Keizertimes., May 04, 2018, Page PAGE A12, Image 12

PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 4, 2018
FOOD,
continued from Page A1
FUTURE: Residents lack
places to work in city limits
(continued from Page A1)
in Monmouth and last year
pulled out 3,700 pounds of
produce from his garden that
includes 700 strawberry plants,
40 tomato plants and 16 6-foot
blueberry bushes.
“I live in a normal house, a
normal yard,” Taylor said. “I’ve
just converted, everything is
food.”
Along with bringing much
of the food to his 240 stu-
dents to be used in the class-
room, Taylor also reached out
to his friends and brought in
700 pounds of pumpkins this
fall from one farm and 1,600
pounds of apples from another.
Students made 600 pounds of
apple and green tomato relish.
“I teach them how to pickle,
how to freeze, how to can, how
to process,” Taylor said.
The natural next step was to
teach the students how to grow,
which meant Claggett needed
its own garden.
“Day dreaming with the ad-
ministration, it took off,” said
Taylor, after more than 100 stu-
dents spent Monday, April 23
planting fruit trees and straw-
berries.
Highway Fuel provided a
truckload of dirt.
The garden includes twen-
ty-four trees, purchased at cost
from Scenic Hill Nursery in Al-
bany. Nearly 30 Claggett fami-
lies got the same deal, planting
fruit trees at their own homes.
Also in the school garden are
800 strawberry plants, 60 blue-
berry plants, peppers, lettuce,
tomatoes and onions.
Much of the work was done
by Taylor’s family, foods and cul-
ture class, where students learn
how families can grow their
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Assistant Principal Jen Williams helps Claggett Creek students Derick Dowers, Chloe Farr and
Rylee Jones plant strawberries in the school’s garden.
own food, whether they live in
an apartment or on fi ve acres
and everything in between. The
class went to Mt. Angel Meat
Company to see how meat gets
to their table as well as Fessler
Nursery in Woodburn.
Along with family, foods and
culture, Taylor also teaches a six-
week course where sixth grad-
ers learn how to cook breakfast,
an 18-week course where sev-
enth and eighth graders cook
breakfast, lunch and dinner,
and a year-long advanced foods
class full of students who want
to explore culinary arts in high
school or even want to pursue a
career in the industry.
“We push them pretty hard
and they make some extraordi-
nary food,” Taylor said. “I want
to teach the kids about the ag-
ricultural world, how to grow
their own, how to save money,
how to become self suffi cient,
how to eat healthier and we
make everything from scratch
in my classrooms.”
rates – more than 50 percent
in the past fi ve years – even
those spaces could become a
less attainable option.
In the most recent data
the report surveys, Keizer had
only a one-month supply of
available housing inventory
while a six-month supply is
considered balanced. In ad-
dition, Keizer is expected
to need 4,500 new hous-
ing units to accommodate
growth through 2033, and
construction of new homes
still hasn’t returned to pre-
Recession levels. Growth in
most types of construction is
hampered by a lack of space
to expand, which is likely to
put a renewed emphasis on
whether and how to expand
the Urban Growth Boundary
Keizer shares with Salem.
In terms of jobs, Keizer
Community Band
at MHS May 16
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Linda Grenz with CCMS students Jeffrey Grenz and Jesiah
Bartlett, whose families gave money to the school’s garden.
The Keizer Community
Band is inviting the public to
a free concert Wednesday, May
16, at 7 p.m. in the McNary
High School auditorium.
Michel Koenig, a retired
Salem-Keizer band director,
leads the Keizer Community
Band. The group is made up
of 45 members from Salem,
Keizer and surrounding com-
munities.
The band will feature ma-
rimba soloist Chad Mann. In
addition it will play marches,
music from Lion King and
Music Man, and other festive
tunes.
is more of a bedroom com-
munity than ever. There are
approximately 15,500 work-
ers living in the city and only
6,500 jobs. Only about 1,300
residents (20 percent) live and
work within city limits. The
biggest growth industries in
the past decade have been in
health care and social services
and retail while construction
jobs have suffered the most, a
5 percent drop. Health care
and social assistance jobs and
professional and business ser-
vices are expected to be the
biggest growth areas in the
next 15 years.
Keizer is also aging quick-
ly. The number of households
in the range of 55 to 64 years
old grew 4 percent in the last
four years and households
with adult 65 or older grew
9 percent in the same time
period. Those trends coincide
with aging of the oldest in
the Baby Boom generation.