in other words/community
june19
2014
Voices From the Crowd: Lessons of the Clueless Gardener
By Diana Peach
Besides all the other things I enjoy about
Oregon, I love the green lushness and how everything
grows with wild abandon. I grew up on the east coast
where the landscape is tamer and cultivation an entirely
different process, harder in some ways, easier
in others.
For the clueless gardener, Vermont
had its upside. I’d till my beds with a little cow
manure, drop in the seeds, and walk away. It
rained one or two days a week, so watering was
rarely necessary. And once a month, I’d pluck
out a scrawny smattering of weeds. Ta da! All
done until fall’s modest harvest.
So, this Vermonter moves to Oregon
and plants a garden looking forward to a richer
bounty. Spring arrives with raised beds weeded,
the dark, composted soil warming for Memorial
Day planting. The gravel paths between the
beds are free of thistle and a fence is up for
climbing vines. As I did in New England, I go
about other activities until planting day comes.
Lesson One: The big day arrives, and loaded
with trowel, seed packets, and starts, I head out to my
tidy garden with visions of fresh spinach dancing in
my head. Turning the corner, I stop short, my eyeballs
ready to pop from their sockets. The scene is straight
out of an old sci-fi flick, the one where the giant weeds
Run! Day Camp for Dogs
property with several different fenced
areas that all open into one central area.
“That way we can have everything open
or we can separate dogs out based on if
somebody has had surgery or we have
an older dog,” explains Ochs. “It gives
us the ability to keep them all active and
give them that stimulus and that outdoor
time.”
Run! has created a system
of gates and fences for securing the
property, including several gates which
the transport vehicles pass through in
order to keep all the dogs in place inside
the fenced area.
Titus has been clearing more
land on the property to add more fenced
areas and workers have been limbing up
trees to add more visibility and
open areas.
Seeing all these dogs
loose together, wrestling,
digging, and chasing makes
you wondering if they ever
have any problems at Run! with
dogs getting aggressive with
each other. Don’t they fight?
First of all, says Ochs,
they don’t allow dogs that have
issues with other dogs. Dogs
that get aggressive or fight are
not allowed to return. Ochs
notes that having the dogs away
from their own property and on
neutral ground helps alleviate
issues between dogs. The
employees at Run! are trained
before they are transported
home.
Run! just started
an exciting new pilot
program with Intel at the
end of May. Run! can now
pick-up and return dogs to
one of the Intel campuses
in Hillsboro. If the pilot
program is successful Run!
could greatly expand their
operation.
Ochs says partner
Titus, who also runs a road
building business,
has played an
active roll in
making
Run!
successful. “He’s
here
everyday,
actively working,”
says Ochs. “He’s
been a big part
of getting our
relationship with
Intel in place.
And all his heavy
equipment
has
been a huge help.
He’s made short
work of some
pretty major projects here.” Titus noted
that Run! buys most of their supplies
locally, has also hired local workers for
some of the many construction projects
they have completed, and used local
businesses and workers to modify their
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Josh,
Teresa,
Margy
Josh,
Juli, Juli,
Teresa,
Margy
& Davia
905 Bridge Street
(503)
(503) 429-6271
429-6271
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transport vehicles.
Run! is a successful and growing
local business. Next time you pass one
of their vans on the road maybe you’ll
smile to yourself as you picture all those
dogs getting ready for, or returning from,
a day of playing in the woods.
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threaten to devour the neighborhood. “You’ve got to be
kidding me!” I gawk. “I just weeded three weeks ago!”
Lesson Two: When I first moved to Vernonia
it rained for 29 days straight. “Wow,” I remarked to
my water-logged husband. “I remember seeing houses
for sale with sprinkler systems; I wonder why.” That
year the great spigot in the sky turned off on
July 3 rd . Two days later the soil was bone dry
and my tomato plants were hacking on the dust
as if I’d stuck them in the Serengeti sand dunes.
My lettuce collapsed flat to the ground like a
two-year-old having a tantrum. “You’ve got to
be kidding me!” I gawked. “I have to water?”
There are other lessons too embarrassing to
share, about colossal mole colonies, blackberry
vines encasing an entire tree, and laying a
patio without a weed barrier beneath. My
Vernonia friends pat my befuddled head, and
smile sympathetically at my utter cluelessness.
“She’ll learn in time,” they whisper to each
other as they knowingly nod…and I sure do
hope they’re right.
continued from page 10
to re-direct a dog’s attention. “A lot of it
is recognizing triggers,” explains Ochs.
While I was visiting, one dog got a hold
of a work glove. Several dogs started
chasing the first dog, wanting to play
with the glove. The same thing happened
later with a stick. “This thing suddenly
becomes something that everyone wants
and now there is an ownership issue,”
says Ochs. “The easiest way to handle it
is to redirect their attention to something
else that seems more exciting and then
they’re gone—they’re over it.”
At Run! dogs are obviously
outside in the weather, rain or shine.
Sometimes they find mud to play in or
roll in something they shouldn’t. Ochs
says each dog gets a warm water rinse
503-789-3835
11
Grey Dawn Gallery
879 Bridge St. (503) 429-2787
DENNIS
HM: 503-429-2810
CELL: 503-313-9044
1264 G ST.
VERNONIA, OR 97064
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Featuring the finest in northwest art
59229 Nehalem Hwy. South
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