Applegater Fall 2018
Photo by Linda Kappen
1
applegater.org
Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine
FALL 2018
Volume 11, No. 3
Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 11,500
Clear skies ahead?
AVOVA president Joe Ginet foresees
opportunities for greatness for our wine region
BY RHONDA NOWAK
Sponsors
Valley View Winery
Ruch Country Store
Apple Outlaw
Applegate Valley Realty
Chris Bratt
Brodie Dental
Cowhorn Winery
Home Comfort Hearth
Jackson Veterinary Hospital
Ray’s Market
RiverCrest Ranch
Whistling Duck
Evelyn Winningham,
Ramsay Realty
GATERS GIT IT DONE!
live auction of
local talent
and services
MC: Jack Duggan
Wild & Blue Band
Auction items include:
Storytellers
Greek pastry lesson
Catered dinner for 10
Tandem paragliding
AND MANY MORE...
See SAVORY SHINDIG, page 5, for more details
about this fun fundraiser!
Already by late July,
smoke had been hanging
in the air for weeks,
muffling the valley
during the day and
creating eerily beautiful
blood-orange sunsets.
“I never saw this
smoke as a kid,” said Joe
Ginet, who has reason
to keep his eye on the
smoke. Since 1979
Joe and Suzie Ginet, owners of Plaisance Ranch
he and his wife, Suzi,
and Winery in Williams, ventured out
have owned Plaisance
into
the
smoky
summer air. Photo: Rhonda Nowak.
Ranch and Winery in
Williams, producing
During the 40 years he’s been making
USDA organic-certified beef and
award-winning wines. Wine grapes, Joe a living on his ranch, Joe has seen a lot
of changes that have presented, he
knows, are sensitive to smoke.
As one of the founders of the World says, “opportunities and challenges”
of Wine event (now the Oregon Wine for Applegate Valley viticulture and
Experience) in 2003, Joe Ginet is a the 21 wineries and vineyards in the
leader in establishing Applegate Valley Applegate.
wineries as a destination for local and Smoke gets in your eyes
One of the challenges is wildfire
visiting wine enthusiasts. He has served
as president of the Applegate Valley smoke, which affects not only the taste
Oregon Vintners Association (AVOVA) of wines but also tourists’ taste for the
since 2013.
See CLEAR SKIES, page 10.
What’s the buzz?
Hemp cultivation is growing!
Shop at farm stands—
it’s an Applegate experience
BY CATHY RODGERS
BY DIANA COOGLE
The Applegate Watershed is abuzz—
not about the psychotropic aspects
of cannabis, but rather about its
no-nonsense, not-about-the-high, all-
about-the-business family member:
hemp. It’s the new crop in town!
Although the first American flag was
made of hemp, the product’s “guilt by
association” with its more controversial
cousin, Mary Jane, caused a steady
decline in US hemp production through
the mid-1900s. The 1970 Controlled
Substance Act swept hemp into its
broad “if it sounds like a duck, looks
like a duck, and smells like a duck”
zero-tolerance ban, thus ostracizing
one of the most versatile, resilient,
and renewable of plants, which fell
into public disdain and regulatory
oblivion—until recently. A renewed
appreciation for the inherent benefits
of industrial hemp and a growing
acceptance from the public has led to
an increase in industrial hemp grows.
Oregon was proactive
Oregon, with its more tolerant views
of cannabis, took a proactive legislating
position, becoming the first state,
in 1973, to decriminalize marijuana
possession. Later, Measure 91 legalized
nonmedical cultivation and allowed for
recreational marijuana sales through
licensed dispensaries.
Local Postal Customer
See HEMP CULTIVATION, page 11.
Nonprofit Org
US Postage
PAID
Permit #125
Medford OR
ECRWSSEDDM
Not all Applegate
farmers put our rich
farmland in grapes,
marijuana, or hemp.
Some love to grow
food and, equally,
to sell food to local
customers.
Mike Gallagher,
of Gallagher Family
Farms, has apples and
pears at his farm stand
Harvesting calendula at Oshala Farm.
now, even though the
farm doesn’t flourish with the flowers he had 150 people in his U-pick fields,
and vegetables it had during most of the 500 rabbits, 150 chickens, and baby
48 years he has had the farm stand. He goats that would ride the tractor with
See FARM STANDS, page 16.
speaks with nostalgia of the days when
ISSUE
AGRICULTURE - WINE