Ok so I have a good family friend that has a house on 40 acres in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, about an hour and 15 min outside Portland. He's told me I can come and stay there whenever I want for as long as I want. He and his family have another house in Portland so they wouldnt be there too much.

He bought the land a few years ago with trees on it meant to sell, cut them down and im not too sure whats there now.
I've been interested in horticulture for some time now and wanted to get some real experience with it and also a bit of a life change.

So i called him because i figured he would have some good input. I told him i would like to get a job on a farm, vineard, or in a nursery, he said he'd make a few calls and see if he knew anyone who needed work, but did say i could stay there as long as i'd like.

I talked to him today and he said it would probably be a better idea for me to fly out there and check out the area for a week or so, look around for job, maybe meet some people, etc. Since i've never been there. Im not really worried about whether i would like it or not because i love the outdoors and everythign that has to do with it. I'm not looking to make a ton of cash more for the experience, and wouldn't have to pay for rent just help out a day or so a week demolishing and rebuilding a barn ( which i'd like to do anyway).

So I guess what im asking is if anyone has any experience with that area just let me know a few things about it...What is there to do, what are the people like, etc. I'm certainly not clueless just wanted some first hand info, instead of what i've been reading on the net.

I understand if you live there or have you may not want to say so just lie, you visited a friend or went on a business trip, i don't really care just don't not answer me cause of that. I really need the input...

So if anyone out there can help me in anyway i'd really appreciate it. Hope to hear back from you guys, Thanks RIU