Saving the Small Fanner
—continued from cover
it neips us break into markets
we couldn’t otherwise. We can
go to a big supermarket and say
we’ve got Harry and David pears
or Granny Smith apples for a
good price. They’ll start doing
business with us, and then we’ll
say we’ve got this other line of
stuff.”
Once OGI was on solid foot
ing, the members began kicking
around ideas on how to help at
the other end—the production of
crops. For two years, Tom
Forster, working under a VISTA
grant, developed the mechanism
of ARABLE, which was unveiled
in 1983.
ARABLE’s purpose, says
Forster, is to help small farmers,
many of whom grow organically,
who don’t have access to con
ventional short-term financing.
Technical and financial advice is
given, as are loans for seeds, fer
tilizer or equipment, made
through one of three accounts at
O.U.R. Federal Credit Union.
The Credit Fund is the general
loan fund, into which members
can place their funds at 7 percent
interest. Loans from this fund
are generally short-term. Assets
have quickly mounted to
$200,000, and loans worth
$100,000 have been made, still
short of ARABLE’s goal of put
ting 75 percent of the assets into
loans. TWelve local enterprises—
nine farms and three food pro
duction businesses—have receiv
ed loans from ARABLE.
“We’re keyed to seeing that a
loan will be used to increase the
productive capacity of an opera
tion,” says Forster, “which will
allow the repayment of the loan.
We demand 100 percent security
backing, but what’s allowable is
flexible: tractors, stereos,
bicycles.”
Since ARABLE’s recent move
into offices above O.U.R., the
growth has been almost too
fast, says Forster. They’ve stop
ped advertising for new money
until they can make sure they
have the borrowers to tap that
swelling well.
Another ARABLE fund, the
Direct Loan rund, links in
dividual lenders with member
borrowers who need more than
the Credit Fund can supply. In
terest and terms of payment are
negotiated individually. The third
fund, the Trust Fund, allows tax
deductible gift money to pass
through the McKenzie River
Gathering to community projects
supported by ARABLE.
With OGI and ARABLE,
then, the small farmer has the
means to buy the seeds, purchase
the equipment, and sell the pro
duce. The only missing ingre
dient is the soil itself. That’s
where the Agricultural and Com
munity Trust comes in.
ACT was also started with a
VISTA grant. With that grant,
Ellen Watson spent two years
researching and organizing the
Trust, whose goal is to purchase
land, then lease it to eligible
“stewards.” ACT, says Walton,
actually owns the land, and
anyone who leases it is held to
an agreement written only after
an “intensive use-study” is
made.
The group is now waiting for
the paperwork to be done on
their first application. Future
projects are being hindered by
lack of funding, but ACT’s
seven board members have high
hopes for the future. “In our
future utopian society here,”
Walton says optimistically,
“ACT will hold title to the land,
ARABLE will be able to loan
money to those farming it, and
OGI is the market for the pro
ducts grown there.”
For anyone interested in
meeting some of these people
turning the tide of local
agriculture, the annual ARABLE
meeting for 1987 will be May 23.
It will feature Alana Probst,
founder of the Buy Oregon Pro
gram, as well as tours to
Laughing Stock Farm and Arbor
Lane Nursery.
For more information, contact
the ARABLE office at 485-7630,
1175 Charnelton, Eugene, OR
97401.
CLOSED MEMORIAL DAY
e
Hilda’s Latin American
7 Restaurant
Specials: Wednesday— Seviche
Latin American Cooking
Try our Spanish and Chilean wines with our zesty appetizers.
400 Blair Blvd.
Mon.-Sat. 5-9:30 pm
343-4322
Outdoor Dining
J Outdoor Dining de • 00 1
i 2 DINNERS 70* !
I Choose any 2 single dinners: •
Choose any 2 single dinners:
■ -TACO ‘ENCHILADA |
! ’CHILE RELLENO ’TAMALE I
I Served w/rice, beans, chips, hot sauce & cheese dip
I
I
TEQUILA MARGARITA
$1.73
I
I
Ale
anadtaitiahikt))
OMISSION®
Offer Good 2 PM until Closing
Sun., Mon., Tues., Wed..
May 24, 25, 26, 27, 31
June 1, 2. 3
(
I
• 610 E. Broadway (Patterson & Broadway) Eugene 686-8226 •
• mum M mu m =m m mmu m ms • •
Dinosaurs and the Inner Animal
by Alice Carnes
WISTEC’s attendance figures
for the DINOSAURS! exhibit
are astonishing: nearly 40,000
visitors in the first 8 weeks. As
children, parents, grandparents
and even non-parents continue to
stream into the museum, I have
begun to wonder with increasing
curiosity: what is it about
dinosaurs?
Why do children take on a
beatific, all but ecstatic ap
pearance when they are face to
face with Apatosaurus? What
magnetic force drew one small
boy to WISTEC eight times in
the first two weeks of the show?
What fascination compels our
customers to empty the ** Dino
store” of its contents week after
week?
I think dinosaurs give kids a
breather from one of the
toughest tasks of growing up:
making sense of the adult in
tellect for purposes of self
defense, while resisting the
pressure to become an adult.
Adults are forever telling kids
that childhood is a happy time,
while at the same time making it
clear that children don’t measure
up. At the heart of what adults
call “childishness” is the stub
born certainty that fantasy and
imagination are as true as what
the senses tell us.
“Reality” is a fluid concept
for a young mind; a child looks
at a mounted bird in the natural
history museum and asks, “Is it
real?” Adults take pains to
separate dreams from waking
thoughts, fiction from fact, and
reverie from words and deeds.
But for a child, a nightmare, an
imaginary playmate, and a story
are as real as any part of life. As
children grow older, they hear
adults insist ever more shrilly
that the unseen world of the im
agination be set aside. Each year,
reason and evidence cast a longer
shadow upon the child’s inner
life.
A dinosaur is a magic bridge
between reason and the imagina
tion. We know the dinosaurs ex
isted, for we can see their bones
in museums. But the fossil
record tells us only a few things
about the lives of dinosaurs.
Most were herbivorous; some
laid eggs; some traveled in herds;
a few were fighters but most
were not. As for skin color,
sounds and signals, family life,
feeding habits, territorial
range—we can only theorize. In
other words, we can only imagine,
based on evidence. The mental
efforts of the six-year-old
dinosaur aficionado and of the
paleontologist converge at this
point.
I asked an acquaintance what
he thought about the dinosaurs,
as he sat on the sidelines at
WISTEC watching his children
commune with the creatures.
“Dinosaurs provide an antidote
to high-tech, Star Wars
imagery,” he told me. “They’re
animals, like us. The children are
drawn to them as animals, but
it’s really the inner animal that’s
being nourished.”
Dinosaurs also interest us, as
children and adults, because we
are interested in death. The
somber echoes of a museum hall
where bones of great dinosaurs
are displayed recall the melan
choly of a graveyard or the ruin
ed splendor of a Roman monu
ment. In contrast, the animated
dinosaur models now on display
at WISTEC and in other
museums throughout the country
seem miraculously alive. The
dead bones have taken new
bodies; the dinosaurs that we
dreamed have been made flesh.
And if you don’t believe, use
your imagination.. .or come see
for yourself. And bring a child.
(Alice Carnes is executive
director of WISTEC and, for 15
years, a parent.)
KKS
Country
in
the
s
a City
“Handmade treasures
from the heart."
275 Coburg Rd.
Eugene. OR 97401
344-1736
QUESTION:
Where can
you find
the Original
Spaghetti Bar,
the Perfect
Business
Lunch,
Fresh Seafood
9
Gourmet
Pasta, an
extensive wine
& beer list, a
full bar, and
live jazz seven
nights a week
with no cover?
ANSWER:
is open seven days a week serving delicious New
York Pizza by the slice or by the whole pizza pie.
Choice of regular crust or deep-dish Sicilian. Eat here
or take out. Delivery available, too. Also serving
Vegle and Meat Calzones every Tuesday and
Thursday.
Now Open Earlier on Saturday, at 11:30 am.
Open 11:30 am-Midnight M-S
3:30 pm-Midnight Sun.
SY’S PIZZA • 1211 Alder on Campus • 686-9598
EUGENE MAIL CENTER, INC.
1430 WILLAMETTE • PHONE 484-5889
ON THE MOVE?
SHIPPING PACKAGES?
SAVE $$$ AND HASSLE!
WE SHIP U.P.S., FEDERAL EXPRESS, OR PUROLATOR
TRY US . .. FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE
ALSO MAILBOX RENTALS WITH MAIL HOLDING AND
FORWARDING SERVICES
01
1
NEW!
Visit our Salad Case
Featuring a variety of
fresh, delicious salads daily!
Sweet Rolls every Saturday and Sunday!
Mon.-Fri. 6:30-5:30 • Sat. 8-5 • Sun. 9-3
795 West Sth — 342-4390
Corner of 8th & Monroe