were bred from seeds saved on a trip to northern Italy. The Astiana was then refined through seed saving and selection for over a decade, becoming pure representation of time and place: late summer in the Willamette Valley. The Astiana tomato is the perfect cooking tomato – dense, rich and yearning to be sauce.” Portland restaurants like Nostrana would also use them in their cooking.

The farm is also known for its Borlotto beans and other pole beans, a variety of grains, and jams/preserves. In the Farm Bulletin, Anthony mentions the projects he’s going to work on:

“Once in Penn Yan, I will continue my plant breeding work. There are several projects I will be working on, including a lovely blackberry variety derived from a chance seedling I found on the farm. I believe it is a natural hybrid between a Chester and a Logan; the flavor is outstanding. I will also be refining our favas, and finishing up the chicory breeding work.”

The mention of Penn Yan caught my eye—when I lived in Astoria, Queens I had a neighbor who was from the village of Penn Yan and she went back for visits fairly often (she now lives in Syracuse, about an hour northeast). It’s in the Finger Lakes region; the region’s most famous town is probably Ithaca (“Ithaca is Gorges” is a common slogan, and it’s nice to know the Boutards will still have a gorge (or many) near them) and really is beautiful up there.

Ayers Creek Farm would also grind the grains they grew on the farm, into flours for sale. Their 8-inch Meadows Mill is with Wellspent Market now. I’ll be curious to see what they do with it.

Best of luck to the Boutards as they settle in Penn Yan. Oregon will miss them, but no doubt they’ll be doing exciting things back east.

Farm Bulletin: A Farewell [GoodStuffNW]

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Meg Cotner

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Bridgetown Bites is edited and published by Meg Cotner in Portland, Oregon. She loves avocados, fresh produce, NA drinks, and cats.

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