Nectar of the Gods: Old Blue Raw Honey comes in many (nuanced) flavors written by Sophia McDonald | photography by Bill Purcell The jars of thick liquid sitting on Old Blue Raw Honey’s table at the Corvallis Farmers Market ranged in color from spun gold to dark amber. As customers picked them up, company co-owner Camille Storch explained the hand-printed notes on the labels. Storch and her husband, Henry, who has been keeping bees for about twelve years, pay careful attention to the nectar source available to each of their hives. Instead of mixing everything together when they bottle the honey, they keep each hive’s products separate so they can tell customers where the sweet liquid came from and what the bees were eating. Why go to all this trouble? Just as an animal’s diet affects the flavor of its meat or soil influences a wine’s terroir, a bee’s food…

String the words “Oregon” and “grapes” together and most people immediately visualize the vines that run up and down hillsides in the state’s many wine regions.

It could be in a barn, or at a long table under the stars in a vineyard that you taste a perfectly braised piece of elk or a handcrafted wedge of locally made cheese. No matter where it takes place or what you get to eat, attending one of Field & Vine’s “Dinners in the Field” is guaranteed to feature farm-fresh, seasonal ingredients paired with a  fine wine.

If you’ve never cooked Oregon elk before, now might be a good time to try! It’s delicious and more flavorful than beef.