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Gathering Together Farm, located in Philomath, 45 miles north of Eugene, has been a cornerstone of Oregon’s organic farming movement for nearly four decades. The owners of the farm have a farm-to-table restaurant featuring delicious wood-fired pizzas, among other items, and a popular farm stand.
But like many agricultural operations across the state, the farm’s owners are grappling with new regulatory challenges and staffing changes that have reshaped how they do business.
The farm started in 1987 when farm owners John Eveland and Sally Brewer saw an opportunity to grow organic food to sell directly to restaurants.
“They realized that it was kind of hard to find good, local, high-quality organic produce for a restaurant, because a lot of people were (growing) in their backyard or on a smaller scale,” said Rosie Allende, who manages the farm’s on-site restaurant and farm stand. “They decided to take advantage of that and start growing organic. They’ve been certified organic since 1987, when the whole organic movement was just starting.”
Eveland, along with other partners, ran a vegetarian restaurant in Corvallis called Nearly Normals Gonzo Cuisine, which was born out of selling food at the Eugene Saturday Market. Nearly Normals had been for sale before the start of the pandemic, and the COVID-related restaurant closures were too much to handle. The restaurant closed its doors for good in November 2020.
A model of local food systems
Gathering Together Farm was one of two original members of Organically Grown Coop, founded in Eugene in 1978, which today is the nation’s largest wholesale distributor dedicated to organic produce.
“They were very involved in the process to help organic producers reach bigger audiences,” Allende said.
The farm today grows crops on about 50 acres, producing an impressive 23,000 pounds of salad mix annually — and that does not include sales to their own restaurant, area farmers markets or its community supported agriculture (CSA) program.
The farm’s signature GTF salad mix features six types of mustard greens, six types of chicory, and six types of lettuce, with seasonal additions such as baby chard and kale in winter. It sells starts of many of these plants along with others such as tomatoes at their popular greenhouse. For those who miss Nearly Normals, you can purchase four of its signature vegetarian “sunburgers” for $15 from the farm stand.
The on-site restaurant and bakery are destinations in their own right. Prior to the restaurant, the farmstand was basically a cooler and a money box, Allende said, but as the popularity grew, the owners kept adding to it — which was easy because of their connections to restaurant kitchens. Open since 2005, the restaurant is casual, with sit-down service during the nicer weather months of March through late November.
The restaurant seats 35 to 40 and serves lunch featuring vegetables harvested on the property, along with other local ingredients, including 100% grass-fed Angus and Angus Charolais cross beef from Cheeke Farms, 3 miles away. Seafood comes from Newport, and flour from Eugene’s Camas Country Mill. Chicken comes from GTF.
A late May menu featured pizza with fennel sausage and snap peas; carrot soup; an Asian cucumber salad with turnips and a ginger tamari dressing; a cheeseburger; Nearly Normals Sunburger; and a fried rockfish sandwich. Pizza options included Margherita, Bianca (a vegetarian pizza with herbs and olive oil), and a pizza with turnips and roasted carrots.
The farm makes all its buns, breads, pastries, and pizza dough. Pizzas ordered through the restaurant are cooked in a large wood-burning oven right in the dining area. The farm also sometimes hosts classes and cooking demos.
“Anything on the menu that is a vegetable is ours,” Allende said. “We make our own ferments. The menu changes weekly or even more often. Whatever comes in, we want to put it on.”
Challenging times for farms
While the farm has undoubtedly been successful, there have been significant bumps in recent years. Recently, voles and gophers caused extensive crop damage. And agricultural overtime regulations that took effect in 2023 have been a challenge.
“Ag OT” changes were enacted in phases. Starting in 2023, employers were required to pay overtime to agricultural workers when they worked 55 hours in a single workweek. As of Jan. 1, 2025, employers are required to pay overtime to agricultural workers after they work 48 hours in one workweek. Starting in January 2027, employers will be required to pay overtime to agricultural workers after they work 40 hours in one workweek.
The legislation, designed to extend overtime protections to agricultural workers who had historically been excluded, created challenges for mid-sized operations such as Gathering Together Farm.
“Ag workers used to not have overtime pay required,” Allende said. “Anyone who worked for an agricultural enterprise didn’t have that right as a worker, so that’s unfair.”
But the implementation was challenging for a farm like GTF. The farm faced a particularly difficult situation in 2024 when it was notified it was on track to be classified as a “large employer,” generally defined as an employer with an average of at least 51 full-time or full-time equivalent employees, meaning they would be required to offer health insurance. While the farm owners wanted to provide this benefit, the financial impact would have been devastating.
“We looked into health insurance because we would love to do that, but we would have gone under, we just couldn’t do it,” Allende said.
The ripple effects of this change were immediate and painful.
In order to no longer be considered a large employer, Allende said the farm shortened the schedules of each employee to turn them into part-time employees. And last year it had to close the farm stand a month early.
“It’s sad all around that we had to do that,” she said, “because we also had all our fields planted and didn’t have enough people to harvest. We had to stop going to farmers markets and all these things.”
Allende acknowledged that the farm didn’t do as well as it could have in anticipating these challenges. But she also pointed out that farm work fluctuates so much that it is sometimes hard to predict how many workers are needed.
In 2023, workers kept their schedules consistent, because they were willing to work 11-hour days, six days a week, all summer long, in order to maximize their income. For the farm to pay state-mandated overtime for hours beyond 55 turned out to be a financial hardship, however.
In 2024 the farm hired more people to avoid paying employees overtime. But that put it in the “large employer” category.
“So we had to change our plan again, cut everyone’s hours more,” Allende said. “That was a rough year. This year we were a little smarter about it.”
Five of the restaurant’s six dinner chefs left to found their own restaurant in Philomath, Birdie’s Pizza, which opened March 12. The farm opted not to replace them, so it is no longer offering dinner service.
Creative solutions and community support
Allende said some ag workers now work part-time for two farms, instead of full-time for just one farm. But then they are counted as contractors and not as employees. Allende said the owners of GTF feel strongly about supporting their workers and that many of GTF’s employees have been with the farm for years. Allende has been working there since 2018.
“When everyone’s paychecks got cut a little bit because we’re working less, John and Sally took a personal interest in helping people out,” Allende said. “They offered people that have been with them for a long time alternatives so they could use land to grow stuff and sell that on their own, and sort of have their own little farm within the farm.”
They were allowed to use GTF’s equipment to do landscaping. Others use the kitchen when GTF is closed to make items to sell at farmers markets. They are also exploring employee-sharing arrangements with other farms that have also been affected by the ag overtime laws.
“They (John and Sally) are just like, ‘How can we help you so this is still a sustainable place for you to work?’” Allende said.
Looking forward
Despite these challenges, the restaurant continues to be a driving force for the farm. The servers are familiar with the vegetables and can share, for instance, when the chicory is at its sweetest.
Visitors can contact Allende through the farm email and arrange a tour of the farm. The farm has a “tour mobile” — a flatbed truck with a canopy — that is returning this summer.
Allende said the farm’s CSA sold out earlier than ever this year, which she attributes to the political climate.
“We didn’t market the CSA any differently this year than we normally do, and we’ve never had it full so early,” she said. “I think it has to do with people wanting to support their local producers, their small businesses, and organic farming. People are sticking together.”
Summers on the farm mean GTF salad mix, heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, bi-color sweet corn, strawberries, boysenberries, peppers, cucumbers, and more, all available at the farm stand and in restaurant creations.
Want to go?
Gathering Together Farm
https://www.gatheringtogetherfarm.com
25159 Grange Hall Rd., Philomath
Farmstand: 541-929-4270
Office: 541-929-4273
The restaurant is open Wednesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., March through late November
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