Chef Favorite and Slow Food Member Boondockers Farm Suffers Devastating Barn Fire

On Saturday Feb. 28, a photo of a burly firefighter rescuing a tiny piglet from a burning barn in Clackamas County made the rounds on local news outlets' social media. But as we ooh'ed and ahh'd over the heartwarming photo, two young farmers were dealing with the shock of losing their 125-year-old barn.

Evan Gregoire and Rachel Kornstein are the proprietors of Boondockers Farm in the Clackamas County town of Beavercreek. Vendors at the Hollywood and Hillsdale farmers markets, they specialize in heritage breeds of poultry, cows and pigs, as well as heirloom vegetables. They're part of the LETumEat Collective and members of Slow Food Portland. In fact Gregoire attended Slow Food's Salone del Gusto in Italy last fall, They also supply some of the city's top restaurants, including Ava Genes, Ned Ludd, Irving Street Kitchen, Verde Cocina, and Portland Meat Collective.

Firefighters were able to rescue all the pigs — 20 sows and 13 piglets — but the loss of the barn won't be easy. Cooking up a Story recently visited the farm to learn more about its preservation breeding program, and photos on the site show pictures of the barn before the fire. They also produced this video, which goes into greater detail about Gregoire and Kornstein's work. No word yet on if there are any benefit dinners planned to help them build a new barn, but with their chef connections it seems a strong possibility.

Preserving Endangered Heritage Breeds of Livestock from Cooking Up a Story on Vimeo.