1859 Sept | Oct 2012_opt

Food & Home
Au
farm to tale
Pear
The subtle sweetness of the
state fruit finds itself in many dishes
written by Sophia McDonald
photos by Blaine Franger
THE HUMBLE OREGON PEAR RARELY GETS ITS DUE. The subtle fruit is often overshadowed
by the flashy berry or its more popular cousin, the apple. Since pears come late in
the growing season, they may get ignored by canners vying for that last box of tomatoes or
kids stampeding for the pumpkin patch.
Nevertheless, the pear is a quintessential Oregon crop. In fact, it was declared the official
state fruit in 2005. Nearly 85 percent of the pears eaten in the United States are grown in the
Pacific Northwest, and Oregon’s Hood River and Rogue Valley regions are major contributors
to that harvest.
Valley Crest Orchards, twenty miles south of Hood River in the small town of Parkdale,
presents a modest profile reminiscent of its principal crop. There’s not even a sign out front.
Owner, Jennifer Euwer, rides around the property in an unassuming pick-up truck, her dog,
Molly, sitting shotgun, and her rain gear nearby.
Euwer’s family has been on this property for one hundred years, growing fruit all along.
When her grandfather arrived in 1912, he built a log cabin with lumber from the property,
planting apples in place of the felled trees. After his death in 1942, Euwer’s grandmother took
over the farm and ran it until her son, Eugene, came of age.
Eugene carried on the family tradition until 2001, when Euwer took over day-to-day
management of the property. Running a 120-acre orchard wasn’t always in her plans. Euwer
earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Stanford University, with an emphasis in the
food industry. She flirted with the idea of going to law school but didn’t want to commit to
anything until she gave the family farm a shot. Living in a small home not far from the tiny log
cabin that once housed her grandparents, Euwer has been back on the farm ever since.
Most farmers in the area planted apples in the early twentieth century, Euwer says, but the
region’s hard frosts often killed off the crop. Growers then switched to pears because the trees
are hardier and the market is more exclusive.
“If you look at any pear-growing region, you’ll notice a snowy mountain peak nearby,” says
Cristie Mather, director of communications for Pear Bureau Northwest. Hood River, sitting at
the base of Mt. Hood, has rich volcanic soil, plenty of water for irrigation and an ideal climate
for producing pears. Green and red-skinned Anjous do particularly well here, but Valley Crest
also produces Bartlett, Bosc, Comice and Star Crimson pears.
Like many tree fruits, pears do not cross-pollinate, so it’s essential to plant different varieties
together. The color of the fruit’s skin determines the color of the tree’s leaves, and the result
is a patchwork of green and red foliage rolling across the hillsides of Euwer’s property. She
looks out over acres of specimens she planted with her father, as well as a small patch of thicktrunked
trees put in the ground by her grandfather. The latter are nearly one hundred years
old, but they still produce pears.
Just as these trees are part of her family legacy, so too are the orchard’s workers. Some of
Euwer’s employees had parents or other family members who worked alongside her father.
100 1859 oregon's mAgAzine SEPT OCT 2012
LEFT Anjou pears ripening at Valley
Crest Orchards. RIGHT clockwise
Jennifer Euwer with her dog, Molly.
View of Mount Hood from Valley
Crest. Leaf color is determined by
pear skin color.