Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
October 19, 2017
By Pat Edwards

Happy Autumn all! This is when I miss the days of cuddling around a warm fireplace or woodstove with a hot mug of coffee or cocoa. Don’t get me wrong… I love our heat pump, but there’s just something about the comfort of sitting on the raised hearth of our old fireplace and soaking up the heat in the evenings…

This is the time of year to celebrate our harvests… much of the canning and freezing has been done for those who still raise their own gardens and preserve their own produce. I kept my grandmother’s old pressure cooker going all through the late summer and early fall for a couple of decades when our kids were growing up. I always had a huge garden, but these days we enjoy the limited amount of fruits and veggies we plant fresh off the vine and donate extra to the Lorane Grower’s Market. Home canned vegetables, especially, are so much better than store-bought, but my back no longer allows me to stand at and lean over a kitchen sink for long periods, so we either eat fresh or bring home canned from the store.

I love the fact that the new group, Lorane Community Cares, is focusing on community gardens and canning and preservation clinics to work together and learn how to prepare and process the produce to donate to local food banks. Their first 3-day clinic was held this past weekend. Hopefully, I can report on its success in next week’s column.

Margie McNutt, an extremely talented kiln-formed, fused glass artist, in Lorane is offering to set up classes at her home studio on Cottage Grove-Lorane Road. If you would like to learn how to design and make your own creations for yourself or as a special gift for someone else, the 5-week course will be from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. Schedule, TBA. The classes will go for 5 weeks with firings to complete two projects of your choice. If you’d like to see some of the work she has done, go to her Facebook page at MargieMcNuttGlass. For further details, call 541-942-7471.

The Lorane Grange is having “a baked potato bar dinner with just about any trimmings you might think of” night followed by family bingo on Friday, October 27 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

I personally would like to invite everyone who enjoys reading stories and poetry written by local writers to join us at the Groundwaters annual Groundwaters LIVE! It’s a celebration of the completion of our 3rd annual Groundwaters 2017: An Anthology which showcases 62 authors and poets. The event will take place on Sunday, October 29 at 2:00 p.m. at the Applegate Regional Theater (ART) on the corners of Central and Fleck Roads north of Crow. Ten of our contributors will be giving 5-minute readings of their work. Refreshments will be served and books will be available.

Lorane and Crow have a large representation in this year’s book. Jennifer Buchholz of Lorane provided the beautiful cover photo and Katarina Digman of Lorane provided the painting on the back cover. Norm Maxwell is represented in the book by three of his popular stories; Stanley Buck provides three stories, one of which is called “Carpenters By-Pass 1950.” A new contributor, Michael Matchulat of Lorane has written a moving story about his battle with Stage IV colon cancer; and always popular, Millie Graves from Crow, her son Dana, as well as numerous others from the West Lane area and Creswell who are also included. We hope to see a large attendance on the 29th.

Don’t forget! The annual Fall Harvest Festival will be held on October 28 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Applegate Elementary School.