Live Oregon

The 79th Annual Sisters Rodeo

Sisters Rodeo Photojournal 2019 written and photographed by Jessica Smith Every summer during the first week of June, professional cowboys and cowgirls travel to Oregon to compete in the Sisters Rodeo. The show has been around since 1940 and has remained a favorite among contestants because of the sizable purse offerings (up to $10,000) awarded to winners in each category. For decades, the world-class talent has attracted crowds from miles away, and this year was no exception. With rodeo organizers making this year’s tickets available online, the already-popular event sold out a week before opening night. However, those lucky enough to secure tickets were in for a treat, with sunny blue skies, plentiful food and drink from various vendors, and stunning displays of athleticism by both the animals and the competitors.  

Four Faves for Donuts—Don’t be so square!

Four Faves for Donuts—Don’t be so square!

            written by Jen Stevenson NOLA DOUGHNUTS Mardi Gras is just a king-cake-splattered March memory, but National Doughnut Day is June 7, and brother-sister duo Rob Herkes and Connie DeMerell’s Portland doughnut shops blend the best of both worlds with their New Orleans-inspired “la’ssants,” uniquely flaky square doughnuts made with a croissant-like dough, French technique, and European grass-fed butter. Sip your chicory coffee with hot, made-to-order beignets dipped in housemade raspberry mocha sauce. 365 N STATE ST. LAKE OSWEGO 110 NW 10TH AVE. PORTLAND www.noladoughnuts.com SISTERS BAKERY Sure, Sisters is known for its stunning natural beauty, abundance of outdoorsy to-dos, charming Old West storefronts and celebrated late summer folk festival. But fried-dough devotees come for the good old-fashioned doughnuts—soft, squishy, raised, glazed, iced, spiced, sugared and/or sprinkled. Try the epic “pinecone,” a yeast doughnut as delicately ribbed as its namesake, with a sweet stripe of…

Enviro-Breweries for a better world

written by Jeremy Storton I sat typing away at my keyboard one wintry day at a local brewery. A beautiful, brilliantly clear pale ale with a rich head kept me company and served as my muse. My calendar said January, but the sunny, 60-degree temperature outside suggested late spring. “If this is climate change,” I thought, “I could get used to this.” I discovered the world of beer in college. Despite my best efforts, I also graduated with a degree in environmental studies, examining the intricate, web-like relationship of all things that make up an ecosystem. For me, the two were completely unrelated, until I had an epiphany last October. A flurry of reports came out warning that climate change will affect barley production, thus driving beer prices higher. All the old college lectures, visits to farms and time spent learning about beer were a jigsaw puzzle, and these warnings…

Best places for a bountiful brunch

BEST PLACES FOR BOUNTIFUL BRUNCHING HUNNYMILK With both a West Burnside brick and mortar and an eastside weekends-only pop-up, this pretty prix fixe brunch cafe makes it easy to treat mom to something a little unexpected this Mother’s Day. Chef Brandon Weeks’ $23 menus rotate regularly, but the format stays the same—first, choose a drink (obviously the caramel hot chocolate with toasted milk marshmallows), then something from both the sweet and savory sections, perhaps the smoky bacon Dutch baby and key lime curd-filled poppy seed crêpe, or the crispy pork ribs and cheesy garlic grits with a honey butter-dipped fortune cookie waffle. 1981 W BURNSIDE ST. PORTLAND www.hunnymilk.com FOXTAIL BAKESHOP AND KITCHEN Part of Bend’s exciting and ever-evolving Box Factory project near the Old Mill, pastry chef-owner Nickol Hayden-Cady’s comely bakery and cafe promises an artful experience, from the gorgeous wall mural to the dazzling pastry case to the plates…

Modern Outdoor Finds—Make your patio pop with these products

    If you need an update for a decrepit picnic table, try the Aviara Aluminum Rectangular Dining Table from Restoration Hardware. Made of rust-proof tubular aluminum and available in three sizes, its strong, graphic lines will stand out on your patio. www.restorationhardware.com       The Tolix Marais A Chair may have been created in 1934, but it still looks fresh today. Fabricated from powder-coated steel or galvanized steel, the chair that once sat on the deck of the S.S. Normandie, not to mention numerous French cafés in the decades since, will lend your backyard a certain joie de vivre. www.dwr.com             Barn Light Electric looks to vintage silhouettes for design inspiration. Take the Frontier LED Angle Shade sconce. It riffs off of classic gas station lamps, but the LED technology, which lasts up to 50,000 hours, is all new. www.barnlight.com    

DIY Concrete Planter

illustrated by Esther Loopstra AS ANYONE WHO HAS EVER STROLLED through the nursery knows, outdoor pots can add up. Try this straightforward method for making a concrete outdoor planter to spruce up your stoop. 1. Make a mold A concrete mold or formwork is used to hold the concrete in place while the material hardens to the desired shape. For this project, the mold will have two parts: the exterior vessel, which will dictate the planter’s overall shape, and an interior vessel, which will fit inside the first to create the cavity needed for the plant’s root ball and dirt. The mold doesn’t have to be complicated. You can reuse objects, like cardboard boxes, or two different-sized plastic buckets. 2. Add Drainage If you want a drainage hole at the bottom of the planter, glue or tape a 1- to 2-inch piece of plastic tubing to the inside center of…

A timber-frame outdoor pavilion draws a West Linn family outside

written by Melissa Dalton An Outdoor Pavilion, rustic and accommodating When Daniel Harkavy and his wife bought their West Linn house in 2013, its 5-acre plot included woodland, pasture and lovely valley views, but the deck off the back door overlooked a swing set. On warm weather days, you might sit on the deck’s built-in bench while waiting for the barbecue to fire up, but there was little else to beckon anyone outdoors. Yet the prospect of enjoying all that acreage was just what had attracted the family to buy in the first place. “We moved from three-quarters of an acre to 5 acres,” said Harkavy, an executive coach. “I always had a dream of living out on a bit more land and having more to play with.” The classic timber-frame home that came with the land had excellent bones, including vaulted ceilings and exposed beams, but the worn fixtures…

Oregon Granges continue to connect rural communities

written by Katie Chamberlain photography by Thomas Boyd ON A DRIZZLY OCTOBER MORNING, Jay Sexton dug through the archives of Marys River Grange with a quiet enthusiasm to show me the roster and photos of the grange’s original members, and poems describing the tightly knit grange community. Founding members of this grange, located in Philomath, heaved logs donated from nearby mills to construct the log cabin hall over several years in the early 1930s. The grange is tightly woven into the community’s landscape: Many of the nearby roads were named for families who were active in the grange during its early years. These historic halls, dotting Oregon’s back roads from Sixes to Enterprise, offer a window into Oregon’s agrarian past—and a glimpse into modern rural life. “People think of us as the building, but it’s more than the building,” said Sexton, steward of Marys River and state grange overseer. Sexton,…

Strawberry Alarm Clock

written by Thor Erickson photography by Charlotte Dupont LIKE CLOCKWORK, every year in early May, I start to hear a voice in my head. No matter where I am or what I am doing, it stops me in my tracks. A deep, faint, mildly pleasant whisper. “Strawberries,” it gently says, like a game-show host leading a yoga class in The Twilight Zone. “Strawberries,” it tells me, more frequently as days pass. This voice is telling me that Oregon strawberry season is looming, and I had better be ready. The haunting refrain “Strawberries …” is warning that there might not be enough time to fully capture the fleeting ripeness of these sweet little Northwest gems. “Strawberries …” underscoring that no time machine would allow me to live in Oregon strawberry season for eternity. If I don’t heed the call, I might not have enough time to enjoy the Totem, Hood, Tillamook,…