established in 1945

Just After WWII, Curtis and Janet Barnes sat on a hill just outside of Phoenix, Oregon moving stakes around in the dirt. Over gin fizzes and cigarettes Janet would direct Curt to move the stakes ever wider and longer expanding the cost and footprint of their new home. This area was not new to Curtis. As a kid, he had flown and crashed a glider on this hill—a glider he and his brother had built from an article in the back of Popular Mechanics magazine. It was new to Janet. She was born in Hawaii and had grown up in San Francisco. T0gether, they built the sprawling ranch house, planted an orchard and started Tipsy Bee Fruit Co. with Curtis’ brother Charles.

Before the war, Curtis was an animator for Disney drawing the “mushroom dance” in Fantasia, and working on animation for Snow White, Pinocchio and others. He studied art at Stanford University, but while art came naturally to him his love for engineering eventually became his main focus. While pursuing his art degree, Curtis would sneak off to the aerospace laboratory at Stanford and sit in on classes every chance he got. This love of engineering and art created the Tipsy Bee legacy you see today. He built full color printing systems that printed the logo straight on the box. Curtis built a cold storage facility in Talent to save the smaller pear producers from bankruptcy when the price of pears was too low. Then after years as an Orchardist he started an aviation company that rivaled Douglas at the Medford airport and decided he would do the impossible build a human powered helicopter. The human powered helicopter being his main focus working on it with success until he passed away at 98.

After Curtis’ death the family was spread out across the country and the house and Tipsy Bee orchards had fallen into disrepair. The fruit trees that had once born extra fancy d’anjou pears and comice pears had stopped producing and were removed by Harry and David who had taken over the lease. At this point Curtis’ children allowed Andrew and Amie Barnes to buy the sprawling ranch house and surrounding acreage with the understanding that it would be run as a family farm and continue to be a center for agriculture and innovation.

In 2015 with marching orders in hand Amie and Andrew started educating themselves on the newest forms of agriculture with a focus on sustainability and soil health. Bringing life back to the soil by introducing animals, no till and organic practices. As well as designing and testing new systems for agriculture.

In 2021 we are working on a fresh food delivery system and market showings. To be continued.