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8 CapitalPress.com September 18, 2015 Oregon Beginners learn basics at OSU’s farm school By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press OREGON CITY — He was speaking to a class of beginning beekeepers, but Joe Maresh’s ad- vice probably could apply to all the prospective farmers who attended Oregon State University’s one-day Small Farms School: “Take your stings.” In other words, accept the fact that you will take your lumps in agriculture. But that doesn’t deter WKH SHRSOH ZKR FRQWLQXH WR ÀRFN to OSU’s popular small farms pro- grams. At least 175 registered for the Sept. 12 farm school workshops and demonstrations held at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City southeast of Portland. Classes offered through the day ranged from horse and sheep han- dling and emergency veterinary care Eric Mortenson/Capital Press to pasture management, small engine Joe Maresh, left, president of the Portland Metro Beekeepers Association, advises beginning farmers during an Oregon State University Small Farm School session Sept. 12. basics and how to grow blueberries. Maresh, president of the Portland Among his tips: Get into your Metro Beekeepers Association, led “Avoid beekeeping on the Inter- keepers a question,” he added, “and about 30 students through the basics hives frequently to see what’s going net,” Maresh advised. “The Internet get eight different answers.” of keeping pollinators and collect- on, join a bee club and get one or two is not your friend. Outside at the college’s expan- ing honey. good beekeeping books, not a bunch. ³<RX FDQ DVN ¿YH GLIIHUHQW EHH- sive crop plots, Aaron Guffy of East Deep Roots Coalition skips irrigation By BRETT TALLMAN For the Capital Press DUNDEE, Ore. — In Or- egon’s Willamette Valley, 22 vintners and farmers, calling themselves the Deep Roots Coalition, are forgoing irriga- tion in favor of the tradition- al method of growing wine grapes. For thousands of years, that method was the standard practice for grape growers, but since the introduction of irrigation it has become an al- ternative viticultural practice called dry farming. “I started in California in the ’70s so (the dry-farming method) is just how I learned to do it,” John Paul of Cam- eron Winery in Dundee, Ore., said. “Before the late ’70s ev- erything was dry farmed.” Paul is the founder of the Deep Roots Coalition. As a group, their mission is to con- serve agricultural water sup- plies, as well as make what they believe is more authentic wine. “To irrigate is to interfere with the impact of rainfall on the wine,” Paul said, “and rainfall, or lack of it, is an im- portant part of terroir. In most grape-growing regions in Eu- rope, a vintner will lose the right to put the appellation on the bottle if they irrigate their vines. That would be like tell- ing someone they couldn’t put Dundee Hills on their la- bel, which would cost them a lot of money.” Paul argued that growing grapes by the dry-farmed method makes good ecologi- cal sense as well. Multnomah Soil and Water Con- servation District talked irrigation basics with two dozen beginning farmers. In a fast-paced discussion of VFUHHQV¿OWHUVSXPSSUHVVXUHWDQNV and variable frequency drives, Guffy emphasized the need to focus on get- ting water from one place to another. “Before you decide the begin- ning” of an irrigation system, he said, “decide the end.” The turnout for farm school was indicative of the continued intense interest, especially in urban areas, about where food comes from and how it’s produced, said Garry Ste- phenson, director of OSU’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems. That interest can energize agri- culture as legions of baby boomer farmers near retirement age. “We have a generation of people in their twenties and thirties who are interested in going into farming as a business and as a statement of how they see the world,” Stephen- son said. “One of the hopes we have is that they will eventually scale up and become medium-size farms.” 2UHJRQPLOO¿UVWFHUWL¿HGWR make cross-laminated timber stall, aesthetically pleasing and made from a renewable resource, the governor said. “We are perfectly suited PORTLAND — Valerie Johnson acknowledges it’s for this work,” Brown said. been a wild ride. Just 22 “We grow the most desirable months after hearing about species. If this product is go- cross-laminated timber pan- ing to hit the market, it made els, her D.R. Johnson mill more sense for it to emerge in Southern Oregon is mak- from our state than any oth- ing them, has partnered er.” Ethan Martin, an engi- with state money and uni- versity researchers, bought neer with the industry group Kali Ramey Martin/For the Capital Press new equipment and appears WoodWorks, said cross lam- Cover crops are used to regulate moisture at the Cameron Winery. poised for a breakout that inated timbers are “like Glu- Owner John Paul is the founder of the Deep Roots Coalition. As a many think could revitalize lam (beams) and plywood group, their mission is to conserve agricultural water supplies, as got together and had a baby.” Oregon’s timber industry. well as make what they believe is more authentic wine. The process can produce On Sept. 10 in Portland, Gov. Kate Brown announced wooden panels 8- to 10-feet “In Northern California, table to the point where trib- '5 -RKQVRQ LV WKH ¿UVW wide, up to 20 inches thick for instance, the Russian Riv- utaries are running dry and $PHULFDQ FRPSDQ\ FHUWL¿HG and 64 feet long, he said. er is drying up,” Paul said. nothing is making it down- to make cross-laminated tim- Panels are formed by bond- “They’ve lowered the water stream. The same thing is EHU SDQHOV &HUWL¿FDWLRQ E\ ing layers of dimensional the American Plywood As- lumber such as two-by-fours. starting to happen here.” They can be hauled to a Paul addressed three ad- sociation and the American vantages an irrigated vine- National Standards Institute construction site and quickly yard has over a dry-farmed assures the panels, called installed in a manner Martin CLT, can be used in building and others jokingly compare vineyard. to assembling products from First, an irrigated vineyard construction. Brown made the an- Ikea, or like giant Legos. ZLOOUHDFKIXOOSURGXFWLRQ¿YH The product’s environ- to six years after it is planted, nouncement at Best Fest, an while a dry-farmed vineyard annual conference that fea- mental impact is much less tures clean-tech innovation. than other construction meth- will take about seven years. “But,” Paul said, “a dry- The conference organizer, ods, Martin said. “Every other material ex- farmed vineyard is way more Oregon BEST, is a qua- stable. There are productive si-public state agency that udes carbon, except wood,” vineyards in California that provides development grants he said. “Wood is the only are 80 to 100 years old. And and links entrepreneurs with product that sequesters car- some — not all, but some a network of university re- bon.” CLT construction has — irrigated vineyards start searchers. Oregon BEST provided been used for high-rise build- to slow down after just 20 $150,000 for CLT research ings in Europe and Canada, years.” Second, an irrigated vine- at Oregon State University but is limited in the U.S. to yard will produce larger and will lend D.R. Johnson six stories, Martin said. The $100,000 for a new produc- limitations come from build- crops. “That’s debatable,” Paul tion line. The governor said ing laws adopted in 1899 and said.” If quality wine is the the state is sponsoring a CLT 1910 in response to tragic goal, you should be thinning design competition, with WHQHPHQW¿UHV Martin said that’s chang- $200,000 in funding and ser- crops anyway.” ing, and the technology is And third, irrigated vines vices going to the winner. Speaking from a podium gaining acceptance. A 19-sto- can be planted closer together because there is less competi- made from cross-laminat- ry wooden building is being ed timbers, Brown said she designed in Portland, he said. tion for water. “The trouble is,” Paul said, hopes the technology will A four-story commercial “roots will go where the wa- “fuel the economic engine in building, Albina Yard, is un- ter is. If the water is dumped rural Oregon.” Cross lami- der construction in Portland on the surface, the roots stay nated panels are strong, cost DQG LV WKH ¿UVW SURMHFW EXLOW shallow where they’re more competitive, much quicker with domestically produced than steel and concrete to in- CLT panels. vulnerable to disease.” By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press 38-4/#5 38-2/#7