Sweet Lorane Community News, June 9, 2022

June 9, 2022Newspaper ColumnsHusqvarna, John Deere, Lorane Community Assoc., Lorane Growers' Market, Martin and Louise McClurepaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
June 9, 2022
By Pat Edwards

The Lorane Growers Market is doing well this year, already… and it’s just starting. It’s located on tables in front of the former Lorane Deli and is sponsored by the Lorane Community Association. Members of the community bring excess plants, produce and garden and farm items that they can’t use to share with others in Lorane. Those who are needing the items can pick up what they want—on the honor system—and donate whatever they can afford in the donation box. Proceeds go towards community projects that are overseen by the association.

Thanks to Louise and Martin McClure for filling the tables this past week with many vegetable starts for those who are ready to begin planting their gardens. Their donation of the plants was very well-received by the community and all had found homes the first day they were put out. Thank you, Louise and Martin, for demonstrating and exhibiting the spirit of “community” to each of us. Others, too, have generously contributed this spring and we are only beginning to get into it. Later in the season, the Growers’ Market table is usually stocked with produce from Lorane gardens and orchards that is available to others. Thank you to the Lorane Community Association for maintaining it for us.

Today, Jim and I made the decision that our beloved old John Deere riding mower needed to be retired. It had served us well for many years after much abuse on the rough, bumpy ground and hillsides we challenged it with. After several recent repairs, though, the deck gave out and we decided it was time to invest in a new mower. Our daughter, Gloria, with trailer in tow, picked us up at our house and we headed for town. The long lines of riding mowers we had seen in front of one of the stores only a couple of weeks ago had been reduced to one John Deere and one Husqvarna, both with “Waiting for Pickup” tags on them. There were a few of the less expensive ones, but they weren’t really up to the jobs we had awaiting them. From experience, we learned that they were happiest with level, well-manicured lawns with few challenges… which we certainly don’t have at our home. Inside, we could have invested $5,000 into a different model of the “zero-turn” models, but we didn’t want one THAT bad. The store had two Husqs scheduled to arrive in two weeks’ time, but both were already spoken for—and, even if they hadn’t been, if our grass was allowed to grow for 2 more weeks, we’d have to get out Jim’s old hay baler to process it. So, we headed for a second and then a third home improvement store and they were completely out of the kind of mowers we needed, and weren’t expecting any more until July—late July. When we got home, I checked on-line and everything in the models we were needing was “out of stock there, too.”

So, our options are to continue to borrow our daughter’s mower until we can figure something out or buy a new deck for our old John Deere. I guess I shouldn’t complain… at least I’m not a young mother who is having to deal with trying to feed her baby, who is on a bottle, because there is no baby formula on the shelves these days.

Has anyone heard yet when life is supposed to return to some semblance of normal?

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, July 5, 2018

July 5, 2018Newspaper Columns4th of July, Art in the Country, Blue Rooster Inn, Chicken 'n Pickin, Crow Grange, Easy Acres Neighborhood group, Farmin Creek, Lorane Christian Church, Lorane Community Association, Lorane Growers' Market, Marissa McNutt Cooper, Rodney Liles, Worship in the Parkpaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 5, 2018
By Pat Edwards

What a wonderful Independence Day this year! Our Easy Acres Neighborhood Group got together at the Blue Rooster Inn to celebrate being neighbors. Because there are not a lot of us and because our neighbors know that we (the Edwards/Kaus) have a big family, they extended their invitation to all of us—not just Jim and me—and most were able to come.

It was an afternoon of eating BBQ potluck—our grillmasters were our grandsons, Kevin and Brent—conversation and getting acquainted in the historic barn, and yard games played next to the pond on which its resident swan glided gracefully as a backdrop for the many photographs that were taken. The venue was generously provided by Nancy Pelton, the owner of the Blue Rooster and a member of the group. Good times.

The Lorane Community Association held its monthly meeting last week and there is a lot of discussion about the upcoming unveiling of the mural that I told you about last week. Along with the unveiling, the LCA is planning to have some t-shirts, bags and possibly other items printed with the image of the mural and they will be on-sale that day (Sunday, August 12) in the parking area of the Lorane Family Store.

In addition, the plans for the community-wide yard sale on Saturday, August 4, are progressing. In addition to the sale, itself, the Rebekah Lodge is planning a pancake breakfast from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. that day.

As a side note, the LCA will be collecting backpacks, pencils, glue sticks and other school supplies to hand out to kids also on that day. Please contact Marissa McNutt-Cooper if you’d like to donate a backpack.

I’ll include more information on this event as well as the Crow Chicken ‘n Pickin’ BBQ and the Art in the Country Festival that will all be happening on the same day—Saturday, August 4—in a column soon.

The Lorane Christian Church has scheduled its annual “Worship in the Park” on August 19th at Farmin Creek, on Siuslaw River Road about a half mile from the Lorane Deli. This is a church service held in the beautiful outdoors! The service starts at 10:30 a.m., followed by a barbeque lunch at noon. 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!

The Lorane Growers Market is just beginning to pick up steam now that our gardens are beginning to produce. Stop by frequently and check out what items of produce have been dropped off. Our area gardeners have been very generous with their donations in the past, and all proceeds go to the Lorane Community Association to be used for the many projects it takes on through the year.

Our condolences go out to the Liles family of Crow for the loss of Rodney Liles who was killed in a car accident on June 25. I didn’t know Rodney, but he was the father of Talisha who went to Crow High School with our granddaughters. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Talisha and her family.