REGION Saturday, November 21, 2020     East Oregonian † ’„…„­  Œ‹ ‰ ‹ Œˆ Ž ˆ Œ Œ¢Œ‰”Œˆ‰ˆ Œ ‰‚   ­€  ‚  ““¡  <  ­ <  ­€  ŒˆŠˆ‰ Š Œ¢Œ‰”Œˆ‰ˆ Œ ‰ : <  ­  <  ­€ „…„ –“¡ ƒ„­…„ ‡ „† “œ¡    ““¡ ­€‚ƒ “¡ –•¡ ‡ˆˆ‰ Š‰ˆ ‰‹Œ‰Ž‹ ‘ŒŒ Ž “˜¡ Ÿ¡ WESTON — If you want to cook a churkey for your Thanksgiving meal, you have to act fast. But fi rst — “churkey?” Exactly, Cheryl Cosner said with a laugh on Thurs- day, Nov. 19. She and her husband Rob- ert Cosner are the founders and owners of Upper Dry Creek Ranch, about 5 miles south of Milton-Freewater, and 3 miles uphill from State Route 11. The ranch is in the busi- ness of selling animals, on the hoof or frozen in pack- ages. The Cosners have built a robust clientele that appreci- ates their sustainability prac- tices and certifi ed standards, Cheryl Cosner said. About 90% of their meat sales have traditionally been to institutional cafeterias, such as those at Whitman College and Hewlett Pack- ard, along with grocers and restaurants around the Pacifi c Northwest. The pandemic changed that this year. With college campuses closed and compa- nies sending employees home to work, a hard pivot was made to sell directly to people ‰‹’Œ‰Ž‹ ‰ Œ “”“• –• •— –˜” ™ –š ›— “œ”ž“ “™ Ÿ— ‚Ž‘‚† ‚ For more information about Upper Dry Creek Ranch, go to upperdry- creekranch.com. Upper Dry Creek Ranch/Contributed Photo Upper Dry Creek Ranch chickens had more time to grow big this summer with processing delays. Now some of them are as big as a small Thanksgiving turkey. doing their own cooking. By beefi ng up Upper Dry Creek’s online store and mar- keting to the home consum- ers, plus continuing some livestock sales, the Cosners’ business is still upright, she said. A delivery routine brought the processed product right to customers in Walla Walla and Tri-Cities, Washington, and Pendleton. Now, then, the chickens — or churkeys, if you will. Along with their trade- mark lamb and beef, the Cos- ners have long sold roasting chickens they raise, in frozen form for meals. The taste is “amazing,” and there’s a fan following among chefs for the poultry, which have typically weighed just over 4 pounds apiece in their packages, Cosner said. This year, the plan was to order chicks as usual. Lit- tle did she know demand for them would intensify, partic- ularly with a new market of housebound folks intent on raising their own food. Chick orders were back- logged six to eight weeks, Cosner recalled. When they fi nally got some — later and fewer than expected — the arrival was followed by a chicken food shortage in July when feed manufactur- ers were caught short by the demand. A bag of chicken food was as scarce as hen’s teeth, Cos- ner wrote in her newsletter to customers, conceding the pun. Then the next egg got laid. In August, when Upper Dry Creek’s chickens were ready to be made into entrees, the chicken processing business was full up with other orders. …‚†ƒ ƒ ‚† ‡ ONLINE By SHEILA HAGAR Walla Walla Union-Bulletin „­„’„­€’ ’ „’ ­„¡„≤˜— A ‘churkey’ by any other name How the pandemic supply chain made a Thanksgiving meal out of chickens A3 So the chickens stayed around, eating and growing. And more eating and more growing. Soon, the “nice little 6-pound chickens” weighed more than 10 pounds, Cosner said. “By mid-August, we were fi nally able to get our birds processed but not before they were big,” she wrote. “I mean, really big.” Now? Those are the chur- keys, weighing in at about 7 pounds per package — a size many cooks seek out in a Thanksgiving turkey, Cos- ner said. Upper Dry Creek Ranch is taking online orders for the birds until 7 p.m. Sun- day, Nov. 22, but there’s only about 30 to be had. Drop-off day will be Tuesday, Nov. 24, and if a customer asks, the Cosners will jump-start the thawing process. Cheryl Cosner is thankful her business could fl ex around the challenges presented by COVID-19, she said. “We’re going to make it,” she said. –šš –˜š žšš “˜š ž˜š “šš ˜š •šš •˜š ˆ‰ ‚Š‹ƒ Œƒ ‰ LOCAL BRIEFING Pilot Rock passes $8M school bond PILOT ROCK — Even as most students learn from home during the pandemic, the Pilot Rock School District was able to convince residents to make a long-term investment in school facilities. The district announced Thursday, Nov. 19, that the Pilot Rock School Board had formally accepted the results of the elec- tion, affi rming the 59-41 vote. Pilot Rock is the lat- est Eastern Oregon school district to take advantage of Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching Program, meaning the $8 million raised from Pilot Rock property taxes will be matched by $4 million from the state. “Thank you to our vot- ers,” Pilot Rock Superin- tendent Troy Jerome said. “Passing a bond is diffi - cult, but with the challenge of the pandemic added in, we knew we had to work even harder, and that paid off.” The $12 million in pro- ceeds from the bond and grant will go toward cap- ital improvements at the district’s schools, includ- ing security upgrades, improved disability access, new roofi ng and an updated heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. Hermiston City Council to meet Monday, Nov. 23 HERMISTON — The Hermiston City Council will meet Monday, Nov. 23, at 7 p.m. at the Hermis- ton Conference Center, 415 S. Highway 395. On the agenda is an update of the city’s sewer ordinance, as part of an ongoing effort to review and update all city ordi- nances. According to the agenda packet, the updates to the sewer ordinance will bring the language into compliance with changes to state and federal law that the city has already been following. The council will con- sider a motion to create the debt service payment fund needed to use payments in lieu of taxes from enter- prise zone projects to pay down debt service the city has on bonds. The council will also hear presentation of the city’s fi nancial audit for the 2019-20 fi scal year, the October fi nancial report, committee reports and staff reports. The meeting will be livestreamed on the city of Hermiston YouTube channel. — EO Media Group NEW 2021 RAV4 LE 2021 RAV4 XLE Premium model shown. $ 239 39 $ 2,999 PER MO. MOS. 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