Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2017)
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3 FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017 Business / Agriculture Geiser Grand wins wine award CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Sidway first learned of the award when local winemaker Travis Cook, from Copperbelt Winery, ran across the street from that company’s tasting room with the good news. The award is no small achievement in wine circles. Presented by the Oregon Wine Board and Oregon Wine Press corrobora- tively, the award is the result of jury voting, done with secret ballots. As for how her restaurant, which operates in the Palm Court beneath the famous stained glass ceiling inside the ho- tel itself, was nominated? Well, that’s something of a mystery. “I have my suspicions, though,” said Sidway. The Geiser Grand’s wine list is impressive, filling a legal-sized page on the menu and broken into categories such as red, white, sparkling and even nonalcoholic choices. Five years ago, those choices also earned Sidway another wine award from WinePress Northwest. “We are locally focused,” she said. “We are offering wines not generally avail- able ... It takes more effort to find smaller producers but you get a better product at a lower price.” Sidway explained that in her experience, the better quality of local wines from small producers naturally results from the care they put into their products versus a mass production approach. Oregon’s Lodmell wines, for example, are only pro- Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com As of March 7, 2017, to his knowledge, Anthony Constantine III became the only arborist in Baker City. Constantine’s family owns and operates Tony’s Tree Service. He helped with his fam- ily’s business growing up, officially became a rep- resentative for service in October 2015, and is now a certified arborist. “It’s more just a trade name than anything,” ex- plained Constantine. “It’s kind of like the profession. The study of arboriculture is kind of like the study of what we do—trees, biolo- gy, pest management—it’s sort of all-encompassing. The ISA, the International Society of Arboriculture, is the organization which gives you the certified arborist title and they are trying to turn the industry into more than just a bunch of guys out there cutting trees however they see fit. “It creates a standard of how best to perform our duties and things to watch out for. Risk management, insect disease, pest control, fertilization, soil manage- ment, and it sort of brings the tree care in line with the urban environment.” Constantine explained that if a company wanted to build a parking lot in an area where there are trees, the idea is for them to have an arborist on site before- hand to prevent any dam- age to the existing trees. Friday, March 10, 2017 — Eastern Oregon Prices trended generally steady in a limited test compared to week ago prices. Most demand lays with the retail/stable hay. According to some pro- ducers, horse owners prefer lower sugar, higher pro- teinhay. Many producers are sold out for the year. Tons Price Range Wtd Avg Alfalfa — Large Square Good 30 130.00-130.00 130.00 Alfalfa / Orchard Mix — Small Square Premium 3 175.00-175.00 175.00 USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov — Cattle Market Report — Kerry McQuisten/ The Baker County Press Barbara Sidway holds the wooden plaque sent to her by Oregon Wine Press. duced to the tune of about 1,000 cases per year. The wines she offers are primarily not widely distributed; they arrive at her venue when the owners swing through town or when she takes a trip to them instead. The winemakers, she said, “Make tough deci- sions at every turn—just like anyone in agriculture.” They must, she said, decide on financial invest- ment, how long to age the wines in the barrel versus pulling them out early, and how to build the image or brand attributed to their private label. “They have to particpate in food and wine shows, and competitions,” she said. “It’s a lot.” Sidway’s wine knowl- edge has been a steady work in progress. In the early 90s she attended Pi- not Camp, where she first met Bev Calder in McMin- nville, now owner of Bella Main Street Market in Baker City. Sometime after that friendship formed, Calder moved to Baker City and established her business, which also car- ries a variety of wines. More recently, Sidway actually participated as a jury member at the North- west Wine Summit, which was held over three days at Timberline Lodge. Jury members are only allowed to participate once in a lifetime, and judge 1,500 wines in the competition. “It’s the Oscars of the wine industry,” she said. A total of 21 judges, broken into groups of three to five people, conduct the blind taste tests for the wines. The Geiser Grand is planning a celebratory Copperbelt wine dinner on April 8th with “foods that will elevate the wines,” she said. The event will be limited to 30 guests. Sidway said she’s not only interested in sourcing locally for wines, but is always on the lookout for locally grown produce. At present, the restaurant uses a specialty garlic chive with lavender-colored flowers, cherry tomatoes, and greenhouse-grown micro-grains for use on salads—just to name a few. And, being beef country, locally grown beef is on the menu. A full list of award win- ners is available at www. oregonwine.org/a-list. There’s a new arborist in town! BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER — Weekly Hay Report — “If they wanted to clear a certain amount of acres, the arborist would choose which trees are worth saving or not. The arbor- ist would choose the trees based on species, age, how hearty it is, and other aspects,” he said. “It’s sort of bringing a sense of professionalism into our industry,” said Constantine. “I grew up in the industry. My dad has owned Tony’s Tree Service since before I was born and in his day and age the tree guys were kind of rough around the edges. They weren’t really considered professional, someone that you’d probably want to sit and have a dinner with, or something. I think it always sort of carried like a bad image and so the ISA is trying to sort of make it a little more professional.” Constantine explained that in order to do tree work, one needs a contrac- tor’s license. In the state of Oregon people can use the ISA title of arborist, but it is not necessary to have a busi- ness and do arborist work as it is not a license. To become an arborist, a person would need to become a member with the ISA, buy a study guide—a book—to study what an arborist should know, and take a test. Someone would also have to have a few years’ experience in the industry or have gone to school for botany, horticul- ture, or something that has to do with plants. “Really what it takes is just studying, having Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press Arborist, Anthony Constantine III. a basic knowledge and understanding of what it is you’re doing and trying to achieve,” said Constantine. “And ultimately, I think, you have to have some level of passion for trees and the industry to be an arborist. It was something I studied for all winter, and then you become a mem- ber of the International Society of Arboriculture, you take a test and, if you pass the test, you get the certification.” He said, “They also offer furthering education and you can become a master arborist and I think that takes multiple years of performance above what they would consider just an arborist; you have to be involved in different Arbor Day Foundation Projects. And then they do Tree Climber’s Certifications and that sort of thing. “So, what they’re really building is a community of arborist like-minded people who want to see the industry progress and want to see the care of trees improve because there are a lot of poor practices go- ing on in every city across the nation, or at least every city I’ve been to. “You’ll see poor prac- tices, whether it’s pruning, soil management, con- struction; I feel like a lot of times people just sort of disregard them and people don’t really take note or really consider what the benefit that trees add to everyone’s life, really.” Constantine’s father, Anthony Constantine II, began climbing trees over 50 years ago in New Jersey. SEE ARBORIST PAGE 5 Wednesday, March 1, 2017 Vale, Oregon Cattle sold through the auction: 1345 (No new sales numbers for last week available.) Steer Calves 300-400# Bulk 157.00-187.00 Top 193.00 400-500# Bulk 155.00-183.00 Top 183.50 500-600# Bulk 140.00-161.00 Top 165.50 Heifer Calves 300-400# Bulk 147.00-162.00 Top 162.50 400-500# Bulk 132.00-158.00 Top 160.50 500-600# Bulk 125.00-141.00 Top 143.00 600-700# 700-800# 800-900# 900-1,000# Yearling Steers Bulk 128.00-140.00 Top 143.00 Bulk 119.00-129.00 Top 129.50 Bulk 116.00-125.00 Top 125.75 Bulk 110.00-118.00 Top 119.25 Yearling Heifers 600-700# Bulk 116.00-128.00 Top 130.00 700-800# Bulk 110.00-121.00 Top 122.50 800-900# Bulk 104.00-111.00 Top 114.00 900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A Thin Shelly Cows 37.00-52.00 Butcher Cows 58.00-65.00 Butcher Bulls 58.00 -77.00 Stock Cows N/A Hfretts 69.00-91.00 Stock Cows Young - N.A ProducersLivestock.com 541-473-3136 — Log Price Report — Prices are based on the majority of saw mills in Northeastern Oregon and Central Idaho. The prices listed below are a composite prices of various saw- mills willing to visit with me about this topic. Ponderosa Pine—small diameter class 8-11 inches diameter class $250 per mbf. Only one sawmill was willing to buy small diameter pine at this time. Ponderosa Pine—medium diameter class 12-17 inches diameter class $300 to $350 per mbf Ponderosa Pine-large diameter class 18 plus inches diameter class $380 to $410 per mbf The Pine prices are still approximately $40 per mbf below average lumber/log market due to 2017 fire salvage Doug Fir & Western Larch—$380 to $420 per mbf. Normal prices typically ranged between $425 to $475 per mbf. White Fir-$300 per mbf. Normal prices typically ranged between $340 to $360 per mbf. Engelmann Spruce—$350 at one Idaho sawmill, other sawmills including with White fir prices. In general, the log prices still impacted from 2015 fire season and fire salvage that resulted. Sawmills are starting to get log yard inventory in line with sawmill production needs. With a new Administra- tion as of 1/20/2017, a more normal economic envi- ronment should result and hopefully a more healthy housing situation will result in a better climate for Northeast Oregon Sawmill and private forest land- owners. Courtesy of Arvid Andersen, Andersen Forestry Consulting — Precious Metals Report — Price per ounce, USD Gold: $1,214.90 Silver: $17.23 Platinum: $951.66 Palladium: $762.70 Bloomberg.com — Ag Commodities — Corn: $363.50/bu/USD Wheat: $436.00/bu/USD Soybeans: $998.00/bu/USD Oats: $257.25 bu/USD Rough Rice: $9.68/cwt/USD Canola: $510.80 CAD/mwt Live Cattle: $108.25//lb./USD Feeder Cattle: $127.33/lb./USD Lean Hogs: $78.83/lb./USD Bloomberg.com
