Welcome to the September 2018 issue of OSU Extension Marion e-News! You will find brief educational articles and timely event information for you, your family and your business.
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Grace Shipporeit: The Spark of Sunnyview Vegetable Farm
By Jaysa Coons,
OSU Extension Agritourism Communications Intern

When Grace Schipporeit was young, she loved picking berries. She thought it was a great way to make a living and envisioned being a farmer, but it wasn’t until after she worked for the U.S. Government and New York Stock Exchange branch office in Salem, that Grace became a farmer. Grace grew up in southeastern Washington, but has lived in Salem, Ore. most of her life. She met her husband of almost 50 years, Harold Schipporeit, in Woodburn, Ore. Together, they now own and operate a five-and-a-half-acre farm in Salem called Sunnyview Vegetable Farm . The couple have owned the property for over 40 years and began cultivating the vegetables about 10- to 12-years ago. “It was a fun project,” said Grace. “My husband started it for our daughter and we just evolved from there. Now, I am also the owner and we have our year-round workers help us. It’s run by about three or four people.” According to Grace, she and Harold are a great team and work very well together. Harold worked in marketing at NW Natural Gas Company for 25 years before he retired and started farming. Grace says he is a farmer at heart and is the one who gets the projects started. Originally, the farm was a monocrop farm until the Schipporeits diversified to grow alfalfa, Christmas trees and clover. Today, Sunnyview Vegetable Farm is a produce farm with lots of variety to offer. They grow tomatoes, tomatillos, zucchini ... read the full story here .
Got a Food Preservation Question? Call the Food Preservation Hotline!
By Kym Pokorny, OSU Extension Service

The toll-free hotline at 800-354-7319 runs until Oct. 12 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. When the hotline is closed, callers can leave a message. The hotline is staffed by certified Master Food Preserver volunteers in Lane and Douglas counties, but it’s available statewide.
Thousands of callers use the hotline each year and approximately half the questions are about food safety. That’s a good thing, said Jeanne Brandt, Master Food Preserver program coordinator. “There is a tremendous amount of misinformation on the internet, so it's hard to figure out what is reliable and what is unsafe,” she said. “That's partly why the hotline...  Read the full story here .
Food Hero Recipes - Breakfast Pumpkin Cookies and More!
By Carly Kristofik, SNAP-Ed Coordinator

The Food Hero featured food in September is the whole grain! A whole grain is “whole” because it contains all three parts of the grain: the germ, the endosperm and the bran. Whole grains are good for our health because they contain important vitamins, minerals and fiber. Eating enough fiber helps keep our digestive system working well, helps us stay full throughout the day and may reduce our risk of developing heart disease! The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend making at least half of the grains you eat each day whole grains.
So, what foods are whole grains? Any food made with grains can be whole grain, including bread, cereal, oatmeal, pasta, rice, tortillas and crackers. Important: Don’t assume a loaf of bread or other food is whole grain because it’s brown. Instead, check the first ingredient in the ingredients list. If the first word is “whole” as in “whole wheat” or “whole oats,” then it’s a whole-grain food.
To start adding whole grains into your meals, try making Food Hero’s Carrot Pancakes , Orange Rice Salad or Breakfast Pumpkin Cookies ! To learn more about whole grains and find many more great recipes, check out the September edition of the Food Hero Monthly newsletter and foodhero.org !
Visit Farms Now to Find Many Varieties of Fresh Sweet Corn
By Mary Stewart, OSU Extension Service

As August winds to an end, some of the summer’s most popular produce are making their debut. Sweet corn is coming on now and late-season peaches are still in supply. You will want to hurry out to local farms within the next month to get the best selection of your yellow favorites. Get to the farms early in the day because produce is often picked at sunrise. Before you drive to the farm, check availability of the crop--call the farm or watch the farm’s website or Facebook page. Crops ripen at different speeds depending on natural factors such as weather, water and temperature, so they are not always available for sale every day. According to Betsy Verhoeven, mid-valley field crops extension faculty, when it comes to sweet corn there are the traditional sweet varieties (5 to 10 percent sugar), sugary enhanced (12 to 20 percent sugar) and then super sweet (20 to 30 percent sugar) varieties. Within each category of sweetness...read the full story here .
Meet Colleen Owen: The Urban Farmer at Pringle Creek Community
By Jaysa Coons,
OSU Extension Agritourism Communications Intern

Pringle Creek Community is much more than a housing development. It is a community based on agriculture and calls itself an agrihood, where green homes are built. Thanks to Colleen Owen, an Urban Farmer, the community is able to produce organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, honey and make the harvest available for direct sales to the public. Colleen started gardening about 11 years ago. Prior to working at Pringle Creek, she took an urban farmer class offered at the community center at Pringle Creek and was such an active gardener that she was invited to come and teach a class the next year. Colleen was hired at Pringle Creek in December of 2013. “I would consider myself a farmer-gardener...my actual title is Urban Farmer because I’m growing farm products within city limits. We are very old-school and low-tech. There is not a lot of machinery as everything is done by hand. Planting is completed on our hands and knees. We have gone through and put irrigation in beds to alleviate the amount of time we spend tending our plants and it also helps conserve water overall,” said Colleen...read the full story here
Storing the Harvest: Fresh Vegetables throughout the Winter
By Judy O'Neill, OSU Master Gardener

You can eat fresh, summer grown vegetables from your garden all winter without preserving them. In this workshop, OSU Master Gardener Jane
Sommers will tell you when to harvest, how to prepare your vegetables for storage and where and when to store them. Selecting vegetable varieties that store well will also be discussed.

Sat., Sept. 29. 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m .
Unitarian Universalist Church. Fellowship Hall
5090 Center St.(Corner of Center St. and Cordon Rd. NE)

Pre-registration is required. Register online @ https://marioncomga.org/ event-registration
Living on the Land Series offered Sept 20 - Oct 18 in Dallas
By Victoria Binning, OSU Extension Small Farms

Living on the Land is a workshop series tailored for small acreage landowners and those new to managing land. There are 5 classes in the series. Register for the whole series  here .
 
Sept 20 - Land Stewardship Planning  ( Register )
  • Learn the basics of planning for natural resource management 
Sept 27 - Soils and Weeds  ( Register )
  • Learn the basics of soil composition and health as well as about management strategies for common weeds on your land
Oct 4 - Pasture and Manure Management  ( Register )
  • Make the most of your pasture by learning how grass plants grow, rotational grazing, nutrient and manure management
Oct 11 - Woodlands and Riparian Area Management  ( Register )
  • Look at the woodlands and riparian areas on your property and consider options to enhance and manage for healthy trees and waterway habitat
Oct 18 - Water Rights and Well Water  ( Register )
  • Learn about water rights. Bring well water for nitrate screening.
 
Classes will be hosted by OSU Extension Service in Polk County at their office in Dallas. Classes will be on Thursdays, from 6:00-8:30pm. Register for classes individually at $10 per class or $30 for the whole five-class series, or $45 for two farm partners. Register for the whole series  HERE . The Polk County Extension Office is located at 289 E Ellendale Ave Suite 301, Dallas, OR 97338.

For more information, contact Victoria Binning at 503-373-3774 or  victoria.binning@oregonstate.edu .
Answers to 3 Common Compost Problems
By Kim Pokorny, OSU Extension Service

If you treat them right, microscopic critters in soil will do your bidding and turn garden and kitchen debris into black gold for the garden, "There are more micro-organisms in a teaspoon of topsoil than there are people on planet Earth," said Nick Andrews, small farms specialist and compost expert for the Oregon State University Extension Service. "Compost is similar. It's teeming with billions of microorganisms for each ounce of compost." Those billions of microorganisms aren't sitting still. Their metabolism works hard to convert organic material into fuel – activity that heats up compost. Compost must reach 130 to 135 degrees to kill weed seeds and pathogens, Andrews said. Turn the pile after its first three to five weeks with a garden fork to add air and break up clumps of material. If the pile is big enough – one-half to one cubic yard – and well-built with a good carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, moisture content and porosity, it should heat up within a week. It will stay hot long enough for you to turn the pile and "process" the raw material to kill ... read the full story here .    
Seed Crop and Cereal Production Meeting: Slugs, Weeds and Seeds
By Betsy Verhoeven, OSU Extension Field Crops

Please join us for our fall seed crop and cereal production meeting. Our keynote speaker will be Sebastian Mari, speaking on grass and forage seed production challenges in South America. Extension specialists from OSU will present on fall slug and weed management options. The event will be hosted at three locations:

Sept 12: West Salem 8:30-noon 
Roth's Hospitality Center
1130 Wallace Rd, West Salem
Sept 12: Albany 1:30-5:00 pm
Linn Co. Fair and Expo
3700 Knox Butte Rd, Albany
Sept 13: Forest Grove 8:30-noon
Forest Grove Elks Lodge
2810 Pacific Ave, Forest Grove
Training Blackberries and Raspberries in the Home Garden
By Judy O'Neill, OSU Master Gardener

OSU Master Gardener, Joyce Heinke will teach how to train the primocanes of blackberries onto wires so the canes are not damaged and they will bear more fruit next year. Training raspberry canes and raspberry care will also be covered.

Saturday, September 22. 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Marion Demonstration Garden,
3180 Center Street NE, Salem.

Attendees should bring their heaviest pair of gloves.
We also encourage attendees to read pamphlets EC 1303 and EC 1306 on growing caneberries @ https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/ before attending this workshop. Pre-registration is required @ https://marioncomga.org/event-registration/
Conifers--Especially Doug firs--are Suffering from Drought
By Kym Pokorny, OSU Extension Service

Conifers in Oregon are getting hit hard by several years of drought, to the point that many are dying. “Beginning in 2013-14, we started to see significant impact on Doug-firs in western Oregon, particularly in the south end of the state,” said Dave Shaw, a forest health specialist with Oregon State University Extension Service. “Now you’ll notice them checking out up and down the I-5 corridor.” It’s past the point of just Doug-firs, however. Many conifers, including Western red cedar, incense cedar, grand fir and even valley ponderosa pine are succumbing, as well. “This year alone we had the driest May in history and a record number of days over 90 degrees,” Shaw said. “That’s going to stress trees.” The first signs of drought damage are dropping more needles than usual and/or an abnormally high number of cones (called “stress crop”). That will be followed by dead branches or tree tops, and sometimes entire trees. Symptoms of summer drought are often not seen until the following spring, Shaw said, although recent droughts have been severe enough for symptoms to appear in late summer or ... read the full story here .
OSU Extension Service: Our Attitude
We believe that the best way to make a difference is to get straight to the heart of the matter. We start with an accessible and relatable approach and build on it with passion. We listen to our clients, respect their need, and amplify their voices to create solutions together that empower real, sustainable change. It’s what we’ve done for more than 100 years, and we’re committed to doing it for the next 100 years as well.
Thank You for Reading our E-News!
Do You have Questions, Comments? Suggestions?
We would love to hear what you would like to see in our next issue of OSU Extension Marion E-News!

Please send your comments to: mary.stewart@oregonstate.edu .

Thank You! --Mary Stewart, Editor