Listen to the Podcast About Bellyful Catering
Podcast Summary
In an insightful conversation with Katie Louise, Abby West, owner of Bellyful Catering and Idle Time, shared her entrepreneurial journey and vision. Being an experienced caterer, Abby founded Bellyful Catering back in 2010. The business gained a strong local reputation over 16 years, and Abby and her husband have since successfully set out to evolve it further.
Continuing the enhancements, Abby highlighted this included a shift of base for Bellyful Catering to a vast 12-acre property in Hillsboro, acquired three years ago. It was an impromptu decision spurred by the vast potential and the 4,000 square-foot building already present on site, which perfectly aligned with her ambition of having her own venue space.
Talking more about her vision, she reflected on how multiple venues have in-house catering and wished to bring that convenience to Bellyful Catering. It also led to the establishment of Idle Time Farm, focusing on being an event venue.
Abby also provided a glimpse into their living conditions. Being constantly engaged with work, she shared how it has become increasingly common for venue owners to reside on their business premises. Her scenic property in Hillsboro not only holds their commercial kitchen, but is also adorned with a beautiful garden, waterfall, and willow tree.
Taking the stage next is an ambitious project to turn a gigantic 7,000 square-foot barn located at the front of the property into a larger event space. As of now, one building has been transformed into a well-equipped event space, available for rentals.
Certainly, Abby’s endearing story of her journey with Bellyful Catering provides valuable insight into entrepreneurial growth and vision. Her tale serves as an embodiment of what Bellyful Catering is all about: creativity, commitment, and continuous growth.
Learn more about
Bellyful Catering
This interview was provided by
Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos
Podcast Transcript
Katie (00:24)
Welcome everyone to Eventful Endeavors. My name is Katie Louise. I’m your host, and I am here with Abby West, who I should say is from Idle Time or Bellyful Catering. She is the owner of two wonderful businesses, a catering company, and a venue space. So, Abby, welcome to the podcast. So tell us a little bit. I know you said that.
Abby West (00:44)
Hi, Katie. Thank you.
Katie (00:49)
Your first company was the catering one, Bellyful Catering, and you’ve been doing it for quite some time. So tell us a little bit about how you got started and how it’s going and how it’s evolved.
Abby West (01:00)
Sure, yeah, so we started Bellyful Catering in 2010. Our goal was to just slowly grow that. My husband was also a business owner at the time, and then it was a matter of just us combining forces and growing the company locally. And that has been going for 16 years.
was through our kids going through school and graduating and everything. We just kind of were in a little town, Aloa. It’s kind of outside of Hillsboro. And then a couple of years ago, bought three acres, or sorry, three years ago, we bought 12 acres out here in Hillsboro. And so we’ve kind of created that catering company, moving it into an event space. was like, it was always our dream to be able
do this just because we travel to so many different venues. We’ll still always do that but it just felt like we should have our own too and it gave us an excuse to buy some land.
Katie (01:58)
Yeah.
Yeah, well and
a lot of venues have their catering companies built in. It’s and it’s very convenient for the bride too, right? ‘Cause she doesn’t have to like bring somebody else in. ⁓ so that’s amazing. So you bought the and it’s Idle Time Farm, right? Is the name of it. And you bought it two how long ago? Three years ago.
Abby West (02:07)
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes, yeah. Three years ago, yeah, three
years ago, in 2023, just at the end of the year. It was just a, we were driving by, we weren’t even like quite ready for the move, but it was just a perfect…
It was just perfect. It’s got this gorgeous view, this beautiful house, an event building, which we’ve obviously done a lot of work to, but there was a building, a 4,000 square foot building. So it just was perfect. It was like, okay, let’s go look at it. And we made an offer and it kind of slowly happened and here we are.
Katie (02:59)
The last two venue owners I talked to, I was really surprised to learn that they lived on the property. do you guys happen to live there? ⁓ my gosh. So crazy.
Abby West (03:09)
We do. Yes, yeah. I
think it’s really common. And I think that’s it’s part of just because like you’re here so much and then you get to just, you know, it’s like we work on the property all day long.
just taking care of it. And then for us having our commercial kitchen here also, it’s like we never have to leave. yeah, it just makes a lot of sense for people to live on the property.
Katie (03:34)
Right, yeah.
So yeah, that’s so that’s so funny. That’s so amazing. So when you first toured the property, there you said there was a house and I’m assuming that’s like a different place than the re reception venue.
Abby West (03:51)
Yes, so the house is actually in the middle of the property. It’s 12 acres. There’s a big huge barn at the very front of the property. It’s 7,000 square feet. We will eventually get that turned into a larger event space, but it’s going to require a lot of work. So we’re still working on that, but we went up the hill. There’s a 4,000 square foot building. We turned that into our event space. So it’s kind of a little bit on a hill. Our house is in the middle.
Katie (04:19)
cool.
Abby West (04:21)
back behind our house is a beautiful garden, a waterfall, big willow tree, the event space, and yeah.
Katie (04:30)
That’s really cool. So you have two potential event spaces on the property. Right now one is open for like rentals, right? And I rem
Abby West (04:34)
Mm-hmm.
Yes, yeah, it once completely
finished.
Katie (04:41)
Okay. Well, it’s completely finished, like I remember when we talked on the phone, you said there was like two floors and like the lower level wasn’t finished. I but I’m not sure.
Abby West (04:54)
no,
that’s probably the house that we were talking about at the time. The house is not finished. yeah, the event space is completely finished. We have a loft that has rooms for people to get ready in, bathrooms, and then just the open floor with a bar and all sorts of good stuff in it. Yeah.
Katie (04:57)
okay, gotcha.
Okay, cool.
very nice.
Perfect. ⁓ how
long did it take to renovate it?
Abby West (05:19)
Two years. We just started having events there last summer. ⁓ And yeah, so we’re fresh to that part of the market in terms of, you know, having people here. And we do a lot of things like just last weekend we did a grad party. So we’ve got a lot of grad parties coming up, celebrations of life. But weddings are, you know, a special kind of…
Katie (05:20)
Two years.
wow, okay.
Abby West (05:43)
special kind of event and yeah, but just so just this last year we’ve been working on it. Yeah Yep, it’s great
Katie (05:43)
Right.
Okay, wow. So you’re one year and one year into booking events. So how has it been? I mean, what like
did you get you I’m sure you probably had so many contacts just being sixteen years catering experience that you had all these people you could let know and then I mean how how has it been? Like have you gotten the amount of business that you would want for your first year?
Abby West (06:00)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. Because we, you know, we still do over 150 weddings catering out of this place, like just in Hood River and the coast and in Oregon City and, you know, Portland and things like that. So we already have just like…
Katie (06:24)
Wow.
Abby West (06:31)
a lot going on. So we knew that when we were doing this like this is going to be slow rolling, you know, but every time somebody comes out here and looks at it, they book it. they’re like, you know, because it’s it’s just gorgeous. We have beautiful view and everything. So yeah, so it’s been really exciting, but it is definitely just going at a comfortable pace. And that’s what we wanted.
Katie (06:46)
⁓
I mean a hundred percent conversion rate is is pretty impressive, right?
Abby West (06:58)
Yeah.
Yeah, I can’t complain.
Katie (07:02)
Yeah. So how many events
like on average a week or a month do do you guys do? No, just for the idle time.
Abby West (07:08)
Catering-wise?
we’re just like doing like one a week ⁓ right now. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Yeah, and we didn’t do much in January or February. It’s just kind of a slow time of year for everybody. Yeah.
Katie (07:13)
One that’s a lot. I mean, for a brand new venue, that’s amazing. So
Sha for sure, yeah. So
when you say you do like a hundred and fifty events a year for catering, does that include the I’m assuming you’re catering all the events at idle time, right?
Abby West (07:36)
Yes,
we are. We don’t require that. Like if they wanted to have, like we just have this one client and her uncle owns a Mexican restaurant. So he’s gonna cater it. And that’s totally cool. But obviously most of them we do cater. So yeah.
Katie (07:54)
So the hundred and fifty is including the ones that you do at idle time. Yeah. So you so you and your husband, you do this, how many employees do you have for the catering company?
Abby West (07:57)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So we have five full-time employees and then we have about 35 that we pull from that work other jobs, right? So it’s like they are bartenders at other restaurants or they work property management or whatever and they’ve just been doing it for years. We have a lot of college grads or college students that come back from college and work for us during the summer. So it’s kind of a variety, but five full-time and then the 35 that we pull from when they’re
Katie (08:35)
That’s great. Are you are
Abby West (08:36)
available.
Katie (08:37)
you able to do two different events in one day?
Abby West (08:40)
Yeah, a lot of times we do three. Yeah, so 150 is kind of on our low end and that’s mostly weddings and then we do the grad parties and you know, the showers.
Katie (08:42)
That’s amazing. That’s so cool.
And then once you have
have this new event space, then you can do two on the property. That’s awesome. That’s amazing. So on the the venue side, how like involved are you in the the planning with the brides? Like are you there day of? Do you have a day of coordinator?
Abby West (08:58)
Yeah, yeah, it’ll be fun.
Yeah, think so. We’re always on site and I think that that’s kind of it’s it’s more helpful than anything. But a lot of times it’s because we’re doing catering. But.
Like having an event manager is something that we just provide anyways, even with the catering. So like Jamie or Colby or Tiana would be here just making sure things are going well. They can hire their own coordinator if they want like somebody to help them with their timeline and you know, go through all that. But we help them with their food, their linens, their bar.
where the best pictures are, you know, things like that. So it’s just kind of like, I just love being a part of people’s wedding day. So it’s so much fun for us that we just can’t help but be helpful. Yeah. Yeah. It’s just, you know, seeing people just kind of like having the happiest day of their life.
Katie (09:45)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Do you get like emotional during weddings? Yeah.
Abby West (10:09)
multiple times in a weekend doesn’t get old. It doesn’t. I don’t know why. It just doesn’t get old. It’s just too special to watch them celebrating something and seeing how all the family comes and the friend comes together to like be so supportive. It’s just really cool.
Katie (10:12)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. are
there like I what’s like the moment at weddings that still gets you emotional, like just even after the hundredth wedding, the thousandth wedding you’ve been to?
Abby West (10:35)
think it’s dad’s speech. ⁓ huh. Or dad’s walking down the aisle. And I think that’s probably a little bit because of how special my dad is to me and my life.
Katie (10:38)
Really?
Mm.
Abby West (10:48)
And then also like my husband, even though we have sons, like he’s such a special part of their life. So I think that just kind of like that dad moment where they’re just, they get a little bit emotional. The bride gets really emotional. Everybody gets emotional because I don’t know, it’s just a special part. Right.
Katie (11:04)
Well, you don’t see dads getting emotional very often. And yeah.
And I know you said you had kids, like I I have two young kids and I just I can’t even imagine like them being old enough to get married right now. But I imagine that that would just be like so emotional ’cause you’re like you’re flashbacking on all these years of like growing up with them, you know, and you’re like, there’s my baby like Yeah.
Abby West (11:18)
Right?
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
My oldest son got married a few years ago. And…
I picked, you know, we picked out a song to dance to and you know, we planned, I helped them plan the wedding and they both have been in the industry for years with us. So they work for us and everything. So it was really easy for them to plan and we just kind of went through this process and it was really wonderful. And then I got up to dance with him and I just lost it. Like I was like.
my gosh, it’s finally the day that I’m dancing with my son. And it was so emotional. just, I, because I couldn’t even imagine it. I just felt like, is it, he’s still four? And tiny. ⁓
Katie (12:06)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nine yeah.
Do you feel
like you’re emotion more emotional at his wedding day or your wedding day?
Abby West (12:22)
Oh, I don’t know. mean, I definitely probably his, you know, mine was really exciting. Like we were like, you know, excited that we are getting married and moving on. But I think you’re looking at it more just like it’s like almost selfishly, like what you’re getting to do now together. And when your son gets married, that’s kind of like.
They’re changing, they’re in this whole other chapter and it’s exciting for them. But it’s also, it’s kind of bittersweet as a parent. Like it’s so sweet, but it’s also like, okay.
Katie (12:56)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I mean my s my son
is five, but I feel like I could already imagine that that would be a more emotional experience than my like my wedding day, I remember I got like i i it was like one of the first times I got l lash extensions because I knew that I was like, I’m gonna cry and if I cry, my it I get if I have false lashes are gonna they’re gonna fall off. If I have mascara, it’s gonna whatever. So I got lash extensions and then I didn’t cry at all. And I was like, Well, I don’t know
Abby West (13:07)
I’m home.
Yeah.
It is.
Katie (13:29)
So I didn’t cry at all at my wedding. I’m like, but at my son’s, I know I would, because that would just be so yeah.
it’s funny, like I I get I’m like emotional thinking about it. Again, my son is five years old, and like you know, so I get that. I know that’s so funny. it’s so funny because I I would have
Abby West (13:44)
Well, you’ll need to get lash extensions on the day of his wedding.
Katie (13:52)
expected most people like for me the part where I get the most emotional is the vows, I think. When I’m watching like just as a from the vendor side. So it’s it but it is so interesting that you’re I it just your answer so about the dad surprises me, but like now it makes so much sense also thinking about it from that perspective.
Abby West (13:56)
Bye!
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, well
the other piece to that Katie is that probably 50 % of the weddings nowadays, the vows are done prior. People are really choosing to do like private vows and then they still have…
where the officiant has them promise to each other and everything. But it’s less personal vows in front of everybody. It’s more personal vows to each other. They do a first look and then they say their vows just to each other with the photographer being the only person there. And when you see that, that’s pretty emotional, but you can’t hear what they’re saying. Then their vows are a little bit more, you know, they’re, you know,
Katie (14:51)
Generic.
Abby West (14:52)
generic or being united together and they talk about family and things like that but it’s it’s less about that than you know anymore
Katie (15:00)
That’s really interesting. I have not noticed
that that trend. ⁓ here in at least SoCal I haven’t noticed that. I don’t I wonder if it’s a more regional thing. Like an Yeah, I have not noticed that. Like most of the cause we get hired often to do like music for ceremonies and or maybe they are generic vows and I didn’t realize it. I don’t know. Maybe I’m I’m sitting here crying and it’s not even the real thing.
Abby West (15:04)
Yeah.
It could be, for sure.
Katie (15:29)
⁓ yeah.
Abby West (15:29)
It might be but you know, it just it
could be a regional thing too. The other thing that’s becoming more and more popular is that the couple will do a ceremony just in front of like 20 people and then they’ll have a reception for like 150. So their ceremony is just much more private and I think that you know, I love them all. They’re all different. Either way, you know, it’s about comfort.
Katie (15:46)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Abby West (15:56)
effort.
Katie (15:58)
I have seen that a couple times where we’re like we’re just tired for the reception and like nothing that’s it, that’s the whole thing. and I know the the first look has become a lot more popular as well. ⁓ so I didn’t realize I think so much that the vows were happening during that, but do you have any like like are there any wedding trends that you secretly wish would disappear?
Abby West (16:09)
Yeah.
No, I guess because like they all have their place, right? And I have to be careful because I do understand that like everybody has like certain budgets and they have certain things that they’re working with and it really becomes like
It’s about them, Like who, what kind of music they want, what kind of florals they’re having, you know, even how they’re dressing. Because like a lot of times we’ll see like the same color all summer long. And that’s like, yep, yeah.
Katie (16:46)
Like like Sage Green has been so popular.
Abby West (16:51)
Yeah, then all of a sudden it’s like, ooh, is it changing? Are we gonna do blue this year? Because it’ll be like all blue all year long, know, just those trends or whatever. But I like it. think it’s fun. I think it’s expected to be trendy, like a little bit. know, with social media now, and like Pinterest and all the things, it’s too hard for people not to fall in love with what’s popular, you know?
Katie (16:59)
Yeah.
Right,
yeah.
Abby West (17:21)
wedding and I’m like I really did that huh? That was really hot right you know at that moment like
Katie (17:26)
I know. You w you wonder you wonder like
what your kids well I wonder what my kids are gonna think ’cause my mom when I saw her wedding picture, she had like the headband that went like this and the puffy sleeves, you know? And it it must have been in. And and I ask I think I asked her once, like, are you still happy with your wedding dress? And she’s like, It’s gorgeous, what are you talking about? Like like she was still in love with it. So
Abby West (17:39)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Totally. Yeah.
Katie (17:54)
I remember like
when I was I feel like in middle school, I’m I’m the youngest of five, so I watched a lot of my siblings grow up and get married and I feel like during that time there was like it was like the ruched dress, you know, like right around that and then yeah. So it is funny to see how the the different trends do you have like any weddings that are so memorable to you or like the theme or the dress or whatever kind of sticks out?
Abby West (18:06)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean there’s been a couple like I feel and maybe I don’t know if you get this a lot
where you’re at, but in Oregon we get like, so certain venues kind of have, like they pull in different people, right? So we can do a wedding in a barn or in a campground and it’s very, you know, organic and natural and mystic fairy-ish. And then you have like the ones that are in winery and everybody is wearing black, but the bride is in white. And it’s like super like classic black.
and white, clean, you know, and it’s like, and that can be on a Friday and on a Saturday, you know, like you’re going from one to the next. So it’s really hard. Like I, you know, we’ve had weddings where people like the bride and groom were brought in on the helicopter. That was really cool. You know, just, but I mean.
Katie (18:58)
Yeah.
Abby West (19:11)
choreographed dances were really popular last year, like had a lot of dancing so that kind of sticks out a lot but we also have like fun things that people bring in which are really like I think it’s really fun when you can do like interactive stuff so like
There’s llamas, alpacas, and you can bring them in and they are dressed as, in a little tux and in a little wedding dress and you give them a carrot and they, you put a carrot in your mouth and they give you a kiss, you know? Like, it’s just fun stuff like that where I’m like, I love like the interactive stuff for your guests because like, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
Katie (19:37)
That is so cool.
Yeah.
I’ve never heard of of a llama like feeding a c llama a carrot at a wedding. That’s really cool. One of my favorites
was I went to a wedding where they hired a tattoo artist to give tattoos to all the guests. Yeah. So they had like this this whole station and you could wait in line to get a free tattoo. or complimentary of the bride. Yeah. Yeah.
Abby West (19:55)
Oh wow, that would be fun. That would be really fun.
Yeah, I would, I’d be all up with that.
Katie (20:08)
Yeah, that one
was really cool. Another one of my favorites, is I did a Phantom of the Opera wedding once. And that was really fun, especially on the music side of it, ’cause we got to do all that music. But she had like like her programs were like a like a playbill almost for her ceremony. And then she wore like a black and white like dress. It was it was kind of like almost like a gothic themed wedding too.
Abby West (20:14)
Ooh.
Yeah.
I don’t care. Yeah.
Ooh.
Yum.
Yum.
Katie (20:35)
⁓ so
we did a lot of like emo music and panic at the disco and and it was just it was really fun. and I think she had like a her like her they they were like big musical theater people, so like her whole bridesmaids and Grimsman were all like Broadway actors ’cause she lived in New York City for a while and so they all did this like intro, like for
Abby West (20:41)
That’s cool.
Katie (20:58)
Their intro for the bride and groom, they were on this balcony and they all came up and like had lines where they introduced her, and then like right when they came out, we had like the DJ played like the like it’s just it was yeah. Yeah. I feel like that’s one of the best parts of like working in the wedding industry is you just like every weekend you’re seeing like people’s artistic visions come to life, you know? Alyssa.
Abby West (21:05)
my gosh.
Wow, how cool!
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. No, it’s
true. you just, sometimes you don’t even know what to expect. Like on our end, it’s like we’re bringing food and we like might know what like the China looks like or whatever, but then you show up and you’re like, wow, they really like, you know, created something special. So yeah.
Katie (21:44)
Do do you ever get special
requests with food or like th the plates or napkins?
Abby West (21:50)
All the time, yeah. People are really into, you know, like making it theirs. So they’ll choose specific, China flatware, glassware, and then, you know, they’ll choose specific foods too. We have like some really like,
common packages for them to choose from. But we’ll do like, you know, a Jamaican-Asian fusion because he’s Jamaican, she’s Asian, and they just like, you know, just they want a fusion. And so it’s like, all right, let’s work together on that. there’s a lot of that fun stuff kind of happening. Or I get like cultural, like moms who are like, I want this at my son’s wedding. And so I’m going to give you this recipe.
Katie (22:10)
Wow.
Abby West (22:31)
and you’re gonna learn how to make mole like I make mole and I’m like, okay, let’s do it, you know? And it’s, and that’s very, because you know, we…
Katie (22:37)
E wow.
I’m not really impressed
by the ask. Like I’m impressed that you say yes. That’s the part I’m like shocked about.
Abby West (22:44)
Yeah
Well for me on my end of it like we have a very Americanized food I haven’t had time to travel though like I want to travel yet So at some point though, that’s on my list, but like learning how to make something more authentic from
Katie (22:52)
Right.
Abby West (23:03)
a mama, like I am down with that. Like I’ll take a recipe and we’ll work together because they always leave something out of the recipe. It’s always their like secret or they’re like, no, I only use this much and I’m like, no, you put twice as much in there, you know, when we’re making this. So, but it’s just fun. It’s part for me.
Katie (23:21)
So like how does this all work?
Like, does Avalita like come into your commercial kitchen and give you classes? Like, that’s how wow.
Abby West (23:27)
Yeah, we just
once. Yeah, it’s like I prefer like I’ll tell them like I’m not making tortillas from scratch like, you know, unless they want to pay for it. mean, obviously, but like when you’re doing that stuff, there’s only so many levels, right? So they can either bring them in and I’ll use theirs, you know, or they can, you know, yeah.
Katie (23:36)
Okay.
Right, right.
Do I mean I ple please tell
me you well, I shouldn’t say this, but like please tell me you charge extra for like this kind of customization.
Abby West (23:53)
Yeah!
Yeah Yeah,
no, that’s what I’m saying. Like it really depends on how important it is some people Katie they’ll never meet me. They’ll talk to me on the phone one time they book our services and and that’s it and they’re like just event package number two and I’m like cool and they they’re on with it and they’ll spend Thousands of more dollars on florals or photography or whatever like the food is not the important part For some people it is the most important part. Like if it was me it would be the
most important part for my son’s wedding it was the most important part you know like but and that’s when they’ll pay more they want the experience they want things to be authentic and so that’s how that works
Katie (24:36)
Yeah,
I feel like that’s so incredible. Just that you’re willing to like put that type of like extra customization in. Like I’m sure that that’s gotta be unique to you guys because I’m sure that most catering companies do not let Oma come in the kitchen and give her lessons. That’s incredible.
Abby West (24:43)
Yeah.
Hahahaha
Yeah, yeah, it’s been fun. It has been
fun. We also just cook on site only. So there’s another piece to that. I don’t know, like I’ve never had anything catered by anybody else, so don’t really know, but like if they are cooking on site or not. But we load up and we travel sometimes two to three hours. We’ve traveled eight hours before for a wedding and then we unload and we cook on site. So that way people are getting that, you know.
really fresh meal versus something that’s been in a box for a couple of hours. And that, in the end, that was kind of why we wanted this place. It’s like, I want to be able to cook forever, you know, like, and be able to provide this service and have these beautiful farm to table dinners and have these weddings and…
Katie (25:26)
Right.
Abby West (25:40)
and just not have to do so much traveling. So I don’t mind it, but I don’t want to do it forever.
Katie (25:43)
Yeah. That yeah.
Yeah, no, I get that. It’s it seems
like y you’re it’s pushing you in a a direction where you can do a little bit less work. Like eventually if you’re booked up more in the space you could just get out of bed and then walk walk just a little bit and start cooking, so
Abby West (25:55)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah,
we kind of actually fight over the events that are at our house, like my husband and I at our place, because I’m like, I don’t want to go to Hood River today. I’ve gone to Hood River yesterday and or like in Oregon or, know, like Oregon City or Portland or whatever. I’m like, you know, so we fight over the ones where we just get to stay here.
Katie (26:08)
Yeah.
Rock, paper, scissors.
That’s what you gotta do.
Abby West (26:24)
Yeah, because it’s so
much, it’s nice and it’s really, there’s something very special about it because we’ve built this place ourselves, you know, I mean not the actual buildings, but when we moved in and bought this property, the owners had not lived here for two years. So there was a lot of things that were like really overgrown.
there was vehicles that were like just parked in the ground, you know, and had things growing in them and stuff. it feels special. Like we put our special touch on this. It’s fun. It’s really cool. Yeah, so.
Katie (27:00)
Yeah. You mentioned so you mentioned farm to table. So tell me more about the farm part.
Abby West (27:08)
It’s really exciting. We’ve been able to do some trade work, but also just in the last couple of years, we’ve built, we’ve added, gosh, it’s like 45 different apple trees, 30 some odd pair of trees. have blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, strawberry and nectar berry, which is a family heritage berry that I have from my family. Beautiful herb garden. We have a beautiful vegetable garden. And so the idea
is
that that’s all going to be you know coming back and cherry trees and all the all the things so we’re really just planting things here that we can use in our farm to table dinners in at events you know things like that we have the space to do it yes yes all produce not yet our animals will not be
Katie (27:50)
Okay.
So it it’s all all produce. All produce, right? No no cows.
Okay.
Abby West (28:04)
for food. So we do actually have, except, so we have 24 chickens. We do use their eggs, we sell their eggs. We have a couple of ducks. We have three little pigs. They are not so little anymore.
And they’re really fun. There’s so much like dogs that there’s no way they’re ever gonna be able to be dinner. Like there’s just no way. And the same with, and I know people who do this all day long. My brother actually has animals for that purpose, but it seems kind of funny because we’re a catering company, but I can’t do it. Like our pigs are so cute. We have a black pig. His name is Sirius.
Katie (28:35)
Yeah. Yeah.
Abby West (28:41)
Harry Potter. And then Hammy, he’s our other little boy, it’s because he shows off everywhere he goes. He’s showing off. And then our little girl is Jelly Bean. And she’s just the sweetest little thing. And they’re, well, they’re like 150 pounds. Nope.
Katie (28:51)
Aww.
Okay, but when you when you got them when you got them, did you already
know they weren’t gonna be food? Okay, okay.
Abby West (29:00)
Yes, I did. My husband didn’t.
My husband didn’t. He thought for sure like, we’re getting pigs so that, you know, and then he fell in love with them so much too. Like I catch him down there every night just like brushing them clean and like, you know, giving them treats and stuff like that. No, no, I just, they’re so cute. They’re like dogs. Yeah.
Katie (29:17)
So you’re not a vegetarian though, are you? I get it. You’re you have a personal relationship with these animals. I totally get that. Yeah.
Abby West (29:28)
And we do
want to have like goats and a couple Highland cattle and you know just fun stuff but so many times like when people are here they want to visit with the animals and they want to give them treats like a petting zoo thing yeah and goats and a cute little miniature donkey or something like that I don’t know we got the room to do it so we’re doing it
Katie (29:38)
Like petting zoo, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Aww, yeah. So the the
produce and dairy is farmed to table, but not the meat. Not the meat, got it.
Abby West (29:52)
Yeah, not the meat.
Well, there’s a lot of other really sweet local farms next, you know, close to us and like Carlton and stuff and I’ll get my meat there. Like I’ll, I definitely am always supporting the local Oregon, but I just can’t do it myself.
Katie (30:01)
Yeah.
That’s good. You just yeah.
It’s funny. It it’s funny when you see like I don’t know if you ever watch Survivor, but these these people that like are starving and then they get a chicken and then they argue over whether or not they can they can eat the chicken. ‘Cause it’s hard when you actually are the one looking at them, you know? So well it’s
Abby West (30:15)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Katie (30:29)
It’s been so great to talk to you and learn more about your venue. Is there anything you wanted to talk about that we we didn’t touch on yet?
Abby West (30:32)
Have fun.
I don’t think so. I mean, yeah, it’s been a lot of fun. We’re really excited to be moving forward and yeah, making changes and stuff. So yeah.
Katie (30:40)
Yeah, I feel
Yeah.
I feel like I could ask you fifty more questions, but I know I have to wrap this up. So but I’m I am excited to stay in touch with you and see how everything develops and how the new event space comes and how the the animals come and and grow up and you add to it. So yeah. Yeah, I will definitely for sure. well Abby, it’s been so great to talk with you.
Abby West (30:52)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, you’ll have to come out sometime. see it. Yeah.
Katie (31:13)
So where can people find you both for the catering and for the the farm?
Abby West (31:20)
Yeah, so we’re Bellyful Catering and then Idol Time Farm and Events. And we have websites and Instagram right now. And there’s pictures and lots of information. They can email me.
Katie (31:30)
And can you spell
idle time?
Abby West (31:32)
Yeah, so it’s Idle, I-D-L-E and then Time like the herb. T-H-Y-M-E. it’s be… It is, is. And belly full kind of was too, like, because it just kind of, yeah, turned out that way. But yeah, yeah. But Idle Time is just because, you know, when you’re out here, we want people to feel like they’re just relaxing. We have a lot of things on the property, like with games and,
Katie (31:40)
It’s a little bit of a pun, so right.
It rolls it rolls off the tongue a little bit. Yeah.
Abby West (31:59)
even frisbee golf and we have a sport court and stuff and so people come out here just to relax, pick some fruit, know, things like that. one thing I should mention is we do have events coming up where they are open just to the public. So we do a fall festival, we do a holiday social, we have like…
Katie (32:05)
That’s amazing.
Abby West (32:18)
Mahjong nights and bingo nights and things like that. So if you follow us on Instagram, you’ll see invitations and things like that or subscribe to our site. We send out monthly newsletters of what we’re doing. So just really fun stuff that you don’t have to be getting married to come hang out with us. Yeah. So be fun.
Katie (32:33)
That is so cool. That is great. Wow. You guys do a lot. Well, it was so
great meeting you. And one more time, bellyful catering or idle time is where you can find Abby in this beautiful event space. And yeah, hopefully we we stay in touch and we’ll hear the updates eventually. All right. Thank you guys for tuning in. This is Eventful Endeavors and that’s our time.
Abby West (32:50)
Yeah, for sure. Thanks, Katie.
