The Houses · H-08
Orchard House
Yamhill County, Oregon · Established 2002 · Open to visitors
Orchard House grows about nine tons of food a year and gives most of it away, which is less impressive than it sounds and more work than it looks.
- Region
- North America
- Residential places
- 17
- Residential periods
- Seventeen places. Residential periods of three to twelve days; harvest periods are longer and are hard work.
- Public gathering
- Open Table, monthly, and a pressing day each October to which the whole valley is invited.
- Arrival
- An hour from Portland. The road is good; the last gate sticks.
- Access
- The house, kitchen, and packing shed are step-free. The orchard rows are grass and are rough in places; a mown route runs the length of the north block.
- Correspondence
- Write to the steward at Orchard House.
The house
The land was bought in 2002 from a family leaving the valley, with the orchard already forty years old and about a third of it past saving. Replanting took nine seasons and is documented, tree by tree, in a ledger that residents find tedious and stewards find indispensable.
The mentorship scheme began in 2007 with two students from the county high school and now takes eleven a year. It is a paid apprenticeship, not a volunteering programme, and the house is firm about the distinction.
Watershed work is done as a member of the local council rather than as an initiative of the house.
The work
- Food cultivation: orchard, market garden, and a press. Produce goes to the county food bank and to two school meal programmes.
- Youth mentorship: eleven paid apprenticeships a year in horticulture, small-engine repair, and food handling.
- Watershed work with the local council: riparian planting, culvert survey, and stream temperature monitoring.
Observance kept here
The boundary walk
The orchard rows are walked in full at the start of each season and every tree is looked at, whether or not anything is wrong with it.
The shared forms, here
- The Repair Table
- Agricultural equipment. Ladders and picking crates are inspected before the harvest period and again after it.
- The Boundary Walk
- The established walk: the rows are walked and every tree is looked at, whether or not anything is wrong with it.
Kept in use
The kitchen bell
Timekeeping. It is rung for the meal, and at most houses to mark the end of the twelve minutes.
Local participation
- Gleaning, in the fortnight the fruit comes in.
- The tool inventory, checked at the end of each working morning.
- Separation
- Notice to the steward or the convener of the nearest circle. Either is sufficient.
The steward
Naomi Whitlock
Cook · steward since 2021
Ran a school kitchen for fifteen years. Took the house on the understanding that the press would be repaired, and it was.
Records
Other houses
- Lantern House — Socorro County, New Mexico
- River House — Ramsey County, Minnesota
Entry H-08 · reviewed 18 February 2026