Yamhill Valley Grown, Your Guide To Local Food | Page 9

W

t Valley
es
Agriculture

Logging

Music

A Land All Its Own
By Carrie Sendak

The West Valley lies in the eastern coastal
foothills bounded by the Siuslaw National Forest
to the West. Sheridan, Willamina, and Grande
Ronde are the primary towns of the Valley. An
invisible line which runs east-west just a bit
south of of Willamina’s downtown, divides the
Just a taste of what the farms in the West Valley
West Valley into two counties: Yamhill and Polk.
currently offer. Picture: Carrie Sendak
While Sheridan and half of Willamina lies in
valley are using more diversified and organic
Yamhill County, the other half of Willamina and
methods. From pastured meats, eggs and
locally grown vegetables to Old World grain
farming, the West Valley is an up-and-coming
sustainable farming hub.
Willamina has a
farmers market on Saturdays. Several of the
new farmers with passions for organics and
sustainability have started small farms to
produce vegtables, livestock and grain.
The West Valley is also home to artists, food
producers, a winery, and a distillery. A music
most of Grande Ronde lies in Polk County.
scene is growing, revolving around a popular
The West Valley arose in the mid- to late- 1800’s
music festival during the summer and a music
when a few families started a saw mill and a
venue at the historic Wildwood Hotel.
grist mill. In the early 1900’s a thriving clay
plant was established; with it came more people It’s an exciting time to live, grow, and play in
and a railroad connecting the area to the outside the West Valley.
world. Grass and grain farming, and even a few
dairies formed the agricultural base.
Logging and sawmills provided more industry in
the West Valley throughout the 1900’s.
Although still dependent on the local timber
industry, a growing number of farms in the

PICTURED ABOVE: A West Valley Ranch, ~1939. Picture provided by
Willamina Museum of Local History
PICTURED RIGHT: The Wildwood Music Fest in Sheridan, 2012. Picture: Kim
Hamblin

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