Rising Sun Farms: A Delicious Twist of Fate

Oregon Artisan Foods: History often reveals that people start companies through simple twists of fate. Rising Sun Farms, a 25 year old southern Oregon artisan food producer, is no exception. Owner Elizabeth Fujas talked to us about the serendipity that lead to the company's beginnings. "My husband, Richard, and I were sailors. We traveled all over the world. During those travels we often shopped for our food in European markets--which meant fresh, organic, local-sourced produce. When we came back to the states, we were struck by the fact that most of the grocery stores here trucked their food from hundreds of miles away and that there was very little organic produce available...remember this was over 25 years ago."

"We landed first in Canada but the winters there were too long for us. In the house we were renting was a set of encyclopedias. We didn't know a thing about farming but we knew what we wanted weather-wise and saw the real lack of quality produce being offered. So we dug through the encyclopedias and came across Oregon--first trying the Hood River Valley--and then settling on the Rogue Valley. What attracted us to the area was the great weather for crops and excellent, healthy soil conditions."

Another unique twist steered Richard and Elizabeth into growing herbs...the wild animals surrounding their farm didn't eat the herbs but they ate everything else the two tried to grow! "I recalled a good recipe for making Pesto and started with that. Then, the chefs that I delivered the fresh herbs and pesto to started asking if we could grow and dry tomatoes. Again, a tomato is not really a vegetable that animals like to munch on so we started growing organic tomatoes."


When asked how they came up with their unique, award-winning recipes for their cheese tortas, Elizabeth divulged another story. "Early on, we were invited to show our products--pesto and sun-dried tomatoes--at a food demo at the Nieman Marcus in Dallas, Texas. I was trying to figure out a recipe that would use both products and came up with this layering technique. Richard Marcus loved it and the rest is history!"

Rising Sun Farms is a one-of-a-kind organic farm located in Phoenix, Oregon. The company produces healthy food utilizing the highest quality clean ingredients. Not only good for you but award-winning too! Check out their retail outlets by clicking here. The Fujas just opened their own tasting room located at 5126 S Pacific Hwy, Phoenix, OR. The tasting room is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 541-535-8331 (x) 201 for more information.

An interesting side note, White Water Warehouse offered Rising Sun Farms cheese tortas to our rafting and hiking guests for pre-dinner snacks before we even knew they were a southern Oregon company--pretty cool!

Photos courtesy Rising Sun Farms