Food Startups Spread Their Wings in Cottage Grove

After the 2018 Oregon Country Fair, Eugene native Annie Fisher came down with a case of pneumonia that turned into shingles. The mother of two had been making, and taking, an immunity-boosting “fire tonic” for 10 years, but had run out of the herbal apple cider vinegar infusion when she needed it most. She mustered her strength and mixed up a fiery batch that would ignite her small business, Wildfire Elixirs.

That rescue batch was “the best one I’d ever made. I was like, ‘I’m never, ever getting sick again,’ ” she said. She posted a picture of it on Facebook that got so much interest, by the next morning, she said she’d made five more gallons.

“By the time I made the third batch in my pantry, I was like, I guess this is my business now. People want this. It was constant messages and stuff. So, I quit my job.”

Fisher lives in Eugene, where she had been bartending for 16 years, but she drives down to Cottage Grove to use a commercial kitchen space at the Bohemia Food Hub. But it’s not just because it’s more affordable than local options such as the Hummingbird incubator kitchen.

*Reported by The Register Guard