THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2015
NORTH COAST
3A
New owners, same Warrenton street
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — After
buying the Main Street Mar-
ket, Tommy and Jeanne Smith
are hoping to keep a good
thing going.
The couple from Spring-
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from Mike and Tami Aho, who
owned the downtown Warren-
ton market for 25 years.
The Smiths both grew up
in Washington state, Tom-
my Smith said, and wanted
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grocery stores for sale in the
area, and found the Main St.
Market.
“It was just time to slow
down and smell the roses,”
said Mike Aho, adding he and
Tami told employees of their
intent to sell in January.
In March, the Ahos won an
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award at Clatsop Economic
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nual banquet. It was present-
ed by Skip Hauke, for whom
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“It was nice to be recog-
nized for how we run our busi-
ness,” Mike Aho said, adding
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
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will carry on that tradition. From left, Jeanne and Tommy Smith have taken over Main St. Market, employing their daughter Jordan Smith and most of Main St.’s staff, including
For now, he said, the couple Store Manager Sherri Reed.
is semi-retired before charting
DW$VVRFLDWHG:KROHVDOH *UR- D ¿QDO LQ 0LVVRXUL EHIRUH ter, Jordan Smith, a junior at been brought back, Tommy ing special deals to customers.
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cers. For the past eight years, deciding they wanted to retire Warrenton High School. The Smith said, making room for
In the long run, the Smiths
Raised on groceries
his job has been telling other LQ D SODFH ZKHUH WKH\ YDFD- couple has an older daughter, his family.
hope to add a sit-down deli in
Jeanne Smith said she and supermarkets how to operate tioned as children.
Kailee Kobe, who works at the
Besides adding new prod- the back of the store.
her husband “met in a grocery — so he thought it was time to
Jeanne Smith said she spent store, and a middle son at Mis- ucts and changing some ar-
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store.” “He was on the grocery test his own theories.
22 years as a stay-at-home VRXUL6WDWH8QLYHUVLW\VWXG\LQJ rangements, such as a tailgat- RYHU DIWHU \HDUV´ 7RPP\
side; I was on the drug side.”
7KH IDPLO\ PRYHG IURP PRPDQGYROXQWHHU7KLVLVKHU business management.
ing section for football season, 6PLWKVDLG³:H¶OOVWD\ZLWKLW
Tommy Smith said he has Washington to Arkansas for ¿UVW MXPS EDFN LQWR WKH ODERU
When the Ahos won their the store is largely remaining DVORQJDVZHHQMR\LW7KHUH¶V
been in groceries since he was four years, followed by anoth- IRUFHDQGWKH¿UVWMREIRUWKH award, they employed about the same. Kobe manages the always a place for the small,
DGYDQFLQJWRDQRI¿FHUVKLS er four years in Oklahoma and FRXSOH¶V \HDUROG GDXJK- SHRSOH $OO EXW WZR KDYH VWRUH¶V )DFHERRN SDJH RIIHU- independent grocer.”
Researchers explore possibilities with dry farming project
With drought
as a backdrop,
OSU project
skips irrigation
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
CORVALLIS — The squash
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crinkled in the mid-day heat,
and look like they desperately
need water. But unless it rains,
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irrigated since they were plant-
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zucchini, dry beans, potatoes,
melons and tomatoes growing
alongside them.
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dry farming demonstration proj-
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Oak Creek Center for Urban
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examining the possibilities of
growing food crops without ir-
rigation.
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Eric Mortenson/EO Media Group
Amy Garrett, an instructor with OSU Extension’s Small Farms program, shows vege-
tables grown without irrigation this summer in Corvallis, Ore. Dry farming may be an
option for some growers if drought persists in the West.
picked lots of “zukes” in recent
weeks.
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chini machine,” she said with
an admiring glance.
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Little Baby Flower watermel-
ons, which easily won a taste
Hold the water
test.
Irrigators throughout the
“Across the board, they pre-
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texture of the dry farmed mel-
Dry crops
off entirely this summer, the
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mountain snowpack that feeds
streams in late season has al- VXUSULVHGWKHP*DUUHWWLVJURZ-
Old school
ready melted and many storage LQJIRXUYDULHWLHVRIGU\EHDQV
Dry farming is not new,
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producing about four pounds of course. Mediterranean
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&OLPDWRORJLVWV EHOLHYH ORQ- per plant and the squash, despite JURZHUV KDYH EHHQ UDLVLQJ
ger, hotter, drier summers and ORRNLQJ ZLWKHUHG KDYH SUR- ZLQH JUDSHV DQG ROLYHV ZLWK-
winter precipitation that falls as duced nice-looking Stella Blue out irrigation for centuries.
Some California growers do
rain rather than snow is the “new DQG%OXH+RNNDLGRYDULHWLHV
Then there are the Dark Star the same, and the term “old
normal.”
Beatrice Van Horne, director ]XFFKLQL ZKLFK ORRN DV YLJRU- YLQH =LQIDQGHO´ RIWHQ UHIHUV
RI WKH 86'$¶V 1RUWKZHVW 5H- RXV DV LI WKH\¶G EHHQ LUULJDWHG WR GU\IDUPHG YLQH\DUGV WKDW
JLRQDO&OLPDWH+XELQ&RUYDO- all summer. Planted May 27, are more than 75 years old,
lis, said that will be the trend for they were in full production according to the California
the coming decades, although E\HDUO\-XO\*DUUHWWVDLGVKH¶V
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“Those are pretty clear results”
of climate modeling, she said.
Faced with that reality, some
farmers and ranchers are think-
ing about making changes.
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rett hosted at her OSU demon-
stration plots in early August.
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might show up.
Agricultural Water Steward-
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Other California crops that
are sometimes dry-farmed in-
clude tomatoes, cantaloupes,
garbanzos, apricots, apples,
squash and potatoes, according
to the group.
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grow wheat and other grains
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wants to see what else can be
grown that way.
Many of the farmers inter-
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new to the profession or are just
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cial production. In some cases,
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with water rights, or they are in
a state-declared groundwater
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new well.
It’s not easy
Dry farming is not an easy
option. Without irrigation, yield
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500
G u ess w h a t d a y it is!
It’s Hump’s Day!!!
AT HUMP’S RESTAURANT
EV ERY W ED N ESD AY 5 -8 PM
14 OUN CE N EW Y ORK
STEAK & BAK ED POTATO
$9.95
Just 15 m in. from the Lew is & Cla rk Bridge on H w y. 30
L abor D ay…
MON D A Y
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M ust present coupon to server.
N ot va lid w ith other offers.
N OW O PEN
Frida y & Sa turda y
6a m -10pm
CLOSED
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Hump’s Restaurant- 50 W. Columbia River Highway
Clatskanie, OR. 503.728.2626
In observan ce of
WE WILL BE
W A NTED
No reservations, please
and transplanted tomatoes into
holes up to a foot deep.
The technique can work,
and small farms could certainly
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whether it can pay off commer-
Eric Mortenson/EO Media Group
cially.
A dry-farmed watermelon
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variety called Little Baby tor with Community Alliance
Flower won a taste test over with Family Farmers, based in
irrigated melons during a 'DYLV &DOLI VDLG WKH SUDFWLFH
field day at Oregon State ³ÀLHVLQWKHIDFH´RIZKDWVXSHU-
University in early August.
markets want and what agricul-
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and size are almost certainly re-
Big yields of big fruit and
duced, although quality remains YHJHWDEOHV DUH IDYRUHG E\ WKH
market and researched at uni-
good.
It requires altered tech- YHUVLWLHV 5XQVWHQ VDLG 'U\
QLTXHV UHYLVHG H[SHFWDWLRQV farmed crops are smaller in both
and the right conditions, start- regards.
ing with the soil. A layer of clay
A place for dry
in the soil, common in Ore-
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moisture that plants can access it. Some California growers are
during the summer. Dry farm- WHDULQJRXWDYRFDGRDQGRUDQJH
ing is less likely to work on soil JURYHV EHFDXVH ZDWHU LV VR H[-
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Soil preparation, seed selec- wine grapes may replace them.
The practice may work in
tion and the timing and method
RI SODQWLQJ DUH FULWLFDO *DUUHWW Western Oregon and Washing-
said. Many of the seeds she ton, which get plentiful winter
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that are dry-farmed elsewhere. tain some crops through a dry
The Stella Blue and Blue Hok- summer, he said.
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kaido squash come from a line
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ta, Ore., farmer who has been whether dry-farming producers
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years.
Dry farming calls for deep- ,¶GOLNHWRGR´VKHVDLG³'RHV
er planting and more space it make economic sense to grow
between plants to reduce com- things this way?”
The work is partially fund-
petition for water. When plant-
ing, some farmers step on the ed by the National Institutes of
seeded area to compress the Food and Agriculture under its
soil and force water up from the Beginning Farmer and Rancher
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seeds four to six inches deep administers the grant.
Video
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