A8
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
IN BRIEF
Native sport is
focus of Josephy
Center exhibit
JOSEPH — An exhibit
at the Josephy Center of
Arts and Culture in Joseph
called “Beautiful Games”
opens Thursday, April 7,
and will hold an opening
reception from 3-5 p.m.
April 10.
Beautiful Games, which
follows Native Ameri-
cans in sport, will continue
through May 11.
The exhibit was origi-
nally shown in 2018 at the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion and looks at Indians
in sport from the earliest
Mesoamerican contests to
the Pendleton Round-Up. It
displayed games of chance
and skill, team games and
contests of individuals. It
told us that American Indi-
ans developed lacrosse,
and that Indians, from Jim
Thorpe to Jacoby Ellsbury,
have become highly profi -
cient at games developed
by white America.
The Josephy Center will
display much of Beautiful
Games, with updates from
regional reservations and
current contests that bring
native sport to Eastern
Oregon and the Wallowas.
For more information
on the exhibit, contact
Rich Wandschneider at
541-263-0930.
Parents invited
to view new
curriculum
The Enterprise School
District is hosting an
event Thursday, April 7,
during parent-teacher con-
ferences to give families
and interested commu-
nity members the opportu-
nity to view sample mate-
rials of new K-12 English
Language Arts curricu-
lum the district is look-
ing to adopt. The event is
from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Each
school will have the curric-
ulum that corresponds to
its respective grades, and
contact cards will be avail-
able to fi ll out to provide
feedback.
— Chieftain staff
Beth Gibans memorial fund awards
more than $12,000 to local farmers
By ANN BLOOM
For the Wallowa County
Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY —
Beth Gibans had a vision.
She envisioned a com-
munity with sustainable
food systems and an abun-
dance of organic produce
and healthy food. If she were
alive today, she would have
seen a part of that vision
achieved as four businesses
were among the fi rst recip-
ients of the Beth Gibans
Memorial Producer Fund
Award, named after Gibans
who died of cancer in June.
For more than two
decades, Gibans provided
organic produce to members
of the Wallowa County com-
munity through her farm,
Backyard Gardens, and her
catering business. She was
generous with her knowl-
edge and passion for healthy
food and sustainable farm-
ing practices. She believed
that local food production
is essential to the health and
well-being of a community.
Gibans was instrumental
in establishing the Wallowa
County Farmers Market,
served as a board mem-
ber and was a regular ven-
dor at the market. She was a
mentor and friend to many,
as well as a founding board
member of Slow Food Wal-
lowas, according to Lynne
Curry, a member of Slow
Food Wallowas.
In honor of Gibans’ work,
Slow Food Wallowas solic-
ited applications last fall
for projects that demon-
strated an ability to increase
their capacity to produce
and distribute more local
food. The four winners were
announced on Gibans’ birth-
day, Jan. 22.
Slow Food Wallowas
distributed $12,731 among
Leon Werdinger Photography/Contributed Photo
Beth Gibans tends vegetables for sale at a stand at the farmers
market in Joseph. The Beth Gibans Memorial Producer Fund
Award — named in honor of Gibans, who died in June,
awarded more than $12,000 to Wallowa County farmers.
the four winners for their
projects.
“We planned to award
$5,000 with this grant, but
the quality of these appli-
cations compelled us to
increase that limit,” Curry
said.
The winners and their
projects are:
• Nic Hackney, Evergreen
Family Farm, who with
partner, Sarah, is installing
a handline irrigation system
for their small, organic farm
in La Grande. They also
plan to be regular vendors at
the Wallowa County Farm-
ers Market.
• Ali Lyons and Chris-
tian Niece, Backyard Gar-
dens. As the new owners
of Gibans’ organic produce
business, the couple is
repurposing a horse trailer
to use as a mobile walk-in
cooler with attached wash
station to manage farming
on a variety of properties.
• Kristy Athens, Genu-
ine Wallowa County Provi-
sions. Athens used the grant
money to purchase equip-
ment for processing SNAP
benefi t payments, the fed-
eral nutrition assistance pro-
gram for low-income indi-
viduals and families, which
will allow more people to
access her online grocery
store.
• Jessica Bass and Adam
McGrath, Lazy Mule Farm.
Powered with draft ani-
mals, this new certifi ed
organic farm is growing gar-
lic, salad mix, herbs, straw-
berries and fl owers for com-
mercial sales. The grant has
allowed them to purchase
a greenhouse and a cus-
tom pack shed building to
increase their effi ciency and
workfl ow.
Slow Food Wallowas
has a history of helping
local producers expand and
develop their operations
through its grant program,
which started 10 years ago
with a $3,000 grant to the
Magic Garden.
“Since then, Slow Food
Wallowas has directed about
$23,000 directly into local
food production thanks to
the ongoing donations from
private individuals,” Curry
said.
The
program
has
expanded to include grant
awards to Nella Mae’s Farm
for a new rototiller, to Alder
Slope Gardens for a low tun-
nel growing system, and to
Moonglow Mushrooms for
a propagation tool for com-
mercial mushroom growing,
among others.
During the increased
challenges brought on by the
COVID-19 pandemic and
donor generosity, the Slow
Food Wallowas board voted
to award grant moneys to
the four farming operations
because of their capacity to
make more local food avail-
able during the next growing
season.
“This fund provides
direct support for new or
existing local food produc-
ers and entrepreneurs,” the
grant proposal read. “It is
designed to fi ll gaps in exist-
ing funding opportunities
for small-scale growers and
producers, community inno-
vators and educators, espe-
cially those in underserved
populations.”
Slow Food Wallowas is
the local chapter of Slow
Food USA, a nonprofi t orga-
nization devoted to devel-
oping regional food sys-
tems and increasing access
to good, clean and fair
food. The mission of Slow
Food Wallowas is to edu-
cate, engage and build a via-
ble local food system while
celebrating the pleasures of
local food in the Wallowa
region.
For
more
informa-
tion about the Beth Gibans
Memorial Producer Fund or
Slow Food Wallowas, contact
slowfoodwc@gmail.com.
Weed of the month is common bugloss
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Hurricane Creek Road
Enterprise, Oregon
541-426-3116
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Sale Good Thru April 30th
ENTERPRISE — As
part of the Wallowa County
Vegetation Department and
Weed Board’s ongoing edu-
cation eff orts, in conjunction
with Wallowa Resources,
the Chieftain will feature a
noxious weed each month
that is on the county’s list of
noxious and invasive weeds.
This month’s noxious
weed is common bugloss
(Anchusa offi cinalis).
The goal is to educate the
public, as landowners and
county residents are instru-
mental in identifying and
eradicating those weeds.
What: Common bugloss
is a perennial plant with bris-
tly hairs that grows 1-2 feet
tall. It has numerous, sym-
metrical fi ve-petaled fl owers
that are a deep, sapphire blue
with white throats found on
the end of the stems.
Where:
Common
bugloss likes to grow in dry,
sandy-to-gravelly soils and
can be found primarily in
the Imnaha River corridor of
Wallowa County.
Coleman
Oil Wallowa
Cardlock is
NOW
OPEN
Joe Sims/Contributed Photo
Common bugloss (Anchusa offi cinalis) is a perennial plant
with saphire-blue fl owers that that grows 1-2 feet tall. It is on
Wallowa County’s list of noxious weeds.
Dangers: This plant
invades alfalfa fi elds, pas-
tures, pine forests, riparian
areas and rangeland. The
fl eshy stalks can even cause
hay bales to mold if gathered
up during fi eld harvest.
How to help: Anyone
fi nding one of the weeds on
their property or while out
and about, take note of the
location and contact Wal-
lowa Canyonlands Part-
nership Program Manager
Joe Sims at 541-426-8053,
ext.61.
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Wallowa, OR 97885
888-799-2000
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