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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2015)
8A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL August 19, 2015 O FFBEAT Depth, soul populate CT's 'Quilters' Continued from page 4A Diverse cast turns in a powerful performance BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel I n a message shared with the Cottage Theatre audience in the program for CT’s most recent production, “Quilters,” Executive Director Susan Goes mentions some of the issues that faced the cast of 10 women and crew as they worked to bring the play to life. “Along the way to opening night, this cast and crew dealt with aging parent issues, major surgery and the replacement of a cast member just eight days before opening,” Goes wrote, continuing that “The emotions brought forth through those challenges add depth and soul to the sharing of these stories in ‘Quilters.’” The words ‘depth’ and ‘soul’ do much to describe the allure of this production, an at-times astonishingly complex story of relationships, hardships and joys, love and loss that was handled with much grace and elegance by a diverse yet cohe- sive Cottage Theatre cast. Set on the American prairie in the 1800s, “Quilters” tells the tales and showcases the struggles of the women that helped win the West, with fa- milial bonds shaping a story set against an often stark, harsh and unforgiving landscape. The play revolves around the last days of Sarah, mother to many daughters, who tells the story of her own life and times through the quilts she has lov- ingly created since her own childhood. Throughout the play, a quilt’s many panels stand for the pioneer woman’s many loves, losses and triumphs. “Quilters” manages to touch all bases with regard to these strug- gles, and to its credit, there is no attempt by writers Molly New- man and Barbara Damashek to daintify the harsh realities of living, loving and dying in an unfamiliar wilderness. Those previously unfamiliar with “Quilters” (this reporter included) learn early on that a central aspect of the production will loom large — its music. The play is laced throughout with a stark and haunting score and effects played by musi- cians Catricia Mayhue, Avery Pratt and Delia House Lopez. Its (very) complex harmonies often involve the entire cast and photo by Matt Emrich Sarah (Eliza Roaring Springs) talks of quilts and life with her daughter (Madeleine Sisson). do much to tell a story of depth and passion. Mayhue, who also served as music director for “Quilters,” deserves much credit for bringing the stories of these pioneer women to life in sound, and each cast member can be commended for a singing job well done. Kudos are also most certainly due to Director Eliza Roaring Springs, who brings Sarah to life with humanity that’s writ- ten all over her aged face. Roar- ing Springs may also be com- mended for shepherding a truly cohesive cast through such a de- manding production. Standouts from the cast included Stefhani Anderson, who plays an engag- ing and earnest daughter, and Madeleine Sisson, already a CT veteran at age 16, who brings much elegance and heart to the play’s action. The quilts of many in Cot- tage Grove adorn the Cottage Theatre for this production, and many historical quilts will also be on display at the Cottage Grove Museum for “Cottage Quilts: Piecing Together our Past” throughout the month of August. “Quilters” continues its run at Cottage Theatre Aug. 20- 23 and Aug. 27-30. explosion. Within a week or two the authorities knew that had been a mistake. Rumors and whispers by Southern Oregon residents quickly escalated into wild and frightful speculations. Loggers working the woods all over the state started stepping gingerly, and production plum- meted, and fear levels started to ramp up — precisely the reac- tion the Japanese had hoped to inspire. Belatedly, authorities realized they’d need to come clean, and so Archie Mitchell — still shaken by the tragedy that had befallen his wife and the children of his friends — was authorized to tell the reporters all. Perhaps it worked. When the Japanese fi nally did surrender, two months later, their balloon bombs hadn’t taken any other lives — although there’s reason to suspect they did start a fairly serious forest fi re, the 180,000- acre monster known as the Third Tillamook Burn, which broke out on July 9 of that year. Four years later, the U.S. Congress approved a bill that paid a total of $20,000 to Archie Mitchell and the families of the slain Bly children. F resh vegetables can be harvested most of the year in many places in Oregon. In fact, many cool-season crops produce well in the fall and hold through the winter if protected. “You can plant vegetables in mid- to late summer after you harvest spring crops and as space is available and in many years have a year-round gar- den,” said Ross Penhallegon, a horticulturist with Oregon State University’s Extension Service. Some of the best vegetables are produced during the warm days and cold nights of fall, he said. Light frost adds sugar to sweet corn and crispness to car- rots. Parsnips, kale, collards, Brussels sprouts and Jerusalem artichokes also improve with a touch of frost. Succession planting is eas- ily accomplished west of the Cascades, but east of the moun- tains, newly planted crops may need a cloche or cold frame to keep plants alive into the cold- er months and as protection against rain battering. If you’d like to build a raised bed cloche to extend the gardening season, fi nd directions in the free publi- cation How to Build Your Own Raised-Bed Cloche. Certain vegetables are better suited to fall and winter harvest than others, Penhallegon said. A complete list of recommended varieties and how to grow them can be found in the eight-page guide Fall and Winter Vegetable Gardening in the Pacifi c North- west. A key to successful fall or win- ter gardening is location of your garden. Choose the warmest spot you have that is not prone to early frost, avoid the bottom of a hill or an area with lots of bushes and trees. A south-facing slope is best for winter sun, he said. Be sure to restore nutrients removed by spring and summer crops with a light layer of com- post or aged manure or a small application of fertilizer. Do not over-fertilize with nitrogen. “During the rainy season, good well-drained soils are es- sential,” Penhallegon advised. “Raised beds are best, and if your soil doesn’t drain well, amend it with organic matter such as compost.” Timely planting is another S E I V MO THURSDAYS AT DUSK OUTSIDE FRIDAYS 8 PM MAP ROOM THEATER SATURDAYS 5PM & 8 PM MAP ROOM THEATER key to success. Crops need time to become well established be- fore cold weather and short days curtail growth, but if you plant too early, the young plants can wilt in the heat or mature too soon. Choose the fastest-matur- ing varieties and pay attention to the average date of the fi rst killing frost in your area. Most winter crops are planted from July through August. You can give seeds a head start in containers or a nursery bed, or buy starts from a garden center. Here are Penhallegon’s exam- ples of summer-into-fall plant- ings: Pull out old pea vines and plant carrot seeds in their place. Yank bolted broccoli and re- place with a crop of lettuce and salad greens. Harvest the rest of the beets and sow a crop of kale. Replace tomatoes in the fall with an overwintering crop of garlic or shallots. Remove your spent squash plants and put in crimson clover (a cover crop) to protect the soil over the winter. Compost bitter lettuce and re- place with a batch of scallions, leeks or radishes. Penhallegon suggests that a crop that fails one year because of an unusually early freeze or abnormally cold winter may thrive in a milder year. “Be willing to experiment,” he said, “and don’t give up if your re- sults some years are less than ideal.” (Sources: Juillerat, Lee. “Bal- loon bombs,” The Oregon En- cyclopedia (PSU and OHS), or- egonencyclopedia.org; Portland Oregonian, 6/01/45, 6/02/45, 12/30/45, 5/10/49) Finn J.D. John teaches at Or- egon State University and writes about odd tidbits of Oregon his- tory. For details, see http://fi nn- john.com. To contact him or suggest a topic: fi nn2@offbe- atoregon.com or 541-357-2222. Looking Glass Community Services Extend vegetable crop through fall by planting now BY KYM POKORNY OSU Extension Service The members of the Mitchell picnic party have gone down in history as the only casualties of an enemy attack on the Ameri- can mainland during the war … the only casualties so far, that is. Even today, 70 years later, it’s worth remembering that the Japanese launched 9,000 of these devices, each loaded with three bombs. Only 361 of them have been accounted for. Clearly, thousands of them fell harmlessly in the Pacifi c Ocean … but it’s still a possibil- ity that one or two fell unnoticed in a deep forest somewhere, and are still up there, just waiting for some careless cross-country trekker to fi nd one of them the hard way. HOST HOME FAMILIES NEEDED Monthly stipends provided plus a per diem per night your home is utilized. 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