July is the month that lavender is in full bloom, and the month that I seek to visit many of the…read morelavender farms throughout the Gorge! A friend told me about Bates Lavender Farm, which I had never heard of, surprisingly, since I'm in the Gorge all the time. Located in Corbett, it's just 30 minutes from Portland and a breathtaking ride. On a bright blue sky day, the purple lavender and surrounding lush green forest, makes for a picture perfect afternoon. The scent is intoxicating, and the hum of the bees doing their pollinating, provides a zen like background buzz. As most of these farms do, Bates sells products made from lavender. They have the largest assortment of products of any farm I visited thus far. They have soaps, essential oils, hand cream, scented room spritzers, lip balm, bath oil, sachets, a grinder of lavender infused salt (get this) and honey, too! The variety of soaps is both creative and impressive. Not just the requisite lavender, they offer lavender lemon, rosemary lavender (fabulous), lilac lavender, lavender-aloe-avocado, rose lavender, mountain mint, citrus, vanilla lavender, and my favorite, lemongrass basil. The spritz comes in similar fragrances. These make wonderful gifts for teachers, friends, hostess gifts - or for yourself! The owners are lovely, the fields beautiful, and you can make a day of it by stopping at The Women's Forum to take in the best view of Crown Point and the magnificent Columbia River. Continue up to Larch Mountain. Go chase the waterfalls along the Old Historic Highway . Options are endless. Just go! Check website for dates.

They are incredibly friendly and have a great selection of lavender products. They have beautiful,…read morefragrant lavender varieties that you can pick from. Such a relaxing way to spend sometime during early summer.

Awesome roadside stand but even better blueberry picking! I've stopped several times to see what…read morefresh produce they have. It's always beautiful & fairly priced. Nashe often has homemade baked goods too.

Fantastic fruit! The best blueberries I have ever eaten, and i'm 76 years old. The donut peaches…read moreare also wonderful. If we weren't traveling on, we would be there every day just to get what is fresh that day. No wonder they have been in business since 1925.

We had an amazing time here! Absolutely highly recommend for an intimate petting zoo experience. We…read morereally enjoyed our time here and the hosts are phenomenal! We got to pet the 2 miniature horses which was my favorite part. The kids had a blast petting and playing with the goats. They are all so friendly and have loving personalities. I could have stayed all day. The happy come straight up to you and asked to be brushed and sit in your lap. Then you get to let the big huge pigs and feed the male goats. Lastly we got to feed the piglets. The property is well maintained and all the animals are loved and clearly happy. I would 100% recommend and will do it again. We all had a really fun time!

I'd recommend this buisness to friend and family members!!! Kid friendly and prices aren't to bad…read moreas well

We went to Burns Farm for the first time this week for their pumpkin patch and were so happy! It's…read moreexactly what we were hoping for, a true farm feel, TONS of different varieties of pumpkins- big small, unique, classic. The owner was really nice and we ended up leaving with a bunch of pumpkins, some other produce, and beef. So glad we found this farm close to home!

Such a beautiful family farm nestled in the hills between Oxbow and Troutdale. Really enjoyed the…read morebubbly and welcoming personality of the shop cashier and was delighted to see their flats of strawberries and other farm specialities they offered. What caught my eye was a u-pick sign and the quaint little barn store that had its doors open for business. I decided to venture up the drive to pick my own berries and I practically had the beautiful rolling fields and mountainous background to myself! Only $1.75/lb for strawberries this early in the season. Great experience!

The silvanberry jam has changed my life. It's like a juicy, concentrated raspberry but then the…read moreflavor develops into this incredible intermingling flavor of other berries.

I've only seen them at the farmers market at PSU on Saturdays but I'm sure they hit all the farmers…read moremarkets in town. First of they are lovely people, very friendly and you can tell they love what they do. Their stand is choc full of stuff and they always have samples. Every jam I've tried is just delicious! My favorite is silvanberry rhubarb jam. I think a silvanberry is a cross between a blackberry and a marion berry? Whatever, it's fabulous. Seriuosly you gotta try it. My only things is the jars are hard to open (but that's probably a good thing) so run the lid under the tap of hot water for 5 or seconds and voy-la!

I love strawberries. And I love hood strawberries the most, and the only place I can get them is…read moreFuji Farms. Well I'm sure there's other fruit stands but for me it's Fuji. I only need a notice of when the hoods come in. I missed almost 2 weeks last year and I was not happy. My fault though that that's why I'm looking early.

Love this local Gresham area fresh farm ingredients. This family farm has been a long lasting local…read morepresence in this community for decades. Please join me in buying their fresh produce!

For those of us who don't live there, Corbett is the sort of tiny little hamlet that one drives…read morethrough (in the blink of an eye) on the way to other places, with very few reasons (and places) to stop and shop; the Corbett Country Market is basically the only exception to this rule. You're not even likely to encounter it, unless you happen to be headed to, or returning from Multnomah Falls along the Historic Columbia River Highway (highly recommended for its gorgeous views!), but if you do happen to pass by, a stop here is very recommended! They have everything here, from your standard convenience store staples, snacks and drinks, but also several other outstanding offerings: a hot deli (that includes pizza, chicken, sausages, wings and other things!), fresh baked goods, local produce and products, household supplies and sundries, surprisingly reasonably-priced gasoline (from an ancient, yet charming pump), and even liquor! Despite being out-of-the-way for the majority of Portland Metro residents, the Corbett Country Market has been around for over 100 years, which means they must be doing something right. And based on what I've seen, that "something" is "everything".

This small convenience store is at the end of the Columbia river scenic highway. It's has few…read moreparking next to the shop. There's a gas pump but it was hard to tell if it was working. The store has a variety of snacks, drinks, sodas, candies, ice creams, bread, milk, grocery items and a meat shop as well. They sell liquors in the store too. Surprisingly the store had really good cooked food too. We saw pizza, chicken pieces, sausage, brisket, ribs, chops, pulled pork on display. Since we were really hungry we got two chicken legs with mac and cheese on the side. The friendly staff prepared the meal within couple of minutes. We sat down in the front corner of the store that had few tables. The chicken was moist and had a really good taste. Mac & cheese was decent too. Given the limited options around the vicinity, this shop is good place for a quick bite and grocery shopping.

Farrell Farms is a family tradition. Friendly crew, lovely fire, complimentary hot cocoa and…read morecider, and beautiful trees! They give you the option to cut the tree yourself, or the crew will cut it for you. After you find your tree, they shake and bale it. All around a great experience. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a place to get a lovely tree!

Great trees and great folks! We got a beautiful 7-ft Noble…read moreFir just after Thanksgiving; now on New Year's Day it is still fragrant and pliable with no needle loss! We went to them last year, too, snd will go back next year.

My fiancé surprised me with a goat gram for my birthday. Totally hysterical and so very cute! You…read moreget a stunning bouquet of flowers... that you can feed to the cute goats named Nibbles and Om-Nom! I was really surprised and it was really fun to walk the goats around our property and feed them grass and whatnot. Highly recommend!

We ordered a Goatgram for a coworker and It. Was. AWESOME!!! Brett is the kindest, chillest person…read moreever, and we absolutely loved the adorable goats. It was a seamless experience from start to finish and I'm pretty sure this will be the first of a number of Goatgrams to come for our office... :) THANK YOU Shrink Ray Farms and Brett for such an amazing experience! It was greatly appreciated and I cannot thank you enough for making the process so easy and fun!