The SpokeSman • WedneSday, december 22, 2021 P3
Gardening corner
Child care
Plants add to symbols,
aroma of Christmas
BY LIZ DOUVILLE
For The bulletin
For many years, holiday
time was a hectic 45-day hus-
tle and bustle. Anyone with a
family doesn’t need a review of
the unending list. Then, before
you know it, you’ve fallen into
the “empty-nester” category.
These past two years of
more restrictive living and
travel has had it’s impact
on many households not
spending holidays together,
including mine. Personally,
I really have missed all the
good holiday smells of cookies
baking and the scent of a fresh-
cut tree.
Over the past two years I
have worked out some satisfy-
ing substitutes to come close to
maintaining some semblance
of tradition.
Instead of a tree for scent, I
create a basket of mixed greens
for a coffeetable and add in a
few favorite ornaments. I al-
ways keep a colorful container
filled with water on the hearth
of the gas fireplace (for hu-
midity). I added a bouquet of
rosemary that I cut from the
greenhouse. I also added some
bay leaves to the water con-
tainer on the hearth, hopefully
they will release their spicy
scent along with the rosemary.
For the spicy, sweet smell of
Christmas baking I always
make the German Pfeffernusse
cookies.
Little by little it is coming to-
gether to celebrate the seasonal
symbols and the biblical links
to Christmas. The more we
know about some of the sym-
bols puts more meaning into
our celebration.
In Greek folklore, bay leaves
were associated with honoring
excellence or great courage.
That is the origin of the Greek
tradition of crowning herbs
(including Olympic athletes)
with garlands of leaves.
Garden tip: Bay, Laurus
noblis, is not hardy to Central
Oregon. Bay could be grown
in a container against a warm
wall and then brought indoors
for the winter.
Cooking tip: Toss a few
bay leaves in boiling water to
lightly flavor rice, beans or
pasta as they cook.
Rosemary, Rosemarinus
officinales, symbolizes re-
membrance and is a culinary
favorite. Legend has it that it
will bring happiness for the
coming year to anyone who
smells it on Christmas Eve.
The symbolic meaning is re-
membrance, love, friendship
and loyalty.
Garden tip: Rosemary is
rated as a zone 7 plant. It is
generally not hardy in Cen-
tral Oregon, although more
Leaves of mistletoe
with berries.
hardy vari-
eties are being de-
veloped. Rosemary
could be grown in a
container outdoors
during the sum-
mer and brought
indoors for the win-
ter. The plant I have
grows in an unheated
greenhouse year-round.
Cooking tip: Rosemary’s
warm, earthy and pine-citrus
flavor pairs well with beans,
potatoes, tomatoes, spinach,
peas, mushrooms, squash, len-
tils and eggs.
Sage, Salvia officinallis, has
long been associated with im-
mortality, health, and happi-
ness. The Latin name, Salvia,
means salvation.
Garden tip: Sage is easy to
grow and is a good herb for
over-wintering indoors.
Cooking tip: Garden sage,
S. officinallis, is the best choice
for cooking with just the right
balance of pine, citrus and
camphor. Purple, tricolor and
golden sage are more sensi-
tive to cold and often over-
power dishes with their steong
camphorlike flavor. The older
leaves of garden sage harvested
after plants bloom may be
stronger in flavor and not as
tender in texture. Their culi-
nary value is still intact — just
use less.
Thyme, Thymus vulgaris,
is a popular seasoning used in
French Creole and Cajun cui-
Submitted photo
sines The herb is popular
during the holidays included
in dried flower arrangements,
bouquets and potpourri. It is a
symbol of bravery and is con-
sidered a manger herb. The
story is that it was collected
from the fields of Bethlehem,
where it grows wild, and used
to make a soft bed for Mary
during the birth of Jesus.
Garden tip: Thyme grows
well in Central Oregon. It
makes a great ground cover in
addition to being a popular cu-
linary herb.
Cookingh tip: Use your fin-
gers to strip fresh leaves off the
stem. Use fresh or dry. Fresh
stems can be stored in a cup or
vase partially filled with water.
You can also wrap cut stems
loosely in a damp paper towel
and store inside a plastic bag in
the refrigerator.
A few more holiday garden
symbols to think about include
the following:
Redmond
police officer
enters DUII
diversion
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The bulletin
The Redmond police officer
arrested in summer for alleged
drunk driving has resolved her
case by entering a diversion
program.
Hannah Copeland entered
the alternative sentencing pro-
gram in October and in ex-
change, the state dropped a
count of reckless driving and
one of reckless endangering.
Copeland was arrested by
sheriff’s deputies in August af-
ter crashing her Jeep on Cline
Falls Road north of Bend.
Diversion is available in Or-
egon to people who have not
been arrested for impaired
driving within the past 15
years. If a person successfully
completes diversion, no DUI
conviction will be entered on
their criminal record.
Copeland’s diversion re-
quirements include attending
a victim impact panel, paying
a $450 fine, participating in a
substance abuse evaluation and
serving 12 months of super-
vised probation. An Intoxalock
ignition device was installed on
her car in October, according
to court records.
Copeland was hired in 2000
by Redmond Police after com-
pleting training at the state po-
lice academy.
Ways you
can support
Thelma’s Place:
• Vehicle donations
• Cash donations
• Sponsorships
• Volunteer
CHILD CARE
AN INTERGENERATIONAL PROGRAM
Your support makes a difference!
Redmond: 541-548-3049
Day Respite and Support Groups
www.thelmasplace.org
Fir, juniper and spruce sym-
bolize the living presence of the
holy spirit, prayers asending.
Holly symbolizes eternal
life. Holly is also said to be the
wood of the cross.
Mustletoe, Viscum album,
is a true parasite of hardwood
trees and is common in juni-
per trees in Central Oregon.
It symbolizes peace, love and
eternal life that springs forth in
the midst of seeming death.
Pine symbolizes longevity,
eternal and vigorous life.
May you all have lots of pine
in your life.
e
Editor: 541-633-2166,
gobrien@bendbulletin.com
Help guide our
coverage
Continued from P1
Heart of Oregon Corps
since 2009 has offered a ver-
sion of the program offering
students construction train-
ing and hands-on volunteer
experience building afford-
able housing in the region,
but the new track is the pro-
gram’s first foray into another
field.
The child and youth devel-
opment track works largely
the same way, according to
Tanner Rohne, the program’s
trainer. After an intensive,
two-week orientation, stu-
dents will spend eight weeks
obtaining key certifications
that allow them to spend the
next eight months applying
those skills in the classrooms
of local childcare providers.
“We want to give them
the whole gauntlet of what
the progression of youth go
through from birth through
18. We know that child de-
velopment never stops,”
Rohne said. “So we want to
give them the tools needed to
have an open mindset and a
growth mindset to welcome
learning and to push it and
thrive in it.”
After the first year in the
program, students move into
the child care workforce full-
time and continue to receive
goal-setting support and
other YouthBuild resources
for the second year.
The child and youth devel-
opment track takes place out
of Heart of Oregon Corps’
Redmond campus. Partici-
pants receive a daily stipend
starting at $26 a day, plus
an AmeriCorps educational
grant of around $1,600 at the
completion of the program,
Rohne said.
Around 425 students have
gone through YouthBuild’s
construction program in
The bulletin is launching
an in-depth reporting se-
ries on the region’s short-
age of affordable, acces-
sible child care, and we
want your help.
Share your stories about
how access to child care
has impacted you, and tell
us more about what ques-
tions you want to see an-
swered in future stories.
answer a few quick ques-
tions online at bendbulle-
tin.us/childcareimpacts.
Central Oregon, and 70%
were employed after the pro-
gram, according to Rohne.
Heart of Oregon had been
considering other possible
tracks — such as health care
professions — for expanding
the YouthBuild program, but
Rohne said the community
need was clearest in the child
care workforce.
“We wanted to really bring
in those early entry level po-
sitions to really get kids in
the door and really see how
heart-filled working with
children really is,” Rohne
said.
“We feel that we have the
ability to help pull on those
heartstrings and really ex-
press and see the need to get
qualified educators for our
youth and our children.”
The child and youth de-
velopment track will launch
at the end of January, and the
nonprofit is in now accepting
applications for the program.
More information about ap-
plying is available online at
heartoforegon.org/programs.
e
Bulletin reporter Bryce Dole
contributed to this report.
Reporter: 541-617-7814,
zdemars@bendbulletin.com
Find it all online
bendbulletin.com