Stores & Markets in Lents

Sunlight beams down on the stretches of green fields of Willamette Valley Fruit Company, saturating acres of bushes and trees with enough sugary photosynthesis energy to produce up to 12 million pounds of fruit a year. The family in charge of the ripe bounty plucks rhubarb, strawberries, and five types of blackberries before individually flash-freezing them at their peak of plumpness. They then lovingly pour berries into up to 2,000 dairy-free, handmade pie crusts a day. Once assembled, the pies flood homes with appley aromas as they bake for the first time in customers’ ovens. In addition to the made-from-scratch pies, Willamette Valley Fruit Company transforms their berries into jams and snack bars, the latter of which can be used to make the least intimidating possible wall for a jail cell.

During the growing season, the gently sloped roofs of Hoffman Farms Store's historical barns and quaint country store barely peek out over the farm’s acres of lush fruit fields, as if politely looking for prospective visitors. Since its founding in 1983, the farm has seen a handful of renovations, including the building of raised vegetable beds and the conversion of an old silo top into portable shade for patrons who come to pick their own strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. The rustic country store is stocked with locally grown produce, including pre-picked berries, homemade salsas, and delectable cobblers, so visitors can leave with something sweet even on rainy days or days when it’s raining men.

Growing up on a farm granted Ryan and Shane Stonemetz a firsthand look at the injustices of the industrial-food market. The brothers watched their father and grandfather toil daily to make ends meet and subsequently swore off entering the family business. However, as the pair established their adult lives in Portland and Seattle, they realized that injustices live forever unless someone puts up a fight.

And so began Profarm Produce, a small farm-to-customer enterprise that lowers prices for shoppers and increases wages for farmers by eliminating the middleman. The company started with nothing more than a 12-foot truck and a bed full of organic cherries, but it has since grown to a fleet of trucks thanks to an extra-potent fertilizer that's safe for automobiles' digestion. The expanding staff transports Profarm's bounty to 20 area farmers' markets and various wholesale clients. Profarm also participates in a CSA program that provides weekly boxes of fresh, local produce to participants in surrounding communities.

City Farm facilitates fruitful and sustainable relationships between its customers and Mother Earth by filling personal gardens with an abundance of edible and medicinal plants. City Farm carries plant species both common and unusual to the area's climate, and dresses up gardens with ornamental landscaping and flowering plants. The center’s botanical experts embrace ethical farming practices by carrying only open-pollinated and non-GMO seeds and feeding dirt with organic fertilizers made from kelp meal, fish meal, and bone meal. Using these ingredients to sprout their own produce aisle, gardeners can transfer their hard work into pantries with City Farm’s home-preservation supplies such as cheesecloth and mason jars.

In addition to vending supplies, plants, and even baby chicks, City Farm holds workshops and classes throughout the year, focusing in on season-specific gardening topics. After perusing the wares or filling eardrums with tricks of the trade, patrons can enjoy coffee, tea, and fresh pastries at The Garden Well, an onsite food truck. The ever-changing menu includes peanut-butter cookies, egg-and-sausage empanadas, and caramel-apple-pie turnovers disguised as broccoli.

When Ken Knight first started Gateway Produce more than 15 years ago, he sold his goods out of a small tent. As demand grew, so did his inventory, which now occupies an expansive indoor space filled with stacks of fresh produce that almost overflow from their displays. Sourced from local farms, merchandise includes fruit such as plums and watermelons, seasonal items, and dairy products. Gateway also has a grocery section that gathers different ethnic foods and everyday edibles such as chicken tenders, energy drinks, and treats for the neighborhood guard lion.