Our Table Cooperative

Update!
I was an extremely dissatisfied CSA customer. Original review below:
It has taken me years to commit to a CSA but this year, with the help of the fair in Portland, I picked Our Table because I thought it met all my needs. Online updates, easy add-​ons that can change weekly, Wednesday pickups near my home… but now that the deliveries have been unacceptably late both week 1 and week 2 and I received a less than satisfying response from staff when I called to ask what was going on and if I could plan to pick up on time in the future, I can say with relative certainty that next year I will switch to Able Farms.
*What changed? After posting this I received a phone call from a very kind and understanding woman wishing to know how Our Table had disappointed me and also to inform me of their snafus since beginning to offer to «full diet» CSA. I can respect that! And I do. I very much appreciated her call and the way she explained things.
Our boxes have been arriving on time the last few weeks. They are getting more and more full now that it’s June. I’m not sure I have been super happy with the extra add ons I’ve tried for the cost, but it’s good quality stuff at least.
And today my partner and I visited the farm/​shop itself and it was a lovely spot. Super friendly staff, nice variety of offerings including sale wine and a little bowl of Baci (Italian «kisses»). Give ‘em a try. We are much happier now.

Here for a free lesson on lip-​balm making! Get onto their email list to hear what events they gave coming up!

It’s a good idea, but we’re not impressed with this place after numerous, numerous visits. Final nail in the coffin — I just rounded up the glass milk bottles to return. I paid a deposit of $ 2 on each bottle when I bought the milk. Well, the cashier guy told me they don’t give cash back for the bottle deposits — ONLY STORE CREDIT. Period. I had to find items that added up to the amount of cash deposits. He made a big deal out of giving me the 2 pennies that were due to me when the amount of my stuff was 2 cents short, because the product prices didn’t add up exactly to the amount due to me. Really?! It was just ridiculous. I’ve never heard of such a policy, and felt totally ripped off and frankly, kind of harrassed. I felt like he was trying to get me to buy more stuff in the store, and was irritated when I didn’t purchase enough. At that point, I didn’t want anything — just wanted to see this place in my rearview mirror. In the end, I exchanged the bottles for some prepared bean dip and some prepared pesto sauce, which I don’t want or need. (Did not need any produce at the time).
I will never buy milk (or anything else) from them again. If you’re going to take cash deposits for glass milk bottles, provide cash deposits back. This BS about only giving store credit for the cash deposits is desperate, and most likely against Oregon state law.
This brings me to my second complaint about this place — the prepared foods have no expiration dates or «sell-​by» or «made on» dates on them. Once, when I asked a clerk about this, she just seemed to guess at how long the product had been in the cooler. Totally unprofessional operation. She told me to be sympathetic b/​c they’re «figuring all this out» and they «had to start from scratch and figure out EVERYTHING ourselves.» She seemed to have fallen right off the truck of total idealism and naïveté — ‘hey, let’s plant some stuff and make it organic and then make some stuff with it in the kitchen and sell it! And how in the world do we sell it? Let’s invent the wheel! Yeah, isn’t that so cool?!‘
When referring to ‘figuring out everything ourselves’ the clerk seemed to be talking about the straightforward act of setting up a shop to sell things, which hundreds of thousands of people do every year and have for thousands of years. It’s not rocket science and guess what? Others have done it so you just find out how it’s done and do it.
Sell by or made on or expiration dates aren’t a new innovation. And they’re required by law, no?
And beyond just missing important date stamps, the pesto sauce I was forced to exchange for my bottles doesn’t even have a label of any sort on it — no ingredients list, product name, nothing. Just a cheap plastic container with green stuff in it.
I’ve given up on buying anything from here because interactions revealed such cluelessness it was painful. And the products, like this dumb pesto sauce, aren’t labeled appropriately. If you’re going to try to run a simple store, get someone who has at least a small clue. Who owns this place? They need to get their act together and put a professional staff in place, and fix their various flawed systems.
And for god’s sake — if you’re taking cash deposits on glass bottles, give cash back when they’re returned. Read the Oregon Bottle Bill for starters.

What a pleasant little surprise we found out in the countryside near Sherwood! Our Table has 60 acres of property growing organic produce, but they also have an amazing store on site in beautifully appointed farm buildings.
The shop carries not only their wonderful produce, but local organic meats, cheeses, dairy, and dozens of other grocery products. They have coffee and beers on tap too.
This would be a great place to shop for some local produce and support local farmers and merchants, but is also a great place to come out and have a picnic.
I’ve seen Our Table at our local Farmers Market, but this was my first visit to their physical location. Looking forward to becoming a regular here.

Selection is often limited due to their «localvoir ethic.» This is especially true in the winter months. But what is available is always the best quality. So, don’t come here «deterministically» with your shopping list in-​hand expecting to purchase specific things. Instead, come opportunistically allowing their stock to guide your menu plans. Not surprisingly, produce is the specialty here, but they have a nice selection of meats too and other dry goods, spices, even some household cleaning products and so forth… plus a nice selection of beer and wine mostly local.
You can come here if you’re interested in finding «healthy» food. Most of what they have is free of chemicals, free of hormones, free range, etc. For some reason, supposedly-​healthy food is always defined by lacking something.
You can come here if you’re interested in «politically-​correct» food. Most of what they have is some combination of locally-​sourced, sustainably-​grown, «fair-​trade,» or something else with a hyphen in it. For some reason, politically-​correct food always seems to be hyphenated.
Or, you can come here as I do as a sort of «foodie» looking for interesting food, tasty food, quality food, «gourmet» food. Most of what they have is fresh and delicious and high-​quality.
Whatever your reason for coming, just come.
The place is overall bountiful and beautiful. On a clear day, take a stroll in the back garden for a spectacular view of Mt. Hood.

Super cute place. Love all the local foods. Great fresh produce, bread from local bakery, bulk foods section, natural cleaning products, wine and beer. Great ambiance and super service.
Fabulous when you turn the corner and see the beautiful red barn you know you have arrived. Super easy to get to. I’m looking forward to chefs dinner series on the farm.

Great U-​pick blueberries in the summer. Bring a hat as it’s hot out there! Blueberries are huge and sweet. I love this place!
They also have a year-​round CSA in small shares with seasonal produce, though I haven’t tried this yet.