About the Farm

The Farmer

Maia Engel is your farmer and founder of 15 Miles Farm. She descends from a farming family and definitely has the “farmer gene”. Her maternal ancestors, the Luellings,  arrived in Oregon in 1850 to establish the first fruit orchards in our area. The family continued farming throughout Oregon establishing homesteads in John Day, the Dalles, and Oregon City.

Like most young folks, Maia had a desire to see the world and spent several years working on archaeological excavations in Jordan, Israel, and Egypt. She was especially interested in studying the rise of agriculture in this region and spent a handful of years researching the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture.

After spending time studying the origins of agriculture, Maia had an itch to farm herself and entered The Evergreen State College’s Practice of Sustainable Agriculture program. There, she lived and apprenticed on the college’s organic farm learning modern agrarian ways. This program was intensive and upon completion, Maia knew she still wanted to farm on her own. Maia founded 15 Miles Farm to serve the people of Portland in 2009 and is enjoying herself immensely.

About the Land

Maia was introduced to the Malinowski family through Friends of Family Farmers, a great organization that connects farmers and provides resources to support small farm operations. The Malinowskis have been farming in the Portland area since the 1940s and are proud to have one of the last large homesteads within a stones throw of Portland. They are keenly interested supporting young farmers that may not have access to land and have carved out a handful of acres on their 68 acre farm for 15 Miles Farm to grow your food. Where access to affordable land near metro areas is the greatest obstacle for small farms, the Malinowskis generously provide a beautiful chunk of land that a farm of our size could otherwise not afford.

Our Growing Practices

Our land and the Malinowski Farm is certified organic by Oregon Tilth. We strictly adhere to the National Organic Program and go above and beyond “the rules” of organic certification to make sure we are producing food in a manner that only improves the land. Maia creates a very detailed farm plan every year that works toward nourishing the soil between plantings using cover crops and complimentary crop rotations.

As far as fertilizers &  supplements that we use, they are all organic and OMRI approved. Some examples of supplements we use are alfalfa meal, kelp, cotton seed meal, mined rock, limestone, greensand. We use a number of techniques to manage our soil, with the goal being fewer inputs and fertilizers over time.

We try to use the environment to our advantage, as an example we might plant red cabbage instead of green cabbage so when the green worms appear the birds can see them better and  do the picking off for us. We’re always experimenting and finding new ways to be crafty when it comes to pest management. When all else fails, we plant enough for everyone: the pests, the deer, and you.