I want to introduce you to Katrina! She is the founder and former executive director of High Desert Food & Farm Alliance or HDFFA. Katrina grew up on a farm in Eastern Oregon. From an early age she had respect and admiration for farmers. Her professional career developed into a committed dedication to improving the food system in Central Oregon.

Her work at HDFFA built a network to help support local farmers and ranchers to grow food and make connections to sell it with a focus on food access for low-income households.

Although she no longer works at HDFFA, the positive impact of her work in Central Oregon is well-known and lauded. She now runs her own consulting business and is working again with rural communities through grant writing to support many different people and causes.

CSA Pick-Up Location

Bend

Type Of Share

10#

Connection To Double F Ranch

When Double F Ranch joined HDFFA as a partner farm, Katrina got to know Katia more as she participated in many of the programs they offered and got to know her in a different way outside of farming.

Katrina was impressed with Katia and the work she was doing with their programs. She was amazed at how she was living in the middle of nowhere with her family and was growing her business, producing great products, and incorporating successful marketing strategies.

Katrina fell in love with everything Katia was doing. Katrina has tried a lot of products from local farmers, all with the desire to support as many people as possible. But having such an up close and personal look at the Double F Ranch CSA really persuaded her to become a member.

Lifelong Local Food Support

Katrina was immersed in farm life growing up on a cherry farm. She did every chore imaginable and sold cherries on the side of the road. Her lifelong support of local food and connections to it stems from childhood.

One of the main things that stands out to her was watching as seasonal workers came to the farm every year. As she grew older and she learned more about the ins and outs of farming, she learned what it meant to have seasonal workers and provide shelter on the farm.

She learned about this paradoxical invisible labor force that it is an integral part of our food system, that no one really talks about. In college, she studied environmental science and community and economic development. But it was those foundational experiences that were propelling her to understand more about the injustices in our food system. Katrina wanted to work to improve it.

As she looked to educate people it led her to start HDFFA. She believed that for these efforts to be successful there needed to be people in the community who understood farming and could articulate these complex issues and solutions.

I felt that it was my calling to really help have this discussion with our community.

What I Enjoy Most About The CSA

I really value exploring different cuts. I'm pretty familiar with most cuts but it allows me to choose things that I'm not used to and one at a time, so it doesn't feel overwhelming.

I enjoy the inspiration of what other people are cooking. It is a huge help that then allows me to explore more.

I just love getting the whole chickens. Because one, I love roasted chicken, but I also enjoy seeing the different sizes and just knowing these chickens were loved and they're not the same looking. I appreciate that because in the store it all looks the same. 

Our culture is such that [food] has to be perfect and I think I like that it is not.

Memorable Moments

Katrina shared that at Thanksgiving she chose a pork shoulder for her My Choice selection. She was really excited and took it to her father’s for the holiday. During each step of preparing and cooking the pork shoulder, her family was amazed at what a beautiful cut it was.

Then, they all enjoyed it and everyone was amazed at how delicious it was.

Katrina values being a part of a bigger system and sharing that with others. Several years ago, Katrina was making dinner with her nephew who lives in a large urban area. As they prepared the chicken she asked him, “Do you know where chickens come from?” He replied, “ The store.” She countered, “But where do they really come from?”

It began a deeper conversation behind the meat found in the store and the bigger questions like, were the animals happy? At the time it was a concept they had not ever thought about. A few weeks later her nephew called to share that at school he was telling another kid about where chickens came from, and the kid didn’t believe him! He persisted in explaining and Katrina shared in a proud auntie moment.

Looking Forward

Katrina loves getting the monthly emails from Katia. She feels the inspiration in them. She looks forward to CSA pick-ups and connecting in person with Katia and Nathan.

Most importantly she looks forward to continuing to support a family and knowing where her food comes from.

I sat down for dinner and told the story about where the roast came from. I shared about where Katia and Nathan live and how their family is making it out there in the middle of nowhere, and how important that is. I look forward to being a part of that.

Advice For New & Established Members

Katrina shared some advice for anyone just starting to explore local food or new to joining a CSA:

Be open to trying new things and just take it one step at the time.  Even if it's just making dishes that people are familiar with and then maybe adding a different spice or trying a different cut with the same recipe. 

When sharing the importance of supporting local agriculture with others, Katrina is patient, kind, and tries an immersive approach with others.

For example, with my mom she always bought store meat. I said, how can you buy it when you know who I am? She said the cost and ease was a big factor. So, I was like just come over for dinner and try this. She recognized it was really good and now she is really aware, but it took years and is not something that may come naturally, and it may take time.

Final Thoughts

Thank you so much, Katrina, for sharing your CSA experience with us! -Rachel