Luscher Farm sits at the junction of two market roads. Since the mid 1800s, produce grown in the Stafford area has traveled these roads to markets in Portland and Oregon City. The farm was first inhabited in 1900. In 1969, Luscher Farm ended its almost 70 year span as a working dairy; in 1991, the City of Lake Oswego acquired its 47.7 acres. Since then, the City has partnered with nonprofits and community groups to provide a range of agricultural experiences here, including a CSA farm, a backyard bird habitat, and a community garden.

Luscher Farm celebrates the importance of organic gardening and agriculture to Oregon communities. Its famous red roofed barn greets me with the sights, sounds and smells that have been a part of the land for generations.

I gaze out to the horizon and view sweeping fields of organically grown vegetables and herbs surrounding beautifully tended gardens. I stroll through the world-renowned Rogerson Clematis Garden, and watch the Community Supported Agriculture farmers grow and harvest produce for Lake Oswego residents.

Roxy and Tom, the farm’s resident kitties, welcome me to the Historic Flower Garden that wraps around the 100+ year Queen Anne farmhouse. This garden’s plants were available to the original farm family, in the years before World War I. My senses enjoy the smell of apple blossoms and the taste of sweet fruit in the Heritage Orchard; I stop to picnic and just lie in the grass under the Heritage Birch Tree in the Backyard Wildlife Habitat.

Time stands still as I listen to the rooster crow, watch birds take flight, and stroll from the Community Garden plots to Oregon Tilth’s demonstration garden to the Children’s Garden. Before I leave, I peek into the green bean teepee and mosey around the pizza garden. The worm bin is always open for investigation. Interpretive messages are posted throughout the gardens. It’s hard not to giggle as I realize those aren’t additional visitors wandering about, but the friendly scarecrow family keeping watch over the 185 plots.

Every visit provides an ever-changing landscape in a timeless setting. And just down the road from Luscher Farm is the Oswego Hills Vineyard and Winery, open for public tastings on Sunday afternoons.