The Gorge Magazine - Summer 2021

SUMMER 2021 thegorgemagazine.com

LIVING AND EXPLORING IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE

Lessons From the Hive

What the bees can teach us

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New books by Gorge authors

Ultrarunning Training for the race of a lifetime

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CONTENTS | SUMMER 2021

22

FEATURE

OF BEES AND BEASTS ...

The literary arts are alive and well in the Gorge, as these six local authors prove

By Janet Cook

42

Blaine Franger

OUTSIDE

OUR GORGE

54 SUMMER IS ON AT MT. HOOD MEADOWS

Off-season operations include an expanded trail network and outdoor movies

10 PERSON OF INTEREST

By Ben Mitchell

14 VENTURES 20 BEST OF THE GORGE

ARTS + CULTURE

22 HOME + GARDEN

58 A BREATH OF PLEIN AIR

A renowned regional arts event flourishes in the Columbia Gorge landscape

By Janet Cook

CultureSeed helps underserved youth thrive

By Janet Cook

58 SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

70 PARTAKE

28

64 SEEKING WELLNESS FROM THE OUTSIDE IN

28 IMBIBE 74 YOUR GORGE

WELLNESS

4

Eileen Garvin

Nancy Blazer

David Burbach

HOME HOME HOME HOME

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first met Mark Chamley at Shortt Supply in Hood River a few years ago when I stopped in to get a new pair of running shoes. I picked my usual shoe off the display rack — I’d been wearing the same brand for years and knew what I wanted — and Mark came over to help me. We chatted about running, about how far and how often and where I usually run — trail or pavement — and he suggested a different shoe. I stared blankly at him, but he just smiled and said he’d bring out my usual shoe and the other one, just in case I wanted to try it on.

Suffice it to say I wound up with the other shoe and it changed my middle-age running life. Prior to that, I’d been running only every other day or two in order to rest my aching knees (and a nagging pain in my hip) in between. I figured it was the price of decades of running and that I would just be paying it until I couldn’t run anymore at all. Instead, those shoes practically eliminated my discomfort. I’m on my sixth or seventh version of that shoe now, and I run almost every day — pain-free.

It turns out Mark Chamley knows his stuff when it comes to running. He checked off goal after running goal throughout his 20s and early 30s — including knocking off a sub-3-hour marathon — and eventually turned to trail running for a new challenge. It wasn’t long before he was hooked on ultrarunning, which he’s now been doing for 35 years. This summer, a few weeks after he turns 68, he’ll be the oldest participant at the starting line of the Tahoe 200 Endurance Run, a 200-mile race around Lake Tahoe.

Writer Cate Hotchkiss profiles Mark beginning on page 10. His endeavors make my daily few miles seem paltry, but he’s inspiring — and I’m thankful for his advice every time I lace up for a run. Good luck at Tahoe, Mark!

There’s plenty to do in the Gorge this time of year — especially as things continue to open up after a year of pandemic restrictions — but be sure to work into your schedule some time for a good book.

Actually, several of them. We take a look at six Gorge writers who have recently had books published, beginning on page 42. Their works span multiple genres and diverse topics, and all are worthy of a read.

— Janet Cook, Editor

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You’ll find an array of other interesting stories in this issue, including a feature on a sheep ranching couple in Goldendale (page 14), an essay on the joys and life lessons of beekeeping (page 22), and a story on CultureSeed, a nonprofit working to help underserved youth thrive through outdoor immersion and mentorships (page 64). Enjoy, and have a great summer!

LIVING AND EXPLORING IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE

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What the bees can teach us

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

About the Cover Hood River photographer Paloma Ayala took our cover photo of ultrarunner Mark Chamley at Columbia Hills State Park. “It was a beautiful afternoon,” Ayala said — although, in classic Gorge fashion, windy. She rode her bike, carrying her camera gear loaded in a pack, while Chamley ran. They stopped in various places along the trail so she could set up her gear and shoot. In this image, Horsethief Butte, The Dalles and Mount Hood create a dramatic backdrop. “It was super fun,” Ayala said. “But from carrying my big heavy camera bag, I was sore for the next few days.” ayalapaloma.com

When you have read this issue please pass it on to a friend or recycle it.

Together we can make a difference in preserving and conserving our resources.

SUMMER 2021 EDITOR Janet Cook

CREATIVE DIRECTOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNER Renata Kosina

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Jody Thompson

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ruth Berkowitz, Don Campbell, Eileen Garvin, Cate Hotchkiss Kacie McMackin, Ben Mitchell

COVER PHOTOGRAPHER Paloma Ayala

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Paloma Ayala, David Burbach, Eileen Garvin, Renata Kosina, Kacie McMackin, Ben Mitchell, Kelly Turso

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THE GORGE MAGAZINE 600 E. Port Marina Way, Suite B and C P.O. Box 390 Hood River, Oregon 97031 We appreciate your feedback.

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The Gorge Magazine is published by Columbia Gorge News, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of Columbia Gorge News, LLC. Articles and photographs appearing in The Gorge Magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of The Gorge Magazine, Columbia Gorge News, LLC, or its employees, staff or management. All RIGHTS RESERVED. The Gorge Magazine is printed at Eagle Web Press.

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ourGORGE person of interest 10 ventures 14 best of the gorge 20 home + garden 22 imbibe 28

14

Renata Kosina

Pierre and Merrit Monnat raise some 400 sheep on their ranch near Goldendale.

Courtesy of Tofurky

THE GORGE MAGAZINE II SUMMER 2021

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OUR GORGE I PERSON OF INTEREST

he

Mark Chamley A Hood River ultrarunner trains for his ultimate challenge story by CATE HOTCHKISS | photos by PALOMA AYALA

F

our days and four hours.

That is the time limit under which Mark Chamley of Hood River must complete the Tahoe 200 Endurance Run in order to earn an official finish. Slated for mid-September, the event is double the distance — 200 miles — that he will ever have attempted during his 35-year ultrarunning career, which includes more than 100 races in locations around the world. Furthermore, he will turn 68 in August, making him the oldest of 250 participants to have signed up.

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“People tend to run shorter distances as they age, but I’m doing the opposite, which might be a really bad experiment, or even disastrous,” he says, laughing. “Ultras are all about pushing your personal boundaries. I need to try this before it’s too late.”

He had originally planned to run the race, which circumnavigates Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada, in 2020, but, as with nearly everything else, it was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And, while he is stoked about the chance to tackle it this year, his training has been hampered by a tight hamstring. “In the past, I rarely got injured, but these days, aches and pains seem to crop up weekly.”

To compensate, he has increased his crosstraining: mountain biking and weight lifting. Still, some solid 30-mile runs would boost his confidence, he says. “I really need to recalibrate my brain power. At this point, I’m not tough enough to endure the discomfort inherent in ultrarunning. This race will inevitably become a total mind-game.”

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Endurance runner Mark Chamley trains, among other places, on the trails of Columbia Hills State Park in the eastern Gorge.

From Road to Trail

Chamley’s foray into ultra-distances, those longer than 26.2 miles, began in southern California, where he and his wife of 25 years, Mary, also a runner and avid hiker, co-owned a commercial landscaping company. In his 20s and early 30s, he ran primarily on roads, but in 1984, after reaching his goal of a sub-3-hour marathon, he sought out new challenges, beginning with a 50-mile trail race in Malibu.

“By mile 40, I was totally smoked, dehydrated, and a real mess,” Chamley recalls. “I figured I could run all the steep climbs, as I did on the roads, instead of power-hiking,” a typical component in ultrarunning. “Instead, I got hammered and dropped out.” However, a couple of months later, he signed up for another 50-miler and finished. “Aside from feeling as though I got hit by a train, it was a cool accomplishment.” Before long, he was hooked on the entire ultrarunning scene — hard-core athletes competing in natural settings with no crowds and little fanfare.

Around that period, he and Mary visited a friend in the Gorge and fell in love with the area’s breathtaking beauty and endless opportunities for outdoor adventures. In 2003, they purchased a second home in Hood River. “It was the perfect spot for the lifestyle we lead and value,” Mary says. In 2010, they moved here full-time and launched an apartment leasing business, while Chamley began working several days per week at Shortt Supply, where he continues to sell running shoes and outdoor gear.

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THE GORGE MAGAZINE II SUMMER 2021

11

Mary Chamley, Mark’s wife, prepares nutritious food to fuel long runs, including graband-go miniature mushroom-and-Swiss frittatas, left, and no-bake energy balls, above.

About six years ago, he sold a pair of trail shoes to ultrarunner and triathlete Troy Holloway, now 57. Soon, they became training partners and close friends. For the Tahoe 200, Holloway will serve on Chamley’s race support crew. Via forest roads, he will drive to points along the course to assist Chamley with various needs such as extra clothing, sleeping gear, shoe changes, personal hygiene, and food. He will also pace his friend through certain segments, especially during the dark hours, when hallucinations are more likely to occur due to sleep deprivation.

“The most challenging part of crewing is seeing someone who’s normally upbeat and personable transform into an ugly person,” Holloway says. “Sometimes they bark at you. Chamley and I have a saying: ‘You’ve seen ugly, but this is gonna be real ugly.’” Fortunately, Holloway knows what to anticipate.

Fueling

“Proper nutrition can make or break a race,” Chamley says. “You have to learn what kinds of foods agree with you on the go, and remember to eat before you get hungry in order to prevent bonking.” Vomiting, dehydration, or other gastrointestinal issues are primary reasons why people drop out, he explains.

While racing, training, or even hiking around the Gorge, the Chamleys opt for real food versus pre-packaged energy gels or bars. Mary, the chef in the family, is a big fan of the cookbook, “Feed Zone Portables.”

“One of our favorite recipes is spaghetti made in individual muffin cups,” she says. “Another is mushroom frittatas.” To satisfy a sweet tooth, she creates no-bake energy balls: rolled oats, peanut butter, chocolate chips, flax and chia seeds. She keeps these kinds of nourishing, grab-and-go mini-meals on hand, preparing and freezing batches of them every few weeks. For Chamley’s Tahoe effort, she will also cook roasted red potatoes with plenty of sea salt.

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

Chamley plans to cover about 50 miles per day, which includes 40,000 feet of elevation gain and loss throughout the race.

“The most I’ve ever climbed is 24,000 feet over 100 miles, and felt totally frayed, depleted,” he says. “My biggest fears are that I’ll get timed out, or won’t want to play anymore. When you hit the pain cave and start asking yourself ‘What am I proving? Why the fuck am I doing this?’ you have to really dig deep and want to finish, otherwise, the mountain will win. If you look for excuses, you’ll find a million reasons to stop.”

Of the 224 men and women who started the 2019 Tahoe 200, onethird did not finish. “No matter how Chamley does, this adventure will be a crowning achievement for him,” Holloway says. “It’s one of those epic things you’ll always remember. It cannot be otherwise.”

Chamley says he will try only one time to conquer the daunting distance, and then return to normal ultras with the “geezers,” as Holloway’s daughter refers to her dad, Chamley, and the other 60-somethings.

But until then, and with equal parts humility and grit, Chamley will pursue his dream, step by step, and, despite all obstacles along the way, refuse, as Dylan Thomas says, to ever “go gentle into that good night.”

Cate Hotchkiss is a freelance health and lifestyle writer who lives in Hood River with her family.

OUR GORGE I VENTURES

From Sheep to Shirt Goldendale ranchers add shearing to their farm business story by GWENYTH BASSETTI and RUTH BERKOWITZ | photos by RENATA KOSINA

I

“ have to be extremely focused, so please don’t talk to me as I shear,” Pierre Monnat warns as he sets up to shear four yearlings from his sheep farm.

Focused he is. We walk into Monnat’s shearing trailer backed up to the corral holding some of the 400-odd sheep that he and his wife Merrit run

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

on their Goldendale ranch. Lined up in the chute ready for their annual clip, the anxious yearlings wait.

Their long eyelashes and inquisitive eyes with rectangular pupils remind me of a dolled up dancer ready to perform on stage.

I stroke the first in line. She feels fluffy and warm. I envision the cozy shirt or blanket that will result from her fleece. It’s easy to imagine that, for the sheep, shearing is a little like going to the dentist — something one doesn’t look forward to, but a necessary task that feels good afterward. For centuries, sheep have been bred to grow wool that doesn’t shed naturally. If abandoned and unshorn, their wool

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HUCKLEBERRY’S NATURAL MARKET Pierre and Merrit Monnat, opposite inset, raise sheep on their ranch near Goldendale, Wash. Pierre shears his own flock and travels throughout the Pacific Northwest several months a year as one of the region’s premier professional sheep shearers.

will grow to unmanageable proportions. Though rare, there are real-life accounts of sheep that have strayed from their herd only to be rescued years later with 75 to 85 pounds of wool weighing them down.

In 2012, Monnat attended the shearing school hosted by Washington State University and knew immediately that he wanted to master the art of sheep shearing. “I love it,” he says proudly, explaining that he is “providing a necessary service to the animal and it’s something the animal can’t do by itself.” With almost 10 years of shearing experience, Monnat has the patience, passion and skill that make him one of the premier shearers in the Pacific Northwest.

As he gets ready to begin, Monnat removes his sturdy farm boots and slips on soft leather moccasins, footwear made especially for shearers to give them an intimate feel for the sheep and prevent slipping while clipping. As he inspects the cuts and combs of his electric tool, Monnat’s right forearm reveals a tattooed image of a pair of hand shears, used before electric shears were invented around the turn of the 20th century.

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The Monnats sell most of their sheep’s fleece to Pendleton Woolen Mills, where it’s woven and finished at the company’s Washougal, Wash., factory. The couple’s flock is exclusively pastured and grass-fed, grazing on their own 640 acres as well as on nearby ranches. The Monnats also sell lamb to restaurants, shops and individual buyers.

“When I look at the image, it reminds me of my heritage and being a part of a greater heritage of shearers,” he says, noting that sometimes he uses his hand shears for very matted fleeces. Although electric shears have sped up the process, little else has changed in the world of shearing; wool has kept us warm for centuries.

The shearing machine ready, Monnat flips open a drop gate and his young ewe tumbles out of the chute. He leans into the sling, rolls the ewe onto her bottom, picks up the clipper and in one smooth movement makes the first “blow.” A gentle dance between man and sheep and the disrobing begins.

Minutes later the fleece lies in one piece ready to be skirted — a process where dirtier parts of the fleece from the sheep’s belly and rear are removed — checked for tags, rolled and bagged.

Left naked and pinkish-white, the ewe jumps from the shed and joins her mates. Today, Monnat will shear only the few that were missed on a recent shearing, but on a typical workday he shears about 130 sheep. He shears an average of 4,000 sheep a year. Working as a professional shearer, Monnat travels throughout the Northwest, including in Idaho and Montana, for several months a year with his trailer and gear ready to shear large and small flocks.

Monnat grew up with his twin brother in Seattle and spent summers working on his uncle’s dairy farm in Michigan. The experience kindled Monnat’s dream of having his own farm. But first he went to college, studied history at the University of Chicago and wrote a thesis on the displacement of agriculture in Washington’s once-fertile Duwamish Valley. After graduating, he returned to Washington and managed other people’s farms, including the Vashon Island farm of the James Beard Award-winning Seattle chef Matt Dillon. During that time, Monnat met his Texas partner and future wife, Merrit, who shared his love of farming.

The two combined their talents and six years ago purchased 170 acres of an abandoned farm in Goldendale, which they named M&P Ranches. Since then, they’ve built new buildings on the property, remodeled old ones, bought another 170 acres and leased still more land on a neighboring farm. They now work nearly 640 acres of farmland.

Even that large amount of land is not enough to support their exclusively pastured and grass-fed flock. To supplement the flock’s feed, they haul their sheep and their trusted livestock guard dogs to nearby ranches. It’s a win-win situation whereby the sheep get fed and the ranches benefit from grazing, which helps control weeds, cleans up the harvest and fertilizes the soil. Recently, the Monnats purchased a shiny new second trailer, allowing them to move more efficiently and provide the sheep with a constant rotation of abundant food.

The Monnats’ flock is made up predominantly of Targhee and Rambouillet breeds known for their fine wool, similar to the famous Merino. The Monnats sell the bulk of their clip to Pendleton Woolen 16

SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

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Mills. According to the company’s wool buyer, Dan Gutzman, the Monnats’ wool is combined with other American fine wools and then spun, dyed, woven and finished at the company’s Washougal, Wash., factory.

At the mill, the Monnats’ fleece is transformed into the popular Umatilla fabrics featured in many Pendleton shirts and other apparel — the most renowned of which is the Board Shirt, long favored among ranchers but popularized by Southern California surfers and immortalized by the Beach Boys, who wore them on several album covers in the 1960s.

It’s not all about wool on this busy farm. Like many other sheep ranches, the profit from the Monnats’ fleece is minimal compared to the sale of lamb. Merrit says their wool accounts for less than 10 percent of their return; the bulk of their profit comes from selling lamb to restaurants, specialty meat shops and individuals as far away as Seattle. To further supplement their income, Merrit works part time at the local veterinary office, raises highly sought-after meat chickens and recently built a large greenhouse to grow and market vegetables.

But the shearing is Monnat’s passion. “I love that I am the first step in the process of making wool garments,” he reflects. “It’s an amazing fiber and that’s what drew me to shearing and sheep farming.”

For more information, go to www.mpranches.com.

Gwenyth Bassetti, founder of Grand Central Bakery in Seattle and Portland, raised purebred Columbia sheep. She divides her time between Goldendale and Underwood, Wash.

Ruth Berkowitz, a frequent contributor to The Gorge Magazine, is a writer and mediator living in Hood River.

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OUR GORGE I BEST OF THE GORGE

Gorge Paddle Challenge

1

The 2021 Gorge Paddle Challenge in Memory of Steve Gates is Aug. 13-15 in Hood River. Gates, who passed away in 2019, was instrumental in launching the annual event in 2011. It has become one of the premier stand-up paddleboarding races in the world, attracting elite SUP competitors as well as recreational paddlers. The event is back this year after being cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. The event usually includes a downwinder, a course race and a team relay along with SUP exhibits and demos.

Facebook.com/PaddleChallenge

Youth Art Show

2

The Columbia Center for the Arts hosts a show curated

by Hood River artist Michelle Yamamoto featuring the work of seven youth artists ranging in age from 12-16.

The artists are students at Yamamoto’s Art Circle Art School.

The acrylic paintings in portraiture and landscape art will be showcased in The Nook at the Arts Center during the month of July. “This is an invaluable experience for these young artists, seeing their work displayed in such an elegant setting and enjoying interaction with the art-loving community,” Yamamoto said. The student artists will be on hand at the center during First Friday, July 2, from 5 to 7 p.m. columbiaarts.org

Jennifer Gulizia / Gorge-Us Photography

Courtesy of Sunshine Mill Winery & Quenet

Drive-in Movies

3

A few good things came out of the pandemic, and one of them is the drive-in movies at the Sunshine Mill in The Dalles. Started last year as a safe entertainment option, the movies continue on Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets are sold per car, with snacks, appetizers and wine available in the tasting room. The winery also offers private screenings Sunday through Thursday nights, with space for 40 cars and optional food and beverage packages. Gather a group of friends and throw a movie party! sunshinemill.com

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Paradise Found by Celeste Bergin

Plein Air at 301 Gallery

4

The 301 Gallery in Hood River hosts a plein air exhibit during the month of July entitled Out of the Studio — Into the Landscape. The show highlights each featured artist’s unique approach to painting outdoors — capturing the light, atmosphere and even the air temperature, and translating it in the immediacy of their brushstrokes. The show features some of the region’s finest plein air artists, including Aaron C. Johnson, Anton Pavlenko, Bhavani Krishnan, Cathleen Rehfeld, Celeste Bergin, Elo Wobig, Sally Reichmuth, Sue Sutherland, Za Vue, and Yong Hong Zhong. 301gallery.com Bright Day by Bhavani Krishnan

Big Art Outdoor Gallery

5

Summer is a great time to explore the Big Art Outdoor Gallery, a collection of 22 public art sculptures in Hood River.

Located on the waterfront, downtown and in the Heights, the sculptures are on long-term loan from the artists — with a few installed permanently. A tour map is available at various locations in Hood River and online. Download the free Otocast app for directions to each location as well as information about the artists and their work. art-of-community.com INDUST

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Jesse Swickard Horse Sponsored by Columbia River Insurance • 606 State St

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WATERFRONT SITES #10-18

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title

price

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$9,500

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Catherine Daley Cosmos: Starry, Starry Night $9,500 The artist created this piece in memory of Patricia Quinn.

Sponsored by Grateful Vineyards and the Bunch, Salmon and Wells Families. • 212 2nd St

Steve Tyree Discipline $12,000 Sponsored by Fran Finney & Vawter Parker • 502 State St Angelina Merino-Hiedel & Joel Hiedel Paths of Water and Earth • 301 State Street

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Breezy Anderson Infinite Freedom Sponsored by City of Hood River • 301 State St

$16,800

CJ Rench Blue Constellations Sponsored by Union Building, LLC and Peachey Davies & Myers, P.C. • 430 Industrial St

$40,000

Mary Angers Sun to Moon Rotation $15,000 Sponsored by Nan & Henry Fischer and Doppio • 310 Oak St

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Phillip Rainey Wined $3,000 Sponsored by Scott W. Edgar / NORENDO • 207 Front St

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Ben Dye Steel Head Sponsored by Columbia Area Transit • 2nd St Bridge

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Matt Cartwright Trillium $15,000 Sponsored by Columbia Area Transit • 1st & Riverside Drive

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MacRae Wylde River Trident $6,500 Sponsored by City of Hood River • 2nd & Riverside Drive

Ralph Trethway Foster Kalama CJ Rench

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Jamie Burnes Wisdom of Decay $12,500 Sponsored by Solstice Wood Fire Pizza • 650 Portway Avenue

THE GORGE MAGAZINE II SUMMER 2021

MacRae Wylde Inside Out #10 $12,000 Sponsored by Dickinson & Pickhardt Families • 400 Portway (W)

Mike Suri Perch $28,000 Sponsored by Jane Duncombe & Jay Sherrerd • 400 Portway (E) Lillian Pitt Big River Woman Sponsored by Port of Hood River • 101 North 1st Street On loan by David Radcliffe

Cathleen Rehfeld Columbia Gorge Morning Sponsored by The Griffin House • 300 E Port Marina Dr

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OUR GORGE I HOME + GARDEN

Learning From the Bees Backyard beekeeping offers lessons that go beyond the hive story by EILEEN GARVIN | photos courtesy of EILEEN GARVIN and by KATE SCHWAGER

me for the experience of holding thousands of live bees between my palms. I’d hoped she’d offer to stick around and help after she delivered them, but she did not.

I crossed the yard and set the vibrating box down next to the hive I’d painstakingly assembled, primed and painted. A humble eight-frame, Langstroth hive, this style was first developed in the 19th century and helped spread beekeeping across America. I looked at my hive, the assembled tools, and my crisp, white bee suit, waiting to be donned and I thought, “What the hell was I thinking?”

In the beginning

Kate Schwager

What I was thinking was that honeybees were really cool. My friend Olivia had a hive and the little she’d told me about bees was so interesting that I’d taken the class from that beekeeper. The more

I

stood at the curb on a sunny April afternoon watching the truck drive away. In my hands, I held a small, screened box that buzzed madly.

The noise came from the approximately 10,000 Carniolan honeybees that I’d purchased from a local beekeeper, now departing.

The class I’d taken from her had prepared me, theoretically anyway, to install this new package of bees by myself. But nothing could’ve prepared

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

Eileen Garvin, opposite with her dog, Pita, and below in her bee suit, became a backyard beekeeper several years ago. Opposite top, honeybees from her hive work a piece of burr comb. Above, Pita sits amid hive parts disassembled for cleaning.

I learned, the more fascinated I was by these small creatures that weigh less than one-tenth of a gram.

I learned how a hive is made up of one queen and mostly worker bees, which are all her daughters. I read about how bees forage up to three miles away from their hive to collect nectar. And how they transport pollen back in little compartments on their legs called corbicula. I read about queen development, royal jelly, drones, nurse bees, guard bees, forager bees and undertaker bees.

I knew honeybees would do well in my yard with all manner of local nectar sources — nearby fruit orchards, a tangle of blackberry bushes along Indian Creek, and the gardens of my neighborhood.

I also wanted something to tend to, to distract me from the irrevocable decline of my darling 16-year-old dog, Dizzy. This spring, I knew, would be her last, and this new diversion would keep me close to home and near her side.

Dizzy lay in the grass and watched me as I took a deep breath, pulled on my bee suit, and introduced the bees to their new home.

Learning curve

The first thing I learned is that bees know what they’re doing, even when (or perhaps especially when) beekeepers don’t. I made epic mistakes that first year. But the bees worked around me and soldiered on.

You could almost hear them sigh and shake their tiny heads when I failed to think things through.

Like when I decided to check on the new queen in the middle of the night, thinking the hive would be sleeping, and poked my bare, headlamped head inside to find them THE GORGE MAGAZINE II SUMMER 2021

23

The honeybees from Garvin’s hive produce beautiful golden honey every fall, above.

Below, bees gather around a honey super — short for superstructure — which are the boxes placed on a hive for bees to store honey.

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

very awake to the intrusion. Or when I cracked the top on a box of honey frames I’d harvested so the few bees that were still in there could get out, only to watch the thousands that were out trying to get in. Or during my very first hive check, when I managed to drop the frame that held the queen.

But with each mistake, I started over, striving to help the new residents of my yard do their good work. And work they did: building out comb, feeding brood, collecting food and water, tending to the queen, and ferrying out their dead.

Before the summer was in full swing, I’d said goodbye to my sweet old dog and buried her where the honeybees flew over her grave. In the fall, after honey harvest, I put the hive to bed for the winter. I watched the snow cover the roof and waited for spring when the bees would fly again.

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Eileen Garvin lives in Hood River. Her debut novel, The Music of Bees, was named a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, an Indie Next Pick, a Library Reads Pick and Christian Science Monitor Pick. Her memoir, How to Be a Sister, was published in 2010.

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It’s another year and that same hive sits in my back yard. Next to it, a freshly painted second hive awaits a new package of bees. Spring is unfolding all around me. The maple trees have dropped their pollen, the chorus frogs have returned to the pond, and honeybees hum in the purple froth of lilac blossoms.

Over the years, in the same persistent way that the honeybees built out their combs, they found new ways into my life. I met other beekeepers and we worked side by side harvesting honey. I read books about bees, watched movies about bees, and enrolled in a beekeeper apprentice program. Then the bees crept into my imagination, and I wrote a novel about beekeepers. Though my protagonists — a middle-aged widow, a boy in a wheelchair, and a young drifter — were different from me, we all shared this fascination with honeybees.

Beekeeping, like writing, is a practice. Every day you begin again and take up the work from before. Part of the labor is scraping away and discarding what’s no longer needed or not working. It seems a fitting way to approach life, especially these days.

As the weather warms, I’m hopeful my bees will thrive and that humans will too. The world is slowly reopening, and I believe the lessons of this past year will stay with us as we evaluate our gains and losses. Maybe we’ll look at our lives differently, understanding we can’t know what comes next. And perhaps we’ll accept that we never really could. Maybe we’ll return to the work we’ve chosen, or that has chosen us, and find meaning in simple perseverance.

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Candice grew up in Hood River and is grateful to be raising a family here. She’s passionate about the Gorge community and serves as a board member on the Big River Community Land Trust and PHRMH Foundation. Her hobbies include skiing, cooking, reading, and all things health and fitness.

Cyndee is a NW native and has called Hood River home for over 20 years. She and her husband have loved bringing up their kids here. As new empty nesters, they are enjoying all the local recreation! Cyndee is dedicated to her clients and helping them achieve their real estate goals.

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I recommend her 100 percent.”

OUR GORGE I IMBIBE

South Hill Winery A winemaking family brings deep roots in the industry to its Underwood Mountain venture story by DON CAMPBELL | photos by NANCY BLAZER

S

weeping does not begin to describe the view from South Hill Winery. Panoramic, sure. Majestic, yeah. Jaw-dropping, yup. Superlatives seem to lose all meaning up here. It takes at least four looks to absorb the scene, beginning due east to the farthest visual reaches up the Columbia River. Then down past Memaloose Island to the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge, over the expanse of Hood River city proper and the impressive Hood River Valley undergoing an explosion of blossoms, the giant peak that is Mount Hood, to a final neck-craning twist west downriver.

High up on Washington’s Underwood Mountain, Phil and Sheryl Jones and their son Spencer ply a planted 60-acre vineyard and winery that favors grapes that love cool weather. South Hill, at 1,850 feet in elevation, may be one of the most quiet, unassuming, innovative and risk-taking wineries in the Columbia Gorge AVA. But it’s one buried in superb results. Sheryl and Phil came out of California and spent some 30 years making wine in Nelson, New Zealand. Their Spencer Hill Winery is a venture in which they are still heavily involved, and in fact where they spend part of the year, from November to March.

Sheryl, Spencer and Phil Jones, left to right, prepare to process grapes during harvest.

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

WA Tasting Room Magazine

Winemaker Spencer Jones, opposite top, checks grapes in the home vineyard on Underwood Mountain.

Phil graduated from prestigious California wine schools, earning a B.S. in viticulture and multiple advanced degrees in integrated pest management and winemaking, before embarking on an agricultural consulting career. Sheryl attended California State University and graduated with a B.A. in psychology, which over 15 years served her well in a career as an independent sales consultant.

And then in the late ‘80s the pair headed for New Zealand. “Land was cheap and readily available,” says Phil, “and we could actually get in.”

They bought acreage and broke ground on Spencer Hill Winery, where they would over some years capture the world’s attention with their award-winning Chardonnay.

During those years in Nelson, Phil developed a penchant for innovation and a work ethic that would carry over to their eventual migration to Underwood in search of another cool-climate place to grow grapes. He prefers simple, often used equipment. He developed cooling, storing, fermenting and other techniques to help with the exacting controls needed to make traditional,

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THE GORGE MAGAZINE II SUMMER 2021

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Phil and Spencer Jones with their press, which has the capacity to make 800 cases of wine at a time. South Hill’s 60-acre vineyard sits at nearly 1,900 feet, ideal for grapes that favor cool weather.

well-balanced, French-style wines. While in Nelson, Phil also developed well-tested pest-control methodology. And in a razor-thin-margin pursuit like winemaking, he eschews debt in favor of being absolutely hands-on with business and profit.

But perhaps most importantly, he cultivated an ethos of sustainability. The mission, learned and practiced in the rigorous and regulated New Zealand wine industry, is to farm with the least input possible from chemicals, equipment and human interaction.

“We keep control over what we make,” says Phil. “And we don’t follow fads and trends. It does help having a little bit of experience. You can waste a lot of money in winemaking. It’s just not that profitable.”

New Zealand did them well and they estab-

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Learn more at cathedralridgewinery.com 30

SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

S uperb summer sipping finely crafted wines, mountain & vineyard views

lished a 50,000-case-a-year company and farreaching reputation. But after several visits to the Columbia Gorge region for consulting and research work, Phil found the family’s new venture. After looking at the Willamette Valley, which was crowded with nearly 250 wineries, and Hood River, which was expensive, he spotted acreage on Underwood in 2006, and they worked toward creating a new haven for their style of wine.

At the time, “Underwood was like a ghost town,” Phil offers. Orchards were being pulled out. It didn’t hold a promising future. But it’s become a special place for small vineyards and wineries. There are now six wineries in the area.

Two significant things have propelled South Hill forward. One was establishing strong ties to the Jewish kosher wine industry, which, while a small niche, has provided them a contractwinemaking opportunity that continues to grow.

They are, in fact, the only Northwest winemaker to make kosher wines, a heavily and spiritually regulated market segment that requires strict standards and the blessings of rabbis.

The second thing is that, as Phil and Sheryl contemplate retirement, son Spencer, a wellschooled vintner and winemaker, took the reins of South Hill in 2018. “It was time for me as winemaker,” says Phil, “to walk away. I don’t like the winemaking side as much anymore. It’s farming and it’s a business, a tough business.”

It’s now in Spencer’s capable hands. Having grown up in New Zealand since age 5, he speaks with a soft Kiwi lilt, and is shaping the future of this two-generational Washington winery. He found true passion for the business after high school, as he eased into the industry and decided to formally study the ways of the grape with a

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THE GORGE MAGAZINE II SUMMER 2021

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South Hill Winery’s tasting room offers visitors a cozy setting inside as well as a picnic area with stunning views from its perch on Underwood Mountain.

winemaking and viticulture education at Lincoln University in Christchurch.

“It doesn’t seem like a job to me,” he says. “Opportunities do present themselves, but for now I concentrate on the short term, and keep doing what we’re doing — building a profitable, sustainable way of life.”

Though the Covid-19 pandemic was disastrous for many, South Hill has weathered the impact of the virus, even while remaining essentially closed last year. “We had just opened to the public in 2019,” says Sheryl who con-

WE’VE MOVED!

Please join us at our NEW WINE TASTING ROOM location on Oak Street in downtown Hood River

• Family Owned & Operated • Century Old Estate Vineyard • Big Reds and Crisp Whites 415 Oak Street, Hood River | 541-993-8301 IG/FB @ThePines1852 | thepinesvineyard.com 32

SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

centrates on operating the winery’s humble tasting room, “so it didn’t hurt us as badly, even though we didn’t have a wine club built up yet, where other wineries did.”

The Jones’ diversification saved them, with the strong kosher wine side of the business and the family’s pistachio orchards in California. It gave them time to establish their tasting room, season their vineyards, and get Spencer’s feet under him on the steep slopes of Underwood Mountain.

It all portends a bright future as the world begins to shape its “new normal.” Attendance has been up at the winery this spring as wine patrons with a pent-up and hopeful post-pandemic energy see the Gorge as an easy destination, even with some travel and virus-related restrictions still in place.

“This year,” says Sheryl, “people just want to get out and do something, and they don’t want to travel far. We’re getting people from Portland, Washougal, Vancouver, even Walla Walla and Idaho. The wine tours are beginning to show up. People have some money.”

Let’s Make Memories.

Join us at our downtown tasting room for wine with a view and spacious patio seating or schedule a private tasting at our winemaking facility.

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Small craft winery, brewery and cidery Farm-to-table pizza Open Daily gratefulvineyards.com

All three Joneses work the tasting room. It affords visitors a chance to pick the brains of winemakers, to learn the inside secrets of steep-hill, cool-climate winemaking, and sample Gamay Noir, “Wild” Cabernet Sauvignon, Whiskey Barrel-aged Cab, Winemakers Viognier, small-batch Semillon, and even the limited release White-Chocolate Rosé Port.

If you look and listen closely, you’ll also witness a sweet generational hand-off of one winemaking generation to the heir apparent. Living a life he loves, Phil swears he’s been retired since he graduated from college. “We’re pretty optimistic,” he says. “Even with all the new wineries, if we keep to traditional wines, don’t do anything weird, keep quality up, we’ll get there. It’s up to Spencer which way we go.”

And Spencer accepts the challenge. “I just love it,” he says. “I love the work, being in the vineyard driving a tractor, and an hour later being in the winery. I love living in the Northwest and the excitement about Underwood and the Gorge as a wine region. We’re pioneering here.”

In a great winery — while it’s always about farming and business and craft — it’s likely more about passion and character and what you pull out of the ground and pour into a glass.

The glass at South Hill is brimming and bright.

For more information, go to southhillvineyards.com

Don Campbell is a writer and musician. He hides out at a secret fortress on a hilltop in Mosier and is a frequent contributor to The Gorge Magazine.

taste · shop local · enjoy

VISIT OUR TASTING ROOM 304 OAK STREE T #3, HOOD RIVER, OR

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

WINERY & VINEYARD

We are a family of winemakers from two generations and two hemispheres, with vineyards and wineries in Underwood, Washington, and Nelson, New Zealand. South Hill is located at 1,800 feet on Underwood Mountain, just 20 minutes from Hood River and an hour from Portland. We look forward to sharing our award-winning wines and our story with you in our elegant tasting room. Enjoy the breathtaking views of the Columbia River, Mount Hood and the Hood River Valley from our patio or our picnic area.

Google reviews: • A hidden gem. All 8 of the wines were delicious. How often does that happen?

Incredible panoramic views of Mt. Hood and the Gorge east and west. New facility, family-operated, they know what they’re doing.

• Visiting South Hill is a great experience, from the spectacular views to the worldclass wines. From the first sip you can tell the Jones family has over 30 years experience in the industry!

Our tasting room is open Friday - Sunday 12-5pm mid-April through October.

801 Scoggins Rd., Underwood, WA • southhillvineyards.com • 541-380-1438 • southhillwine@gmail.com

The Columbia Gorge Wine Region begins to transition from cool to warm around the middle of the AVA, near Mosier, Ore., and Lyle, Wash., and only a few miles farther east, the continental high desert climate sees just 10 inches of rain per year — conditions that favor warm-weather varieties like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

Along with the variations in climate, fluctuations in elevation, proximity to the Columbia River, and soil types also influence the many varieties of grapes that grow well here. Some vines are rooted in soils dating to prehistoric mud and lava flows, others in soils deposited along the Columbia’s banks during the Ice Age Missoula Floods. A study by retired Portland State University geology professor Scott Burns and graduate student Hilary Whitney in 2014-15 found 31 distinct soil series in the Columbia Gorge AVA. The Columbia Gorge wine region is known as “a world of wine in 40 miles.”

Straddling the Columbia River as it flows through the Gorge between Oregon and Washington, the Columbia Gorge AVA and the southwestern portion of the Columbia Valley AVA spans from Maryhill, Wash., to the west side of Hood River and Underwood Mountain. This relatively small area features an incredible variety of microclimates and geologic conditions, making it one of the most prolific winegrowing regions anywhere.

The western end of the Columbia Gorge appellation, with annual rainfall of 36 inches, has a cooler, marine-influenced climate where Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gewürztraminer grapes thrive. The climate

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

All of this adds up to a world-class wine region. When the Columbia Gorge AVA was designated in 2004, there were 16 wineries and just a handful of vineyards. Today, more than two dozen wineries dot the landscape, and some 90 vineyards grow more than 40 grape varieties. Most of the wineries in the Gorge are boutique wineries—many with an impressive array of awards— that produce 5,000 or fewer cases of wine each year. Intimate tasting rooms set amid beautiful backdrops of the Columbia Gorge, offering quality wines of dozens of varieties, make for an unforgettable wine tasting experience.

For more information about the Columbia Gorge wine region, including a digital visitor’s guide, go to gorgewine.com.

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BEES & BEASTS ...

OF

The literary arts are alive and well in the Gorge, as these six local authors prove.

Story by Janet Cook

42

SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

The summer reading season is upon us! There’s no shortage of things to do in the Gorge this time of year, of course, but you’ll want to find a shady spot in the garden or a lounge chair out of the wind where you can dive into these recently released books by local writers.

They cover diverse topics, represent multiple genres, and are a treasure-trove of creativity and literary prowess by award-winning writers living in our midst. Read on.

MICHELLE NIJHUIS

A

s a college student, White Salmon writer Michelle Nijhuis had dual interests: English and biology. She wound up a biology major and after graduating worked as a field assistant on wildlife projects throughout the southwestern U.S. But her love for writing never waned. “I had an idea from early on that I wanted to combine the two,” she said.

Her opportunity came in the form of an internship at High Country News, a magazine based in Paonia, Colo. that covers issues pertaining to the American West. “That was really my graduate school,” Nijhuis said. “It taught me so much about conservation issues.” She learned journalism skills on the job, which she called “painful, but effective.”

Nijhuis was one of the pioneers in the field of science journalism, which is now well established but was a fledgling discipline when she began her writing career. In the years since, she’s become an award-winning science writer and editor, her work regularly appearing in National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker online. She remains a contributing editor at High Country News.

This spring, her first book was published. Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, arrived at bookstores in March. It’s received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus Reviews, and was named one of LitHub’s “Most Anticipated Books of 2021.” In it, Nijhuis traces the history of the modern conservation movement, whose roots date to the late 19th century when people began to realize that industrialization and globalization were driving other animal species to extinction. She tells the story of the movement through characters — both well known and obscure — who have played a role in it.

“I knew I couldn’t tell the whole story of the conservation movement, it’s so complex,” Nijhuis said. “From early on I had the idea of doing it through a succession of characters who were present or involved in important turning points of the movement.” She spent a lot of time in archives researching primary

documents, reading letters, and finding lesser-known facts about these characters’ lives. “Many of them have been written about before in other ways.

I built on others’ research. What was important to me was the science, the connections among them and between them.”

Nijhuis also wanted to portray them as human beings. “It’s important for conservationists today to recognize that people we think of as iconic now had no idea that what they were doing was going to pay off,” she said. “Most of them were not famous in their lifetimes.”

As someone who has been writing about the topic for two decades (“You could say I worked on the book for two years, or for 20,” she said) Nijhuis hopes to impart a sense of optimism about the current state of conservation.

She encourages people to feel a sense of responsibility and resolve that what they’re doing will make a difference. “The conservation movement hasn’t always done a good job of making sure people know that,” she said.

“I hope this book gives people a sense of possibility,” she said, “and a sense that humans from all walks of life can play a constructive role in conservation and in protecting habitats.”

Michelle Nijhuis specializes in stories about conservation and global change.

She’s currently a project editor at The Atlantic. Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction was published by W.W. Norton. For more information, go to michellenijhuis.com.

TINA ONTIVEROS

L

iving in poverty is a daily struggle. Hood River writer Tina Ontiveros knows that from experience. But there is also treasure there. This is a theme she explores in her memoir, rough house, which was released last fall and spent 20 weeks on the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Bestseller List. It also was awarded the 2021 PNBA Book Award, and is now in its third printing.

THE GORGE MAGAZINE II SUMMER 2021

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OF BEES & BEASTS ...

Ontiveros had a tumultuous upbringing, moving among logging camps in the Pacific Northwest wherever her father, an itinerant logger, could find work. After her parents divorced when she was 5, her mother settled in The Dalles, where Ontiveros had a slightly more stable life, but one still steeped in poverty. Her childhood was divided between her mercurial father, wherever he was living during her visits, and her mother, who struggled to lift her children out of generational poverty.

In rough house, Ontiveros takes an unflinching look at all the destructive forces that shaped her childhood — violence, molestation, addiction, poverty — but also at the beauty and joy that were part of it.

“I spent a lot of time running away from anything that had to do with my childhood,” said Ontiveros, who was the first person in her family to go to college. But the dominating and complicated figure of her father was always there. The most vivid memories of him were the painful ones, but she also knew him to be a charming, kindhearted, industrious man.

“My dad was an addict,” she said. “He was a loving, amazing, affectionate parent, but sometimes he wasn’t.” She began to explore whether she could write about him in all his contradictions. “It’s been a struggle to come to terms with the fact that my dad was a loveable person,” she said. Finally, she gave herself a challenge: could she write a book about him and the things he did and have people still like him? “Could I be curious about him?” she said.

“I thought it would be an interesting way to look at my dad.”

Ontiveros said that writing “the moments of trauma” in her upbringing was the easiest part. “Those images get burned into our brain,” she added.

“I knew that if I just wrote those remarkable stories, then he would come across as a monster, which wasn’t the truth of him. I then had to go back and fill in what made him so loveable. Those were the moments in between, and those are the moments that we forget.”

Although her father figures most prominently in her memoir, Ontiveros credits her mother with helping her rise out of poverty. She worked two jobs most of the time and, though uneducated, knew the importance of education for her children. “She would always find ways to reward academic success,” she said. “My mom made a bridge of her body and we walked across it.”

While Ontiveros has broken the cycle of generational poverty she was born into, she struggles with that notion. “I’m uncomfortable with trying to answer the question, ‘how do you break the cycle of poverty?’” she said. “It really puts a negative connotation on it. One of the biggest goals in the book was to be steadfast about the joys and beauty and gifts of poverty.”

Tina Ontiveros teaches writing and literature at Columbia Gorge Community College. Rough house was published by OSU Press. For more information, go to tinaontiveros.com.

EILEEN GARVIN

E

ileen Garvin came to beekeeping by way of her dog. So it’s fitting that her first novel, about beekeeping, owes its genesis to her dog, too, albeit a different one.

Garvin’s book, The Music of Bees, was published in April and has already earned a pile of accolades, including a starred review from Booklist, a LibraryReads pick, and a GMA Buzz Pick from “Good Morning America.” It was named a “Most Anticipated Book of 2021” by Book Riot.

The story takes place in Hood River, and weaves together the lives of three characters whose paths cross by happenstance but who find themselves bound together through the mysterious pull of beekeeping. As each 44

SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

character struggles with their own personal grief, the story explores themes as universal and disparate as the power of friendship, compassion in the face of loss, self-discovery and grassroots activism.

Garvin got her start in beekeeping during a period of her own personal grief, a springtime when her beloved dog, Dizzy, was dying. The 16-year-old dog had been a constant companion through much of her adult life, and Garvin was heartbroken at the prospect of losing her. “I wanted some kind of a distraction,” she said. “I wanted to tend to something but not be away from her.” Inspired by a beekeeper friend, she ordered a beehive and dove in to the myriad tasks that go with beekeeping.

“It’s a lot of prep work,” Garvin said. As Dizzy declined, Garvin prepared for the arrival of her bees, constructing frames, painting brood boxes and planting bee-friendly flowers — all with Dizzy close by. Not long after the bees arrived, Dizzy died and Garvin was left to manage her sorrow and her new hive.

That was in 2014, and she’s been a beekeeper ever since.

A couple of years after that, Garvin’s new dog, Pita, tore a ligament that required surgery followed by three months of restricted movement. Garvin knew she would need to stick close to home as Pita recovered. Her most recent hive had died (a not uncommon occurrence) and she was on her way to pick up a “nucleus” — essentially a package of bees —when she passed an interesting-looking person on the side of the road. Being a writer, she pulled over and jotted down the details in her ever-present notebook. A character quickly took shape from that inspiration, and others followed. “The story just came out of nowhere,” she said.

As Pita recovered, Garvin wrote. “It was the creativity that comes out of confinement,” she said. She’s no stranger to the writer’s life, having been a freelancer for more than 15 years. Her memoir, How to be a Sister: A Love Story with a Twist of Autism, was published in 2010. This is her first novel.

The early feedback on the book has been gratifying for Garvin. “You write without ever thinking about publication,” she said. “It’s been really satisfying to hear early readers say they enjoyed it and found it uplifting.”

Although her characters are wholly fictional, Garvin knew from the outset that she wanted to set the story in Hood River. “The Gorge as a setting is pretty great, it’s got so many anchor points,” she said. “It’s such a Gorge story. It feels like my love letter to the area.”

Eileen Garvin is a Hood River-based writer of fiction, memoir, personal essay and creative nonfiction. The Music of Bees was published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House. For more information, go to eileengarvin.com.

HOOD RIVER CO. FAIR JULY 21-24, 2021 SIERRA CRANE MURDOCH

I

n the decade she’s worked as a journalist, Hood River writer Sierra Crane Murdoch has found herself drawn to stories related to natural resources, the environment and indigenous issues. Her first book, Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country, was published last year and combines all of these topics in an in-depth story that chronicles a murder and one woman’s search for answers on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

Part true-crime, part social critique, the book is the result of nearly eight years of reporting, starting in 2011 when Murdoch first went to the reservation to do a story for Colorado’s High Country News. Hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — had created an oil boom in the region, and Murdoch was interested in how the influx of money and workers was affecting the reservation, which sits in the middle of the Bakken formation where the oil was being extracted. Fort Berthold is home to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, known as the MHA Nation, or the Three Affiliated Tribes.

“A lot of people were writing about the oil boom but few were paying attention to the tribe,” Murdoch said. “It felt like a really important story, and one of the pieces of that story was the rise in crime related to the boom.”

The book focuses on one crime in particular, the disappearance of a white oil worker. “His disappearance really upended the politics of the reservation,” said Murdoch, who began spending more time on the reservation to investigate the story. “I thought maybe that crime could be a window into the larger forces at play in the oil boom.”

Early on, Murdoch met Lissa Yellow Bird, an Arikara woman who had made it her mission to solve the crime. Yellow Bird had spent time in prison during the early surge of the boom, and when she was released, the reservation had vastly changed. When Murdoch met her, she had been obsessively looking for the lost oil worker using her deep knowledge of the reservation and ties to its people, as well as both conventional and questionable tactics.

Yellow Bird invited Murdoch into her search, and Murdoch became intrigued not only with the missing worker but also with Yellow Bird and her single-minded quest. “She was from this place, but was also looking at it with fresh eyes,” Murdoch said. “I found that dichotomy to be really powerful in telling the story about the boom through her eyes, and this crime through her eyes.”

Murdoch became close with Yellow Bird during her work. “I spent years immersed in her life,” she said. “One of the reasons I was so drawn to her is because she’s so multifaceted as a person and as a character. She’s a mother, but she’s also struggled in motherhood. She’s a crusader for justice, but has

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45

OF BEES & BEASTS ... also committed crimes. She is morally complicated and yet has the deepest well of empathy of anyone I’ve ever met.”

Yellow Bird’s obsession with the missing worker comes from that empathy, said Murdoch. “She is searching for people no one else would pay attention to in society because they might be written off, or they aren’t worth looking for,” she said. “She was drawn in to looking for him because she has felt that way.”

Woven into the story are larger themes, including the historical relationship between native and non-native, and of the culture of violence. “It’s about the legacy of white violence,” she said, “and how it’s moved across generations and across time.

Murdoch’s book was a finalist for the Edgar Award, won an Oregon Book Award, and was named one of the best books of 2020 by The New York Times.

Sierra Crane Murdoch’s writing has appeared in Harper’s, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker online, among other publications. Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice In Indian Country was published by Random House. For more information, go to sierramurdoch.com.

JENNIFER HANLON WILDE

J

ennifer Hanlon Wilde is a nurse practitioner and a writer. To her, these pursuits are not mutually exclusive.

“I’ve been a reader and a writer for much longer than I’ve been a nurse,” she said. “But I went into nursing because I wanted to help people.”

She’s particularly interested in the crossover of the two disciplines, which is actually a growing field within healthcare known as narrative medicine, encompassing health care, ethics, education and literature.

“Narrative medicine is a field at the intersection of healing and storytelling,” said Hanlon Wilde, who lives in Hood River. “It takes the idea that for somebody in the healing professions, the first thing you need to do is listen to people’s stories — what they mean to the person and in the bigger context.”

Hanlon Wilde’s first published book is a novel, brimming with deep dives into several characters’ stories. Finding the Vein, released this spring, is a murder mystery that takes place at a summer camp for internationally

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

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adopted kids in Oregon. It follows a teenage camper and a detective as they pursue very different paths to solving the mysterious death of a camp counselor. Along the way, the story explores the themes of gender identity and international adoption.

The basis of the story draws on Hanlon Wilde’s own experience as the mother of three adopted children from Thailand. The camp is even based on a similar one her kids went to. But the similarities end there and her imagination takes over.

Hanlon Wilde has written in a variety of genres — including lots of short stories and a couple of novels that are currently “sitting on my computer,” she said. But most of her work has been more literary fiction. “Writing a detective/ crime story is extremely difficult,” she said. “It was much harder than anything I’ve ever written.” The timeline has to be perfect, she added. “All the characters have to be in the right place at the right time.” In addition, the story is told from multiple points of view, which added a layer of complexity to the writing.

Hanlon Wilde’s publication path was unique. She self-published it in 2015 as an e-book “to put it out in the world,” she said. She later submitted it to the Multnomah County Library for a contest, where it was selected as a featured e-book. Last year, she was contacted by Portland’s Ooligan Press, which wanted to publish it. “I thought, this couldn’t be true,” she said.

The press worked with Hanlon Wilde on some revisions. “In the end, the finished product was much stronger than the original,” she said.

Hanlon Wilde is currently working on her doctorate in nursing. Her goal is to become a professor of nursing focusing on creative writing as well as technical and scholarly writing. “Being a nurse practitioner and being a writer are not that different,” she said. “It’s all about making sense of things.”

Jennifer Hanlon Wilde is a family nurse practitioner at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles and a writing instructor at Columbia Gorge Community College. She’s a doctoral student at Washington State University. Finding the Vein was published by Ooligan Press. For more information, go to ooligan.pdx. edu/book/finding-the-vein.

NANCY WESSON

A

t a time when her friends were planning comfortable retirements, Nancy Wesson opted for something radically different. She closed her successful consulting business in Austin, Texas, sold her house and got rid of many of her belongings. At age 64, she joined the Peace Corps and headed to Northern Uganda, where she spent more than two years teaching literacy in the recently war-torn country.

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

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Wesson, who lives in Maupin, recounts the experience in her memoir, I Miss the Rain in Africa: Peace Corps as a Third Act, which was published in May. When she arrived in Uganda, the country was only a few years out from the terrorizing reign of Joseph Kony, whose rebel insurgency brutalized civilians in Northern Uganda through murder, abduction and burning of property.

It had left the Acholi people traumatized and mired in poverty.

Wesson was assigned to Gulu, one of the larger towns in the north and one of the hardest-hit in the 20-year genocide. The nongovernmental organization, or NGO, she worked for was teaching literacy in the local Acholi dialect. “We were teaching the mother tongue to people out in the deep bush,” she said, where most of the people didn’t know how to read, write or count in their language.

“We were teaching basic functional literacy in a way people in developed countries don’t even think about literacy,” Wesson said, adding that the focus was on women and children. “Many of the success stories had to do with women who were able to sell vegetables in the market without being cheated because now they could sign their name and count.” The organization also brought parents into the schools so they could learn to be more connected to their child’s education. “It helped parents understand that, for example, when a kid comes home with a book, you don’t tear a page out of the book to use as kindling.”

Wesson was drawn in by the warmth of the people in Northern Uganda.

“They were lovely, gentle people,” she said. “I probably said ‘good morning’ to 50 people before I ever made it to work in the morning.” But there was also a collective trauma present. “Everybody had gone through generations

of this genocide and they were all basically carrying it and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.”

The people were all very kind and appreciative, and they laughed a lot, she said, “and yet you knew that right under the surface was this stored damage that could erupt in ways that you didn’t expect.”

Wesson wound up sponsoring the education of a homeless boy whom she befriended. She stayed in Gulu a few months longer than her Peace Corps commitment to see him through some educational milestones.

The last section of Wesson’s book is about her return to the U.S. “I came back to a life that didn’t fit,” she said. Her time in Uganda had irrevocably changed her, leading to a “total paradigm shift emotionally” which helped her to confront some personal issues.

“The last part of the book is about the discovery and healing process that went on,” she said. “I was so changed by the experience.”

Nancy Wesson is a human potential consultant. I Miss the Rain in Africa: Peace Corps as a Third Act was published by Modern History Press. For more information, go to nancywesson.com.

SHOP FOR BOOKS LOCALLY AND SUPPORT INDEPENDENT GORGE BOOKSTORES Waucoma Bookstore, Hood River (waucomabookstore.com); Artifacts, Hood River (artifactsbookstore.com), Klindt’s Booksellers, The Dalles (klindtsbooks.com), The Book Peddler, White Salmon (bookpeddler.net), North Bank Books, Stevenson (northbankbooks.com)

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OUTSIDE

Summer is on at Mt. Hood Meadows Off-season operations include an expanded trail network and outdoor movies story and photos by BEN MITCHELL

W

hen most people think of Mt. Hood Meadows Resort, they think of winter — whether it’s carving beginner and intermediate groomers with killer views on a bluebird day, or venturing into the heart-pounding, double-black diamond terrain of Heather Canyon during an epic powder dump.

And while winter has been the prime focus of the Mt. Hood resort’s business for the bulk of its 53 years, that focus has since expanded.

After a hiatus in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the resort is resuming summer operations in 2021, which include a wide range of activities like hiking, geocaching, culinary festivals and other weekend events, scenic chairlift rides (which also provide a shortcut to the resort’s recently expanded network of hiking trails), games, and nighttime movies on the deck. The resort will also have food and beverage service to help refresh hungry and thirsty hikers, and a gift shop for logo wear and more. Meadows’ summer season kicks off June 25 and runs through Labor Day, with the resort open Thursday through Monday.

While the kids camps and some of the larger events, such as the popular Adventure Van Expo, won’t be happening this summer, most of the resort’s usual warm-weather offerings will be available, according to Dave Tragethon, Meadows’s vice president of sales, marketing, and communications. He added that the resort is looking forward to welcoming visitors following a successful 54

SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

Creeks, wildflowers and stunning views greet hikers at Mt. Hood Meadows during summer. Trails abound in the ski area, including a section of the Timberline Trail, opposite top, Umbrella Falls Trail, middle, and the new Beargrass Trail, bottom.

winter recreation season that saw no Covid interruptions nor any traceable workplace transmissions at Meadows or its sister resort, Cooper Spur.

“When we made the difficult decision to suspend winter operations in March of 2020 due to Covid, our entire focus was developing a plan to reopen safely and responsibly for the 2020-21 winter season, prioritizing the health and wellbeing of our team,” he said. “That consumed our attention and we opted not to operate last summer as we were still learning about the virus and how it spread. We expect to return to the same operational and event schedule that we planned for last season, possibly with some Covid restrictions –– wearing masks indoors –– and know that a lot of people will be heading to the mountain to get outdoors. We’re really focused on making this summer a premier experience for our hiking and riding guests.” The resort plans to resume summer kids camps in 2022, Tragethon said.

While the resort has had some occasional “off-season” events in the past, Meadows began its summer operations in earnest in 2014 after the U.S. Forest Service finalized a policy encouraging permitted ski areas to promote yearround activities.

For Meadows, it proved to be a timely decision. The 2014-15 winter ended up being one of the worst in the history of the resort, resulting in below average snowfall and fewer operating days than normal. Some other

SUMMER TRAIL MAP Mt. Hood Meadows/Ryan Law

resorts in the Pacific Northwest were hit so hard they couldn’t open at all.

It gave Meadows and other resorts a glimpse of what the growing effects of climate change might look like in the future — with rising temperatures and lower snowpacks affecting winter seasons — and edified the importance of developing other recreational opportunities that aren’t reliant on snow.

But the expansion of summer operations has also had some more immediate benefits, namely attracting new visitors to the resort, and providing more year-round employment. While Meadows is known to occasionally park out on winter weekends and primo powder days, skiing and snowboarding are relatively niche sports, with only about 3 percent of the U.S.

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The Beargrass Trail, at left, is one of several new hiking trails that debut this summer at Meadows, many of which serve to connect popular existing trails. Above, visitors enjoy a scenic ride up the Stadium chair.

population actively participating in either discipline, according to data from the National Ski Area Association. They’re also less diverse and more affluent sports than other activities, such as hiking and biking, and while there is certainly some crossover with winter guests, many of Meadows’ summer visitors aren’t skiers or snowboarders.

“We want all visitors to the mountain and the forest to feel welcome and comfortable in their recreational pursuits,” said Tragethon. “Winter recreation often has barriers — the cost of equipment, access, clothing, even getting to the mountain in winter can be challenging. People can access our trails at no cost, or take the scenic chair ride to assist in their exploration. It’s

much more affordable and welcoming to a broader community of mountain experience seekers.”

If you are someone who frequents Meadows in the winter but haven’t been up in the summer, it’s worth checking out, especially for the abundance of wildflowers and waterfalls that can be found along its expansive network of hiking trails. Meadows bills itself as “Mt. Hood’s premier liftserved, high elevation hiking experience,” and used last summer’s pandemic pause to improve that experience, constructing an additional 8.6 miles of USFS-approved trails that will officially debut this summer.

“The new trails we constructed serve as interconnectors to the existing

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and very popular Timberline, Sahalie Falls and Umbrella Falls trails that cross our permit area,” Tragethon explained. “In the past, you had to take a forest service road to access these trails from our base area. The new trails weave through meadows of wildflowers, in and out of the forest canopy and along mountain streams. They provide a much closer and intimate walk with nature.”

In addition to the interconnections, Meadows also built a trail through scenic Jack’s Woods — a popular ski/snowboarding run in Heather Canyon — and a spur to Picnic Rock, which Tragethon lauded as “one of the most magnificent overlooks on our mountain.”

To offer additional context to hikers about the natural areas they’re enjoying, Meadows plans this summer to install a number of large-format interpretive trail signs that will provide information and storytelling on the history of Mount Hood and Meadows, the resort’s important relationship with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, glaciology, volcanology, flora and fauna found in the resort’s permit area, and more.

While some resorts have larger summer operations with go-kart racing, mountain bike courses, and bungee jumping, Tragethon said that Meadows’ officials feel that Mother Nature alone is reason enough to make a trip up to the mountain.

“Meadows is blessed with an abundance of nature that other areas may not have,” he explained. “We feel there is a great demand for this more natural experience and an opportunity to help us understand how we relate to this environment.”

For more information, go to skihood.com.

Ben Mitchell is a writer/filmmaker who lives in Hood River. He’s a frequent contributor to The Gorge Magazine.

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ARTS + CULTURE

A Breath of Plein Air A renowned regional arts event flourishes in the Columbia Gorge landscape story by JANET COOK | photos by DAVID BURBACH

E

ven for the non-Francophiles among us, painting “en plein air” is just what it seems: painting outdoors, in view of the landscape being painted. If you were tasked with picking an ideal place for the pursuit, the Columbia River Gorge, with its endless supply of accessible, beautiful landscapes worthy of painting, would certainly be in the running.

That’s exactly what Hood River artist Cathleen Rehfeld thought years ago when she discovered plein air painting. A landscape painter who works in oil, she’d become enamored of plein air during visits to her husband’s hometown of Lyme, Conn., known as the birthplace of American Impressionism and steeped in plein air painting.

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“My husband had grown up looking at people outside painting with their easels,” she said.

When the couple moved to the Gorge in the early 1990s, he asked her why she wasn’t painting outside. “No one was really doing it,” Rehfeld said.

Her neighbor was Eric Jacobsen, a renowned plein air painter who also hailed from Lyme, and Rehfeld made her first plein air forays in the Gorge with him and his wife.

For years, Rehfeld made the rounds to wellknown plein air shows in Connecticut and Vermont, in Carmel and Catalina Island in California.

Plein air events usually revolve around a “paintout,” where artists paint en plein air for up to several days, then turn in their work for judging. “I kept thinking, all of these places are really beautiful but none are as beautiful as where we live in the Gorge,” she said.

Hood River artist Cathleen Rehfeld, opposite inset, started the annual PNW Plein Air in the Gorge event in 2005.

It’s been attracting preeminent artists from around the region and beyond every summer since then, including Sally Reichmuth, opposite top, Yong Hong Zhong, above left, and Kat Sowa, above right, painting with Rehfeld.

Back in Hood River, Rehfeld talked about starting a local plein air show to anyone who would listen. “Most people didn’t even know what it was,” she said. “I started thinking that if this is going to happen, I guess I’m going to have to do it.” So she did.

The first Pacific Northwest Plein Air in the Columbia River Gorge event took place in 2005.

From her experience with plein air shows, Rehfeld knew that getting a respected juror was key. “The juror is very important,” she said. “It has to be someone familiar with plein air, who does plein air and does plein air workshops, and someone whose opinion everyone would be okay with.” As she was organizing the inaugural event, Rehfeld went to a plein air show in Lyme — where she knew many of the top plein air artists would be — armed with packets about the upcoming event in the Gorge. She handed them out and talked to as many artists as she could.

To her delight, renowned plein air artist and past-president of the Plein Air Painters of America, Kenn Backhaus, said he was interested. “He was intrigued by Oregon and Washington and wanted to see something completely different,” Rehfeld said. Backhaus became the event’s first juror, and returned for the second year.

Since then, the show has become a muchanticipated event every summer, headquartered for the last several years at Maryhill Museum of Art. This year is the 16th annual show, although last year’s was canceled due to the pandemic.

Rehfeld has stepped away from organizing the event, although she is still one of the show’s artists. Steven Grafe, curator of art at Maryhill

Museum, is in charge of the show, in which 40 artists are juried in — mostly from the Pacific Northwest, with a few from farther away. The paint-out starts Monday, July 26, and continues for four days. According to artist Celeste Bergin, who has been involved in the show since its inception, artists are given a long list of suggested painting locations throughout the Gorge.

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The PNW Plein Air in the Gorge event features 40 artists who are juried into the show. They spend four days painting at various locations throughout the Gorge, followed by judging from a selected juror and an awards presentation at Maryhill Museum of Art. An exhibit of the artists’ work will be on display from July 30-Aug. 28.

“The first day, lots of us find each other and we paint as a big group,” Bergin said. “The second day, everyone scatters. That’s the funny thing about plein air painters. They want to be together, but they want to be alone.” Artists submit their work — up to five pieces — at Maryhill Museum on July 29. The juror for this year’s event is California artist Peggi Kroll Roberts, who will award prizes in several categories besides the overall winners, including Best Sky, Best Mountain, Best Water and the Maryhill Museum Award.

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SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

Tillamook Head

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Kroll Roberts will host a plein air workshop on July 30. In the meantime, the artists’ work will be hung in a gallery at Maryhill, with judging on July 31.

Normally, an exhibition opening would take place during the evening following the judging, but none is planned this year due to potential pandemicrelated crowd restrictions. In lieu of that, the show will hang in the gallery, open to the public, for a week longer than usual, until Aug. 28.

“Our hope is that by being open for an additional week, more people will be able to view the exhibition,” Grafe said.

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The artists participating this year were the ones juried in for last year’s show that was cancelled. As always, those who submitted works but didn’t get selected are welcome to come and paint with the other artists. “Our event is a little unusual,” Bergin said. “It’s benevolent.”

Rehfeld hopes the show continues to get more people involved and educated — including encouraging art collectors to see the Gorge as a destination.

“I hope it’s helped to promote artwork and painting in Oregon and Washington,” she said of the event’s legacy, “and to help get the Gorge known as a place you can come see great art, experience great art — to see a landscape and see how it was interpreted.”

For more information, go to pacificnwpa.com

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Hood River Dermatology is pleased to announce that Aaron Loyd, MD has

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His interest in returning to the area was sparked by the plethora of outdoor recreational opportunities of the Cascades. He looks forward to enjoying these activities with his 2 daughters. Some of his interests include hiking, backcountry skiing, biking and kiting.

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The medical clinic was built in 2006 and is located at 917 11th St (This was the old livery barn site). The clinic needed more space and last year expanded into the annex building located to the south at 919 11th St (The old archery shop).

Living, working and recreating in this part of the country is a wonderful opportunity given the unique geographic beauty. These features create many challenges for our skin and the providers and staff at Hood River Dermatology are passionate about delivering exceptional state of the art care for you and your skin.

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Seeking Wellness From the Outside In CultureSeed helps underserved youth thrive story by JANET COOK | photos by KELLY TURSO and COURTESY OF CULTURESEED

I

Kelly Turso

n the summer of 2019, Cynthia Juarez had an experience that changed her life: she went backpacking for the first time. Juarez, 17, a graduating senior in the Class of 2021 at Trout Lake School, has lived in Trout Lake since childhood, surrounded by the outdoors but not ever immersed in it.

“I’d never done anything remotely close to backpacking or camping,” Juarez said. “So this was a big step out of my comfort zone.” She describes herself as “someone who didn’t really like going outside and being active in the outdoors.” She also had severe anxiety that prevented her from doing

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Courtesy of CultureSeed

Kelly Turso

WELLNESS

many things. The backpacking trip was part of a program called CultureSeed, which seeks to connect underserved and/or low-income youth with the outdoors.

Despite her misgivings, Juarez decided to go on the trip. Along with four other youth, two “junior guides” and some adult mentors, she spent seven days backpacking and camping in the wilderness of Mount St. Helens.

“It was the best decision I’ve ever made,” Juarez said. “It completely changed me. I learned so much about myself and grew as a person.” The week included, among other things, strenuous hiking. “There were so many challenges for me, but I got a lot of support. That week, I was going through a lot, physically especially, but I made it through stronger.” The experience not only

Cynthia Juarez, above, who is finishing her third year with CultureSeed, at a rock climbing outing.

SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

ER NEW

NOW

Kelly Turso

OPEN!

CultureSeed staff, above left to right, Kay Alton, Kika Kielpinska, Carolina Pfister and Asnoldo Benitez (not pictured, Yasmin Acosta-Myers). Opposite top and bottom, Bekah Rottenberg of Brave Endeavors leads a bike outing on the Klickitat Trail.

helped her find inner strength, but she also came away with a newfound connection to the outdoors.

“After that I realized that I enjoy camping and exploring places that I’ve never been to,” she said. “I now look forward to activities like this.”

Juarez’s experience was a result of CultureSeed doing what it does, which is providing transformative outdoor programming for underserved youth. “What we do is outdoor immersion and outdoor mentorship with a focus on physical and emotional health,” said Carolina Pfister, executive director of CultureSeed, which is based in White Salmon.

CultureSeed is a small nonprofit with roots dating to 2015 when a group of people with property around the White Salmon River set out to create a learning community with a focus on land stewardship. The organization evolved and honed its objectives over the next few years, most notably in 2017 when social worker Kay Alton spearheaded a program within CultureSeed based on outdoor immersion with a mindfulness focus.

The next year Carolina Pfister moved to the area, bringing with her years of experience in the nonprofit world in diverse pursuits that included launching a cultural center in inner-city Chicago and working as an art educator in her native Brazil, helping to make art accessible to youth in low-income communities around São Paulo. She was intrigued by CultureSeed — particularly with the work Alton was doing.

When the director position came open not long after, Pfister was hired.

At the helm, she’s supported further development of the model Alton pioneered — year-round outdoor immersion for underserved youth.

The backbone of the organization is what’s known as its youth cohorts — formally called the Outdoor & Engagement Youth Cohorts. The Klickitat cohort, of which Juarez is a member, currently has 18 teens. An emerging Skamania cohort has 5, and development of a Juvenile Hall cohort is underway for youth who are involved in the criminal justice system at Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facilities (NORCOR).

Young people get connected with CultureSeed in a variety of ways, including school counselors, probation officers and mental health professionals.

The youth cohorts provide year-round structure, with activities aimed at helping youth experience physical and emotional growth through outdoor and group activities with peers and caring adults. Activities range from hiking and biking to water- and snow-sports, as well as overnight camping trips

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Courtesy of CultureSeed

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A CultureSeed outdoor immersion cohort and junior guides-in-training paddle through whitewater on a rafting adventure on the White Salmon River. Rivers for All and All Adventures partnered with CultureSeed on the outing.

and a summer group challenge. This summer’s challenge is a three-night rafting trip on the Deschutes River through a partnership with LEAP Adventure, a nonprofit based out of Portland that focuses on providing adventure for those facing adversity.

Youth commit to CultureSeed for a year, starting in 8th grade, and are invited to return for continuous years until they graduate from high school. After that, they can return as junior guides to gain experience on the ground or participate in the youth council to advise on organizational strategy.

“The goal is for youth to be with us, engaging in the outdoors, year after year,” Pfister said. With new cohort members, the focus is on mental health and mindfulness. As the youth progress, there are opportunities for civic engagement and leadership.

CultureSeed was solidifying its footing when the pandemic hit last March. The stay-at-home orders initially shut down much of its programming, but Pfister and Alton kept adjusting in order to continue engaging with youth.

“We had to show up very creatively and very energetically during the pandemic,” Pfister said.

“What’s magical about CultureSeed is we’re really nimble and adaptable. We were able to thrive because we kept pivoting.” The early days of the pandemic lockdowns actually gave rise to what has become CultureSeed’s Outdoor Mentorship Program.

“Pretty quickly, there was a clear call from our young folks that they were lonely, isolated, fearful of going outside,” Alton said. She and Pfister put out a call for support to anyone willing to go on one-onone, socially-distanced walks with youth, to help get them outside and engaged.

“The community outpouring of support was amazing,” Alton said. That initial pairing of young people with mentors for walks has blossomed into an expanding program that includes both general mentors and sports-based mentors.

In addition, key partnerships have also formed with some of the outdoor-sports communities over the past year. Bekah Rottenberg, professional mountain bike instructor, coach and trainer, has worked with CultureSeed to facilitate mountain bike outings for youth through her company Brave Endeavors, where she seeks to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in the mountain bike world. “Bekah is our first official Community Partner,” Pfister said.

Other entities have also stepped up to help, including Brimstone Boulders, which created a scholarship fund to support day passes, shoe rentals and other climbing opportunities; Mt. Hood Meadows, which has provided day ski passes; Hood River Mountain Bike Adventures, which has donated bikes and volunteer help for outings; and Doug’s Hood River, which provides free winter sports equipment rentals for CultureSeed youth.

“The pandemic gave us a push to formalize a village ethos we already had,” Pfister said.

The mentorship program and partnerships also serve to reinforce one of CultureSeed’s guiding principles, which is meeting each kid where they are — in everything from their comfort level with group

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activities to outdoor pursuits. Sometimes it’s literally meeting a young person where they are in order to provide transportation to a CultureSeed activity.

“In a rural setting where isolation is inherent, transportation is a barrier,” Pfister said. “We have to respond individually to whatever barriers are present.”

CultureSeed works to address all hurdles that might affect its ability to serve youth. Early in the pandemic, it established an emergency relief fund to help families of youth in the program with food, rent and everyday expenses. “You can’t serve youth if their families are in distress,” Pfister said.

Another CultureSeed initiative is a caregiver support group, held monthly at Skyline Hospital for parents of youth in the program. Kristoffer Lindstrom, bilingual behavioral health consultant at Skyline, co-facilitates the group. “We work with [parents and guardians] to help them better understand the issues that are happening with their kids and how to communicate with them,” Alton said.

Despite a hectic year working through the pandemic, CultureSeed is emerging stronger. While Pfister and Alton have done most of the heavy lifting over the past few years, they’ve recently hired two full-time staff members to join a contingent of volunteers and some contractors. Funding comes from foundations, grants, businesses and individuals.

Alton and Pfister work tirelessly to expand the “village” that can help CultureSeed youth thrive. “I see all young people as having so much energy to be our future, to be transformative agents of change,” said Alton, adding that CultureSeed’s initiatives aim to give them TRUST — an acronym for “time to rest, unfold, find strength and thrive,” which was the youth-driven tagline for her first cohort in 2017.

For Cynthia Juarez, it’s done just that. She credits her three years with CultureSeed for vast improvements in her anxiety, self-esteem and general

CultureSeed and partner Big City Mountaineers on a Mount St. Helens backpack trip.

mental state. “I’ve learned about loving myself and my body, how to control panic/anxiety attacks, and to make time for myself to enjoy what I love doing,” she said. She plans to attend college, with the goal returning to CultureSeed as a junior guide.

“I hope that during the summer and any holiday break I’ll have an opportunity to come back and help with whatever is needed,” she said, “such as helping lead peer circles, support at outings, transportation, and anything else.” In other words, to be part of the village that has helped her thrive.

For more information, go to cultureseed.org.

Giving starts in the Gorge

The Gorge Community Foundation helps donors create charitable endowment funds to support the causes you care about and projects that inspire you.

Since 2003, the Foundation has made over $2 million in grants.

You can start an endowment fund now with a tax-deductible contribution or include the Gorge Community Foundation in your estate plans.

201 Oak Street 541-436-3514 shopluckylittles.com LuckyLittlesBoutique 68

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LuckyLittlesHR

Learn more at gorgecf.org or call 509-250-3525

GORGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

ALLERGIES IN THE GORGE: NOT JUST A SEASONAL PROBLEM

T

Mendy S. Maccabee, MD | Board Certified ENT & Allergy Care FACS, FAAOA

he allergy season in the Columbia River Gorge can be a real challenge for many people.

The Gorge is unique in that we are in a wind-dominated corridor; we get allergens/ pollens from the east and west, depending on the prevailing wind, as well as our local allergens. Some plant pollens do have predominant seasons, but it is common for patients to be allergic to different things in multiple seasons. Wintertime allergens are frequently mold and dust mites. Tree pollen allergies dominate spring. In summer, grass pollens prevail and can be particularly problematic and long-lasting. This is also the time of year when stinging insect allergies cause problems that can be lifethreatening for the sensitive allergic patient. Fall takes us into the weed season. Patients with animal allergies (including household pets) suffer all year around.

Common allergy symptoms include: fatigue due to poor sleep, stuffy or runny nose, drainage in the back of your throat, cough, difficulty controlling asthma and/or eczema, itchy eyes, and sometimes rash or anaphylaxis.

In addition to COMPREHENSIVE ALLERGY TESTING & TREATMENT, we provide specialty ENT care for:

Sinus Disease Asthma Ear Infections Meniere’s Disease Ear Wax Vertigo Earaches Tinnitus Hearing Loss

Hoarseness Tonsils & Adenoids Sore Throat Hyperthyroidism Salivary Gland Disease Thyroid Disease/Goiter LPRD/GERD Parathyroid Disease Pediatric ENT Health

There are several measures you can take in your home if you are allergic. If you have wintertime symptoms, you should invest in dust mite covers for your mattress and pillows. You will want to minimize “clutter” in your sleeping area. If you were thinking about getting rid of carpet in your bedroom, you can add one more reason to your list.

You can also add an air filter to your sleeping space. If you have animal allergies, you don’t need to get rid of your pets but if you can keep them out of your sleeping space and the area you spend the most time each day, you can minimize exposure. If you have forced air heat, you will want to make sure you change the filters annually. Allergen vacuum bags are also a good idea and are inexpensive and easy to find (Ace hardware, Home Depot etc.).

When allergies become problematic enough that they prevent you from pursuing normal activities such as exercise, outdoor recreation, enjoying public gatherings or eating out, it is time to seek medical counseling. Allergy testing and specific treatment based on the results of these tests can drastically improve quality of life and sleep for most allergic patients, and be life saving for those who suffer from anaphylactic level reactions.

MendyMaccabeeENT.com 541-436-3880 514 State St., Hood River

PARTAKE I COOK WITH US

Buttermilk Cake with Apricot Jam Recipe and photos by KACIE MCMACKIN

Ingredients CAKE INGREDIENTS

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour • 1 tsp. baking powder • 1/4 tsp. baking soda • 1 tsp. sea salt • 3/4 cup butter (room temperature) • 1 cup granulated sugar • 3 egg whites (room temperature) • 2 tsp. vanilla extract • 1 cup buttermilk (room temperature) • 1/4 cup sour cream (room temperature)

FROSTING INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature) • 1 1/2 lb. powdered sugar • 1 Tbsp. vanilla • 1/4 cup heavy cream • 1/2 tsp. sea salt • 3/4 cup apricot jam

Directions CAKE

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-inch cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Whisk together the buttermilk and sour cream. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla. Add the egg whites one at a time. Scrape down the bowl and mix again until incorporated. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture until combined, followed by half of the buttermilk mixture until combined. Repeat with the rest of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the buttermilk mixture. Scrape down the bowl and mix again just until thoroughly incorporated.

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A friend once told me about the buttermilk cake with apricot jam that her mother would make, and for years I dreamed of it. I love a cake that’s not too sweet, but rather the perfect balance of sweet and tart. The buttermilk and apricot jam add the perfect tartness cut through with sweet, classic buttercream frosting. This cake is ideal for any summer celebration.

Divide evenly into your prepared pans and bake for about 25 minutes, until the center is springy and a skewer inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for about five minutes before turning them out to cool completely on a rack.

FROSTING

Cream the butter in a stand mixer with paddle attachment until it’s light and resembles frosting. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Once incorporated, slowly increase the speed to high. On low again, add in the salt, vanilla and cream. Again, once incorporated, slowly increase the speed to high.

Whip for 3 to 5 minutes until frosting is light and fluffy and ready to use.

ASSEMBLY OF THE CAKE

Trim the cakes so they are flat. Place one layer on a serving plate (trimmed side up) and frost with 1 1/2 cups of finished frosting. Top with a thick layer of jam. Place the second layer of cake (trimmed side down) on top of the other layer. Cover the cake in a thin crumb coating of the frosting. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to set before adding the final layer of frosting. Decorate as desired!

Kacie McMackin is a food blogger, writer and photographer at gorgeinthegorge.com. She is a frequent contributor to The Gorge Magazine.

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PARTAKE I EAT & DRINK

BACKWOODS BREWING COMPANY

BRIDGESIDE

541-296-5666 • baldwinsaloon.com 205 Court Street • The Dalles

541-374-8477 • bridgesidedining.com Exit 44 off I-84, Cascade Locks

Backwoods Brewing is family owned and located in Carson, WA. Established in 2012, we offer delicious beers, hand-made pizzas, outdoor seating, and welcome all ages.

Celebrating its reopening, the Baldwin Saloon offers a traditional American fine dining experience. The menu includes dishes made with exceptional ingredients and artisanship.

Serves quality homemade food, fresh meats, seafood, breads, pastas, and desserts. Try our new takeout cocktails!

Stunning views next to the Bridge of the Gods – Bridgeside (formerly Charburger) serves tasty char-broiled burgers plus an extensive menu of breakfast items, chowders, fish & chips, salads, sandwiches, and desserts. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with friendly service.

Open daily: 11:30am-9pm

Open Mon-Sat | Fine dining in The Dalles Pickup & Delivery available | Order online

Gift shop • Special event room & terrace

BRODER ØST

CASA EL MIRADOR FAMILY MEXICAN RESTAURANT

CELILO RESTAURANT & BAR

541-436-3444 • brodereast.com 102 Oak St. Suite 100 • Hood River Offering Nordic inspired breakfast and lunch to the gorge. Something new and exciting for the whole family to enjoy. Come try traditional recipes such as aebleskiver (danish pancakes), swedish meatballs, norwegian lefse (potato crepes) and lots more!

541-298-7388 • casaelmirador.com 1424 West 2nd Street • The Dalles

541-386-5710 • celilorestaurant.com 16 Oak Street • Downtown Hood River

Celebrating over 15 years, Celilo began with a desire to honor the bounty of the Northwest. Our ever-changing menu reflects the seasonal highlights of the region’s growers and foragers. We offer the most innovative in fresh, local cuisine as well as an award-winning wine list, full bar, small plate menu, and happy hour.

#broderost

Quality Mexican food prepared with the freshest and finest ingredients. Warm, friendly service and a lively atmosphere. Indulge in generous portions of flavorful sizzling fajitas, fish tacos, savory enchilada dishes and daily specials.

Drink specials & Happy Hour menu from 4-7pm, Mon-Fri. Full service bar, take-out menu, gift certificates and catering services. Open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.

DOPPIO COFFEE

EL PUERTO DE ANGELES III

EVERYBODY’S BREWING

Relax on our beautiful patio in the heart of Hood River.

Enjoy a hand crafted, in-house roasted espresso drink.

Serving breakfast and lunch all day: panini sandwiches, fresh salads, smoothies and fresh baked pastries and goodies. Gluten free options available. Free Wi-Fi and our patio is dog friendly. Our tables are spaced apart and disinfected after each guest.

We are open and happy to serve you. Authentic Jalisco Cuisine. We provide a safe dining experience. Enjoy good food and good times. Offering daily lunch and dinner specials, served all day. Happy Hour Mon-Fri. Outdoor dining available (weather permitting).

Everybody’s sits nestled on the cliffs of White Salmon, overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. With awardwinning beers, globally-inspired food, welcoming atmosphere, and picturesque views of Mt. Hood, you’ll quickly discover why Everybody’s is a Gorge favorite.

Open Daily 10am-9pm Dine-In or Takeout

Open Sun-Thu 11:30am-9pm | Fri-Sat 11:30am-10pm Indoor/Outdoor Dining & Takeout (Order Online or Call)

We look forward to serving you!

541-386-3000 • doppiohoodriver.com 310 Oak Street • Downtown Hood River

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BALDWIN SALOON

509-427-3412 • backwoodsbrewingcompany.com 1162 Wind River Hwy • Carson

SUMMER 2021 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE

541-308-0005 1306 12th Street • Hood River, on the Heights

Open Tuesday-Sunday at 5pm

509.637.2774 • everybodysbrewing.com 177 E. Jewett Boulevard • White Salmon

PARTAKE I EAT & DRINK

GRACE SU’S CHINA GORGE RESTAURANT & TIGER LOUNGE 541-386-5331 • chinagorge.com 2680 Old Columbia River Drive • Hood River (Located off I-84 and the base of Hwy 35)

A Gorge favorite for over 41 years! Enjoy authentic Chinese cuisine full of flavor and our friendly service.

Open Tuesday-Sunday, closed Mondays Takeout with curbside service Visit us on Facebook for hours & information updates

PFRIEM FAMILY BREWERS

GROUND ESPRESSO BAR & CAFE

THE LITTLE SEVEN SEVEN RANCH HIGHLAND BEEF

Get your daily fuel for your Gorge sports and activities here!

A long time locals favorite coffee house and eatery, Ground features fresh in-house roasted coffee, house made pastries and cookies with lots of gluten free options. We make our soups from scratch every day and source mostly local and organic ingredients.

Nitro cold brew on tap.

Grass-Fed Highland beef from our ranch to your home.

Email to discuss beef preferences and we will assemble a $250 or $500 semi-custom box for contactless pick-up.

Boxes include steaks, roasts and ground beef. Or: Visit us at our Lyle Ranch Shop to shop in a safe, open space.

541-386-4442 • groundhoodriver.com 12 Oak Street • Downtown Hood River

509-767-7130 • L77Ranch.com

Ranch pick-up for boxes: by appointment, daily Ranch Shop: by appointment, Saturday and Sunday

541-321-0490 • pfriembeer.com 707 Portway Avenue, Suite 101 • Hood River Waterfront

541-716-4020 • remedycafehoodriver.com 112 Third Street • Downtown Hood River

REMEDY CAFÉ

RIVERSIDE & CEBU LOUNGE

pFriem artisanal beers are symphonies of flavor and balance, influenced by the great brewers of Europe, but unmistakably true to our homegrown roots in the Pacific Northwest. Although they are served humbly, each glass is overflowing with pride and a relentless aspiration to brew the best beer in the world. We’ll let you decide.

Organic juice, smoothies, bowls, burritos & salads.

House-made almond and coconut milks.

Vegan and paleo options. Best quality organic and local ingredients. Organic espresso.

Order Online - RemedyCafeHoodRiver.com

Welcome back to Riverside, where you’ll find the best food, drinks and views in the Gorge. Following guidelines for distanced dining indoors, outdoor on the waterfront, and takeout. Fresh menus change seasonally – plus an award-winning wine list and 14 taps with all your favorite local breweries.

Open Daily 12-7pm | pfriembeer.com

SOLSTICE WOOD FIRE PIZZA

Dine-In, Takeout and Curbside Options. Kids Corner.

WiFi. “Where Healthy Food and Your Cravings Meet!”

541-386-4410 • riversidehoodriver.com Exit 64 off I-84 • Waterfront Hood River

Serving Breakfast – Lunch – Dinner daily.

541-436-0800 • solsticewoodfirecafe.com 501 Portway Avenue • Hood River Waterfront

541-386-7423 • sushiokalani@gorge.net 109 First Street • Downtown Hood River

SUSHI OKALANI

THUNDER ISLAND BREWING CO.

One-of-a-kind specialty pizzas, small plates, salads, & s’mores! Sublime cocktails, craft beer, wine, & ciders.

Outdoor dining with views! Abundant vegan & gluten-free options.

We are the local’s favorite spot for fresh fish, Pan-Asian cuisine, and a huge sake selection, all available to-go only.

We offer curbside pickup, 7 nights a week. With creative rolls, rotating specials, and fresh sashimi and nigiri, we also offer staples like Teriyaki, Tempura, and stir-fry dishes to satisfy all tastes. Phone orders only, starting at 4, pickup 5-8pm. Check IG & FB for specials and current menu.

A brewery and taproom located in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge. The river and mountain views pair beautifully with craft beer and delicious food. Well-behaved dogs are welcome on the patio. All guests are welcome, and are expected to follow Oregon state COVID guidelines. Cheers!

Order takeout from our website above or visit our waterfront pizza truck for fast slices & soft serve!

971-231-4599 • thunderislandbrewing.com 601 NW Wa Na Pa Street • Cascade Locks

Reservations are recommended. To book, visit thunderislandbrewing.com.

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OUR GORGE I YOUR GORGE

Jurgen Hess was in the eastern Gorge with his wife, Susan, “chasing wildfires” for his work as a wildfire photographer and educator. They were stopped along a road watching a big fire burning to the east. “It was late summer and the wheat had been harvested,” he said. The fire was burning in the cut wheat fields, throwing up a lot of smoke. “Susan walked up the road around a corner and saw horses running and playing in the wheat field,” he said. She hurried back and told Jurgen to grab his camera gear. “I did,” he said. “It was a serendipitous moment — in the right place at the right time.”

The Photographer JURGEN HESS is a photojournalist and writer. He had a 34-year career with the U.S. Forest Service, including serving in the Rogue River National Forest and in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. He’s been a resource advisor on numerous wildfires and served on post-fire restoration teams. He’s on the board of Columbia Insight, an online environmental news publication, and is an award-winning photographer specializing in wildfire, landscapes and conservation. jurgenhessphotography.com

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