Applegater Winter 2025
21
A Greater Applegate wraps up
the year
BY MEGAN FEHRMAN
A Greater Applegate (AGA) has a lot
to report on the Holiday and Arts theme
this month!
The Applegate Artists Working
Group displayed wares at wineries during
the spring Uncorked event and at lavender
farms for the Lavender Festival in June
and July. They also worked with the
Grants Pass Museum of Art for a west-side
Applegate location for this year’s Art in the
Garden and rounded out the Jacksaphine
Count(r)y Fair with Art in the Vineyard
at Wooldridge Creek Winery.
Applegate Artists will be closing out
the year at AGA’s Applegate Love: Online
Holiday Auction, featuring handcrafted
ornaments, goody baskets from local
businesses, and uniquely Applegate
experiences offered by local folks. Check
out agreaterapplegate.org and other
social media channels in early December
to get in on the bidding! It is a great
way to do some holiday shopping and
support AGA’s end-of-year fundraising
efforts. The auction will go live on
Giving Tuesday (December 2) and end
on December 14.
If you are interested in participating
with the Applegate Artists group, contact
jb@agreaterapplegate.org. The group
convenes on the second Monday of every
month from noon-1:30 pm at the AGA
Office in Ruch or via Zoom.
T h e AV ( A p p l e g a t e Va l l e y )
Business Network will be hosting a
Holiday Happy Hour on Thursday,
December 11, from 5-7 pm at the
Lindsay Lodge for guests to gather,
celebrate, and network with other
Applegate business owners, old friends,
and people new to the valley. Light bites
will be provided, and drinks will be
available for purchase. Please join us at
this most wonderful time of the year to
reflect on 2025 and connect to events
of 2026. You will also have a chance
to network with our new Business
Network Manager, Jeff Haas, and share
your thoughts on doing business in the
Applegate.
Alison Sexauer, AGA’s Board President and the Executive Director of Rogue Valley Food System
Network, distributing local produce from Blue Fox Farm at the Ruch Food Pantry.
Photo by Megan Fehrman.
As much as we have to celebrate,
those of us working in the community
also recognize that this year has been
challenging for many. We are bracing
for what happens when hundreds of our
neighboring households have delayed
or reduced SNAP benefits this winter.
Since 2020, A Greater Applegate’s Farm
to Food Pantry program has delivered
over $50,000 worth of local produce
and ground beef to our emergency
food pantries in Ruch and
Williams. Anticipating
increased need and a
heavier load at the pantries,
we will continue this work
for as long as we can.
Despite the challenges
facing rural communities and an
ever-changing landscape for
nonprofit work, AGA stands
on a foundation of strong
connections, community
leadership, the “can-do”
attitude of rural culture, and
exciting programs and projects
guided by the Applegate Valley
Vision that so many of you
helped create.
If ever there was a time to
jump in with your community,
it’s now. Rural America makes
up 97 percent of US land area
and contributes $2 trillion to
the US economy, yet it receives
only 7 percent of philanthropic
Jb Palasini, the Applegate Artists Working Group coordinator and an artist herself, shares a booth with metal
dollars and is getting hit hard
worker Kris Albro at Uncorked. Photo by Rachael Martin.
by federal spending cuts. It’s
time to rethink how we invest in rural
communities. You have an opportunity
here, in the Applegate Valley, to join the
organizations that make up our social fabric
and focus on strengthening connections and
building all the kinds of capital available to us.
Are you looking for a meaningful
way to support the economic, social, and
environmental vitality of our community?
A Greater Applegate is looking for board
members who bring fresh perspectives, lived
experience, and strategic insight to help
us sustain and evolve our impact. Please
contact our office to learn more about this
opportunity.
We are also, as always, accepting
donations to help support our work, like
the Farm to Food Pantry program, the
Applegate Evening Market, Resilience
Hubs, WanderApplegate.com, and the new
Applegate Listserv that is humbly trying to
fill the void left by Jo’s List’s disappearance.
If you miss Jo’s List and want to be part of
Applegate Listserv, go to applegateconnect.
org/listserv to sign up.
You might be surprised how small
an organization we really are: eight part-
time staff and a budget of less than half a
million dollars. We achieve far beyond our
size because we believe in the power and
promise of the rural community. That belief
enables us to accomplish quite a lot for the
Applegate Valley. And with your help, we
can do even more.
Megan Fehrman (and the rest of
the AGA Team)
541-702-2108
info@agreaterapplegate.org
■ SISKIYOU FIELD INSTITUTE
Continued from page 17.
adjacent to Deer Creek.
The timber placed in the tributary
helps slow the flow of water and create habitat
for spawning fish, including the coho and
Chinook salmon that have been found in
Deer Creek. The slowing of water through this
tributary will also be a step toward restoring
this area to its original state of marshland. The
undercutting of the current will erode root
balls of invasive surrounding blackberries,
which will hopefully soon be replaced with
native flora.
We here at the Siskiyou Field Institute
are very excited to observe this tributary
as the winter rains
come to the Illinois
Valley and flood the
meadow, helping
restore the land to its
natural marshland
and, we hope, fill it
with native wildlife!
Aliyah Zweig
Outreach/Marketing
Coordinator &
Education Assistant
Siskiyou
Field Institute
outreach@thesfi.org
OCA
0 A
Serving the Valley I Love!
Evelyn Winningham
Licensed Principal Broker
evelyn@ramsayrealty.com
541-951-7055
Lic#200805101
Ramsay
:!tYb,
ffl
Jacksonville Experts
www.ramsayrealty.com
Outdoor school students exploring serpentine soil during a geobotany class at Siskiyou Field Institute.
Photo by Hannah Borgerson.