COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 22, 2015
3A
Cottage Grove
meets, dances with
its farmers
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
C
ottage Grove area food
producers journeyed into
town this weekend for a meet-
and-greet with their customers
on a picturesque spring Sunday.
The day brought the third an-
nual Meet My Farmer event to
the First Presbyterian Church,
where nice crowds, especially
early on, were introduced to or
reacquainted with some of the
area’s offerings.
Warm, inviting scents greet-
ed the crowd from the start, as
Nora Ponce pounded out fresh
corn tortillas and browned them
on one of Cottage Grove-based
nonprofi t InStove’s 60-gallon
institutional stoves. Inside the
church, familiar operations such
as Log House Plants and the
Coast Fork Farm Stand show-
cased their wares, while visi-
tors could also meet newcomers
like Erika Petum, who’s been
marketing a different purchas-
ing model from Dorena’s Star
Ranch for about two years.
Petum said the idea of a
"fl ockshare" of pasture-raised
chickens — which involves a
down payment for free-range
chickens to be raised on the
farm and then purchased at a
per-pound rate — is a new idea
that drew a lot of interest Sun-
day. She said the same was also
true for the farm's raw dairy
"herdshare," which provides
a gallon of grass-fed milk and
cream from Jersey cows for a
one-time fee. More information
on Star Ranch is available at
starranchoregon@gmail.com.
At the booth next door, Chuck
Stromme connected with poten-
tial customers with a new line
of products, Wood Butter, Inc.,
which includes a variety of
hand balms, boot butter and lip
balm, sticks of which Stromme
proudly traded for name-brand
varieties to Meet My Farmer
visitors. He said Wood Butter
had previously been marketed
only to friends and family but
is catching on fast with a wider
photo by Jon Stinnett
Cottage Grove's 'Liners' brought line dancing back during Sunday's Dance with the Farmers event at Cottage Grove
Public Market, and they invited guests to join them to learn a few moves.
audience, adding that a plan to
introduce a brand of hemp but-
ter to the public is also in the
works. More information can
be obtained by calling 541-767-
2659 or by emailing chuck@
woodbutterinc.com.
An effort to extend the in-
teractions with local farmers
throughout the day led to the
fi rst Dance with the Farmers
event on Sunday evening, ac-
cording to Beth Pool of the
FEAST (Food, Education, Ag-
riculture Solutions Together)
group. About a dozen farmers
visited the Cottage Grove Public
Market at 10th and Washington
Streets, a building that buzzed
with activity all weekend.
Line dancing was the fi rst or-
der of the evening, and a group
of about 10 dancers, the “Cot-
tage Grove Liners,” showed
off their steps to the crowd and
invited many to join the line.
Pool said the event was another
promotional event to acquaint
the community with its food
producers, an event that FEAST
plans to repeat the fi rst Saturday
in November to open and close
the 2015 growing season.
Aprovecho adjusting offerings for 2015, planning garden party
Shorter intensive courses,
community education on
tap this year
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
hese days, there’s a decidedly
laid-back feel at Aprovecho’s
sustainable education campus outside
Cottage Grove.
Aprovecho, which translates to “I
make best use of” in Spanish, has
taught a sustainable approach to living
on a 40-acre land trust west of town
for over 30 years, in the process wel-
coming groups of students from across
America and abroad to its campus. But
noticeably absent this year is the large
group of students that has traditionally
come to Aprovecho for extended in-
ternships, according to Emily Sessoms,
who spoke with the Sentinel on a sunlit
walk around the campus last week.
Sessoms explained that a group of
about 20 students came to Aprovecho
for an eight-month internship last year,
during which many lent their efforts to
long-term projects on campus.
“Great things happened here last
year,” Sessoms said. “But there were a
lot of people here all at once.”
The crowds on campus drew resourc-
es away from certain aspects of running
Aprovecho, and Sessoms said Apro
chose to take a new direction this year
and offer six-week intensive courses in
natural building, permaculture and the
new sustainable kitchen series as op-
posed to drawn-out internships.
“It’s given us the opportunity to re-
focus on things that we can’t really get
done when the campus is full of stu-
dents,” she said.
The extra time has also allowed
Aprovecho to begin branching out
more into the community it inhabits,
and Sessom said the campus will host
classes in community-supported edu-
cation on most Sundays. Subjects to be
covered include pole timber framing
and beekeeping, and certain aspects of
the sustainable kitchen series — which
will cover topics like nutrition, fermen-
tation and knife sharpening — will also
be offered to the broader community.
Aprovecho’s Justin Watt said the
nonprofi t is also excited to begin pro-
cessing and acting as a pass-through
for individual development accounts
(IDAs) that provide matching grant
funds up to $9000 for efforts the orga-
nization supports.
Sessoms said that, with new students
coming to campus all the time, change
is a constant at Aprovecho.
"We just roll with whatever the popu-
lation is," she said. "It's always had that
ebb and fl ow.'
Aprovecho is also busy tidying up
photo by Jon Stinnett
Emily Sessoms surveys the Aprovecho garden. The sustainable
education campus has refocused its efforts in 2015.
for a garden party for its supporters this
Saturday, April 25, an event that offers
a campus tour in addition to food and
live music. Tickets for the event can be
obtained online at aprovecho.net or at
the door for the event, which begins at
4 p.m.
Truck crash on
London Road
injures one
A
rollover crash involving a pickup truck
and trailer on London Road sent one of the
truck’s occupants to the hospital Thursday.
Josh Brooks of the Oregon State Police said a
Dodge pickup was traveling south on London
Road when for an unknown reason the truck left
the roadway. The truck came to rest partially in
the roadway and a nearby ditch with its trailer
still intact.
Crews with South Lane Fire and Rescue re-
sponded to the crash and discovered the truck’s
occupants, Eugene and Sharon Cooper of Cot-
tage Grove, unable to free themselves from the
courtesy photo
Oregon State Police are still investigating
the cause of Thursday's accident.
vehicle. Division Chief Joe Raade said Sharon
Cooper was transported to River Bend Hospital
with minor injuries. He added that alcohol was
not a factor in the accident.
Find Local Businesses.
,QWURGXFLQJWKHQHZHVWZD\WR´QGWKH
Find
Local
Businesses.
businesses
that mean
the most to you.
,QWURGXFLQJWKHQHZHVWZD\WR´QGWKH
businesses
that mean the most to you.
www.shoppelocal.biz
www.shoppelocal.biz
Find GREAT
MONEY SAVING COUPONS
from local businesses
Cottage Grove
Sentinel
Shoppe™ is a trademark of News Media Corp.
Visit glidewildfl owershow.org for show details and information.