Earth & Sky Farm
What do Christmas trees and hops have in common? Well, besides both offering a wonderful piny aroma to the room, we discovered both are grown at Earth & Sky Farm in Oregon City.
Tim Ensign is known around the Oregon and Northern California craft beer community as a point man for Mountain Peoples Wine and Beer Distributors moving great brews like Bear Republic, Fort George, FiftyFifty and many more. However, during the four weekends leading up to December 25th, Ensign and his wife Jana are hard at work at Earth & Sky. “The weekend of December 4th, if the weather is clear, will likely be our busiest of the year (on the farm)” says Ensign. And it looks just like that will be the case according to meteorological forecasts. Ensign says that last year, the second week of the four was undoubtedly the busiest.
Earth & Sky Farm is a small, historic family farm located in the quiet outskirts of town towards Redland in Oregon City, Oregon. The family run operation that also includes Ensign’s parents, Gary and Pam, currently offers “Choose & Cut” Douglas, Grand and Noble Fir Christmas Trees in a variety of sizes during the holiday season. Families stop by frequently to the delight of children who often take pleasure in finding the right ornamental offering for their home.
“Our season runs annually the Friday following Thanksgiving through the Sunday before Christmas.” says Ensign. “Visit the farm, take a walk in the evergreens to select your perfect tree and enjoy the traditional experience of cutting it down yourself. We provide complimentary hand saws for your use and warm drinks. For easy transport, we can bail your tree free of charge. We also offer handmade wreaths available for purchase.”
The farm grows about 5,000 trees and last year, according to the farmers, about 250 were sold last year. “We get people from Gladstone, Oregon City, and of course Portland” says Ensign. “Its only a 15 minute drive from Woodstock Wine & Deli on Woodstock and about 30 minutes from downtown Portland.”
In support of great beer, Earth & Sky donates $1 of each tree sold to the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation, a scholarship program to benefit aspiring professional brewers. “It’s a great time” says Ensign. “We love the family vibe and since Jana and I have a little one, we really enjoy the family side of it.”
Earth & Sky Farm is located at 16370 S. Redland Road in Oregon City, Oregon and open to the public Fridays 2PM-dusk; Saturdays and Sundays through December 19, 2010 10AM until dusk. For more information, call (503) 753-4054 or visit them online at EarthandSkyFarm.com
About The Author
Angelo
Angelo grew up in Maine and is proud to call New England his original home. Cascadia is now his home. He fell in love with great beer in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. He has been a correspondent for the Portland Tribune's Guest on Tap column, LivePDX.com, and has been featured in publications such as Beer Northwest and PDX Magazine. Angelo also has a great interest in independent music, and has been a booker and organizer for shows around the Portland under the name Pop Tomorrow! Angelo garnered much knowledge regarding beer from his experiences homebrewing, working at Belmont Station, Pyramid Brewing, Upright Brewing, By the Bottle, Beer Revolution, Olde Depot Public House, Falling Sky Brewing, Cascade Brewing, and from many many knowledgeable, passionate, and loving people along the way. It is Angelo's mission to bring "infotainment" and "edumation" to the readers of this website. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to contribute, please contact me at angelo@brewpublic.com
That is awesome guys cute picture of the two of you sounds like a lot of fun! Let’s play some discgolf soon or maybe when things calm down for ya! Noah happy holidays and good luck!