Growing Creative for Beast

Dave Hoyle, self titled “food geek,” has worked just about every aspect of the food cycle on his way to becoming a successful farmer in Noti, Oregon. Hoyle started his career working in  kitchens, doing everything from dishwasher to busboy. After becoming a member of the local CSA, he was asked to help fill boxes when a CSA employee went missing. The CSA job turned into seven years of co-managing the farm.

Then in 1996, in  a stroke of serendipity, he was made an offer by a local farm owner that he couldn’t refuse. The offer was this: work the farm for five years with no pay; live, rent-free, in a 20-foot yurt; and at the end of that time own half of the farm. The offer seemed pretty good. After all, the yurt was warmed by a “rockin’ wood stove,” and the couple received a small stipend of $400 a month, which paid for their minor expenses. Dave took the offer and ran. His Creative Growers farm has since become a supplier to local restaurants in Eugene, Corvalis, and Portland thanks to his varieties of tomatoes, shelling beans, and 60 other crops that were not found in the local area.

Dave’s plan was to get his seed from European dealers, pull seed from heirloom crops of his own, and occasionally smuggle a few seeds in after a vacation. The main goal was to avoid “homogenized seed.” These special products, along with his many other innovative techniques, made him a hit with local chefs. Instead of dropping off braising greens that needed to be washed at the restaurant, Creative Growers harvests the greens by cutting them in the field (easier to harvest) and then triple washes at the farm. Onions are peeled at the farm; eggplant and tomatoes are buffed. Instead of employing a driver with no knowledge of the farm, Creative Growers’ driver is also the packing manager, so he knows the product inside out and can talk with great experience about it when he delivers to finicky chefs.

Dave’s relationship with his “power chef elite” is most rewarding when he sees his work turned into great meals and even better when he is invited to the table.

The Useful Bits: Where to buy and eat Dave’s produce

Portland. OR: Beast