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Seven Oaks Farm in Central Point celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2009. The farm’s longevity can be attributed to strong roots, a commitment to the land, and adaptability to changing conditions. Three generations of the Bradshaw-Mefford family currently care for the land, engage their community, and produce superior berries and vegetables.
When John Bohnert, the youngest son of Rogue valley farmer William Bohnert, purchased Seven Oaks in 1934, it housed a pear and hazelnut orchard poorly suited to the valley floor’s wet and muddy winters. John replaced the orchards with a cattle and contract crop venture, growing sugar beet, clover, and grass seed, along with some vegetables and melons. He and his wife also raised a family on their bucolic acreage.
After earning a college degree, John’s daughter Doreen realized she had no desire for city life. By this time, she was dating Don Bradshaw, a farm boy who had no ambiguity about what he wanted to do: farm. So when Doreen’s parents invited the young couple to work on the family farm, “it was really a no brainer. We came back to the farm and I’ve never been sorry.” When Doreen and Don took over management in 1972, their bread and butter crop was onions, packed and shipped for bay area consumers, until the prices plummeted so low they couldn’t compete.
“Wholesaling wasn’t going to let us stay in farming,” says Doreen. “It was retailing that saved us.” They began experimenting with on farm sales in 1982, and in the ensuing years transformed the historic farm into a place where people come for more than just high quality fresh produce. Families with young children can meet the farm animals (horses, goats, turkeys, geese, and rabbits), visit the 1850s era stagecoach cabin, sit on comfortable shaded benches while their progeny let off steam in the play area, and shop at the farm store for produce, preserves, pies, and items such as greeting cards printed from Doreen’s paintings and soy candles created by one of her employees. Golden-agers can stroll through Doreen’s lovingly tended flower and herb beds, pick bouquets and handfuls of basil, or reconnect with childhood memories while tending the goats. “It’s a social outing, a place where they can come and don’t have to hurry, where they can sit and rest,” says Doreen.
Doreen finds other ways to nourish the community that keeps her farm flourishing. From providing part time summer employment for students, teachers, and retirees to hosting monthly master preserver demonstrations and a painting group, Seven Oaks lives its philosophy of “providing the freshest, highest quality we can and sustaining our crops, our soil, and the people who work for us.” Symbiotic relationships abound, as Seven Oaks supplies space and facilities, free of charge, to local 4-H and FFA members, who in turn, bring customers to the farm with their projects, which have included pony rides, face painting, and hot dog sales during the busy October season.
The spirit of continuous improvement goes beyond the human community. Don Bradshaw spends hours poring over seed catalogues and growing publications, and experimenting with new vegetables, always looking for better ways to do things. The flood irrigation used by John Bohnert has been replaced by sprinklers and drip systems, and the family mulches to avoid the need for extensive hand weeding or spraying. Crops are rotated and only the best produce earns a spot on the store shelves, the rest being turned under as green manure, where it feeds the soil the family has been building for three quarters of a century. Don prides himself on the farm’s thriving earthworm population, and was distraught recently when many of them fell victim to a particularly rainy spring. (“Although,” his wife notes, “we did have a lot of happy robins.”)
Doreen credits the growing success of the farm and store to her daughter, Lori, and son-in-law, Jerry Mefford, who now manage the farm. “Lori is a lot braver than I am,” she confides. Lori and her husband, a farmer from Illinois, met while showing cattle in Texas, and worked together on a plantation in Georgia before asking Don and Doreen for a line on farm jobs available in the Rogue Valley. Lori’s parents answered their inquiry with an offer to come back to Seven Oaks, which the couple accepted. Jerry managed the cattle herd and supplied his Midwestern corn-growing expertise, quickly becoming an indispensible member of the Seven Oaks family. Combining her father’s penchant for continuous improvement and her mother’s innate understanding of rich experience, Lori has developed partnerships with other Oregon farmers in order to expand the farm store’s offerings without sacrificing her family’s commitment to growing only what is suitable to Seven Oaks’ soil and microclimate. Customers can enjoy jams, jellies, marinades, and frozen pies and vegetables alongside fresh-picked Seven Oaks produce.
In October, Seven Oaks welcomes Rogue Valley schoolchildren with a pumpkin patch, hayrides, and corn maze. During this time, the farm stays open seven days a week, and the store offers an assortment of gourds and other materials for autumn decorating. Although she concedes that the frenzy of their last open month centers around Halloween, for Doreen this time is the beginning of the Thanksgiving season. She believes we need to give thanks, both for the present harvest and for the work of all who went before to make it possible.
In keeping with this belief, Doreen’s family has taken care to respect the property’s history. The log cabin, built as a stagecoach stop in the 1850s, was abandoned by travelers in favor of drier stops on higher ground. The family used the building as cold storage until they were able to construct coolers. Since then, Doreen has restored the cabin into a stage stop store for her customers to enjoy. The family still uses the two original barns, each over a century old, in addition to newer structures, and the old farm stand remains a stone’s throw from the new farm store erected to accommodate an expanding retail enterprise.
At this point, Doreen isn’t willing to speculate on the future of Seven Oaks. While she relishes working alongside her grandchildren, Clint and Taylor, she is pleased to see them pursuing college degrees. “In my heart,” she says, “I want Seven Oaks to stay here forever. In my head, I want the flexibility to change if we need to.” If history is any indication, Doreen and her family will accomplish both. |
The Community