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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2012)
4 Fall 2012 Applegater Upper Applegate Grange Rechartered and revived bY mAuD POWELL bY cYnThiA chEnEY The Grange Chapter # 8 3 9 a t 3 9 0 1 Up p e r Applegate Road is being revived by a diverse group of Applegate residents who envision the organization and its building as an exciting, vibrant rural hub for the area. Melissa Matthewson of Barking Moon Farm in Applegate led the effort, gathering Initial members of the Applegate Valley Community Grange. interested folks for a series of meetings beginning in April. While the activities. One of the movement’s great chapter was previously called the Upper strengths is its democratic nature and Applegate Grange, the new chapter wants promotion of a fellowship based on mutual to expressly invite residents from a wider respect. The Upper Applegate chapter has area, and the name will be changed to the been a very active part of the community Applegate Valley Community Grange. These meetings, and hard work by for many years with a variety of programs. officers and committee members, have Many of you might remember that the taken us through much of the necessary grange sponsored the wonderful Father’s bureaucratic details. The chapter has been Day barbecues and the St. Patrick’s Day rechartered by the state and national grange corned beef feasts that the community so organizations, and the 38 new members enjoyed. In 2002, the building was used have elected officers who will serve for the as a center for firefighters to stay and to rest of 2012, with elections in November give information to local residents during for the coming year. Committees are the Squire’s Peak fire. The grange hosted working on areas including formulating a thank-you party afterwards for the a statement of the group’s values and firefighters. Membership is open to local residents mission to serve as the basis for activities and service in the future, framing bylaws, over the age of 13 and the application fee evaluating fundraising ideas (such as a and dues for the remainder of 2012 are monthly pancake breakfast), and youth $25. Regular monthly meetings are held participation. A website for the grange is at the grange hall on the second Sunday of each month, with a potluck from 6 pm to 7 also under construction. The chapter’s green cinderblock pm, followed by the meeting for about an building, for those who haven’t seen the hour. We welcome back any past members inside, is larger than it seems and includes who wish to join us. The potlucks have been fun, and a big kitchen, a dining area seating about 75, and a large room seating perhaps 150 we’re all looking forward to completing the with a small raised stage at one end. It was start-up work so we can have more varied the site for the Friends of Ruch Library’s meetings that will include educational Country Dance in 2010, and will soon presentations relevant to small farmers be able to provide various community and rural residents, music, and adoption organizations with meeting space for of community service projects. Providing reasonable rental fees (as yet to be decided available childcare during the meetings is by the grange membership). This building high on the agenda, too. For more information or to become has a lot of potential in an area with few public spaces available for events, group a member, please contact Grange Master Melissa Matthewson (melmatthewson@ meetings, classes, and so on. Historically, the Grange is a national gmail.com or 541-846-6297) or Secretary organization that formed in the 19th Janis Mohr-Tipton (janismohrtipton@ century to unite rural residents (mostly jeffnet.org or 541-846-7501). Cynthia Cheney farmers) for their growth through social, akantha@mac.com educational, cultural, and legislative Family fun returns to Applegate’s landmark swimming hole bY chRiSTinA DuAnE We have reopened Wayside Park to park patrons this summer. Our mission is to provide a place where the extended family can gather to create memories and share the history of the great American West. Through music, art, and nature, we will celebrate the woven pasts of all who built the West, and learn the lessons this history teaches to foster love, respect and hope for this and future generations. Oh Oregon Frontier Park and Cultural Center is a registered nonprofit corporation in the process of filing for 501(c)3 status. When this process is Get yer goat completed by the end of the year, all donations will be tax-deductible retroactive to our filing date of May 30, 2012. The Frontier Park (Wayside Park property) is currently in escrow and has a lease for the summer. We are currently gathering the capital to complete the purchase of the property through a combination of private and corporate sponsors and our commemorative brick patron donations. (See wwwfrontierpark. org for donation information.) Through our family and several private donors, the first of the down Goats represent the fastest growing species of livestock in the United States. Why? For one, goats have great personalities and are very sociable creatures. Other important reasons include the low start- up cost of beginning a meat- or dairy- goat operation, the versatility of goats, and the fact that they can graze and browse on marginal pasture, woodlands and rangeland. The US Department of Agriculture published a report on the goat industry in 2005 and cited the changing demographics of the United States, as well the increased number of hobby farms as additional reasons for the increase in popularity of these ruminants. Commercial growers, hobby farmers and homesteaders keep goats for a variety of reasons. They are most often raised to produce milk, fiber or meat, but can also be used to effectively manage weeds or kept as pets. Common breeds of goats are Alpine, Lamancha, Oberhasli, Saanen, Angora, Boer, Nigerian dwarf and Nubian. Elizabeth Murphy, Oregon State University (OSU) Extension’s new forage instructor in the Small Farms program, offered a class in July on managing meat goats. Murphy remarked, “Goats represent a promising livestock opportunity. There is a growing demand for goat meat in niche markets, both in traditional ethnic cuisine and more recently, in nontraditional American fare. Goat milk and cheese have been touted for their health benefits and thus have high value to consumers. In addition to their market potential, goats provide additional value-added services, such as fuels reduction and weed control, thereby increasing farmers’ production profit margins.” Murphy’s Extension class filled up and had a long waiting list, further demonstrating the popularity surge of raising goats. On September 29, the Rogue Valley Goat Dairy Association and OSU Extension Small Farms are hosting the third annual “Get yer Goat” Education Day from 8 am to 4:30 pm at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center at 569 Hanley Road in Central Point. Participants have the option to sign up for a day of multitrack workshops, including breeding and kidding, feed and forage, nutrition, parasites, milking, and soap making, or for an all-day cheese-making class with Gianaclis Caldwell of Pholia Farms. The Goat Dairy Association sponsors a raffle with prizes, including goat kids, and brings some of their goats in for demonstrations. To learn more about the workshop, contact Maud Powell at 541-776-7371 ext. 208 or maud.powell@oregonstate. edu. To register, visit the Southern Oregon Research and Extension website at http:// extension.oregonstate.edu/sorec/farms. Maud Powell 541-776-7371 Oregon State University Extension Small Farms maud.powell@oregonstate.edu payment and the lease were secured. The second phase of fundraising, which will complete the down payment, is coming from major sponsors and from community donations that will also provide a base which, combined with the revenue from other activities on the property and our financial commitment to the project, will cover the mortgage and ongoing park operating costs to keep it open for families to enjoy. We are seeking seven major sponsors to participate at the level of $7,000 to $10,000 dollars and asking the community to continue to become brick patrons. Brick donations and bench donations have raised $6,000 to date through our 25 park patrons who have been enjoying the park. Many are sending in their donations but we need a total of about 300 brick patrons and corporate sponsors to fulfill our goal. Beverly Mee Reed, known as “Grandma Bev” by the thousands of children she mentored, was my “adopted” grandma and we spent many days last summer together on the balcony of the Indian Room at the Applegate Lodge. Grandma Bev reminisced about her golden childhood on the Mee farm on Thompson Creek in the 1930s. She spoke of going to school in the one-room Applegate School, the boys catching snakes to hide in the girl’s desks and scare them, and dipping their pigtails in the inkwells before school was out. They spent long summer afternoons at the nearby swimming hole long before it became a park. Melissa Davis spoke of the younger generation’s love for the majestic, lush park with its rock walls that form the deep river pool where Applegate youth learned to swim, celebrated birthdays, and where many teens had their first kiss. This beloved spot transcends time, age and cultural barriers. Everyone who tells a story of the park lights up with love of this land. Those who treasured the park were not the only ones who came there. In recent years, some people have been careless, See SWimminG hOLE, page 21
