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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2015)
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3 FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2015 Business & Ag Mill Creek Leatherworks offers expert cleaning and repair BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com Quality and attention to detail mark the services offered by Jackie Emele of Mill Creek Leatherworks. Emele said she wanted something to keep her busy after retiring, so she offers her services cleaning and repairing leather items, cleaning and patching saddle blankets and “horse gear,” and making leather goods. Emele works out of her home and takes custom orders. She can do most kinds of leather repair, clean and restore saddles, and repair horse blankets and horn wraps. In addition, Emele can make many types of leather items, including scabbards, belts, head stalls, bridles, breast collars, and wallets. She does not use kits, but cuts and patterns by hand. Emele gained horse experience riding for the Wilson Cattle Company in North Powder for 19 years. She said she has done a lot of work for Harrell and Mackenzie’s March sale, repairing horse blankets for the colts. Emele said, “I try to do quality work and fix things like I’d want them fixed. If I can’t repair something and it’s beyond me, I’ll say so.” She says she believes her prices are reasonable, and that she knows what she needs to have to complete the job. She completes projects in a timely man- ner. Prices depend on the type and complexity of each project. For example, Emele said her price for cleaning a saddle starts at $100. Any repairs that need to be done would increase the price. She said saddles get really dirty and the clean- ing and reconditioning process is complex. Emele will take apart, clean, condition, and reassemble the saddle. Samples of Emele’s work hang in her office and home, including a leather purse tooled in an oakleaf pattern which she made some years ago for her Sunny@TheBakerCountyPress.com Kevin Bradford is a graphic designer from Haines who likes to be prepared with enough food to provide for his family in an emergency. In 2012 Bradford and his family bought several boxes of quick-frozen fruit from a cannery in Boise. The fruit was delicious, and the Bradford family enjoyed being able to eat peaches and berries, in pies and smoothies through the winter. When the next summer rolled around they went back to the cannery for more, only to find the ca - nery was no longer selling the frozen fruit. “We were so disap- pointed,” said Bradford. “We were looking forward to getting a couple of hun- dred pounds of fruit.” Stymied in their efforts to buy from the cannery, the Bradfords returned home. Kevin then realized they still had an empty box from the previous year’s purchase; looking at it he found the name of the fruit company who originally packed the fruit: Willa- mette Valley Pie and Fruit Company. “I didn’t know if they would sell directly to me,” he said, “but it was worth a try.” He called the company, and found they would be happy to sell to individu- als, the catch being that there was a minimum order of 3,200 pounds—two whole pallets. The Bradford family did some creative thinking and realized that, if they loved getting the fruit in such quantities, other families in Eastern Oregon would probably be interested too. Thus began Eastern Oregon Fruit. Spreading the word, they managed to come up with enough orders to total 7,000 pounds, more than enough to make sending a truck from the Willamette Valley worthwhile. 120 families, from Pendleton to Baker City, participated in the order. “We had the truck stop at Pendleton, La Grande and Haines,” explained Brad- ford, “and the buyers from each region met us. We had them pay at the truck for their fruit, but it was a little hairy. We weren’t all that organized as it was our first time.” Still, the effort was suc- cessful and 120 families in Eastern Oregon were able to buy fresh-frozen fruit to enjoy all winter. The benefit of buying the freshly frozen fruits is that the fruit is frozen as soon as it is picked, ensur- ing the freshest fruits to the customer. All fruit can be fresh-frozen but, of course, once thawed not all fruit can be enjoyed in the same manner as fresh produce. But, as the Bradfords have discovered, cooking and canning the fresh-fro- zen fruit delivers the same delicious results as if fresh produce were being used. The following year the Bradfords tried to organize another delivery only to find that the company in the valley had increased the required poundage for a minimum order. They weren’t able to gather enough orders to reach that amount, local fruit was plentiful and prior customers were able to meet their needs locally. This year, Willamette Valley Pie and Fruit Co. reduced the minimize order size to 3,200 again, so Kevin began organizing another Eastern Oregon purchase. This year he has de- signed a website, www. EasternOregonfruit.com, and has a very simple on- line ordering process. The site also has a Facebook page and in just a couple of weeks has 95 followers. Friday, July 31, 2015 — Eastern Oregon Prices trended generally steady compared to the same quality last week. Trade activity increased slightly this week however many producers are still busy in the field with the second cutting. Many pr - ducers have decided to hold on to their hay for now. Tons Price Range Wtd Avg Alfalfa — Large Square Supreme 250 210.00-210.00 210.00 Good 300 185.00-185.00 185.00 Fair 240 150.00-150.00 150.00 Timothy Grass — Large Square Premium 250 210.00-210.00 210.00 USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov — Cattle Market Report — Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press Jackie Emele can take apart, clean and reassemble a saddle starting at just $100, leaving the saddle looking brand new again. mother. Emele said she recently restored the item, which looks almost brand new. Emele also has pictures of past projects available. In addition to selling items, Emele has donated horse tack to the Friends of Haines for their Fourth of July fireworks fundraiser and donates items tos New Hope for Eastern Oregon Animals for auction and fundraising. To find out more or request information on a custom job, Emele can be reached at 541-519-0645. Buying in bulk—the offerings of Eastern Oregon Fruit BY SUNNY WERNER — Weekly Hay Report — Wednesday, July 22, 2015 Vale, Oregon (No update from week prior.) Cattle sold through the auction: 231 Steer Calves 300-400# Bulk 262.00 - 298.00 Top 301.00 400-500# Bulk 241.00 - 268.00 Top 270.00 500-600# Bulk 232.00 - 253.00 Top 255.00 Heifer Calves 300-400# Bulk 223.00 - 267.00 Top 274.00 400-500# Bulk 214.00 - 246.00 Top 250.00 500-600# Bulk 218.00 - 237.00 Top 241.00 Yearling Steers 600-700# Bulk 223.00 - 234.00 Top 235.00 700-800# Bulk 203.00 - 209.00 Top 212.00 800-900# Bulk 196.00 - 205.00 Top 207.50 900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A Yearling Heifers 600-700# Bulk 211.00 - 221.00 Top 223.00 700-800# Bulk N/A Top N/A 800-900# Bulk N/A Top N/A 900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A Thin Shelly Cows 76.00 - 89.00 Butcher Cows 94.00 - 105.00 Butcher Bulls 117.00 - 136.00 Stock Cows Yng. N/A Younger Hfrts. 114.00 - 132.00 Stock Cows - N/A ProducersLivestock.com 541-473-3136 Submitted Photo. Kevin Bradford started the Eastern Oregon Fruit effort. In the very short time that the site went live, Kevin says, they have enough orders in for a truck from the valley. “This year we are doing it a little differently,” he said. “Instead of paying at the truck when they pick up their order, customers now will pre-pay online.” He went to explain that, as the payment must be made to the fruit company before the truck is loaded, having customers make their payment prior to picking up fruit protects him from being liable for the whole amount. “I have to send them the check first,” he said, speaking of the fruit com- pany, “which was leaving me trusting the customer would show up for their fruit at the pick up site, and reimburse me.” This year, once there are enough orders to warrant a truck, Eastern Oregon Fruit will bill the customers for their order. When all monies are col- lected, Bradford will send the check and the truck will be loaded. “ That way,” explained Bradford, “it also gives customers more of an incentive to come get their fruit—that first year we had some that nobody came to pick up, so I had to buy it.” Being a professional graphic designer, Bradford was able to streamline the online site to make order- ing simple and straightfor- ward. “I also have labels to go with every order,” he said, “which will make pick up from each delivery site go much faster this time.” As he explained, one of the challenges is get- ting each order out of the delivery truck as quickly as possible. “It’s a refrigerator truck,” he pointed out, “and every time that door opens you’re losing the cold.” When asked what he got out of organizing and coordinating this huge project, Bradford explained that he and his family like to purchase their fruit in large quantities and, with customers from all over the region, they are able to do that at a reasonable price. “The fruit company might throw in an extra box for me,” he said “but there’s no formal agreement or anything like that.” Orders are still being taken on the website, with payment due by August 10 and the truck arriving either August 20 or 21st, yet to be decided. Bradford said, “There is a lot of interest this year, and if we get enough people who still want to order after this delivery we will definitely get another truck over here.” — Log Price Report — Price per 1,000 board feet: Northeast Oregon Doug Fir is $415.00/mbf White fir is $365.00/mb Ponderosa Pine is brought sold on diameter splits 6 to 11 inch dib $300 to $310/MBF 12 to 17 inch dib $350 to $375/MBF 18 to 23 inch dib $400 to $430/MBF 24 inch plus dib $450 to $500/MBF DIB is diameter inside bark at small end of log. MBF is thousand board feet lumber, net scale. People interested in selling logs should call and get specific quotes from saw mills. Courtesy of Arvid Andersen, Andersen Forestry Consulting — Precious Metals Report — Price per ounce, USD Gold: $1084.50 Silver: $14.56 Platinum: $949.25 Palladium: $594.80 Bloomberg.com — Ag Commodities — Corn: $383.50/bu/USD Wheat: $502.75/bu/USD Soybeans: $953.25/bu/USD Oats: $244.25 bu/USD Rough Rice: $11.54/cwt/USD Canola: $502.00 CAD/mwt Live Cattle: $148.35/lb./USD Feeder Cattle: $214.38/lb./USD Lean Hogs: $66.80//lb./USD Bloomberg.com
