Applegater
Community Calendar
Applegate Valley Garden Club meets at 1:30 pm
on the third Wednesday of the month from
September through May. For meeting locations
and programs, call Sandra King at 541-899-9027
or Betty Lou Smith at 541- 846-6817.
Applegate 4-H Swine Club meets on Tuesday
following the third Wednesday of every month
at 7 pm. For more information contact Charles
Elmore at 541-846-6528 or Barbara Niedermeyer
at 541-846-7635.
Applegate Christian Fellowship. For service times,
call 541-899-8732, 24 hours/day.
Applegate Friends of Fire District #9 meets on
the third Tuesday of each month at the Fire
Station—1095 Upper Applegate Road—at 6:00
pm. New members are welcome. For more
information, call Bob Fischer 541-846-6218.
T.O.P.S. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every
Monday morning at Applegate Church, 18960
North Applegate Road (at the corner of Hwy. 238
and N. Applegate Road). Weigh-in starts at 8:30
am; the meeting starts at 9:00 am. Come join us!
Josephine County Soil and Water Conservation
District (SWCD) meets Thursdays at 6 pm.
For meeting information, call Connie Young at
541-846-6051.
Applegate Valley Community Forum (AVCF) meets
the third Thursday of each month, location
alternating between Applegate and Ruch. For more
information, call Pat Gordon at 541-899-7655.
Greater Applegate Community Development
Corporation meets the second Wednesday of each
month at 6:00 pm at the Applegate Library on
North Applegate Road in downtown Applegate.
For more information, call toll-free at 866-289-1638.
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
Grants Pass Branch meets monthly from September
through June. Days, times, and locations vary. All
those who hold an associate of arts, a baccalaureate or
higher degree from an accredited college or university
are welcome to join.Contact Sylvia Rose at snrjrose2@
charter.net or 541-479-0277 or Georgia Applegate at
gkapple@apbb.net or 541-787-7175.
AA Meeting There is an open meeting of Alcoholics
Anonymous every Wednesday at 7:00 AM at the
Williams Community Church Fellowship Hall
on East Fork Road in Williams. This meeting is
open to those who have a drinking problem and
have a desire to stop drinking, and also to anyone
interested in the Alcoholics Anonymous program
of recovery from drinking.
Applegate Library Hours
Sunday ...................................................closed
Monday .................................................closed
Tuesday ..................................... 2 pm - 6 pm
Wednesday ............................................closed
Thursday ...............................................closed
Friday ......................................... 2 pm - 6 pm
Saturday....................................10 am - 2 pm
(Storytime will be held Tuesdays at 2:30 pm.)
Ruch Branch Library Hours
Sunday ...................................................closed
Monday .................................................closed
Tuesday ....................................11 am - 5 pm
Wednesday ............................................closed
Thursday ................................... 1 pm - 7 pm
Friday .....................................................closed
Saturday................................... 12 pm - 4 pm
(Storytime will be held Tuesdays at 11 am.)
of Main and Oregon Streets. A donation is
suggested and appreciated. Volunteers help serve
meals or deliver meals to homebound seniors.
For information about volunteering (it takes
40 volunteers to keep the Jacksonville program
going) or receiving meals, call Food & Friends at
541-664-6674, x246 or x208.
Williams Library Hours
Sunday ...................................................closed
Monday .................................................closed
Tuesday ................................1:30 pm - 4 pm
Wednesday ...........................1:30 pm - 4 pm
Thursday ...............................................closed
Friday .....................................................closed
Saturday................................... 12 pm - 4 pm
Josephine County Farm Bureau. For meeting
information, call Connie Young at 541-846-6051.
Upper Applegate Grange #239 Business meetings:
second Thursday at 7:30 pm. Potluck/Social
meetings: fourth Friday at 7:30 pm, open to the
public. Join us for informative meetings, fun and
involvement in community service. Sponsors of
Cub Scout Pack Troop #18. Call 541- 899-6987.
Williams Rural Fire Protection District Meetings:
fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm at the
Williams Fire Department.
Williams Creek Watershed Council Meetings: fourth
Wednesday of the month at 7 pm at the Williams
Creek Fire Station. The Public is welcome. For
more information, call 541- 846-9175.
Williams Grange Pancake Breakfast: second Sunday
of each month, 8:30 am to 11:00 am. Closed
July and August. Bring the whole family! 20100
Williams Hwy, corner of Tetherow Road near the
Williams General Store. For more information,
call 541-846-6844.
Wonder Neighborhood Watch Meetings: second
Tuesday of each month, 6:30 pm, Wonder Bible
Chapel.
Applegate Fire District Board of Directors meets on
the third Wednesday of each month at Station
1 – 18489 N. Applegate Rd. at 7:30 pm. Except
for the months of March, April and May, which
are held at Headquarters – 1095 Upper Applegate
Rd. For more information, call 541-899-1050.
Applegate Neighborhood Network (ANN) meets
on the last Wednesday of every month at the
Ruch Library. All interested persons are welcome
to attend. ANN is a community organization
dedicated to protecting, preserving, and restoring
the Applegate watershed. For more information
about ANN, call Duane Bowman, 541-899-7264.
Women Helping Other Women (WHOW) meets the
second Thursday of the month at 10036 Hwy 238
(Gyda Lane) at 6:30 pm for a potluck meeting to
plan work parties at each other’s homes. New
members are welcome. For more information,
call Thalia Truesdell at 541-899-8741 or Sioux
Rogers at 541-846-7736.
Applegate Lake Cub Scouts Pack #18 (Ruch Region)
Outdoor activity (fishing, rafting, hikes, etc.) the
first Friday of each month; regular meeting the
third Friday of each month. Upper Applegate
Grange from 10 am to 1 pm. All boys in grades
first through fifth including homeschoolers, Ruch
students, and non-Ruch students are welcome.
For more information, contact Cub Leader Vic
Agnifili at 541-899-1717.
Friends of Ruch Library Board of Directors meets
monthly. Check with the Ruch Library for
schedule. 541-899-7438.
Applegate Partnership and Watershed Council
meets the 4th Thursday of the month at the
Applegate Library. For more information call
541-899-9982.
Food & Friends Senior Nutrition Program invites
local 60+ seniors to enjoy a nutritious, hot meal
served at 11:30 am Monday through Friday at
the Jacksonville IOOF Hall located at the corner
The Southern Oregon Beekeepers Association
meet the first Monday of each month, 7:30
pm, at the OSU extension. For more informa-
tion, please contact sobeekeepers@gmail.com
Email calendar information to gater@applegater.org.
What's Inside the Gater
Applegate Outback: Looking back ................................................................. p. 6
Back in Time: Farming in the Forties Part 2 ................................................ p. 19
Behind the Green Door: Looking for work .................................................... p. 22
Birdman: Duck fans rally ‘round ................................................................. p. 21
Dirty Fingernails and All: The point being ................................................... p. 5
Letters to the Editor ..................................................................................... p. 15
Opinion: Climate change is coming .............................................................. p. 15
Opinion: Siskiyou Crest Monument ............................................................. p. 16
Opinion: Time to turn down the rhetoric ..................................................... p. 17
Something to Cerebrate: High fructose corn syrup: The Corn Refiners
Association vs. The Scientist? ........................................................................ p. 18
Tall Tales from the Editor: Innocent eyes or Headache induced ................... p. 14
The Postman: Can you go gridless for 30 days? ............................................ p. 23
The Starry Side: Winter constellations ......................................................... p. 4
Trends: Floating freezers ............................................................................... p. 8
Winter 2011 3
Applegate Food Pantry
Hello neighbors!
We wanted to send a reminder to those of you who most generously help the
Applegate Food Pantry stay afloat and allow us to continue to serve our commu-
nity. We have closed our P.O. Box and now ask that your donations instead be
sent directly to our home address:
Arlene & Claude Aron
1684 Humbug Creek Road
Jacksonville, OR 97530
(Please make your checks out to Applegate Access)
This has been quite a busy and challenging year. Due to our struggling economy,
we have more clients in need, but about the same amount of food to distribute.
We appreciate any help you can give us. Canned food can be dropped behind
the Ruch school on Thursdays at 2:30, clean clothing can be dropped off at the
Ruch library, and checks mailed to the above address. If you have perishable
food to donate or any questions, please feel free to contact us at 541 846-0380.
Thank you and Happy New Year.
Arlene and Claude Aron • 541-846-0380
GRAINS
took place on a farm in Southern Oregon
and includes a tour of the grain operation,
as well as presentations by producers and
university specialists.
The first class focused on network-
ing between producers and users (such as
local microbrewers and artisan bakers).
The session also addressed the economics of
small grain production, including material
on enterprise budgets developed by OSU
agricultural economic specialist Willie
Riggs. Participants identified potential
pitfalls to a local grain market; the biggest
obstacles seem to be scale of operations
in Southern Oregon and the prices that
small producers need to charge for grain.
Bakers and farmers brainstormed ideas for
developing mutually beneficial relation-
ships, such as including more expensive
local grains in recipes blending several
flour sources.
The second class covered field
preparation, varietal selection, and inte-
grating grains into a whole farm system.
Farm tours included the restaurant/farm
Summer Jo’s, and Pacific Botanicals, both
located in Grants Pass. Mark Wheeler
of Pacific Botanicals illustrated how he
incorporates grain into a double-cropping
scheme, and also into a long-term location.
Washington State University wheat special-
ist Stephen Jones combined the best of old
knowledge and new advances, discussing
varietal selection for disease resistance and
for protein levels. Jones urged producers
to use old resources, such as the USDA
Bulletin Number 1074, Classification of
American Wheat. This bulletin, now avail-
able online, lists the forty one varietals that
were in production on about one million
acres in Oregon at that time. Producers
took home organic “Glenn” hard spring
wheat seed to experiment with a small
planting.
In April the course series included
planting spring grains and integrating ani-
mals to boost soil fertility and protein levels
in wheat. Farm tours in Williams included
L&R Family Farm and Seven Seeds Farm.
Don Tipping of Seven Seeds explained how
he uses rotational grazing of poultry and
sheep to clean his fields of spent grain and
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to boost nutrients with animal manure.
The fourth class was held June 26th
in Medford. The wet, cold spring delayed
the grain harvest, but participants still got
to take a look at a refurbished All-Crop
combine at Dunbar Farms. David Mostue
from Dunbar addressed economies of scale
and details of his wheat trialing project.
Bob Niedermeyer from Niedermeyer
Farms covered considerations for harvest
and storage.
The class in August focused on
alternative poultry rations, as well as
homesteading grain production. Produc-
ers toured the homesteading operation
and tried out an old-fashioned scythe at
Mellonia Farm in Applegate, as well as
touring the poultry feed experiments at
Barking Moon Farm, also in Applegate.
Josh Cohen at Barking Moon performed
informal wheat trials of five varietals, and
the class inspected those plots.
The last class highlighted equipment
used in small-scale grain production and
explored producers’ equipment-sharing
cooperatives. A group of producers formed
an ongoing working group to address pos-
sibilities such as an equipment-sharing
LLC, and the option of David Mostue at
Dunbar Farms providing custom combine
work, as well as a central grain processing
facility.
Small Farms team members Maud
Powell and Shelley Elkovich plan to write
more grants encouraging grain produc-
tion, such as a DVD project which will
incorporate information on small-scale
grain production with case studies of dif-
ferent farms producing grains in Oregon,
and an initiative to develop appropriately
scaled equipment that would be produced
in the U.S. They also plan to collaborate
with Washington State University on a
multi-state wheat trialing project. For
producers who missed this series, look for
a one-day “Wheat 101” class to be held at
the Extension in late winter.
Shelley Elkovich
Program Assistant
OSU Small Farms
541-821-0935