Rogue Valley Brambles, Talent
Susan, Ken and Margret show off their eggs.
Ken and Susan Muller, along with Margaret Krout of Rogue Valley Brambles in Talent, Oregon are new farmers in Jackson County, but growth and learning happen fast when you are one of the only farms around to offer the public pastured poultry and eggs. Rogue Valley Brambles began a year and a half ago when Ken and Susan came up to live with her mother, Margaret, and farm her seven acres. After leaving their lives as a surveyor and a grocer, Ken and Susan spent some time traveling and WWOOFing, as part of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. In this time, they learned the basics and brought a diversified skill set to Southern Oregon where they have set up shop… and a number of chicken coops.
After visiting a couple of other Oregon farms that have pastured poultry operations, Ken has spent much of his time perfecting the chicken houses and learning how to butcher the birds. Susan is now an egg expert and has taken what she learned from the grocery business to work on their presentation and sales. Margaret is the resident food processor and canner. Though they admit that they have made their share of mistakes in their first two seasons, they have received tremendous response from the community and are encouraged by their successes. This fall, they will have butchered 300 chickens, selling out well before the harvest dates.
RVB also sells apples, eggs, berries and olive oil.
Rogue Valley Brambles is part of the Southern Oregon Poultry Group. As members of this processing equipment cooperative, they have been able to diversify their operation and add meat birds to their product list that also includes eggs, berries, apples and olive oil. Without this processing option, this farm would not have been able to move into the meat market as owning your own equipment is expensive and an on-farm facility may be years down the road. As members of the Poultry Group, RVB has been able to start small and slow, offering on-farm chicken sales to their community. In a time where many others have stopped offering chicken due to the price of feed, RVB has become very popular among eaters searching for pastured poultry options.
In addition to meat chickens, the family also sells eggs, berries, apples and olive oil. Ken and Susan sell at the Ashland Growers’ Market on Tuesday and Saturday, and you can keep up to date with them by reading their farm blog.
