Champoeg Farm and Champoeg State Heritage Area

Locavore · history · walking and bike trails

Have you ever wondered where your turkey comes from? If you’re a local like me and love to indulge in a Burgerville Turkey Burger with waffle fries from time to time, you might have noticed that the menu says “pasture raised Champoeg turkey”. Or maybe you’ve ordered a heritage turkey for Thanksgiving from New Seasons and noticed that it came from Champoeg Farm. Well after years of being curious, I decided to order a pasture raised turkey for Thanksgiving this year from Champoeg Farm. And although they offer convenient pickup locations throughout Portland, I thought it would be fun to take the family to St. Paul to see the farm for ourselves.

Getting There

Champoeg Farm is located in St. Paul, about 45 minutes south of Portland. You can take I-5 for a more direct route or add about 10 minutes to your trip and take 99W to enjoy the scenery and wineries of the area. Our route to Champoeg is never complete without a trip through Newberg. Home to George Fox University, this historic college town offers plenty of shopping and restaurants. But because today is all about turkey, we headed to Burgerville for some Champoeg pasture raised turkey burgers.

Burgerville, if you’re not from around here, is a northwest chain that serves locally sourced and seasonal fast food. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel slightly better about indulging in waffle fries, a coconut bliss pumpkin milkshake and a pasture raised turkey burger. In the spring and summer, Burgerville’s kids meals have garden seeds instead of throwaway toys - and we’ve grown some pretty tasty peas and even an artichoke in our garden from those seeds! But “What’s the big deal about pasture raised turkey?”

Why Pasture raised turkey

Factory farming is frankly awful. Turkeys are hatched then kept in crowded barns where they live out the remainder of their lives. All social structure and natural behaviors normally present in turkey flocks are disrupted in this environment. Stressed birds fight and pick on each other, so growers often resort to trimming their beaks and toes to prevent injury. When it is time to be slaughtered, birds endure more stress as they are rounded up, transported and killed in large processing plants. This video which I found on the National Turkey Federation’s home page is the industry’s own account of these types of growing practices. Notice in the opening scenes how crowded the conditions are in the barn and how the many of the turkeys are panting.

Pasture raised turkeys is a completely different growing philosophy. Turkeys may cost more for consumers. But the birds are raised outdoors in a natural environment which fosters natural behaviors and social structures. They experience less stress, eat a healthier more varied diet and get plenty of exercise. Yes, in the end, all of the turkeys will end up on somebody’s table. But being raised on a pasture is ultimately better for the bird and better for us. Pasture raised birds are leaner, higher in Omega-3’s and other nutrients and tend to be more flavorful. The fact that even a fast food chain like Burgerville is using pasture raised turkey speaks volumes to the power that we as consumers have in advocating for healthier and more humane growing practices.

Why Champoeg Farm? Champoeg Farm is an Oregon family farm that is older than the state itself! And, as a former member of the Future Farmers of America, there are few things I enjoy more than supporting our local farmers!

But first a picnic.

Champoeg State Heritage Area

With our Burgerville turkey burgers and waffle fries in hand, we drove the ten minutes from Newberg to Champoeg State Heritage Area. Since my husband refuses to let anyone eat in his truck, it was an easy sell to get him to agree to a picnic at the park.

First of all, I should tell you that Champoeg is a really special place in Oregon history. It is where the first provisional government of Oregon was established in 1843. The first two votes to make it happen ended with a tie. Fortunately for the Americans, two French-Canadian fur trappers broke with the British Hudson Bay Company to vote for the provisional government in a 52-50 vote.

One of those French-Canadian fur trappers was my 5th great-grandfather, Etinne Lucier. He lived with my Native American 5th great-grandmother and became a prominent leader in the French-Indian community around Champoeg. In 1918, my Grandpa Jerry’s grandfather, James Drummond, was one of two men who built the Champoeg Pioneer Memorial Building which still stands in the park. As a child, I heard a lot of stories about this place. And there were some pretty epic family reunions in the park.

Second of all, I should tell you that it was 40 degrees outside and my kids and husband were definitely not as interested as I was in the historical and familial significance of this sacred ground. Any further plans for a walk through the park after lunch were flatly rejected in a 3-1 vote.

Champoeg State Heritage Area offers a great visitors center, camping, bike and walking trails along the Willamette River and many other nearby historical sites including the historic Butteville Store and Newell Pioneer Village. We’ll be back for some camping this summer, but for now we’ve got a turkey to pick up!

Champoeg Farm

Champoeg Farm was about a five minute drive from Champoeg State Heritage Area. And the scene was as picturesque as I imagined it to be. From out of green pastures arose some rustic farm buildings and the red farm store. Behind the store was more green pastures and a moveable shelter where - not surprisingly given the timing of our visit a few days before Thanksgiving - there weren’t too many turkeys to be seen.

Although Champoeg Farms is known for its turkeys, there’s a lot more going on here than just raising our favorite Thanksgiving bird. In fact, you can buy chicken, duck, goose, eggs and even pet food here. Picking up our pre-ordered fresh turkey was a breeze. And I even got some duck eggs to try. More than anything, the love of this family operation was immediately evident as we walked in. The man checking people out at the register - who might have been the owner based on the picture on their website - was friendly and genuine with every customer. You can just tell when someone loves and takes pride in their work. It even made me feel fine about the $55.00 price tag on our 10 pound turkey. This is not your average Butterball. This bird was happily raised on a pasture by an Oregon family who has been doing this work for generations. This is what locavore eating is all about!

Spachcocking the Turkey

My family - like that of my 5th great-grandparents - is bicultural. So along with the traditional Thanksgiving turkey and sides, we have mole and tamales to incorporate my husband’s Mexican heritage. It’s a lot of food. But this year I had a plan. I was going to spachcock the turkey. This means cutting out the turkey’s backbone then pressing the breasts down flat. It makes for more even and faster cooking, and in my case I could easily remove the turkey legs and thighs to cook in the mole. Had I ever done this before? No. Did I feel confident after watching a YouTube video? Absolutely.

I didn’t have poultry scissors. So I did my best with an 8” chef’s knife and managed to keep all of my fingers. I’m not going to lie. The process was a little violent. And my oldest wanted no part of it. To be fair, he was pretty much over the whole thing as soon as I pulled the heart and liver out of the turkey’s cavity.

I applied a dry brine 24 hours before Thanksgiving using a tablespoon of Kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper for the legs and thighs which I planned to cook in the mole. For the turkey breast, I used a tablespoon of Kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon each of finely chopped fresh rosemary and thyme from our garden and 2 tsp of dried lavender that I had picked at Mountainside Lavender Farm. I placed the turkey uncovered on a baking sheet in the refrigerator to dry out the skin and make it crispy. I made the pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, and a carefully crafted to do list for the cooking the next day. I was prepared and ready to take on Thanksgiving.

The Passing of a generation

The reason I love cooking traditional meals and getting out the china and “good silverware” for holiday feasts is because of my Grandma Lu. She made every gathering amazing. Her love of Oregon and the stories she used to tell me about growing up on the family farm near Hillsboro and coming out to Portland as a young woman to attend beauty school fascinated me no matter how many times I heard them. We buried her on the Friday before Thanksgiving. And keeping busy with Thanksgiving preparations seemed the perfect antidote to take my mind off of the gaping whole in my heart.

Thanksgiving morning my mom called to tell me that my Grandpa Jerry - the same one whose grandfather built the Champoeg Pioneer Building - passed away in the night. The stories he told were a little more mischievous, but full of Oregon and his love of the outdoors nonetheless. He taught me how to drive a truck in the woods when I was 10 and how to split wood with an ax that seemed as big as I was.

I see the ways both sets of grandparents shaped me in the places we go, like Champoeg, in our special holiday gatherings and even in the stories I tell my kids. In this way I know that they live on. Still, I was really sad.

At mom’s urging for the kids’ sake, I carried on with the Thanksgiving cooking. True to form, I was an hour late with the meal. Ten minutes before the turkey was done, a hinge busted off our oven door. I had wanted to take pictures of our beautiful Champoeg turkey two ways, but everyone was hungrily staring at me from the dinner table and my ambition had been swallowed up in melancholy. It would have been a day to rival Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, but the food was pretty good. The turkey breast was juicy with crisp skin and was probably the most flavorful turkey I’ve ever made. The turkey in my Instapot mole literally fell off the bone and melted like butter in the mouth. My suegra (mother-in-law) brought homemade jalapeño chicken tamales with the perfect amount of heat. That combined with mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, homemade rolls and cranberry sauce made eating a slice of pumpkin pie out of the question for at least an hour. Best of all, the company of my family - especially during such a sad time - made everything seem a little better.

After all, coming together to share each other’s joy and sorrow over a plate of good food is what Thanksgiving is really all about. And just like a pasture raised Champoeg turkey, there’s no reason to keep that to one day a year.

As always, be sure to check local resources for weather, road conditions and COVID-19 related closures when planning your trip. And don’t forget to post your photos to #lifelivedoregonstyle on Instagram. We’ll see you out there!