Central Oregon Locavore provides volunteer work parties to help farmers affected by the weekend storm

The severe storm that tore through Central Oregon on Saturday, May 30 th has left many local
farmers with severe property and crop damage. While the large hail stones damaged crops,
some farmers, mostly in Jefferson county, lost entire outbuildings, greenhouses, and irrigation
lines. Central Oregon Locavore Non Profit responded by quickly assembling groups of volunteer
work parties through one of their programs, WWOLF (Willing Workers On Local Farms), to help
farmers mitigate damage to crops as well as clean up their properties and rebuild
infrastructure.
Rainshadow Organics and Sakari Farms will be receiving work parties the week of June 1 st , and
Locavore is scheduling additional work parties based on farmers requests.
“Farming in Central Oregon is challenging enough, with the short growing season, low rainfall,
volcanic soil, and constant threat of early and late frosts, to have a weather catastrophe such as
this has an exponential impact on our local farmers. We know of at least one farmer who
provides produce to our marketplace that lost their entire crop, along with their greenhouse.
They called us to let us know that they were done for the season as they would have to
completely rebuild.” Says Nicolle Timm-Branch, founder and president of Central Oregon
Locavore. “I am hoping that by offering as many work parties as are needed, we can help the
remaining farmers get back on their feet as fast as possible to minimize the impact to their
operations and revenue streams for this season. Farming is definitely NOT for the faint of heart.
I have so much admiration for how resilient farmers are in the face of adversity.”
More information about the WWOLF program, and upcoming opportunities to help out local
farmers can be found online at www.centraloregonlocavore.org/wwolf.
Social distancing and additional measures to ensure that volunteers will be working in a safe
workspace will be in place. Lunch will be provided by Central Oregon Locavore.