News

Willow-Witt Ranch's popular agritourism vacation experience, land conservation, restoration, alternative energy, sustainable organic agriculture and more is in the news! Check out the news and magazine articles below.

Sunset Magazine

Sunset Magazine

Local's guide to Southern Oregon wine country

Meet the undiscovered wine country of your dreams

By Rachel Levin, Sunset Magazine, September 2015

Southern Oregon Cowhorn Vineyard
Southern Oregon wine country - Cowhorn Vineyard; Photograph by Drew Kelly

Even serious enophiles describe Oregon wines with one word: Willamette. And one grape: Pinot Noir. It's understandable. The Pinots produced in places like McMinn­ville and Dundee are among the very best in the world.

Family Fun Magazine

Family Fun magazine

Try a Farm Stay Vacation

A suburban family enjoys a taste of life on a working farm.

By Erika Kotite, FamilyFun magazine, June/July 2015, Photos by Ty Milford

Green Acres

farm stay vacation at Willow-Witt Ranch in Oregon
Willow-Witt Ranch in Oregon; Photograph by Ty Milford

One thing is certain about life on an Oregon farm: There will be mud. Lots of it. We learned this firsthand during a three-night stay at Willow-Witt Ranch in Ashland, a historic 440-acre working ranch with a variety of accommodations and an appealing list of animals to tend. My family of five lives in Huntington Beach, California, where rain is rare and farms are all but a distant memory. As a passionate cook, I wanted to help my kids understand the labor it takes to raise food from the ground and give them a feel for the simple pleasures of rural life.

Modern Farmer

Modern Farmer

Meet The Modern Farmers: Suzanne Willow and Lanita Witt

It was winter in Ashland, Oregon, when Suzanne Willow (right) and Lanita Witt happened upon a freshly plowed path near Grizzly Peak. They followed it.

By Rachel Levin, December 22, 2014, Photo by Daniel Cronin

Meet The Modern Farmers: Suzanne Willow and Lanita Witt at Willow-Witt Ranch

“We saw a For Sale sign pointing to nowhere,” recalls Witt. “We drove down and found forest land buried in four feet of snow — and an old farmhouse, built by a Swiss dairy farmer back in the 1920s.”

A few weeks later, the physician assistant (Willow) and OB-GYN (Witt) plunked down $5,000 and became the owners of 440 acres. That was 30 years ago.

New York Times Travel

New York Times Travel, Willow Witt Ranch

Only Hours From Napa, But a World Away

excerpted from article by Rachel Levin, July 3, 2014

While Napa Valley and Sonoma are renowned for their world-class wines, tasting trips there generally come attached to luxurious digs, spa treatments, $25 tasting fees, Hummer limos and standstill traffic — and all the “no picnicking” pretension that goes with that.

It’s gotten to the point where a thirsty, fogged-in San Franciscan in search of summer sun, stellar wine and hotel rates less than $400 a night has to go out of state, especially when toting two children under the age of 5 and a husband who prefers his fishing rod to the French Laundry.

And so, we headed north to Oregon, not to the well-known Willamette Valley, in the state’s northwest, but about four hours to its south, a sprawling region better known for the “wild and scenic” (as the official designation has it) Rogue River and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland than for the rolling vineyards in between.

We found a relaxed, blossoming wine country with empty roads and crowd-free tasting rooms — some surrounded by strip malls, others by sparkling rivers — pouring excellent versions of an impressively wide range of varietals.

....

Back in Ashland, we headed up a winding mountain road to Grizzly Peak and our home for our last night: Willow-Witt Ranch, a 440-acre off-the-grid farm run by a couple of 60-something women who promised to let the kids watch the 24 baby goats milk in the morning. The ranch was stripped of all conventional luxuries, lacking even a front desk. But we had a wheelbarrow to cart our stuff, a communal outdoor kitchen (and noncommunal outdoor shower), and a canvas tent complete with two comfy beds for $125 a night.

Conde Nast Traveler

Conde Nast Traveler

Harvest Swoon

Slow Food and Agritourism in the Pacific Northwest

It's called agriturismo in Italy—travel to the things that feed us—but these days it's blooming right here at home, especially in the farms and vineyards of the Pacific Northwest. Patrick Symmes pulls up a chair.

locally raised meat, eggs and dairy products
Willow-Witt Ranch is dedicated to the conservation and restoration of a unique ecosystem in the Southern Cascades, and the headwaters, wetlands, and forests that arise there. We provide education on the values of ecology and of the complex web of food and environment by operating a small certified organic farm and Farm Stay accommodations for a unique agritourism experience.
flourish
Oregon Tilth Certified Organic
Willow-Witt Ranch

658 Shale City Road
Ashland, OR 97520
(541) 890-1998
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