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CapitalPress.com
Friday, November 1, 2019
People & Places
Portland’s oldest urban winery thrives
By ALIYA HALL
For the Capital Press
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Established 1928
PORTLAND, Ore. —
When Laurie Lewis moved
from Texas to Oregon,
she said the extent of her
wine knowledge was nar-
row. It wasn’t until she
met her future wife and
avid wine drinker, Renee
Neely, that her love for wine
grew and the two decided
to make their passion a
career.
“We had a 10-year
plan,” Lewis said, “but
once you get bit with the
bug of ‘This is what I want
to do with the rest of my
life,’ it’s hard to then say,
‘Oh, I need to wait.’”
Hip Chicks Do Wine is
the oldest urban winery in
Portland, producing wine
since 1999. Their mis-
sion was to offer a wine
experience that was fun,
approachable and empow-
ering. Lewis recalled when
they were wine tasting
years ago and struggled to
be served or receive any
information on the wine,
and those experiences also
helped inspire opening
their own winery.
“Was it because we
were women? Maybe. Was
it because we were young?
Maybe. Was it because the
man next to us had more
money? Probably. There
was a whole bunch of fac-
tors,” Lewis explained.
“We decided we wanted
to be more accessible and
be a winery that could fill
that gap from young to old,
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HIP CHICKS DO
WINE
Educations: Social work
and theater
Hometowns: Euless,
Texas, and Portland
Entire contents copyright © 2019
EO Media Group
dba Capital Press
An independent newspaper
published every Friday.
Ages: 49 and 53
Family: Wives Laurie
Lewis and Renee Neely,
and their son, Tiernan
Connor.
Website: www.hipchicks-
dowine.com
Renee Neely and Laurie Lewis are the owners of Hip Chicks Do Wine, Portland’s oldest
urban winery, which has been producing wine since 1999.
and we wanted to focus on
being a winery women felt
comfortable in.”
They also wanted to
bring a piece of wine coun-
try to the city. After com-
muting to her job at Duck
Pond Cellars for 4 1/2 years,
Lewis said she wasn’t inter-
ested in continuing that
trek, and the idea of mov-
ing to the country made her
uncomfortable.
“It’s beautiful, I get the
idyllic romantic visions,”
she said, “but at that point
20 something years ago,
the idea that two women,
two lesbians, deciding to
move out into the country,
who knew they were going
to have a baby and start a
family — I just wasn’t sure
if we’d be welcomed with
open arms.”
Hip Chicks Do Wine
makes 16 wines under three
labels: Hip Chicks; Pride
wines, which are three
small batch bottles avail-
able every year for Pride
month; and Tiernan Con-
nor Cellar Wines, which
are reserve style wines in
honor of their son.
The winery works with
12 different grape selec-
tions that are produced
in Oregon and Washing-
ton vineyards. They work
with anywhere between
two to six vineyards to
have a wide variety of
grapes.
Hip Chicks tries to be
non-traditional with their
flavorings and like having
dry, less sweet wines as
well as a variety of blends
that can appeal to a wider
variety of palettes.
“It’s more appealing to
have that surprise and ‘ah-
ha’ moment,” Lewis said
about crafting the wines.
Although Lewis and
Neely will still be asked
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“who’s your wine maker,”
Lewis said that the treat-
ment of women in the
wine industry has only
improved, and continues
to be a bright market for
them.
“It’s rewarding at this
point to look and see how
many women are in the
Oregon wine industry
these days because when
we started there wasn’t
that many,” she said. “You
could probably count them
on both sets of hands, and
there’s so many more now.
That whole idea of being a
woman in the wine indus-
try, it is both a challenge
and it is rewarding.”
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Oregon
Pumpkins help add to farm’s bottom line
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
ROSEBURG, Ore. —
The tradition of going to the
pumpkin patch can be both
an educational and a mem-
ory-making experience for
kids and families. It also
connects the public to farm-
ing and agriculture, and is
a big boost to the farmer’s
income.
For years, even decades,
families have been visiting
pumpkin fields on weekends
and classes of young school
children have been visiting
on weekdays during Octo-
ber as Halloween nears. At
many farms, a wagon with
hay bales for seats carries
both kids and adults into the
field. Once off the wagon,
the kids, with adults in pur-
suit, spread out in search
of the perfect pumpkin for
carving into a jack-o-lan-
tern or for decoration for
Halloween.
Some farms also have hay
bale mazes or corn mazes to
add to the family activities.
“It’s really the only sector
of U-pick farming that has
grown in the past 30 years,”
said Evan Kruse, co-owner
of Kruse Farms, a 500-acre
family business near Rose-
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Corbin Currington, left, Hollyn Dinneen and Zayden
Dinneen are pleased with their pumpkin choices during
a recent visit to Kruse Farms near Roseburg, Ore. They
made the trip to the farm with their grandmother,
Amy Holmgren. Visits to pumpkin patches has been a
tradition for Holmgren’s family for many years, dating
back to when she was a grade schooler.
burg, Ore. “There’s a lot
more interest in this type of
ag tourism than U-picking
fruits and vegetables to feed
your family. It just shows
the progression of the eas-
ier availability of produce
in farm markets and grocery
stores.”
Kruse, who has three
young children, said a
visit to the pumpkin patch
is play compared to what
might be considered work
when U-picking beans,
strawberries or any other
fruit or vegetable.
Kruse Farms offers visi-
tors 10 acres of pumpkins to
choose from, a 4-acre corn
maze, a hay bale maze in
a greenhouse and a 1-acre
sunflower walk.
“It’s the most important
15 acres on the farm out of
the 500 because they pro-
vide the most connection
to the public,” Kruse said.
“There’s so little exposure
to agriculture, but a pump-
kin visit allows people to see
what we have and to see a
still working farm.”
Roseburg teacher Robin
Huselton brought her class
of 20 kindergartners to
Kruse Farms on Oct. 22.
After about 30 minutes of
searching, each student had
picked out a pumpkin.
Huselton said prior to the
visit, the kids read books
about the lifecycle of a
pumpkin, watched science
videos about pumpkins and
made a book about pump-
kins. She explained that in
learning about the differ-
ent seasons, it is easy for the
students to make the con-
nection between pumpkins
and fall.
She added that once
the pumpkins are back in
the classroom, they’ll be
weighed and measured by
the kids as a numbers lesson.
“A pumpkin patch trip
gets the kids out in nature,”
Huselton said. “A lot of my
students live in apartments.
It’s good for the students to
see and understand that they
can get produce grown right
here where they can see it.”
Amy Holmgren said
her grandchildren make
two or three trips to pump-
kin fields each year, mak-
ing those visits with grand-
parents, parents and classes.
She said those family trips
have been a tradition for
many years. When she was
a child, she visited pumpkin
fields with her parents and
grandparents.
“The kids love it every
time they go,” Holmgren
said. “As kids get older and
the world changes, there are
not a lot of wholesome tradi-
tions left. It’s good to have
certain things like this that
the kids can count on.”
Holmgren said she talks
to her grandchildren about
the process of growing
pumpkins, that they need
good soil and water, and
that a farmer needs to do the
work.
“They need to know
pumpkins and food are
not just a magical thing,”
Holmgren said. “They need
to know where food comes
from, where and how vege-
tables grow, and that they’re
just not from a store.”
For the farms, in addition
to exposure to the visiting
public, pumpkins provide
one more income source.
“Pumpkins offer another
good opportunity for an
earning month for a farm
after the summer months
when most crops are har-
vested,” Kruse said.
org/2019-aaw-convention/.
attractions such as “Dine Around Ore-
gon,” an antique farm equipment dis-
play and an educational area from Ore-
gon Women for Agriculture. Parking is
free. The hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues-
day. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday and
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday. Contact: Scott
or Jill Ingalls, info@wvaexpo.com, 800-
208-2168. http://wvaexpo.com/
CALENDAR
THROUGH NOV. 2
92nd National FFA Convention
and Expo: Indiana Convention Center,
100 S Capitol Ave., Indianapolis, Indi-
ana. This is the organization’s annual
gathering. Contact: https://conven-
tion.ffa.org/
FRIDAY, NOV. 1
Oregon Hay King Samples
Due. Hay quality samples are due
for Oregon Hay King Contest, which
will be held on Nov. 16. $30 per
entry. For more details and entry
form go to www.oregonhaygrow-
ers.com or contact Mylen Bohle at
541-447-6228 or mylen.bohle@ore-
gonstate.edu
SATURDAY, NOV. 2
Goat Discovery Day:
9 a.m.-4 p.m. Pleasant Hill High
School, 36386 Highway 58, Pleasant
Hill, Ore. If you are an experienced
“goat person” or you hope to be, this
event is for you. A full day of work-
shops, demos with live goats, ven-
dors and networking. Presented by
Emerald Dairy Goat Association and
Oregon State University Extension
Services. Contact: Teagan Moran,
teagan.moran@oregonstate.org,
541-713-5011
SATURDAY-TUESDAY
NOV. 2-4
2019 Angus Convention: Reno-
Sparks Convention Center, 4590 S.
Virginia St., Reno, Nev. From out-
standing educational seminars to
nationally known entertainment.
Website: www.angusconvention.
com
MONDAY, NOV. 4
Exploring the Small Farm
Dream: 6-8:30 pm. OSU Exten-
sion Office, Josephine County, 215
Ringuette St., Grants Pass, Ore. This
three-session beginning farmer train-
ing series meets in Nov. 4, 11 and
18. Southern Oregon abounds with
enthusiastic farmers involved in pur-
suing the commercial small farm
dream.
TUESDAY, NOV. 5
WSU Extension Forest Health
Seminar. 6-8 p.m. Bob Lyle Com-
munity Center, 700 Main Ave., Mor-
ton, Wash. This seminar will help you
understand forest health, what to
look for, and what you may be able
to do about it on your own property.
To register, go to https://bit.ly/2qxL-
wOL Contact: patrick.shults@wsu.edu,
360-740-1213
TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY
NOV. 5-6
Intermountain Native Plant
Summit IX: Boise State University
Student Union Building. The use of
native plants on rangelands in the
West. Open to the public. Contact:
Thomas Jones, thomas/jones@usda.
gov
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 6
Women and Leadership 3:
5-8 p.m., Urban Studio, 935 Northwest
Davis St., Portland. Jordan Ramis PC
announces the Third Annual Women
& Leadership event. Designed to moti-
vate, inspire and educate women
who are leaders or aspiring leaders.
Food, drinks, and whiskey tastings will
be provided with the goal in mind
of bringing women and allies in the
agricultural industry together to net-
work, discuss issues regarding careers
and growth and enjoy the company
of like-minded colleagues. A panel
discussion features Caylin Barter, an
environmental and natural resources
attorney with Jordan Ramis; Cory Car-
man, owner of Carman Ranch in Wal-
lowa County, Ore.; Leigh Geschwill,
owner of F&B Farms and Nursery; and
Mallory Phelan, executive director of
Oregon Aglink. Contact: info@jordan-
ramis.com, (503) 598-7070. https://bit.
ly/WomenAndLeadership3
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
NOV. 6-10
American Agri-Women Con-
vention: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Embassy
Suites by Hilton, 9000 SW Wash-
ington Square Road, Tigard, Ore.
Hosted by the Oregon Women for
Agriculture, the American Agri-
Women Convention will bring mem-
bers from around the nation. Con-
tact: Oregon Women for Agriculture,
541-791-6031. https://owaonline.
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FRIDAY-SUNDAY
NOV. 8-10
Tilth Conference 2019: Yakima
Convention Center, 10 N. Eighth St.,
Yakima, Wash. Every year, the Tilth
Conference brings together hundreds
of farmers, producers, researchers and
food system professionals for a week-
end of learning, building relation-
ships and sharing best practices. Con-
tact: Kevin McAleese, kevinmcaleese@
tilthalliance.org. http://www.tilthcon-
ference.org
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY
NOV. 11-13
Idaho Cattle Association Annual
Convention: Sun Valley Inn at Sun
Valley Resort, Sun Valley, Idaho. The
annual ICA event is focused on cattle-
men’s needs, putting them face-to-
face with some of the industry’s most
renowned experts. Contact: 208-343-
1615, www.idahocattle.org/
TUESDAY-THURSDAY
NOV. 12-14
Willamette Valley Ag Expo: Linn
County Fair and Expo Center, 3700
Knox Butte Rd. E, Albany, Ore. Pro-
duced by the nonprofit Willamette Val-
ley Ag Association. The expo is over
250,000 sq. ft. of exhibitors, equip-
ment, seminars, classes, food and
fun. In addition to the exhibitors and
classes, attendees can enjoy other
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 13
Big Idaho Potato Harvest
Meeting. 8 a.m. Shoshone-Ban-
nock Hotel and Event Center, 777
Bannock Trail, Fort Hall, Idaho. The
event includes meetings of the Idaho
Grower Shippers Association, United
Potato Growers of Idaho, Southern
Idaho Potato Cooperative and the
raw-products group of the Idaho
Association of Commerce and Indus-
try. They will be followed by pre-
sentations by Potatoes USA Presi-
dent and CEO Blair Richardson and
National Potato Council CEO Kam
Quarles and Idaho Potato Commis-
sion President and CEO Frank Muir.
Contact: Jeweldean Hall, 208-334-
2350. https://idahopotato.com/
industry/harvest-meeting
WEDNESDAY-
THURSDAY
NOV. 13-14
Dairy West Annual Meeting:
Centre on the Grove, 850 W. Front
St., Boise. This is the annual meeting
of Idaho and Utah dairy industries.
Contact: https://www.dairywest.com
comments on agriculture-related public
issues to opinions@capitalpress.com, or
mail your letter to “Opinion,” c/o Capital
Press. Letters should be limited to
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Index
Dairy .....................................................10
Markets .................................................13
Opinion ...................................................6
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