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Carla Axtman helps craft Oregon’s narrative, one page at a time written by Joni Kabana | photography by Karl Maasdam Some people are born knowing exactly what they are meant to do. Others discover it slowly, through experiences, loss and the quiet accumulation of stories. For Carla Axtman, storytelling has always been the throughline, a personal instinct that has come naturally to her. “Being a storyteller means hearing others and learning their stories,” she said. “It takes a desire to understand and a willingness to simply listen.” Axtman was raised in John Day, where her childhood stretched from kindergarten to graduation alongside the same small constellation of friends. It was a place that taught her both belonging and endurance, wonder and limitation. Living in this small town shaped not just her personality, but also how she sees the world around her. Five generations of her family have lived in this…

Professor Greta Binford follows her love for biodiverse habitats, and arachnids written by Joni Kabana | photography by Amanda Loman Many shudder at the thought of seeing a brown recluse spider, but not Greta Binford, professor of biology at Lewis & Clark College. Binford revels in studying and teaching biodiversity, including research of brown recluse spiders and their relatives. For her, Oregon is a playground of diverse habitats. “I absolutely love spending time lying on the ground in old-growth forests and looking closely at the tiny, super-diverse life living in the deep, peaty forest floor,” she said. “That’s where soil is made, and the ecosystem of tiny life there will blow your mind.” Binford attended Purdue University thinking she wanted to be a veterinarian but quickly realized she did not have the fortitude to work with blood and sick animals. After trying a couple other majors, she dropped out of…

A couple’s foray into community building through ancient cooking techniques written by Joni Kabana photography by Aubrie LeGault During both of their childhoods, Mona Johnson and Jaret Foster spent a lot of time in the great outdoors growing and eating bountiful food choices. While a natural progression for both of them was ending up working in professional kitchens, they also both shared a dream of creating a more immersive dining experience. In 2009, the couple met and bonded over their love of food, farms, nature and community building while working at Portland Farmers Market, a nonprofit organization that organizes various farmers’ markets. They began to formulate a plan centering on a new way of cooking that would engage and inspire both themselves and their guests. Tournant, their open-fire cooking and events company, was born out of this shared vision. Tournant’s signature offering is an unparalleled outdoor dining experience using farm-to-fire…

Emmy-winning cameraman Jeff Daly returns to Astoria to restore a piece of its past written and photographed by Joni Kabana What’s a guy to do after he is awarded two Peabodys and an Emmy for knuckle-clutching TV sports filming? Go back home. That is precisely what Jeff Daly did in the ’90s. He made his way back to the Pacific Northwest, settled in Seaside and opened his delightfully eclectic studio space in Astoria on the first floor of a boat house that juts out over the mighty Columbia River. Daly’s first foray into art car design was in 1969 when he acquired his first car—a 1948 Mercury Woody station wagon that he still drives today. When he realized he had to make a serious wage to be able to pay for all of his expanding projects, he took a career side trip to become a top notch TV cameraman. Having…

The scent of balsam fir propelled a forestry student to build a company based on essential oils written by Seamus Casey photography by Dan Hawk Robert Seidel was studying forestry in New York in the 1970s when he encountered the aroma of balsam fir. This set off a “quest” for the extraction of aromatic compounds from natural products and, later, designing his own distillation equipment. He learned everything he could find on the topic and then, at Powell’s Books, found a six-volume set of books, The Essential Oils by Ernest Guenther. “I devoured all six volumes and still use that set of books today.” “I started my business in 1977 with the goal of supplying true essential oils to the consumer, the herbalists, soap makers and candle makers,” Seidel said. The Essential Oil Company, based in Portland, imports the majority of its essential oils from around the world—rose from Bulgaria…