Sweet Lorane Community News, July 6, 2017

July 6, 2017Newspaper ColumnsAlesong Brewing and Blending, Alix Mosieur, Community Gardens, Crow Church of the Nazarene, Karen Pidgeon, Lorane Christian Church, Lorane Community Association, Lorane Country Cafe, Lorane Fire Department, Lorane Growers' Market, Lorane Ice Cream Social, Marissa McNutt Cooper, Matt Van Wyk, Misty Burris, Montana, Mural, Oregon Institute for a Better Way, Terrie Johnson Morris, vacation, Vacation Bible Schoolpaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 6, 2017
By Pat Edwards

As I anticipated, the days last week while on vacation managed to just slip by (as they are supposed to do while vacationing) and I didn’t get a column written. As an “in-name-only” retiree, days blend quite easily for me anyway, but while on vacation, I’m able to immerse myself into each day without thinking about whether it’s a Monday, Thursday or a weekend.

Montana was beautiful, as was the newly-built home of our daughter and son-in-law, Kelly and Justin Fontaine, on Flathead Lake located near Glacier National Park. We spent the days kicking back, going out on the lake in Justin’s boat, having dinner in Big Fork, attending a Farmer’s Market in nearby Whitefish, walking our dogs and just enjoying being together.

Flathead Lake

Thankfully, there are a number of Lorane news items this week that I want to tell you about.

Lorane children who are interested in attending Vacation Bible School this year are encouraged to sign up with Heidi Rusten Langstraat (541-556-6223) at the Lorane Christian Church. The actual “Maker Fun Factory” Bible School will be held at the Crow Church of the Nazarene, but if enough Lorane kids are interested in participating, transportation will be provided. It is open to 4-year-olds through 6th grade students and will be held on July 16-20 from 6:00 to 8:15 p.m. each night. Activities include games, snacks, music and Bible Stories.

For those wanting an update on Lorane’s newest business-to-be, Matt Van Wyk, the brewmaster and one of the owners of the Alesong Brewing and Blending of Lorane, says that they hope to be open as early in July as possible. They are just waiting for Lane County, USDA, and OLCC to approve their permits. The plans are to have mainly a tasting room with cheeses and snacks available to compliment the beers. No meal menus are being planned at this time, but they will encourage people to bring their own foods so they can enjoy the experience “picnic-style,” if they wish.

The owners recently invited Lorane area residents to come and take dishes, silverware, syrup containers and other things from the former Lorane Country Café which shares the property with the new building. There are only a few items left and they expect to demolish or work out details with the Lorane Fire Department to burn the café in the fall.

It will be sad to see the old building go. Many of us have a lot of happy memories there, but the new owners of Alesong have been very gracious in extending a hand in friendship to the community and it appears that many locals are anxiously awaiting the opening.

The Lorane Christian Church is planning one of their yummy bake sales in the parking lot of the Lorane Family Store on July 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Recently, a group called the Oregon Institute for a Better Way became “the new stewards of the gardens that were formerly the Turnip the Beet Farm located at 79128 Territorial Road just about four miles south from the Old Lorane School.”

Misty Burris describes it as a non profit 501(c)3, based on her graduate study to promote community gathering and empowerment through free foods sharing. They are offering community garden space to local residents who want to gather, grow and process their foods together as a community. For more information, contact Misty at 541-530-3613 or
http://www.gatherandalign.org.

At the Lorane Community Association meeting this past week, I’m told that there are several new and enthusiastic members and plans are being made on several fronts.
First, the Lorane Grower’s Market table has now been set up at the Lorane Deli this year. It was completely refurbished by Terrie Johnson Morris and is very nice.

Be sure to stop by with your excess garden/orchard produce and trade for other items if you want. If you don’t have any of your own to share, you can take what you need. As always the purchase option is set up as donation only on the honor system. No prices are set on any of it. Proceeds go to the Lorane Community Association to be used for their various projects during the year including the Angel Tree, food baskets, the mural and some of the projects I’ll be talking about here in the coming weeks.

Something very exciting to me is the fact that Karen Pidgeon and Alix Mosieur have begun their work on the big mural that will be hung on the side of the Lorane Family Store. They are working on it in the Dew Drop Inn – the old tavern building that sits next to the store and it will be fun to see it take shape. The prototype of the mural is gorgeous, if you haven’t yet seen it.

The plans for this year’s Lorane Ice Cream Social were discussed. It will honor the 40th anniversary of the Lorane Fire Department which is a major sponsor of the event. The LCA is planning to add more carnival booths, water games and events this year and Marissa McNutt Cooper is asking for volunteers to help man them. She can be contacted at 541-517-6608.

Sweet Lorane Community News, June 15, 2017

June 15, 2017Newspaper Columnsburning season, Crow High School, Donation Land Claim, George Ozment, Lane County Sheep Gathering, Lorane Community Association, Lorane Deli, Lorane Growers' Marketpaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
June 15, 2017
By Pat Edwards

Burning season has ended for now in rural Lane County. I’m not sure our neighbors have appreciated some of the smoke generated by our burn piles of wood waste from all the fallen trees and limbs that came down during the ice storm this winter and the removal of some trees that were sitting too close to the house, but it’s something that needed to be done. Thanks to our son Rob and grandson Kev who cut up the firewood, Jim and I were able to clean up a whole lot of what was left these last couple of weeks. Trudging up and down the hill in front of our house, dragging large limbs to the burn pile wasn’t the easiest thing in the world for either of us, but it felt good to get the big job done.

Doing a large, labor-intensive job such as this at our age brings out a lot of sweat, bumps, scrapes, scratches, bruises and amplifies our never-ending aches and pains, but when it’s done, it feels so rewarding. I’m learning that the secret is to do it in shorter increments of time than we used to, rest, and do some more. It’s so tempting to hire or ask someone else to do it, but for me, personally, the accomplishment of doing it ourselves is worth it. Now, once the remaining firewood from the fallen trees is stacked for pickup, we can tackle the jungle grass that needs to be tamed and mowed.

I checked with the Lorane Community Association and apparently the plans for the Lorane Growers Market will be to locate it at the Lorane Deli again this year. Terry Johnson Morris is redoing the produce table and says that it will be set up soon for those who want to offer garden starts and plants. Watch the bulletin board for an announcement and I’ll try to keep you posted here.

The sophomore class of Crow High School is sponsoring a fundraiser on June 22, 23, and 24, and are hoping to get some parent and student volunteers to help. The Lane County Sheep Gathering will be held those days and will pay the class $1,250 to help lay down shavings and straw and to provide overnight security in the barns from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. at night. They will need 2 or 3 adults and 6 or 7 students to stay in the barns each night to catch any loose sheep and make sure that the sheep are safe and secure. They need volunteers to sign up ASAP. The Crow High School Volleyball team has done this for the past several years and I’ve heard that it’s a lot of fun, and you can always catch up on your sleep the next day.

Notes have been sent out and more information is on the Lorane and Crow Facebook pages. To volunteer, please contact organizer Paula Christine Bloom or leave a message for her at the high school office at 541-935-2227.

A Little Bit of Lorane History: (quoted from History of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington – 1889)

“George Ozment was among the first to volunteer his services to suppress the Indian outbreak in 1855, and participated in the savage fight at Hungry Hill and at the big bend of Cow Creek…

…“After been mustered out of the service, he returned to the Siuslaw and took up a Donation Claim. In 1868, he made a visit to his old home in North Carolina, and persuading three of his brothers to make their home on this coast, conducted their train of wagons to Oregon. For some fifteen years he was engaged in the sheep business on his farm of two thousand acres near Cartwright, Lane County, Oregon. While these liberally provide for himself, he is equally liberal-minded to others, giving especial attention and care to public schools, and contributing largely to churches and all public enterprises. He is a man of wide influence, and an eminently useful citizen.”

George Ozment grazed 1,200 head of sheep and cultivated 150 acres of grain on the land. He never married, he died on April 17, 1899, and is buried in the Lorane Grange Cemetery. (From Sawdust and Cider; 1987; 2006)

Sweet Lorane Community News – February 16, 2017

February 16, 2017Newspaper ColumnsApplegate Elementary School, cataract surgery, Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District, Lorane Community Association, Lorane Dinner and Bingo Night, Pennies for Patientspaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
February 16, 2017
By Pat Edwards

The Lorane Community Association is rekindling after a hiatus of a year or more. As I write this, a meeting has been scheduled for this weekend to elect officers and begin planning for future community service projects. Some possible projects that have been suggested are: organizing a welcoming committee for new residents; creating local neighborhood committees for disaster preparedness and/or Neighborhood Watch; providing Wii Games at the Lorane Grange for fun and recreation; hosting “Yard Sale Poker” events; planning and developing an area map or mural incorporating the early settlement of the area and its Native footpath; hosting yoga sessions and coffee socials. On-going projects established by the previous group will continue. These include the Lorane Growers’ Market, the free little library at the Lorane Family Store, the Holiday Angel Tree project and the upkeep of the Lorane Reader Board. These have all been successful for the past several years.

I’m sure that there are other ideas that will spring from the renewed interest in the group. Some will build interest and become reality; others will likely fade away, but the important thing is for community members to have common interests and goals to enrich our community. Working together is the best way of getting things done and I hope that there’s a large turnout at the meeting scheduled for Saturday, February 18. It will have already happened by the time you read this, but that doesn’t mean that if you weren’t able to attend, you’ve missed the boat. I’ll try to post future meeting notices so that membership can continue to grow. These same notices will also be posted on the Lorane, Oregon Facebook page and most likely the bulletin board. So, watch for them and consider donating some of your time and resources to working with your neighbors to make a difference in Lorane.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 25. It will be time for the Lorane Grange’s Spaghetti Dinner and Family Bingo Night again. For those of you who haven’t yet gotten the information memorized, dinner of spaghetti, caesar salad, garlic bread, drinks and dessert begins at 5:30 p.m. Bingo for the whole family starts at 6:30 p.m. It’s a fun evening that no one takes very seriously and for those who think that bingo is boring, you haven’t tried it at the Lorane Grange. Come out and join us.

I’d like to round out the column this week with some school news from the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District that was generously supplied to me by Lil Thompson.

The Crow Middle/High School is taking part in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) “Pennies for Patients” program from February 13 to 27. Students across the country are collecting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and the class collecting the most change in each school receives a pizza party. Prizes such as computers, electronics and sports equipment are presented to the top schools in each area. All money collected by the students goes to help find cures and ensure treatments for blood cancer patients! For more information or to donate, call the high school office at 541-935-2227.

Dr. Seuss week is coming soon to the Applegate Elementary and adult volunteers are being sought to read with the students. If you can volunteer from February 27 to March 2, call 541-935-2100 or email Megan Leturno at mleturno@cal.k12.or.us.

The school district is still looking for patrons to volunteer for the Budget Committee. Contact Lee Ann at the district office, 541-935-2100, if you are interested.

For any of you who are contemplating having cataract surgery in the near future but are hesitant, I wanted to share that I just completed the removal of cataracts from both eyes over the past month and I am so glad that I did. The actual surgeries were pain-free with a bit of occasional scratchiness. After wearing glasses through my waking hours for 35 years, I now am facing the probability that I will no longer need them except, possibly, for reading. My biggest problem is the fact that if this is so, I now have to get reacquainted with the stranger that looks back at me from the mirror each day.