Rieben Farms | Banks, Or

Rieben Farms is a 200-acre farrow-to-finish hog ranch just 25 miles west of downtown Portland. Their pigs live in open-air hoop houses with deep natural bedding, and are fed a purely vegetarian diet using grain grown and processed by the Riebens themselves. Sows are bred with on-farm boars, and pregnant sows and piglets are never crated or confined during farrowing.

The Riebens are Swiss immigrants who began farming in Washington County back in 1889—well before the area was home to its now 600,000 residents and large corporations. When third-generation farmer Ernie Rieben took over in 1969, he sold off the family’s milking cows and focused on raising hogs and growing grain for feed. Rieben Farms is now one of the only remaining hog ranches in the Portland area.

These are seriously conscientious farmers, deeply concerned with the health and welfare of their pigs as well as their land. As a farrow-to-finish operation, they raise all of their pigs from birth—giving both pigs and piglets plenty of outdoor access with specially built farrowing pens and feeding them a nutritious diet including wheat, alfalfa, oats and minerals that they grow and mill on-site. 

Ernie and his wife Linda live just across the driveway from his son Greg, his wife Cynthia, and their two young daughters. Greg primarily runs the farming operation today, carrying on the longstanding family traditions. “I’ve always wanted to farm,” he says. “I wouldn’t want to do anything else. We’re certainly not getting rich at it, but it’s really neat to work the same ground my great-grandfather worked.” 

Pat-N-Tams | Stanfield, OR

Pat and Tam Mallon raise cattle on pastures just a few hours east of Portland. Their “growing soil” grazing philosophy means they’ve never used pesticides or fertilizers on their pastures—and they focus on regenerative grazing techniques that sequester carbon and build soil health while providing cows with highly nutritious grass. 

In lieu of grain, their cows are fed vegetable scraps from a local frozen vegetable plant. Having previously worked in vegetable processing, Pat saw how much quality food was being wasted and later saw an opportunity to feed it to livestock. These vegetable screenings—including peas, corn, carrots, lima beans and other wet vegetables—rescue waste from landfill while giving his grass-fed meat a more mild flavor. 

Their nurturing philosophy is based on a Washington State University study that found that the best, most flavorful beef starts at the gestational period and continues right through to daily self-care. Pat and Tam’s cows are given the utmost attention and care from day one, and are never fed antibiotics, hormones, or animal proteins. 

Cattail Creek Lamb

Cattail Creek is a collective of four independent ranchers who raise pastured lamb in Oregon. The collective’s founder John Neumeister is a soil scientist who’s focused on livestock grazing to improve soil and pasture health—and is deeply passionate about raising sheep in a natural way that limits the impact on soil and water resources. 

All lambs raised through Cattail Creek spend their entire lives on pasture and eat a nutritious diet of grass, clover, and other forbs that are grown without pesticides or fertilizers. They’re never treated with hormones or antibiotics and their diet is never supplemented with GMO feed. 

Poultry, Rabbit & Eggs 

We source a variety of pastured poultry, rabbit and egg products from local farms including Totum Farms (chicken), Hutch N Such (rabbit), Campfire Farms (duck), Champoeg Farms (turkey), and Trent Family Farms (eggs)—all of whom meet our high standards for nutrition, environmental sustainability and animal welfare. These products are not processed in our facility and are only available in our butcher shop.