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b'Oregon State University supports small farms and the people who run them. OSU\\u2019s small farms program offers workshops, online resources and site-specific gatherings that cover the entire state. Recognizing that farm soils, topography, weather and so forth vary greatly across Oregon, the program addresses the different regions and the different knowledge it takes to farm successfully. In-person individual farm tours are starting up again with the COVID lockdown behind us. Teagan Moran runs the south Willamette Valley program and got involved after her college education. Dissatisfied with what she felt was isolation brought on by the tight nuclear family, she searched for communities that were cohesive and working together for a common good. Her conclusion was that small farming communities, working together in the production of food for themselves and others were the communities where she wanted to spend her life. She marveled at finding people who nursed each other with both healthy food and healthy relationships. She spent the next years living and working in the communities that she loved, always tortured with the societal belief that farming was not a sustainable way of life, that economically it just didn\\u2019t work anymore. After traveling, learning and being part of these loving communities, Teagan came back to her native Oregon to do graduate work. She pursued community-based education, focusing on the adult population, the theory being communities had much of their destiny in their own hands and education was the best way to help guide good decision making. A side benefit of grad school, Teagan met her now-husband in the process, who also made farming his focus and passion. The two of them began working in the greater Portland, Oregon area, step by step debunking the myth that farming was not a viable path for people. After two years and much training, they went on to manage a farm, start a family and continue to solve the challenge of how to be a family in Oregon that wanted to farm with no access to land. They now have their farmland, but Teagan\\u2019s husband manages another farm while Teagan works for OSU\\u2019s small farm program, so the difficulty of sustainable small farm operation is reflected in their very lives. The Oregon Small Farm News is one of the program\\u2019s communication vehicles that pulls all the threads of the activities around the state, plus it contains the research findings of the program\\u2019s professors and keeps farmers up to date. In addition, it gives a voice to supporting organizations and individual farmers to keep the industry viable and relevant. There are three main areas of interest, small acreage stewardship, commercial small farms and community food systems. One of Teagan\\u2019s ongoing questions comes from the \\u201cnewbies\\u201d; people who fell in love with the idea of farming, found acreage to buy, moved in and are asking the question, \\u201cNow what?\\u201d A good publication is \\u201cWhat can I do with my small farm?\\u201d to get started. It walks the reader through a series of questions that help them form a decision on the best way to manage their new venture. One of the toughest hurdles Teagan helps people get through is to understand that farming is more than the land and weather, it also depends upon the personality of the farmers and their family philosophy. Some of the great breakthroughs for the program have been laws that allow direct farm to consumer sales and assistance for farmers who want to create value-added foods. And the guidance from the program also includes navigating the complexities of Oregon law, especially in the area of water rights. Learn more by going to the website: smallfarms.oregonstate.edu. The online news publication can be found here. https://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/smallfarms/about/oregon-small-farm-news.'