Live Oregon

French doors open a room to create a more spacious feel, refreshing it with natural light.

Form, Function, Financially Fit & Fabulous

Oregon designers spill the smartest ways to use $50,000 in home equity written by Melissa Dalton In the past year, our homes have taken on new significance. We relish the comfort they provide, while pondering possibilities for making them even better. We asked three Oregon designers to weigh in on how they’d recommend homeowners spend $50,000 in home equity. Turns out, a little can go a long way, if you know where to use it. HOUSE OF MILO, BEND Sarah Westhusing | Remodel a kitchen or bathroom People tend to look at the question of remodeling in two ways, said Sarah Westhusing, interior designer and founder of House of Milo, a Bend-based studio which tackles everything from new builds to renovations. “The first are the people that really focus on return on investment,” she said. They only want to invest an amount in updates that they’ll recoup when they sell…

Whit Peters walks between cranberry bogs at Peters’ Cranberries in Sixes.

The Tart-Sweet Oregon Cranberry—Bogged Down

Cranberries, as American as Thanksgiving, bring Oregon flavor to fall dishes written by Sophia McDonaldphotography by Amanda Loman Around the time Portland was welcoming its first train passengers, Morrow County was being incorporated and the Grants Pass Daily Courier was delivering its first newspapers, farmers began forming bogs and filling them with cranberry vines along the southern Oregon coast. These tart treats have been an important agricultural crop in a region which has been better known for animal-based foods such as seafood and dairy since 1885. They also deliver a fine option for locavores who can’t imagine a holiday season or a turkey sandwich without a spoonful of the ruby-red berry sauce. This thoroughly American berry (one of the few fruits native to North America) has been Whit Peters’ business for most of his life. He and his mother, Sara Osborne, own Peters’ Cranberries in Sixes, about twenty miles south…

Nick Byron Campbell. Photo by Elisa Terrazas Campbell

Deeply Rooted

Left Vessel’s music uses living trees as instruments Written by Ben Salmon Nick Byron Campbell will say that he has been making music in the “normal” sense since his mid-teens. What’s normal? Playing instruments. Writing songs. Starting bands. Touring, recording, even signing to a record label. “It was an amazing experience,” said Campbell, who lives in Bend. “Wildly intense.” After a while, though, he felt his perspective shifting at about the same time the music industry was being revolutionized—not necessarily in a good way—by easily accessible recording software and digital streaming platforms. “I still love playing with bands, releasing records—that’s still a huge thing for me. But there’s just so much music and it’s been so intensely devalued as a good,” he said. “I think I just subconsciously started wondering how I could do this differently from the way 10,000 other people are doing it.” Inspired by a childhood encounter…

DIY wainscoting in this bathroom adds dimension, interest and a shallow shelf, too.

DIY: Tips for Installing Wainscot in Your Home

Wainscot, or wood-paneling installed on the lower section of wall in a room, can have a big impact, as seen in the custom treatment in Stephanie Dyer’s bathroom. Apply wainscot to one wall as an accent, or wrap the room, for instant depth and character. Here are our basic tips. MIND THE PROPORTIONS The key to getting wood paneling to look appropriate is to get the proportions right. First, measure the height from floor to ceiling. One approach is to have the height of the wood paneling, including any trim, be either ⅓ or ⅗ of the total wall height. Pay attention to how the paneling height will interact with all of the other elements in the room, such as windows, light switches, towel bars, the mirror and existing trim. Use a level and a pencil to draw a light horizontal line around the room that marks the desired height….

Boneyard’s Blood Orange Pale Ale delivered joy during lockdown.

Proof of God: Beer

Written by Beau Eastes The quote “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,” is popularly attributed to Ben Franklin. While historians posit that he actually wrote this about wine, we have no doubt about the truth in this alleged misquote. The past year-and-a-half has been brutal for just about everyone we know. But beer, glorious beer, the cause and solution to all of life’s problems, has delivered some moments of happiness. Here are some beers that brought smiles to our faces during the past eighteen months: A LITER OR THREE OF BITBURGER PILS FROM STAMMTISCH A cold German beer on a hot day is always a good idea, but this summer, as Portland negotiated a record heat wave, the rounds of Bitburger were especially tasty. The Beerlandia staff was on an intense research mission that weekend and Stammtisch provided a much-needed home base—and a…

Alyson Brown cocktail creations

Flower Folk

Mixologist brings flavors of flower buds to taste buds in flower-infused cocktails Interview by Cathy Carroll Alyson Brown’s longtime love affair with flowers fully blossomed in 2017 when she founded Wild Folk Flower Apothecary botanical skincare in Bend. She began infusing flowers into her tea, baths, food and, of course, cocktails. She self-published The Flower-Infused Cocktail available at www.theflowerinfusedcocktail.com, just in time for summer. Tell us about your start in using flowers in mixology. I began posting flower-infused cocktails on my Instagram feed and soon I was asked to mix and serve my drinks at social events, private par ties, and community gatherings. I included flowers in every drink I made, whether it was simple syrups, a base spirit-infusion or simply a garnish. When first beginning my journey with flowers, it was the symbolism and history behind the flowers that really intrigued me. One of my very favorite things about…

Grillskär from Ikea

Good-Looking Charcoal Grills

Throw your grilling aspirations on one of these three capable grills at the next local barbecue Should you need more than just a grill, check out Ikea’s modular outdoor kitchen system, Grillskär. It has a sleek black powder-coated steel base with a stainless-steel counter, and includes additional units that have a sink or a prep counter.www.ikea.com/us/en/p/grillskaer-charcoal-grill-black-stainless-steel-outdoor-30471447/ What’s more iconic than the Original Kettle Charcoal Grill from Weber? Designed in 1952 by George Stephen, a man obsessed with grilling the perfect steak, he took inspiration from a buoy, cutting it in half and adding three legs and a handle, to create the original round cooking bowl with a lid.www.weber.com Bake, roast, smoke—the Big Green Egg does it all. The first was a simple clay cooker sold out of Atlanta in 1974 and has since been vastly improved thanks to ceramic technology originally developed by NASA for the space program. Now available…

Blackberries cover about 50 acres at Duyck Family Farm in Banks. The farm grows the Kotata variety.

Back in Blackberries

Delicious and fulfilling fruit of hard work on Duyck Family Farm Written by Sophia McDonaldPhotography by Daniel Stark “Growing up, I would always tag along with my dad, whether it was just riding in a truck or hoeing or working with a cousin. I always knew I’d come back. I just didn’t know when or how.”— Jacque Duyck Jones, of Duyck Family Farm, on taking over the family business Blackberries reach their peak in July, just in time for pie making, ice cream churning, jam jamborees, backyard cocktail mixing and gluttonous fresh eating. While they’re at their best straight from the vine, juices warm from the sun and staining your fingers, they also freeze well, something that makes this Oregon snack available year-round. In fact, the freezer is the first destination for the vast majority of Oregon blackberries. According to the Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission, more than 90 percent…

Mountain Rose Herbs offers organic essential oils for aromatherapy.

Scent Messages

Aromatherapy is increasingly tapped for soothing or invigorating effects Written by Cathy Carroll Whether it’s the aroma of lavender, ginseng and frankincense or eucalyptus, rosemary and ylang ylang, aromatherapy is gaining widespread use. Having made the leap from the fringes to mainstream healthcare across the country, it is being leveraged for managing pain, nausea, depression, stress, insomnia, dementia and other ailments. The national trend is reflected in the growth at Mountain Rose Herbs, which ships its organic products across the U.S. and Canada from its 12-acre campus in Eugene. “The most intriguing element of aromatherapy is the physiological responses that the body goes through when we experience scent. Aromatherapy was built on our innate ability to connect smell with thoughts, emotions and memories. Certain smells can trigger signals to our brain that it’s time to wake up or to wind down.”— Thomas Dick, Mountain Rose Herbs marketing and creative director…