Sweet Lorane Community News – January 31, 2019

January 31, 2019Newspaper ColumnsDaryle Bloom, Lorane Country Cafe, Lorane Delipaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News ,
January 31, 2019
By Pat Edwards

Today is one of those days when I’m starting to write my column with no idea where I’m going with it. So, I’m interested in how it will develop, myself.

The most obvious observation I have this morning is what a glorious week we have been having, weather-wise. Someone remarked to me yesterday that we’re having a “February spring,” but we all know how deceiving that can be. I can feel the stirrings of spring fever, but I’m trying to settle them back into place for now. Let’s just enjoy it while it lasts.

Jim and I will soon be spending a few days with our daughter, Kelly, and her husband Justin, in Arizona. We’re both looking forward to seeing them in their winter digs. They are just not into spending another cold winter in their beautiful home in Montana as they did much of last year. They are trading the bears that stop by to visit them in the fall for the bobcats, coyotes and, as spring approaches, the rattlesnakes of Arizona. Fortunately, the bears and snakes hibernate, so now’s a good time for us to visit.

Life-long Crow resident, Daryle Bloom, has retired his auto repair business in Crow and has begun teaching shop classes at Crow Middle/High School in small engine repair. His last request for donations of broken small engines for the last class was so successful, he’s trying again.

“Wanted… seized-up or non-running small engines to use for high school shop class.” The ones donated last time were a great success and he extends his thanks to all who donated. The students loved working on the engines and they actually got many of them running again. He now has a new group of 8th graders coming in and would like to have more engines available for them to work on. You can respond to his posting on the Lorane or Crow Facebook pages or leave a message at the high school… 541-935-2227. If you have an old lawnmower or weedeater that no longer works, he will be glad to take it off your hands.

loranegeneralstore An exciting announcement was made this week by the management of the Lorane Deli. Beginning February 5th, it will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and will have a dinner special each night along with their standard burgers, sandwiches and more. The dinner specials will be posted on the Lorane Facebook page soon.

This is welcome news for the Lorane community. We’ve been needing an option for evening meals where you can drop by on your way home from work or after a long day’s gardening or painting project.

loranecountrycafe300dpi I remember the days when the Lorane Country Café was in business in the late 1980s and the 1990s. The Giles offered delicious comfort food while we kicked back and relaxed— sometimes while still in our work clothes. No reservations were required and the booths and counter were usually full. Neighbors could catch up on the news and gossip and go home without having to face a sink full of dishes.

I hope that the whole community will give its full support to Peggy, Jesse and crew. They’ve been successful in making the Deli a popular meeting place in the mornings and have a loyal following. Let’s show them how much we appreciate their willingness to take this on.

Sweet Lorane Community News, August 9, 2018

August 9, 2018Newspaper ColumnsAlix Mosieur, Applegate Regional Theater, Art in the Country, Crow Chicken 'n Pickin, Farmin Creek, Karen Pidgeon, Kevin Stevens, Lorane Centennial, Lorane Community Association, Lorane Community Potluck, Lorane Community-Wide Yard Sale, Lorane Deli, Lorane Family Store, Lorane Growers' Market, Lorane Ice Cream Social, Lorane Mural Project, Oregon Authors, Worship in the Parkpaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
August 9, 2018
By Pat Edwards

Today, as I write this, one very busy weekend has ended and another is getting ready to happen.

Last weekend’s Art in the Country Festival that I helped to organize and promote is in the books as a definite success. It was a fundraiser for the Applegate Regional Theater (ART, Inc.) on the campus of their wonderful theater venue that was formerly the Central Elementary School. It was the first time any of us have taken on such a large undertaking… at least in the past several years. I guess I could claim that our 3-day Lorane Centennial Celebration that I worked on in 1987 was a similar success, but I was in my mid-40s then.

Anyway, we had a good attendance for this first year, especially in the early part of the day. The heat and direct sun on our Oregon Authors’ table got to me in the afternoon and I went home feeling the effects for the next two days, but it was a good feeling too, knowing that all of our hard work was appreciated by a lot of people.

I understand that the other two events that day in the neighborhood went really well, too. The Lorane Community-Wide Breakfast and Sale had a lot of shoppers and the Crow Grange Chicken ‘n Pickin’ BBQ hosted about 140 people. High-fives all around!
I’m looking forward this weekend, to the long-awaited unveiling of the beautiful Lorane mural painted jointly by Lorane artists, Karen Pidgeon and Alix Mosieur at 3:00 p.m. during the Lorane Picnic and Ice Cream Social celebrations. By the time you read this, it will have already been revealed and will be sitting proudly in front of the Lorane Family Store where our grandson, Kevin Stevens, built a structure worthy of the job it has of displaying this wonderful piece of artwork. If you stop by to see it, be sure to get a printed checklist of things—animals, plants, features, etc.—that are in the painting and see how many of them you can find. The lists will be inside the store. Be sure to read the back, too, which will help introduce you to the amazing artists. A table displaying mural souvenirs and other artwork done by Karen and Alix and a few of my books will also be set up.

If you haven’t already put “Worship in the Park” on your calendar, please be sure you do. The Lorane Christian Church is allowing Mother Nature to host its worship service at 10:30 a.m. on August 19, at the Farmin Creek event venue owned by the Martin family. It’s located on Siuslaw River Road, next to Chateau Lorane, about a half mile west of the Lorane Deli. Following the service, a community barbecue will be held at noon. All are invited. The church provides the hamburgers and hotdogs, and side dishes of salads and desserts are welcomed. There’s a pond for swimming and horseshoes for the competitive at Farmin Creek!

I haven’t mentioned the Lorane Growers’ Market at the Lorane Deli recently. There have been some wonderful produce and other items left there in the past couple of weeks, so don’t miss out. And, if you have some extra produce from your own garden you would like to share with others, be sure to drop it off so the proceeds of the sale can go into the coffers of the Lorane Community Association which has sponsored so many community projects in the past few years, including the Lorane mural.

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)