Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current, January 10, 2018, Image 7

Polk County itemizer observer., January 10, 2018, Page 7A, Image 7

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Newspaper Page TextPolk County Social Polk County itemizer-Observer • January 10, 2018 Brewing beer? Grow your own hops As craft beer and home brewing continue to rise, interest in growing hops ferments among home gar- deners. Shaun Townsend, Oregon State University’s hops breeder, said he regularly fields questions from the public about growing hops. “Typical questions are: ‘How do I fertilize, water and harvest? What sort of diseases and pests do I need to monitor for? What hop varieties should I get?’” said Townsend, who an- swers those questions and more in OSU Extension Ser- vice’s publication, Growing Hops in the Home Garden. To get started, Townsend advises planting hops in well-drained soils and full sun exposure for optimum growth. You’ll likely need at least a 10-foot trellis or pole system to train these vigor- ous climbers if your interest is in cone production — the part of the plant that’s used in beer. One or two plants are plenty for backyard cultiva- tion, he said. A single vigor- ous plant can yield about five to six pounds or more of fresh cones. Wrap the bines, or elongated stems, in a clockwise direction around the climbing sup- port to train the plant. Use string, paper twine, coir (made from the fiber of co- conut husk) or anything that the bines can grip well. Hops produce different flavors of beer depending on the variety, and there are K YM P OKORNY https://ﬂic.kr/p/2237d3W Growing hops gets you on the way to brewing your own beer. May, transplant the potted plant to your garden plot. When deciding where to place your plant, keep in mind that it grows robustly and prefers full sun. Don’t plant it near shade-intoler- ant plants that hops could crowd out. Apply one teaspoon to one tablespoon of nitrogen- rich fertilizer about once every other week from late April or early May into June. After that, the plant doesn’t need extra nitrogen. Be careful not to over-fertilize, as lots of nitrogen can propagate a lush, dense plant that could attract pests and diseases, Townsend said. Water the plant with two to four gallons every one to three days. Harvest your hops between mid-August and mid-September. Depending on the vari- ety, hops typically fully ma- ture by the third growing season. During the first and second season, gardeners can still harvest enough hops even though the plant is not producing at full ca- pacity. By fall, you’ll get to taste the fruits of your labor in your very own homegrown homebrew. MI TOWN It’s almost mid-January in MI Town, and it seems like springtime is out there on the horizon, far away. It’s hard to think about sun- shine and flowers when there’s a constant cleaning up of muddy footprints from spouses, children and pets; and the coat closet has a lingering scent from wet wool coats and jackets. — Our local mayors and city councilors are facing the opportunities and chal- lenges offered by the new year and a better economic outlook that’s been prom- ised by the Powers that Be in Washington, D.C. As al- ways, there is a need for cit- izens to participate as vol- unteers for various commit- tees and groups, so if you have a few hours and good ideas, please contact either city hall for more informa- tion. Now that the busy- P ATTY T AYLOR D UTCHER Columnist ness of the Christmas and New Year holidays are over, bundle up and take good walks around our commu- nities to see what’s going on. — We began the brand new year of 2018 enjoying a wonderful breakfast of pan- cakes, scrambled eggs, sausages, and biscuits and gravy thanks to the Mon- mouth-Independence Lions Club, whose mem- bers offer MI Town resi- dents and their family members a free community breakfast on Jan. 1 every year. The Lions are involved in many worthwhile activi- ties in both Independence and Monmouth and are al- ways there to help in many ways. — Winter term has begun for Western Oregon Univer- sity students, and the calen- dar is full of ongoing events and classes for everyone. The campus is buzzing with new voices and the return of familiar students who are eager to get involved with school and social activities. MI Town residents have an excellent opportunity to meet students from all over the world, and to help them feel welcome in our com- munity. Language barriers all but disappear when peo- ple take the time to listen and try to understand one another. Many of our inter- national students have never been far away from the communities they call home. Some students have lived their entire lives in high-rise buildings in big cities, and have never expe- rienced life in small com- munities bordered by agri- culture and farming activity. — A friendly smile and a warm handshake can make all the difference. Those of us who have college stu- dents for neighbors can welcome them to their houses or apartments with a plate of cookies, and we can take that opportunity to get to know them a little better. And the students can take a few moments to learn about our community and their neighbors, too. We can all be good neighbors with a little time and effort on everybody’s part. — We can all find good ways to banish the midwinter gloom and enjoy life in MI Town. PEDEE NEWS Andrew and Stephanie We s t o n c e l e b ra t e d Stephanie’s Jan. 1 birthday by going to the Hoof N’ Holler bull and bronc riding event and New Year’s Eve party at the Linn County Expo Center in Albany with Stephanie’s parents, Tony and Debbie Rodriguez. It was an exciting way to bring in the New Year for them. — Dave and Suzanne Bur- bank spent the New Year’s Eve weekend helping son Derek and his wife Ashley with the plumbing and elec- trical work on the new home they are building out- A RLENE K OVASH Columnist side of Redmond. The house is framed in and the roof is on so Derek and Ashley are set to have it finished by spring. Judy Guida recently bought a home at Eagle Crest and so the Burbanks were able to spend the nights there. — VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES These Polk County groups would welcome individuals who have time or expertise to volunteer. Organizations that would like to be added to this list should call 503-623- 2373 or email IOnews@polkio.com. Your Garden two types of hop: bitter or aromatic. Townsend recom- mended the aromatic ‘Cas- cade’ variety, developed through the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture’s breed- ing program at OSU in 1972. It can withstand cli- mates anywhere from cen- tral Oregon to the Willamette Valley. “It’s pretty much fool- proof,” Townsend said. Other good choices for Oregon are ‘Centennial,’ ‘Newport,’ ‘Sterling’ or ‘Nugget’. Some varieties do not do as well as others in heat. You can order whole plants or the rhizome, an underground stem that produces buds, from online sources and local distribu- tors. You can also dig up a rhizome or make a stem cutting from a friend’s es- tablished plant. January and February are the months for digging up rhizomes for replanting, Townsend said. Cut about a 3- to 4-inch section of rhi- zome, making sure that a pinkish-white bud is pres- ent. Then grow it in a green- house or indoors with extra lighting. Rhizomes can also be planted in deep contain- ers outside or directly in the ground after January. In 7A Chip and Linda’s son Matthew and his wife Kate- lyn had the first baby of the year at Salem Hospital on Jan. 1, earning them a gift basket from Salem Health and a cash gift from the Oregon College Savings Plan to go into an account which will go toward his college expenses. Benjamin Matthew, or Benji as he will be called, was born at 2:09 a.m. on the first, and Chip and Linda are thrilled to have him here. — Activities are gearing back up in Pedee after the holi- days. The Pedee Women’s Club will be meeting regu- larly each Wednesday again and Bible studies are up and going. The Pedee Church men are planning to cut wood for those who need it on the third Saturday of each month now. They meet at 8 a.m. at the church and welcome help. — The Pedee Tryoneers 4-H Club is back to meeting on the second and fourth Tues- days at 6:30 p.m. at the church and it’s never too late to join. The club started planning for the county fair this week, signing kids up for specific projects. • AARP Foundation Tax-Aide – 503-930-7636 • After DARC — 503-623-9501 • American Cancer Society Road to Recovery — 1-800-227-2345 • Arc of Polk County — 541-223-3261 • Ash Creek Arts Center – 971-599-3301 • Central School District — 503-838-0030 • City of Dallas — 503-831-3502 • City of independence — 503-838-1212 • City of Monmouth — 503-751-0145 • Crime Victims Assistance Program — 503-623-9268 • Dallas Area Chamber of Commerce — 503-623-2564 • Dallas Downtown Association — 971-701-1880 • Dallas emergency Food Bank — 503-623-3578 • Dallas Fire Department — 503-831-3532 • Dallas Food Bank — 503-623-3578 • Dallas Kids, inc. — 503-623-6419 • Dallas Police Department — 503-831-3582 • Dallas Public Library — 503-623-2633 • Dallas Retirement Village — 503-623-5581 • Dallas Riders for Christ – 503-949-6019 • Dallas School District — 503-623-5594 • Delbert Hunter Arboretum — 503-623-7359 • ella Curran Food Bank — 503-838-1276 • Falls City Arts Center — 503-559-6291 • Falls City School District — 503-787-3531 • Family Building Blocks – 503-566-2132, ext. 308. • Friends of the Dallas Library — 503-559-3830 • Girl Scouts of Southwest Washington and Oregon — 1-800-338-5248 • H-2-O — 503-831-4736 HART (Horses Adaptive Riding and Therapy) — 971-301-4278 • HandsOn Mid-Willamette Valley — 503-363-1651 • Heron Pointe Assisted Living — 503-838-6850 • independence Health and Rehabilitation — 503-838-0001 • independence Public Library — 503-838-1811 • Kings Valley Charter School — 541-929-2134 • Luckiamute Watershed Council — 503-837-0237 • Luckiamute Valley Charter School — 503-623-4837 • Meals on Wheels — 503-838-2084 • Monmouth-independence Chamber of Commerce — 503-838-4268 • Monmouth-independence YMCA — 503-838-4042 • Monmouth Public Library — 503-838-1932 • northwest Human Services — 503-588-5828 • Oregon Child Development Coalition — 503-838-2745 • OSU extension Service - Polk County — 503-623-8395 • Perrydale School District — 503-623-2040 • Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Polk County inc. — 503-623-8473 • Polk Community Development Corporation — 503-831-3173 • Polk County Community emergency Response Team — 503-623-9396 • Polk County Museum — 503-623-6251 • Polk County Public Health — 503-623-8175 • Polk County Resource Center — 503-623-8429 • Polk Soil and Water Conservation District — 503-623-9680 • Relief nursery Classroom — 503-566-2132 • SABLe House — 503-623-6703 • SALT (Sheriﬀ’s Auxiliary & Law enforcement Together) — 503-851-9366 • Salvation Army — 503-798-4783 • SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) — 503-391-8423 • Salem Health West Valley Hospital — 503-623-8301 • Victim Assistance Program-Polk Co. District Attorney’s Oﬃce — 503-623-9268 x1444 • Willamette Valley Hospice — 503-588-3600 • WiMPeG Community Access Television — 503-837-0163 COMMUNITY CALENDAR Continued from page 6A — TUESDAY, JAN. 16 • Dallas Rotary — noon, Dallas Civic Center, 945 Se Jeﬀerson St., Dallas. Lunch and speaker. Public is welcome. • Toastmasters — 6 to 7 p.m., Pressed Coﬀee & Wine Bar, 788 Main St., Dallas. Learn how to eﬀectively speak in public and in- crease your leadership skills. — WEDNESDAY, JAN. 17 • Willamette Valley Food Assistance Program Food Bank — 1:30 to 6:30 p.m., 888 Monmouth Cutoﬀ Road, Building e, Dallas. Weekly distribution for eligible community members. 503-831-5634. • Day-2-Day Diabetes Support Group — 3 to 4 p.m., Salem Health West Valley (main conference room inside main en- trance), 525 Se Washington St., Dallas. 503-623-7323. • Pickleball — 9 a.m. to noon, Roger Jordan Community Park. Meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon. Karen Freeman, 503-871-4172. • Brew and BS: The New Testament — 7 p.m., St. Thomas episcopal Church, 1486 SW Levens St., Dallas. A lecture series on new Testament ﬁgures. Bring brew of choice –— coﬀee, tea, chai, beer, wine, cider. 435-503-4304. Call us. The Itemizer-Observer can help you expand your market share, and make your business more profitable. Call Heidi or Karen at 503-623-2373. ADVERTISING THAT WORKS.