Traditional landscaping (think large, lush grass lawns) aren’t sustainable in the high desert’s arid climate. Here are a few easy ways to make your landscaping at home more friendly for the environment and use less water.
Sustainable landscaping in the high desert is essentially planning, planting and maintaining your outdoor space in a way that uses water judiciously. Its benefits go beyond being stewards of a limited resource. A sustainable landscape saves time, energy and money. As a general rule, you can save up to 40 percent on your water bill if you’re managing your irrigation wisely.
Whether designing a new landscape or retrofitting an existing one, selecting low- to moderate-water-use plants and adhering to efficient irrigation practices are key to creating a sustainable outdoor space in our low-moisture environment, said Amy Jo Detweiler, associate professor of horticulture for the OSU Extension in Central Oregon.
In addition to proper plant selection and irrigation practices, Detweiler said that modifying the soil of plant beds is a smart way to conserve water and maintain a thriving landscape.
“Our native soils are sandy, which drain water really quickly,” she explained. “Amending the planting area with a nice organic compost helps with root establishment and keeps more moisture in the soil, which will lead to less watering.” Aim to add approximately one-third soil amendment to two-thirds of your existing soil.
Before you banish turfgrass from your landscaping plan altogether, consider this: While the traditional ratio of 90 percent turf and 10 percent beds doesn’t make sense in Bend, turfgrass does have important benefits, including reducing erosion and runoff and providing a fire-resistance barrier around your home.
“In a water-efficient landscape,” noted Detweiler, “put grass only where you need it, such as high-use or play areas, and then fill in with perennials, trees and shrubs, which require less moisture.” Be sure to choose a turfgrass rated for cool weather and drought tolerance.
Tia Hatton is one of twenty-one students suing the federal government for failing to protect the nation’s youth from the effects of climate change.
Photo by Robin Loznak
Tia Hatton, 21, grew up in Bend, and like many locals, spent time with her family hiking and playing outside. In high school, she joined the cross country and Nordic ski teams. She’s currently a junior at University of Oregon studying environmental science and nonprofit management. She also happens to be one of a handful of climate change student activists suing the United States government for failing to act on climate change. Hatton is one of twenty-one students in Juliana v. United States, a potentially landmark lawsuit put forward in 2015 by Our Children’s Trust, a nonprofit based in Eugene. The case recently reached the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the case can proceed in the U.S. District of Oregon, a major step forward for Hatton and other plaintiffs. Hatton talked with Bend Magazine about being involved in the lawsuit and what it takes to change the climate conversation.
Tell us about growing up in Bend and your connection to the environment.
My dad’s family moved to Bend in 1969, and my grandfather Raymond Hatton completed his Masters thesis on tourism in Bend at the time, then taught geography at COCC for many years. Weekends during my childhood were spent in the outdoors. Some of my earliest outdoor memories are of being outside east of Bend in the high desert dust, sagebrush and juniper, as well as of walking along the Metolius River. As I grew up, I got involved in Nordic skiing and cross country. My favorite times in the outdoors are runs during the fall along the upper Deschutes past Meadow Camp. I also have fond memories of taking a break during a tough ski at Meissner, only to hear silence and feel in awe of the crisp, wintry scene around me.
Did you ever notice changes to the region’s climate or landscape?
My senior year of high school, low snow caused Nordic practices to be cancelled or solely held at Mt. Bachelor, because of its higher elevation. The following summer, all of Oregon was in a severe drought, and the wildfire season was bad. Those were noticeable changes, and science confirms the climate is shifting to higher average global temperatures and more extreme weather events.
How did you get involved in Our Children’s Trust?
In the spring of 2015 I heard about a meeting for high schoolers interested in taking local action to curb the effects of climate change, my friend and I attended. That’s when I got connected to Our Children’s Trust YouCAN, Youth Climate Action Now. In the meeting we learned about the successful efforts of Eugene youth to ask their city council to pass a climate ordinance. That’s when the other high schoolers and I decided to pursue similar actions to urge action on the part of our city council. I never ended up participating in these activities, as I moved to Eugene a few months later. Kelsey Juliana, who is the lead plaintiff on our case, emailed me asking if I wanted to take meaningful action to stop human caused climate change by suing the U.S. Government. I said yes.
What has the experience of being involved in the lawsuit been like for you?
Being a plaintiff on this lawsuit is a tremendous experience. I’ve learned about the government’s long-standing knowledge of the harmful effects of increasing carbon dioxide pollution and other greenhouse gases. I’ve experienced the intricacies of our court system after attending multiple hearings. It’s extremely powerful to hear our stories being told in front of judges and the Department of Justice lawyers. The lawsuit has attracted media attention, and I’ve been interviewed by CNN, MSNBC, Global Citizen, the Youtube channel Soulpancake, have been on C-SPAN, and more. I’m passionate about the subject, and the route we are taking as young people. I wish the U.S. government, and global community had listened when they first realized the science, and rapidly started making changes and advancing renewable energy technology. It is unfortunately a topic tied to politics. Due partly to this, there is some negativity from people who either don’t believe in human caused climate change yet, or don’t care to understand the importance and necessity of the case.
What kinds of changes would you like to see in Bend to reduce our impact on the environment?
I’m impressed to see solar going up around the city, and I commend those who support it. The city council has adopted a climate resolution. However, it isn’t binding in any capacity, and there is a lot of work to be done. It’s important for business owners, especially those who rely on tourism, to understand that climate change can negatively affect their business. I think it’s a good step in the right direction, however, climate change is already happening, and every year without concrete action to curb emissions just means that much more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, where it stays for a long time.
The Environmental Center of Bend shares five easy ways to make your home more sustainable.
Here it is—another list to help you reduce your carbon footprint. How many of these lists have you skipped past or skimmed through? Just ponder this for a moment though—the act of doing just one thing. And the impact that one thing will have when an entire community takes action. When you act to reduce your energy use, you are part of something bigger than yourself. To put this in perspective: if every home in Bend were to replace just six low-efficiency light bulbs, our community would save $2.6 million each year. How’s that for making an impact? And that’s just light bulbs. Here are a few things that you can do to do your part—and while you’re at it, see if you can get your friends to do just one thing, too.
1. Install efficient LED light bulbs.
Let’s get you started on something easy! LED bulbs use 80 percent less energy than standard light bulbs. Get up to sixteen installed for free from The Energy Challenge
2. Reduce your hot water usage.
This one doesn’t require you to buy anything. Hot water accounts for up to 20 percent of the average home’s energy use, so by using less hot water, your savings can add up quickly. Think twice about how long the water is running when you’re doing dishes. Consider washing your clothes in cold water. These days, most detergents are just as well-suited to be used in cold water. On top of this, you can get new high-pressure, water-saving showerheads for free when you get your free LEDs.
3. Turn down your water heater thermostat to 120 degrees.
This helps your water heater work a lot less hard. Sometimes this can be tricky. The best bet is to just Google it. If you have what looks like a heavy-duty extension cord going into the top or side of your water heater, it’s electric. If you see a flue or something that looks like a metal chimney, it’s a gas water heater. You’ll need to refine your search based on which type of water heater you have.
4. Take control of your thermostat.
Optimize your heating and cooling by making sure you’re taking advantage of times when you’re not home and setting your AC at a higher temperature. Remember, you only need your home to be comfortable when you’re there. (Note to skeptics: energy audits have proven that it’s more efficient to reheat and cool a home on demand than it is to maintain a consistent temperature.)
5. Consider an electric vehicle.
Yes, this one’s a much bigger move, but hear us out. Make sure you have all the information you need—you may find an EV fits into your life better than you may think. Stay tuned for details on workshops to learn more, Ride and Drive events to take one for a spin and special deals over the summer.
You can find out more on each of these topics and sign up for free LEDs at theenergychallenge.org
Editor’s note: This article was written by Lindsey Hardy, the Environmental Center’s Energy Challenge program director.
Sara Wiener on finding community in Bend and running a small business.
Sara Wiener does not sit still for long. An athlete and entrepreneur, Wiener thought Bend seemed the perfect place for her to settle with her partner Joanne and their daughter Bella. Often recognized for her variety of businesses, first Sara Bella, then Sara Bella Upcycled and now her new project Sara Wiener Consulting, she is not one to be kept down. Whether leading the charge to provide a safe and equal place for all community members, starting the Procession of Species parade (now the Earth Day parade) or becoming a CASA volunteer, Wiener has begun to find that perfect grass she had been looking for is the one she planted here when she started her journey in Bend more than twenty years ago.
On Finding Community
When I met Joanne in 1991, I didn’t know what Bend was, but Joanne had come to Bend as a child to ski. We were living in Olympia, Washington and would come here on vacations and long weekends. We were training for triathlons a lot and we were done with the rain. I got pregnant and then we decided to move here. I looked in the yellow pages under the words “gay” and “Jewish” to see what type of community I would find here for both of those pieces of my life. When we got here, there were a few gay people here who were willing to talk to us, but not interested in being outed. They made that very clear. Not that that was my plan, but we were coming here as an out couple—and pregnant! There is a Jewish community as well, but there was no temple and they met in the basement of a church. That has since changed and grown. I think we were a little bit threatening to people because we were out and not interested in anyway of going into a closet just because we moved to a Central Oregon town, which was about 25,000 people at the time. So, there have been some big, big changes since we moved here.
On A Changing Town
I like that there is a larger gay community in town that is more out now. We don’t have to be the pioneers anymore. I feel like we were in a lot of ways, from moving here pregnant, having a child and Joanne adopting Bella. It was the first birth by a known lesbian in town, and it was the first same-sex adoption in Deschutes County. Nobody seemed to know anyone else who had done it. But in any case we were very consciously wanting to make a path that would be easier for people who followed. As were raising Bella, there was a hate crime at The Grove, a restaurant and bar. It was a big, terrible shock. We were regulars there. We would take Bella all the time. We loved that there was a place that was overtly gay friendly in town. The hate crime led to a lot of changes. I was on the special committee to work on changing our Equal Rights Ordinance. That was a big deal and a bit of an eye opener. I gave testimony, and many other people gave testimony, pro and against. Someone gave testimony that the mountains were smoking because of us. I thought, “Well, thank you for that power.” But it changed things.
On Misconceptions
When people hear I live in Bend, they immediately think it must be a progressive place. I have to correct them, sadly, that on any vote, on any candidate, any issue, it’s often fifty-one percent to forty-nine percent. That tells you something. That is not what people understand about Bend. If they are coming in from Los Angeles or San Francisco or Portland, they are funneled into a particular part of Bend and they only know that part, whether it’s the west side or the beer culture or the ski culture.
On Bend’s Next Generations
One of the really cool things that has happened is with PRIDE, which is something that has grown wonderfully along with the growth of the town. It’s not the families who are moving here that are getting involved, but rather it’s our kids! It’s the kids who have grown up here. Whether they are gay or straight, they are getting it. These kids are getting it on all levels of gender diversity, fluidity, non-binary and trans, and I am loving seeing what is going on here.
On Why They Stayed
Moving from Olympia to Bend, it really felt like we were going backwards. I hated that feeling, but at the same time, what we decided was that we were going to stay and make something of it. We stayed because we loved it here, and we made some great friends. We are not necessarily looking for people that look like us. We’re just looking for good people. We are also athletes and outdoors people, major hikers, bikers (mountain and road). We skate ski, so we love the Nordic center and Meissner. We love taking our dog to Wanoga, where it’s off leash for skiing. We love hiking at Smith Rock and in the Three Sisters. We’re in love with the outdoors and the environment here.
On Starting A Small Business
I started Sara Bella in the early ’90s and named it after my grandmother because she was the most important and closest person in my life. She taught me how to sew. It’s funny, I spent many years in Bend as Sara Bella people did not know that I had a different last name. Being a small business owner for the last twenty years here in Bend, I loved being in the public eye. And being the extrovert and a manufacturer, artist, retail person, it was always important to me to be in a downtown core. I loved being part of the downtown core, before I got priced out. I started with the fleece and then I closed when I kept getting priced out of rent. I was burnt out. Then I was working on developing a cyber cafe in a small village in Kenya. Around that time, my friend told me you could iron plastic bags. I was so enthralled with it that I went into my studio and started ironing plastic bags like crazy and then Sara Bella Upcycled was born.
On Changing Careers
I’m excited to start my new business, Sara Wiener Consulting, coaching teens on executive functioning, time management and organizational skills. I have a masters in social work with a focus on school social work, and I have a teaching degree. So, I feel like this combines all of my education and skill set with what I can do today. I am excited and nervous and not very confident, but I feel like that is the exact right place to be in right now.
On The Grass Always Being Greener…
As much as I get frustrated with Bend for a variety of reasons, and I’ve said this for twenty-one years, where would we go? Where is the grass greener? I was always that person looking for the greener grass. I noticed within a year of being in Bend, as much as I questioned raising a kid here, I said to Joanne, “I don’t know where the grass is greener.” I can’t come up with a place that would be better that I would rather be, and today, I cannot do that either. At any point in the last twenty-one years, I have not thought of a better place to be. So, that really says something about this community.
A weekend in Willamette Valley wine tasting includes plenty of glasses of the region’s award-winning pinot noir as well as history, culture and farm-to-table meals.
Allison Inn & Spa
We launched our weekend of wining and dining on a grassy bank of the Willamette River. It was an overcast spring day, the air damp and smelling of black cottonwood. There was no wine in sight. No gleaming glasses of award-winning pinot noir, no hand-printed flight menus, no luxurious views of vineyard estates. Just a historic pavilion, fronted by an engraved stone pillar, marking this meadow as the site where Oregon’s first provisional government was formed in 1843. Without the rich soil, there wouldn’t have been a steady march of early settlers to the Willamette Valley. Without early settlers, there wouldn’t have been a provisional government. Without a provisional government, there wouldn’t have been an Oregon at all. Therefore, no fine Oregon pinot noir, born from the rich soil of the Willamette Valley. Turns out in Oregon’s wine country, everything comes full circle. You can’t pull the wine apart from the history, or the history apart from the people. Which was fine with us. My friend and I had come for relaxation and indulgence, but we were willing to interrupt decadence for culture and history. Each winery and restaurant, it would turn out, had a great backstory. Every Willamette Valley destination we visited wound into a tapestry of landscape, community, innovation and dreams.
Day 1
Alexana Winery. Photo by Andrea Johnson.
A significant aesthetic pleasure of touring Willamette Valley wine country is simply the road trip. It’s postcard-scenic here, each segment of the journey passing bucolic farms, fields readied for spring planting and stands of grand oak trees. We took in the sights with a sense of adventure as we set out on our two-day tour.
We ventured to ROCO Winery, outside of Newberg at the base of the Chehalem Mountains. Owner Rollin Soles came from Texas to make wine in Oregon in the 1980s. After crafting award-winning vintages for Argyle Winery for a few decades, he planted his own pinot noir grapes in a vineyard he christened Wits’ End. We sipped on ROCO Private Stash pinot noir from a bottle bearing the winery’s thunderbird logo, inspired by the petroglyphs of the Columbia Gorge.
Next on to Alexana Winery, where the view commanded our immediate attention. The vineyard descends over ridges and slopes into a misty wood, the coastal mountains poking through the cloud cover beyond. Dr. Madaiah Revana of Texas loved the great wines of Burgundy so much so that, in 2005, he sought out a place to grow grapes himself. The answer was this eighty-acre parcel outside of Newberg. The incredibly diverse and complex soils here are visually represented in the glass front of Alexana’s twenty-foot-long tasting bar, which is filled with layers of earth. We sipped chardonnay and contemplated colors from light sand to a rich brown to charcoal grey, in textures from gritty to dense. This was the stuff—the origin story of everything around here.
From the soil also rise wild mushrooms, one factor that drew the Czarnecki family to Oregon from Pennsylvania in the 1990s. Bringing four generations of restaurant experience, they took up shop in the historic Joel Palmer House, a grand two-story home built by the co-founder of Dayton in 1857. Since, the Joel Palmer House has become one of Oregon’s renowned fine dining restaurants and a purveyor of delectable dishes featuring mushrooms and other local foods. We settled into a four-course meal that included sturgeon, risotto, truffle oil, morels, lobster mushrooms and a divine white chocolate cheesecake, accompanied, of course, by Oregon wine. Chef Christopher Czarnecki paid us a tableside visit, explaining that his family and their friends still gather a majority of the mushrooms for the restaurant.
We arrived at the Allison Inn sated and sleepy. For years, wine country visitors had few overnight options. In 2009, Ken and Joan Austin built an incredible eighty-five-room luxury hotel in Newberg. The couple had grown up on farms in the area, ultimately founding a successful dental equipment company in their hometown. As the region captured international wine-tourism attention, they’d looked on, eventually creating lodging worthy of the most distinguished visitor. Our deluxe room offered a view of the vineyard from our own personal plush window seat.
Day 2
Carlton Winemakers Studio
We began the day in JORY Restaurant, the Allison’s nod to both the renowned soil underfoot and Pacific Northwest farm-to-table dining. Chef Sunny Jin has his own garden onsite, and my omelet came with a petit salad as well as locally sourced maple-sage sausage.
Was it too early to visit a winery? No, it was not. Winderlea Vineyard is perched outside Dundee, and its tasting room is in a glass-encased building that feels like a castle on the hill. We sampled Winderlea’s small-batch wines in a bright tasting room as Donna Morris told us how she and Bill Sweat left Boston and successful business careers behind to craft an Oregon pinot noir winery. Surrounded by vast garage door-windows boasting views across the vineyards into the valley beyond, I didn’t blame her one bit.
Lunch was at Red Hills Market, a marketplace and restaurant I fell in love with immediately. The tall square building embodies the best kind of neighborhood gathering place, warm and inviting, smelling of delicious foods and bustling with chatter. Wood-fired pizzas, soups, salads and more farm-to-table treats are served from a busy counter. The Oregon albacore tuna melt with local cheddar, capers and arugula hit the spot. It came as no surprise that, when we met the market’s owner Jody Kropf, we learned he’s an Oregon native who grew up helping his parents with their business, the Brownsville General Store, and that he was drawn right back home after culinary school in California.
Red Hills Market
The Carlton Winemakers Studio was born of collaboration and community. Twelve individual vintners produce coveted wines under one innovative roof in this modern and light space. When we were there, winemakers sat together over tasting glasses, decanters and clipboards, immersed in the tasks of the trade.
Scenic rural roads delivered us to McMinnville, where we began our tour at the McMenamins Hotel Oregon rooftop bar. Below us was the charming downtown and a bird’s-eye view of shops, restaurants and entertainment. The hotel was built in 1905 and brought back to life in 1999 by Oregon natives Mike and Brian McMenamin, famous for their restoration of old Pacific Northwest buildings.
Tucked away in a glass storefront on a side street, we found Thistle, a cozy, eclectic restaurant that quickly made a name for itself with a menu that changes constantly based on available provisions from nearby farmers and ranchers. Our experience began with a cocktail called the Millionaire—rum, gin, apricot brandy and lime—poured into an antique champagne cocktail glass. At a wooden-plank table, from mismatched vintage plates, we enjoyed innovative flavors by way of oysters from Netarts, “wild weeds,” anchovies, duckling and kale.
We found our walk-up flat over the Odd Fellows Lodge. The owners of Third Street Flats want guests to immerse themselves in McMinnville. We had a small apartment of our own, walking distance to shops and eats, with a tidy kitchen stocked with everything we might need (read: chocolate and wine). Our “8th Flat” was decorated contemporary post-modern, in colors of indigo and white.
Quiet, lovely and comfortable, the flat made us feel as if we were local insiders. Drifting to sleep, we could dream of living right here ourselves. Perhaps we would plant a vineyard or start a farm. Maybe open a restaurant. We would put down roots, connect with a new community and create something wonderful out of the rich soils of the Willamette Valley.
Water is one of the most talked about resources in the high desert.
1. Don’t set it and forget it
The most efficient irrigation method is the one that’s being monitored. A monitored system—whether by hand or timed/automatic—takes current weather and location (i.e., not the sidewalk) into consideration on a routine basis. In general, Detweiler recommends that irrigators should water less at the beginning of the summer, more as it progresses and then taper off again in the fall. One way to stay on top of irrigation management is to purchase a smart irrigation system, which responds to real-time weather conditions and forecasts, offers intelligent watering schedules and gives you control of your sprinklers from anywhere via an app.
2. Avoid runoff
When hardscaping an area, consider permeable pavers, which allows water to seep into the ground below. Similarly, dry river or rock beds can be positioned to collect rainwater and direct it somewhere useful, say, a plant or flower bed.
3. Just the right amount
Grouping plants together with similar water needs into distinct beds or zones prevents overwatering plants that don’t need the extra moisture. For example, group moderate water use plants in one bed and low-use plants in another. When it’s time to set up your irrigation schedule, you can easily provide more water to plants that need it and less to those that don’t.
4. Top it off
Adding a layer of mulching materials to your plant beds helps keep moisture in, versus bare soil, which dries out quicker. Aim for a two- to five-inch layer.
A retreat, a remodel and a modern infill project showcase creative approaches to sustainability.
Photo by Alan Brandt
Central Oregon is well-known for sweeping mountain vistas, towering stands of pine forests and clear, cold rivers, so it makes sense that our love for nature influences the way we design and build our homes. A modern retreat in the forest, a nearly 100-year-old bungalow and a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home all show that there’s more than one way to be green.
1. Old Bend Meets New Modern
Photo by Alan Brandt
Realtors often tout “location, location, location,” and when it comes to sustainability, living in a home where you can easily walk to amenities means you can drive less. Just half a block from the popular Jackson’s Corner eatery in the Old Bend neighborhood sits Doug and Kathryn Collins’s modern 2,000-square-foot home. The home was born from a desire to live in the heart of Bend so they could walk to downtown, the Deschutes River, Drake Park and the Old Mill District. “We decided to forgo the mountain views for the simplicity of walking to nearby things that we like to do,” said Doug.
The couple had several ideas that required a creative approach to the home. It had to be single-story and it had to be sited and designed so that it wouldn’t dominate the neighborhood or be visible from a block away. It also had to be environmentally friendly. Sustainable features include a 3.2-kilowatt grid-tied solar electric system on the roof and a heat recovery ventilator, which brings fresh air into the home through an energy efficient heat exchanger. All the lights have high efficiency LED bulbs, and the landscaping consists of entirely drought resistant native plants for a low maintenance and low water use yard.
The Collinses are architectural buffs with a love for Frank Lloyd Wright designs, so local architect Eric Meglasson wove together a modern look with touches of Wright. Clerestory windows filter in natural sunlight, while still providing privacy in this dense central neighborhood. The entire home has concrete flooring with radiant heating for warmth, and simple, low maintenance finishes are found throughout the home. The fir trim, along with the cedar ceilings and art from local artists, is an intentional nod to Pacific Northwest materials and culture.
2. A Passive Solar Home in the Pines
Photo by Might Creature Co
When Susan Worden and her husband Bill were planning to build a home in Central Oregon, Susan distinctly remembers saying to herself, “I want to feel like I’m living in the forest.” The couple also had specific goals for their home. It had to, in this order, be affordable, efficient, sustainable, have “aging in place” features and be architecturally beautiful. All those factors combined to produce a one-of-a-kind home on a forested property in the Three Rivers South area, south of Sunriver.
Designed and built by the Wordens, the house is passive solar, meaning it maximizes the sun to heat and illuminate the home. Orientated so that the south side of the home has most of the windows, the home is designed so that the warm sun filters into the home in the winter, but not in the summer. A large concrete fireplace heats the home, and the wood comes from trees cleared on the property. By sustainable, selective tree thinning around the house and on the fifteen-acre lot, the couple already has enough wood for at least the next nine years.
Tightly sealed and well-insulated walls, ceilings and foundation, triple and quadruple paned windows, LED lighting and ultra-efficient appliances are just a handful of the features that make the home energy efficient. The Wordens were also conscientious about the materials in the home and made an effort to find local, recycled or repurposed materials. All the fill and concrete was sourced from five miles away, and noticeable throughout the home are repurposed materials such as an “upcycled” stainless steel countertop and a dining table made from bowling alley flooring.
Designed with health and longevity in mind, the home has a yoga room, an infrared sauna, and has “aging in place” features such as no stairs or steps, wide hallways and curbless showers. “We intend to live here for a long time,” Worden said with a smile. It’s easy to see why, in this south county retreat.
3. A Net Zero Energy Historic Bungalow and ADU
Photo by Mighty Creature Co
Experts agree that when it comes to energy efficient and sustainable buildings, the holy grail is “net zero energy.” While it might sound like a lofty phrase, it’s actually a simple concept. A net zero energy home is one that creates onsite as much energy as it uses, leaving the occupants with no energy bills and a home that contributes no carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is usually done with a combination of renewable energy, usually from solar panels, and an extremely well-sealed, insulated and energy efficient home.
Designing and building a net zero energy home isn’t always simple to do, but Joe Emerson and Ann Brayfield have made it their mission to help people achieve net zero energy in their homes. The couple has built several net zero energy houses in Bend, and their latest project is a renovated 1926 west side Bend bungalow with a new accessory dwelling unit (ADU).
The 500-square-foot home evokes the yesteryears of Bend, when the lumber mills were churning out wood that was sent to build houses near and far, featuring a deep bungalow-style front porch, wide-trimmed windows and old fir floors.
“The house is amazingly well built, and we discovered right away that it has good bones, so we thought it would be an interesting home to transform into a zero energy home,” said Brayfield.
A closer look at the old home reveals features such as high-efficiency windows, blown-in insulation, new wiring, and high-efficiency LED lighting and heating.
The real powerhouse of the property is the new 600-square-foot ADU that sits behind the bungalow on the cozy lot. The small roof houses a 6.4-kilowatt solar panel system that provides clean, renewable energy for both units.
Since summer 2017, the two homes together have proven to be net zero energy—a green feat for this unique property.
Oregon’s newest resort near Burns, Silvies Valley Ranch combines Western ranch life with top-tier golfing for a unique and elevated ranch retreat.
Photo courtesy of Silvies Valley Ranch
Scott Campbell isn’t the kind of person who does anything halfway. Campbell is the veterinarian who did for animal care what Ray Kroc did for the hamburger, turning a sleepy Portland veterinary practice into a multimillion-dollar pet hospital empire. So when Campbell, now semi-retired, returned his attention to his native Eastern Oregon, folks who knew Campbell expected that he would come up with something big. He didn’t disappoint.
In late 2017, Campbell unveiled his latest venture—part luxury resort, part dude ranch and totally Oregon. Silvies Valley Ranch Retreat and Links is a 140,000-acre resort and golf destination located between Burns and John Day that ties the region’s colorful ranching history with what Campbell sees as its economic future.
Campbell grew up in nearby Burns, about forty-five minutes south of Silvies Valley, not far, at least by Eastern Oregon standards. It was in Burns that he developed his early interest in animal care, tending to horses and cattle on his family’s ranching operation. Campbell’s career took off in the late in 1980s when he grew his traditional veterinary practice into Banfield Pet Hospitals, a business franchise that pioneered concepts like health insurance for pets.
It’s no accident that Silvies Ranch sits far from the nearest city or international airport. Campbell wanted a project that showcased the diverse geography and natural beauty of Eastern Oregon, while also addressing the persistent lack of economic investment and job opportunity in places like Burns, where unemployment remains high and wages stubbornly low. Campbell looked to Bandon, another formerly depressed town on Oregon’s coast, and saw the economic transformation that followed the development of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
Worth the Wait
Photo Courtesy of Silvies Valley Ranch
Some seven years in the making, after a brief sneak preview last summer, the resort is now ready to debut for its first full year of operation. If you’re expecting Sunriver or Black Butte Ranch, think again. Unlike those sprawling resorts, there are no roads at Silvies. Guests check in at the welcome center and transfer their belongings into golf carts, the preferred mode of transportation around the property, where gravel paths connect the communal dining hall, cabins and golf courses.
While Silvies Ranch is plenty remote (the only traffic jam we witnessed involved a massive herd of resident elk), it’s also surprisingly accessible from Central Oregon. If you’re traveling from Bend, it’s hard to get lost. Head straight to Burns and hang a left. From there the two-lane Highway 395 climbs into the heart of the Malheur National Forest through a bulwark of massive lava rock and sandstone formations that at times pinch the road into narrow slot canyons, before climbing into a ponderosa forest that beckons exploration. Within half an hour or so, the highway drops into a broad valley where signs announce entry into the historic Silvies Valley Ranch, really a patchwork of pre-existing ranches and homestead properties that stretch into the surrounding hills to the east and west. Roadside signs direct guests along gravel roads into the ranch where they are greeted by a proverbial welcome wagon and concierge. The check-in process is eased by a causal refreshment station with a nice craft beer selection, wine by the glass and artisan cheese. (Cocktail hours are an enshrined part of daily life at Silvies.)
While 2018 brings the debut of a spa and fitness center, you won’t find a wave pool or waterslide. Instead, Campbell is betting that his unique approach to the destination golf resort will appeal to golfers who are willing to travel, sometimes across the globe, for one-of-a-kind experiences like Silvies. Designer Dan Hixson designed a “reversible golf course” that can be played as two different 18-hole layouts depending on the day. This year debuts an even wilder idea, a 7-hole, par-3 golf course dubbed McVeigh’s Gauntlet. The course, more an array of tee boxes and greens, requires players to make approach shots over narrow valleys to angular greens tucked onto hillsides. If it seems like cruel joke on average handicappers, consider this punchline: Silvies is employing trained goats to serve as caddies (the upside being that no tipping is required). There is also a short pitch-and-putt, par-3 course that offers players a taste of Silvies’ signature sloped greens and the links golf tactics they require. While the golf can be challenging, the views are beyond comparison with many holes featuring elevated tee boxes that offer broad vistas over seemingly endless rolling valleys that stretch to the foot of the Blue Mountains.
Off the Links
Photo Courtesy of Silvies Valley Ranch
Schedules typically revolve around tee times at Silvies, which leaves non-golfers plenty of time for exploration and relaxation, both of which are in abundance at the resort. In addition to golf, Silvies offers hiking, horseback riding and fishing in a man-made pond. Come July, the resort will also reveal its new spa, which includes a fitness room, lap pool, saunas, a climbing wall and spa treatments to soothe golf-weary shoulders and backs. In addition to golf and spa activities, the ranch offers off-road biking and a shooting range where guests can play Wyatt Earp under the watchful eye of an instructor who will offer the finer points of gun safety and marksmanship. Regular cattle drives mean guests can also witness and partake in the time-honored round-up tradition.
If you’d rather just relax and take in the scenery, Silvies has you covered there, too. The cabins feature a deck-side hot tub for guests staying in the main guest room. (A lockout feature allows the cabins to be set up in multiple configurations for booking flexibility.) The cabins themselves carry the resort’s Western themes and feature rustic luxury—think antler chandeliers and leather couches—with plenty of modern touches like climate-controlled wine storage and radiant heat.
If the days offer solitude, meals are an event that draw guests from around the ranch. During our stay, a single group seating offered a chance to mingle with others, making new friends while enjoying the ranch’s hospitality. Guests were offered steak or chicken dinner, but the choice was clear for me as well as most of my dining companions. We were asked to select a carving knife from a deliberately mismatched selection of hunting knives that was passed around the table like a church offering plate. Once properly armed, we dug into perfectly cooked ribeye steaks with sides like mashed potatoes and roasted broccolini shared around family style. Afterward, we migrated to the patio for a bonfire and a last round of cocktails, watching as crackling embers drifted over our heads toward the first evening stars peeking through a fading desert sky.
In time, Campbell hopes that Silvies Ranch will draw guests from as far away as Japan and China, not just for the golf, but for a chance to immerse themselves in the Old West, or at least the idea of it. Campbell acknowledges that it will likely take several years for international travel buzz to develop around Silvies, which has only now just begun to break ground on many of its planned overnight accommodations. Given the singular and signature Western experience, he believes that they will come. In the meantime, he’s got Oregon’s hardcore golfers looking east and seeing green.
Jamie Brown, a sprint paratriathlete, is climbing the ranks of the sport and aiming for the 2020 Olympics.
Jamie Brown. Photo by Pete Erickson
Run, cycle, swim—every day. That’s what it takes to stay faster than almost everyone in the world. Just ask Bend’s Jamie Brown, who has been doing it for the past eight years while climbing the ranks of the world’s best sprint triathletes.
Sprint triathletes race a truncated triathlon that includes a 20k bike leg and 5k run. A multisport event, the sprint triathlon is to the Ironman what the 100-yard dash is to the mile race in track and field. It takes a special kind of athlete and a certain mindset to succeed in a race that is part endurance race and part mad dash.
“I guess I have always just liked pushing myself and my limits,” said Brown. In March, he won the continental championships, and he’s currently training for the New York City Marathon. He’s done it all without the benefit of a right leg. Brown was born without a right fibula, but he’s never allowed it to slow him down. An early surgery set him up for a prosthetic lower leg. He started playing sports like everybody else, always competing against able-bodied athletes. Eventually, he was pitching in the Division III College World Series for Chapman University in California. “It never registered as ‘I’m the disabled kid,’” said Brown.
That kind of can-do mindset has served him well throughout his life. When he turned his focus to paratriathlon races roughly eight years ago, it didn’t take long for the results to follow. Since then he’s amassed an impressive list of achievements at the national and international level, including gold medals on the world championship level. Athletic ability and a fiercely competitive spirit have brought him success, but Brown credits his wife, also named Jamie, for her unwavering support. “I most likely would not be able to compete at this level without her motivating and pushing me to go swim every morning.”
With each season comes another set of obstacles and another set of opportunities. Later this year he’ll be in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, plus racing in Japan and on Australia’s Gold Coast. The ultimate goal is the Olympics. Brown narrowly missed qualifying for the last summer games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. His recent successes have only added to his determination to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Talent and a loving spouse propel him far, but Brown’s essential strength originates in positive thought. “The further you go in sports, the more challenges and adversity you are going to have to encounter,” said Brown, who until a recent rule change, found himself racing alongside para-athletes who had both legs.
“It doesn’t matter how many parts you’re missing,” he said. “Mind state is critical.”
“I’m pretty big on practicing sports psych and visualization. With endurance sports, you’re consistently going, and, sure, when you’re hurting, negative things start to fill your head,” he added. So, as part of his training, Jamie imagines himself in those scenarios. “It allows me to create ways to resolve these feelings.”
Brown isn’t the type of competitor who hoards his knowledge as a competitive advantage. He coaches other para-athletes, like the nation’s best (and world number two) above-the-knee amputee, Mark Barr. Jamie also works with local youth triathlon camps and is creating a team of young triathletes alongside Ironman coach Jaime Dispenza. Meanwhile, Brown and his wife lead adult fitness classes in Bend, including family-specific group workouts.
Advice from one of Bend’s top athletes? “Eat right, get sleep and allow your body to recover.”
As the population of Bend and Central Oregon continues to grow, so does the amount of waste we collectively send to the landfill.
While recycling is an important step in trash management, preventing waste from occurring in the first place is the gold standard in sustainability.
“We say ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ in that order because it’s the order of importance and impact,” said Denise Rowcroft, a sustainability educator and the manager of the ReThink Waste project spearheaded by the Environmental Center of Bend. Here, we share easy-to-adopt tips to help you begin a reduce-reuse-recycle habit. And for those who want to make an even bigger impact, we offer advice on how to take your home trash management and prevention routine to the next level.
About a quarter of the trash that enters the landfill is food waste. Once in the landfill, that food waste releases methane gas, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately global warming. Composting your food scraps not only reduces methane gas emissions, but also breaks down to create a nutrient-rich soil for your garden or flower beds.
While composting is highly recommended for disposing of unused veggies and fruits—just like recycling—it’s worth taking a look at your buying habits to prevent food from needing to be composted in the first place. It’s not just good home economics. Purchasing less means a reduction in your total carbon footprint.
“If you have a lot of fruits and veggies going bad in your fridge,” explained Rowcroft, “there is still a significant upstream environmental impact to ship that carrot grown in California on multiple trucks to Bend.”
1. Shop your cabinet and fridge first.
This has two benefits: You avoid buying duplicates and you may discover something to add to your weekly meal plan before it goes bad.
2. Make a plan before you buy.
Creating a meal plan and shopping list in advance of your trip to the grocery store helps you purchase only what you need.
3. Eat your leftovers.
Step 1 will help you remember to follow through with Step 3.
4. The freezer is your friend.
If you don’t have a plan for a specific food item before it will spoil, freeze it for later use. Just don’t forget to “shop your freezer” on a routine basis.
Tiny homes don’t skimp on design aesthetics and high-end features and contribute to the sustainable housing movement in Central Oregon.
A Wood Iron Tiny Home. Photo by Joshua Langlais
In 2014, mainstream America discovered the “tiny home movement” through shows like Tiny House Hunters, Tiny House Nation and Tiny House, Big Living. Four years later, tiny homes are still gaining popularity among builders and buyers. Part tree house, part camper trailer, so-called tiny homes come in many shapes, if not a lot of sizes. The mini cottages are typically built on camper trailer frames, offering a highly mobile residence with a bohemian feel for individuals and families who seek the comforts of home stripped down to the essentials.
Spud and MaryEsther Hooley of Bend’s Wood Iron Tiny Homes (WITH), like many in the movement, consider “tiny living” more a lifestyle than a floor plan. Before starting WITH, the Hooleys spent seventeen years on missions to impoverished countries. “For 75 percent of the world, living tiny is their only option,” explained Spud. After dwelling among those with so little, the Hooleys wanted their business to offer an alternative to American “McMansions”—something both elegant and economical. It seems many find the idea of pared down, sustainable living attractive, particularly in Oregon where interest in tiny home living and building is among the highest in the nation, according to Google’s search data.
Photo by Missy Mabel
The Hooleys migrated into the tiny home building market almost by accident. They tried RVs and remodeled a caboose, but discovered tiny homes had a winning combination of mobility and quality. They liked the idea of building something from scratch that was high on craftsmanship but low impact, environmentally speaking. For starters, tiny homes simply require less of everything, fewer raw materials, less space and energy. Mobility can also add to the dwelling’s efficiency.
“You can move a tiny home seasonally into shade or sun to conserve energy,” she added. Most tiny homes feature composting toilets, and WITH’s smaller model, dubbed McKenzie, sports portable solar panels and off-grid capabilities. The Hooleys keep transit costs down during building by shopping locally. Their debut model, North Sister, features hardwood floors, a cedar shake exterior, and granite countertops from Bend businesses and cabinets from wood milled in Sisters.
Photo by Missy Mabel
They see tiny homes conserving other things, too. “You shop less. With each purchase you consider, ‘Where would I put it? Do I love it more than what I have?’ So, your income goes farther,” said Mary Esther. Although WITH exists on the higher end of the tiny house price range, the Hooleys work to balance custom home quality with affordability. “You still have to come up with a six or seven-year payment, like a car, but it is better than a thirty-year mortgage,” said Spud.
Tiny Home resident Tamara Heauser bought the North Sister model last year, after touring it at an expo. “I wasn’t planning to buy a tiny house, I just wanted ideas for my own design,” explained Heauser. She had designed a custom home and remodeled a cabin previously. Although accustomed to beautiful aesthetics, she’s also lived in 400-square-foot spaces and even a tree house. She wanted mobility with custom-home quality, and her North Sister model fit the bill.
“I don’t feel it’s about not having things,” she said. “It’s more about choosing things that I use and value. It contributes to a simpler lifestyle.”
A thoroughbred racehorse destined for the racetrack suffers a twist of fate, but lands in Central Oregon, where a passionate equine community rallies to give him a second chance.
Kevin Thompson, Lisa Valenta and Norris
In the winter of 2012, a colt named American Pharoah was born in New Jersey. The thoroughbred spent his early life in some of the best barns in America, training to become an elite race horse. In 2015, he became the first horse to win the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup Classic, considered the Grand Slam in horse racing. Acclaimed for his speed, good nature and athleticism, American Pharoah became a legend, revered by the horse community and popular with the media and public.
Around the same time American Pharoah was born, his half-brother was born in another barn. They called that colt Party on the Nile. He had the same smooth stride and impressive physique as his brother as well as the same kind demeanor and hardworking personality. His career, however, ended differently. Plagued by a damaged tendon and hoof problems, all chances of becoming a star racing horse like his half-brother were gone.
It would appear that Party on the Nile was the unlucky brother. But Party on the Nile caught a break when he caught the eye of Lisa Valenta, a Bend resident and horse enthusiast. Valenta spotted Party on the Nile at After The Races, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit that rehabilitates thoroughbred racing horses and finds them new homes, and ideally, new careers. Valenta was searching for a thoroughbred to adopt and train as a hunter and jumper horse. She was drawn to Party on the Nile’s build, and she loved the look in his eye.
“So often you’re looking for one thing, and you find something else,” said Valenta.
Valenta took a leap of faith. Party on the Nile left Pennsylvania in a trailer bound for Oregon. He had cleared his first post-race hurdle, avoiding the slaughterhouse in Canada or Mexico, the fate of many young failed racehorses. Instead he was welcomed by a thriving equine community that was willing to make a different kind of bet on a thoroughbred racehorse.
A New Home
Lisa Valenta and Norris
Valenta wasn’t sure what to call him. For months Valenta and her husband, Kevin, called him New Horse. That became Norse, and eventually, Norris. The horse had a new name and a new start, but his health issues lingered. Despite expert care, Norris’s leg wasn’t getting better, it was getting worse.
Lisa and Kevin own four horses and are no strangers to horse problems. As high-performance animals, horses require a whole team of care, from farriers to the veterinary team to chiropractors to masseuses and trainers. “It’s not just you, and it’s not just the horse,” said Valenta.
That means plenty of room for opinions and plenty of opportunity for healthy debate. The equine community is tightly knit, but not always in lock step. In this insular culture everything from saddle fit to bits to feed is dissected and analyzed. About the only thing that the horse community can agree on is the duty to a sick animal.
“Norris wasn’t available for adoption to anyone except [someone] who had the resources, the community, to deal with these issues,” said Valenta. “Not all communities are are as lucky as Bend to have as many professionals, farriers and vets that specialize in these types of issues.”
It Takes A Village
Dr. Patrick Young
Dr. Patrick Young is a large animal veterinarian who moved to Central Oregon from the South in 2014, bringing along his Texas drawl, cowboy hat and boots and habit of chewing tobacco. The last of ten children, seven of which are medical doctors, Young bucked tradition when he “cowboy’d” for two years on a ranch before going to vet school.
Young was one of many who rose to the occasion to help Norris. He describes himself as a mobile “horse mechanic” who travels all over Central Oregon diagnosing and treating high performance horses like Norris. “I just fix their wheels,” he said modestly.
He’s humble, but in fact Young is a specialist in equine lameness, arguably one of the most challenging diagnostic puzzles a vet can face. He carefully takes in every muscle movement, the geometry of the horse’s gait, and the speed and force of each foot fall, following up with modern diagnostic tools like x-ray, MRI and ultrasound. Young also heads a biotech company and has successfully researched and licensed a new vaccine for pigeon fever in horses. His passion for creative problem solving is exactly what Norris needed.
There’s a saying about horses that dates back to the 18th century and persists to this day: No hoof, no horse. Horses with poor feet often end up in constant pain and suffer from severe lameness. When the Valentas first called Young to look at Norris, “It was definitely a lot worse than I envisioned,” he said. “It was definitely a bigger problem than what they thought it would be. But I thought it was fixable. I think everything is fixable. I think I have an ‘S’ on my chest.”
After watching Norris and taking x-rays, Young began treating his ailments with a series of progressive treatments like corrective shoeing to reshape his hooves and cocktails of antibiotics and anti- inflammatories, “voodoo” as Young calls it jokingly, to treat the infections and abscesses that were also growing.
For weeks at a time, Lisa and Kevin had to fill a bucket with water, epsom salts and betadine, unwrap Norris’s foot and place it in the bucket, make him stand there for twenty minutes, pack the hoof with epsom salts, rewrap it, then place it in a protective boot. Norris waited patiently in his stall, healing and resting for the next round of treatments.
A Second Chance
Jeff Cook
For most of the 20th century, thoroughbreds ruled jumping competitions. In the 1980s, though, European breeds began to take over, displacing domestic thoroughbreds. “It was hard to be competitive with those horses,” said Jeff Cook, a trainer who works with Norris. “You might go through twenty thoroughbreds to find one that truly is competitive. There’s a risk to it.”
Many thoroughbreds were left without a second career after racing, creating the risk of an excess supply of retired race horses. Recently, there have been efforts to get thoroughbreds back into the hunting and jumping competition. Cook has a soft spot for thoroughbreds like Norris, especially those in the competitive hunting and jumping world. “I love a thoroughbred, refined type, and that he is,” said Cook, who is renowned for his discipline and decades of experience training horses. He spends his entire day around horses. It’s hot and dirty work, yet Cook manages to stay as crisp and clean as when he walked in that morning.
Adding to the challenge, thoroughbred horses in particular are known for having sensitive feet due to their flat and thin soles. Foot problems can shorten a horse’s athletic career and contribute to inactivity and muscle atrophy. Those that don’t have access to quality veterinary care or resources are euthanized.
“We’re trying to encourage thoroughbreds back into our industry,” said Cook. “To this day of any of the horses I’ve seen, the best horse I’ve ever seen was a thoroughbred. A good thoroughbred cannot be beat. They look to go to the fences, they look to go to the jump.”
Jeremy Thompson is a local farrier, the guy called in to work with Norris’s hooves. “He’s had a lot of recovery,” said Thompson. “His feet are way better than when I met him. He had no heels. He had abscesses constantly. He had issues with soundness, being able to walk out without any signs of lameness. From what I saw when he showed up at our place in the beginning of winter is 100 percent better than it was.”
With corrective shoeing, Thompson is working on getting Norris’ hooves to grow more naturally upright, instead of flattening out like they are prone to do. It will give him more support, which is healthier for the hoof and better suited to jumping.
Norris’s tenacious personality showed through even in the initial treatments and encouraged Valenta. At one point while he was on stall rest for a month, he jumped up and over the top of his stalls without touching anything—from a standstill. An incredible feat for an almost 1,500-pound horse. It’s part of what draws people to Norris and what encourages the community to find solutions to his problems.
“I had some really frank discussions with Dr. Young about whether we should keep him as a sport horse or whether we should find a home for him that would be less demanding,” said Valenta. “I just keep getting encouraged to keep on with it, because he is such a nice horse, that we feel in maybe another six months to a year, he’ll be in a position to really see what he can do. It’s doable, it’s just going to take time.”
Young is also hopeful for Norris. “If we can keep that foot in alignment, that’s the key to him,” said Young. “If we can keep his wheels under him, he’ll be fine.”
Lisa and Kevin have taken on a huge risk with Norris. If he does respond to treatment, the question remains as to whether he will be competitive. “Hopefully he’s going to really love jumping,” said Lisa. “If he doesn’t love jumping…” she trailed off for a moment looking at Norris. “He’s such a cool horse.”
Back in the Saddle
Jeremey Thompson
At the end of January, after dozens of epsom salt soaks, antibiotics, new shoes and wedges, stall rest and numerous other therapies, Young made another barn call to assess Norris’s progress. Norris was feeling good, perhaps a little too good. His energy had been contained a little too long in a twelve-by-twelve-foot stall. Everyone has learned that when Norris decides to rear and stretch his legs, there isn’t a lot that can stop him, which is exactly what he does.
Norris slipped away from his handler and ran hell-bent for the leather, as they say, in the opposite direction. The onlookers watched attentively. Seeing a horse like Norris strut his stuff can fill you with exuberance. But with his physical limitations, it can also make you cringe, hoping he doesn’t re-injure his sensitive soles.
Young broke the silence. “He looks pretty fucking sound to me,” he said, before they all chased after Norris.
City partners with developers to revive historic Redmond Hotel.
The Redmond Hotel today. Photo by Heaven McArthur
For ninety years, the New Redmond Hotel stood through depression, war, boom and bust cycles of Central Oregon, changing economics and outright neglect. Now, Redmond’s grande dame is getting a makeover—from top to bottom, inside and out—with the hope that she can be restored to her original splendor and prominence.
“We want an eighteen- to twenty-four-hour environment that includes living, working and staying downtown. The hotel will play a key role,” said Chuck Arnold, Redmond’s economic development and urban renewal manager. He estimates that the hotel will bring in about $2.4 million to downtown businesses in just the first year of operation.
Listed on the National Register for Historic Places, the New Redmond Hotel was built on the corner of Southwest Sixth Street and Evergreen in 1928 for $150,000 by William and Fanny Wilson, replacing a wood hotel on the same site, which burned to the ground in 1927. The new structure was bigger, sturdier and built to last, framed in steel and fir, and cased in brick masonry.
Bend architect Hugh Thompson designed the New Redmond Hotel in the Georgian Revival-style with touches of Art Deco. The Georgian style was based on classical Roman and Greek values of symmetry and proportion. The three-story, 43,000-square-foot hotel featured a Romanesque arched entryway, an open lobby with high beam ceilings, painted Corinthian columns, a banquet space and one of the first elevators in Central Oregon.
As the Wilsons’ intended, the hotel became a gathering place for locals and travelers passing through on the adjacent Highway 97. Room rates averaged $1.75 per night, and ads billed the hotel as the finest lodging east of the mountains.
However, records and news stories reveal alternating cycles of deterioration and renovation over the decades. It’s been more than a decade since the last guest checked out of the hotel, which ceased lodging operations in 2004. City officials and other proponents of the hotel never stopped seeing it as an anchor for downtown redevelopment and a cornerstone of long-range revitalization plans. The trick was finding the right partner to jumpstart a makeover of the building, which needed both structural and cosmetic work.
Photo courtesy City of Redmond
“The incredible ‘bones’ of the hotel drew us into this project,” said Bill Tremper, chief operating officer of California-based Alpha Wave Investors, LLC, which bought the hotel in 2017. “Our overall intent is to restore the hotel as a social gathering spot for the whole community,” he said, adding that the group hopes its efforts will draw other businesses to downtown.
The renovations are being financed by a $670,000 loan from the city and Alpha Wave’s private capital. If Alpha Wave maintains the property as a hotel for ten years, the city will forgive the loan.
“We want to bring out the age and patina of the older rooms while making sure they’re super clean,” he said. The owners will work to maintain different sizes and shapes of the forty-six rooms on the upper two levels, with nightly prices ranging from $100 to $150. Street level will include a spacious new lobby with the original stone fireplace, antiques saved from the early days, a market cafe with ready-made food, a large room for hosting events and perhaps a social club.
With a commitment to sustainability, Alpha Wave plans to repurpose the original fir floors, repair lath and plaster walls, replace single-pane windows with double panes, add solar panels to the roof, install LED lighting and use tankless, on-demand water heating. “We employ efficient processes throughout our properties, from solar to water conservation to composting and minimal waste programs,” said Ken Cruse, founding partner and chief executive officer. “In doing our part in minimizing our footprint, we’re helping the communities that host us to flourish.”
A highlight of the renovations will be a greenhouse-themed rooftop bar with seating for about fifty people and 360-degree views that include Smith Rock and the Cascade Mountains. The owner will begin opening the hotel in phases, with the rooftop bar targeted for July, the street-level cafe for September and guest rooms in February 2019.
Since bringing beer production in-house in 2014, Sunriver Brewing Company has been turning out consistently solid, flavorful beers while winning awards locally and nationally. Head brewer Brett Thomas leads a team of talented brewers producing a wide range of styles, including a series on the cutting edge of trends, hazy IPAs.
Photo of Brett Thomas by Alex Jordan
At Sunriver you’ve really embraced the hazy New England-style IPA, a style that has exploded in popularity in recent years. Why do you think the style is so appealing?
I think it’s appealing for a number of reasons. We’re really getting to work with different mouthfeel components from the wheat and oats in the grist, lower levels of bitterness and higher levels of residual sweetness from the yeast selection and a brave new world of hop flavors and aromas from the varieties being used, the quantities being used and where we’re using them in the process.
You have a solid lineup of award-winning beers and a firm grasp of the classic styles, but what’s the most “out there” style you’ve tackled?
From recent memory, I’d say it was the ThaiPA we brewed last summer. The beer was a moderate gravity, low bitterness IPA with the addition of ginger, lime zest, kaffir lime leaves, purple basil and dragon chilis. It was certainly one of the most unique beers we’ve worked on and was actually really tasty.
Going into Memorial Day to kick off the official summer season here, what are your favorite styles of beer to drink during the summer?
Mexican Lager, Fuzztail Hefeweizen, Electric Avenue Session IPA, and a new beer that we’ll be debuting at the Oregon Brewers Festival called Hugs and Flip Flops. It’s a pale, hoppy wheat beer brewed with Oregon grown Amarillo hops.
A Sisters ranch is poised to culminate the decades Kathy Deggendorfer has devoted to fostering an arts economy for Central Oregon.
Inside one of Oregon’s last remaining round barns, hand-built nearly a century ago on a Sisters ranch dating back to 1850, Kathy Deggendorfer is looking up at the elegant slope of the conical roof, supported by a swirl of wooden beams. She marvels at the craftsmanship, speculating about the Old World design origins of the space where horses had been trained for decades. A square opening cut into the wall frames a snow-dusted Black Butte, one of a swath of surrounding peaks. Beyond that, a grove of cottonwoods, some of the oldest east of the Cascades, rustles in the breeze. Whychus Creek winds by, singing its liquid song.
Along the creek, about a dozen more 1930s structures stand as sentinels to that era and make up what is called Pine Meadow Ranch. There’s a bunkhouse, caretaker’s cottage, woodworking sheds, tack rooms and a home designed by one of Oregon’s preeminent architects, Ellis F. Lawrence, the mind behind a score of historic buildings around the state, such as the University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene.
Relatively few in Central Oregon may know of Pine Meadow Ranch—yet. The 260 acres was ranched, farmed and beloved for nearly a half-century by aviatrix and rodeo stalwart Dorro Sokol, who died last year at age 90. With riparian stretches close to town being scooped up for development, Deggendorfer swooped in and bought it in November to preserve the land, the views and historic buildings, and with the hope of creating a center for exploration of the arts and sciences through the lens of life on a working ranch.
This vision builds on her three decades of shaping the cultural life of the region, from grassroots work in the early days of the Sisters Folk Festival and the Sisters Quilt Show to supporting arts, education, environment and social services in surrounding counties and around the state. Hundreds of these efforts have been funded through The Roundhouse Foundation, which she began in 2002 with her mother, Gert Boyle, known as “one tough mother” from ad campaigns for her company, Columbia Sportswear. (The 94-year-old lives in Portland and has had a longtime affinity for Central Oregon.) Their goal has been to help celebrate creativity, particularly efforts in which artists serve as positive role models and mentors for children, and to create a new arts-driven economy for Central Oregon. With the addition of Pine Meadow Ranch, Deggendorfer is poised to take her vision to a new level.
“I thought, ‘What can we manage and what can we do here?’” she said, strolling the ranch in black boots, her hands in the pockets of a Columbia barn jacket. “I was not willing to see the loss of the view-scapes and the loss of agriculture. I don’t really need to take on this whole other project at 67. I could be a person who plays bridge and golf, but I just can’t. It’s just not right. I want to make a community that we want to live in, and if it’s done in the right way, the rest of the country might come along.”
For her, simply complaining about things is not an option.
A Creative Vision
Throughout her life, Deggendorfer, an accomplished painter, has found that the most inspiring discussions, and the most creative problem-solving, happen when artists and scientists of seemingly disparate disciplines come together to think and work. As she began formulating her vision for Pine Meadow Ranch, she wanted to look at potential models of the concept, but she also wanted others’ perspectives, too, so through The Roundhouse Foundation, she awarded scholarships to eighteen artists for residencies around the nation and abroad. “I chose working artists who are strong-willed, rather than someone who might try to say what they think I’d hoped,” said Deggendorfer.
The artists reported on their experiences, which helped Deggendorfer crystalize a vision for Pine Meadow Ranch. Her dream is to foster a place to connect the arts and sciences with the crafts and skills integral to ranching life: managing livestock, growing crops, preserving food, training horses and dogs, doing leatherwork, woodwork, glasswork, metalwork, ceramics and textiles, painting, photography, music, managing and enhancing Whychus Creek, riparian study, sustainable energy, recreation and social events.
“It’s about honoring that can-do, gotta do-it-yourself spirit,” said Deggendorfer.
For now, it remains a vision. In the short term, her focus is on inviting artists to do individual residencies on land zoned for agricultural and forest uses. “We don’t know what it can be, because we’re honoring the land-use laws and working diligently with the county to see what we are allowed to do, what we can do and how we can work with them to achieve the goal,” she said.
Preserving the working ranch would fit synergistically with a new creative space emulating the agricultural history of Sisters. It would be easily accessible to the community, a ten-minute walk for Sisters schoolchildren coming to the ranch for historical tours, and for artists to contribute to village life, too.
“A farm is a place where things happen—things are grown there beyond food,” she said. “There is a sense of community and thought, such that someday the next cure for whatever ails might come out of an author meeting with a scientist and a woodworker, and saying, ‘Did you ever think of this?’ And it sparks a whole new idea.”
For instance, she pointed to Finland’s Aalto University, which is gaining global awareness of a new environmentally friendly manufacturing process for making textiles. The multidisciplinary science and art community emphasizes that new opportunities and products require open collaboration across organizational and national boundaries.
Like the celebrated, visionary Fab Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which lets anyone design and execute small-scale manufacturing digitally and cheaply, the ranch could offer myriad opportunities, from environmental study to learning songwriting or painting from a resident artist.
“Sisters is a perfect place for this because we have a terrific brain trust and philanthropic community that wants to stay engaged, share what they have and create a place for young minds to grow,” she said.
Back at the Ranch
Since buying the ranch, Deggendorfer and her husband, Frank, have focused on cleanup, salvaging whatever is useful or speaks to its past, from an old forge and branding equipment to a vintage sleigh and enamel cookstove. A monitor-style barn is made of lodgepole beams harvested from the property and has floors of Douglas fir from a nearby stand, now gone. The cat’s-eye pattern of the wallboards was designed by nature—the sweating of the hay stored in the loft. Those who’d gone to house concerts there years ago had described the acoustics of the space, above the adjacent cattle sorting-pens and squeeze shoots. “It was like being inside a guitar,” said Deggendorfer.
She hopes that in the next few years she will be inviting scientists, woodworkers, ceramic artists, painters, chefs and authors to the ranch for residencies and to join locals, exchanging ideas and creative thought. The concept is an extension of her 2014 exhibit, “Painting Oregon’s Harvest: The Art of Kathy Deggendorfer” at the High Desert Museum, which is now traveling to museums around the state. For that show, Deggendorfer visited working farms, fisheries, cherry, pear and apple orchards, vineyards, Bandon cranberry bogs, and ranches in Central and Eastern Oregon, depicting the beauty and bounty of Oregon-grown food.
“All that study I did is coming full circle,” she said. “It’s not just an art project anymore. The ranch is the opposite of the virtual world, it’s about whatever the body needs and sustains it. How do we honor this place where we are, and how do we not defile this place?”
One Tough Family
Transforming a ranch into a new-styled center for the arts and sciences would be daunting to most people, but Deggendorfer isn’t most people. Those close to her point to a personal history that has primed her for it.
In 1970, when she was 19 studying at the University of Oregon, her father, Joseph Cornelius “Neal” Boyle, died suddenly of a heart attack at age 47. Her mother, a 46-year-old housewife with no business experience, took his place at the helm of Columbia Sportswear, a small and financially struggling outerwear manufacturer that her father had founded in Portland.
Deggendorfer’s younger sister, Sarah “Sally” Bany, said this was a formative moment for all three children. “Mom jumped into the business, and we are all seeing mom doing that. One day you’re this, and the next day something like this happens, and you’ve just got to go for it,” she said. “It’s ingrained in all of us.”
Many expected Boyle to fail, but with her son, Tim Boyle, now the company’s president, CEO and director, they turned it into a leading global retailer of outdoor apparel, footwear and equipment with sales of nearly $2.5 billion last year. The ads featuring Gert as “one tough mother” made her an industry icon, but Deggendorfer said her childhood memories reveal her mother’s true self. “Employees would come to her strapped for cash, needing money for rent or to have their teeth fixed, and even though she didn’t have any money at all, she’d give them money or somehow take care of them, knowing they’d pay her back. She is a very generous person and has a lot of empathy for people.
“That persona of a tough mother, she’s the opposite of that,” she said. “She’ll definitely tell you what she thinks and is not going to take guff from anyone, but she’s protective, empathetic, caring … and taught us [children] all to be.”
Gert Boyle’s book, One Tough Mother: Taking Charge in Life, Business, and Apple Pies, chronicles her journey. She wrote it with Kerry Tymchuk, director of the Oregon Historical Society.
He said, “What Kathy has done for Sisters, turning it into a hub for artistic, creative minds is remarkable, and [Pine Meadow Ranch] is another step down the road of saving an architectural treasure and turning it into something to benefit the region. The fact that her mom is still going strong at 94 is just a little hint of where she gets it. Kathy’s just a force of nature, with a wonderful, self-deprecating sense of humor—she takes her vision of what she wants seriously, but doesn’t take herself seriously.”
In that vein, Deggendorfer quipped that Gert’s spirit may have “skipped a generation” to Deggendorfer’s daughter, Erin Borla. The 38-year-old of Sisters spearheads Columbia’s ReThreads program, which encourages customers to bring in their used clothing to be recycled into fibers for new products such as insulation, carpet padding, stuffing for toys and new fabric, diverting tons of waste from landfills. One of the barns at the Pine Meadow Ranch is also a temporary staging area for the company’s end-of-season coats, boots and other sportswear, which is sorted and delivered to nonprofits.
Columbia’s chairman of the board, who still works daily at her office in Portland, reflected on what shapes one’s work.
“As life goes on, you really think, ‘This is what I’d like to do,’ but I don’t think it should ever be written in stone,” said Boyle. “Things present themselves. I took over Columbia and that certainly was not in the plan, for my husband to die and I’d have to take over, but things present themselves, like the new ranch that Kathy and Frank bought. They were thinking about doing something like that, and the opportunity presented itself.”
At the ranch, the round barn mirrors a round house for which the Deggendorfers’ foundation is named. Kathy recalled that growing up, her family had a small house in Lincoln Beach, and Neal Boyle would tell his children they could wander no farther than the round house. “It was that thing that Dad would say to us kids: ‘Run to the round house! They’ll never corner you there!’”
All these years later, it seems she’s still listening.
Recognized by his peers as an industry leader, Paul Israel has helped pioneer Oregon’s green energy movement.
Paul Israel with his son.
A New Hampshire native and longtime Bend resident, Paul Israel opened Oregon’s first Sunlight Solar Energy storefront in Redmond in 1997, selling RV power accessories and off-grid products. Since then the business has added offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Portland, Oregon and has completed over 2,000 solar installations. Israel was recognized in 2012 as Oregon’s Solar Professional of the Year by the nonprofit industry advocate Solar Oregon. He spoke with Bend Magazine about the state of the solar industry and what the future holds for renewable energy.
How long have you been involved in renewable energy and how did you get started?
I started with a Ralph Nader fuel oil buying cooperative in the late 1980s in Washington, D.C. I got a taste of the power of energy to shape our environment and society.
Is Bend a good incubator for solar businesses?
I was running a solar business in Portland and Eugene, which was before the technology was so widely spread or accepted as it is today. So the first question I always got in the Willamette Valley was, “We don’t get much sun here—does solar work?” When I came over to Bend the question was, “We have so much sunshine, shouldn’t everyone be using solar?” So, for a solar business, Bend was a perfect incubator.
How has the company evolved over the past decade?
We have gone from the proverbial one employee to eighty-four employees in five offices in Bend, Portland, Colorado Springs, Boston and New Haven. We have full benefits and are exploring employee empowerment programs such as employee stock ownership plans and the cooperative model.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities in the solar industry over the next decade and how does Sunlight Solar plan to position itself?
We see growth happening in the larger, utility-scale projects, requiring us to have more sophisticated, financially educated employees. We also see opportunity in community solar (projects where a single solar array is owned by, or serves, multiple customers), which means understanding a law that is currently being enacted in Oregon to promote that initiative. Also, we will keep abreast of building trends, such as the use of integrated solar panels, namely solar-ready shingles that look like average shingles but generate electricity.
What are the biggest changes and challenges facing the solar and renewable energy industry right now?
Increasing prices. China was found to trading unfairly and all imports into the U.S. have been slapped with a 30 percent tariff. In addition, the aluminum industry just saw a 10 percent tariff. These are direct increases that have stopped cold a decade of continual price decreases.
Can the solar industry survive and thrive without strong state and federal incentives for business and consumers?
One could ask if the oil, gas and coal industries could survive without incentives that have been around for decades longer and exponentially higher than anything the renewable energy industry receives. For the coal industry the answer is obvious. If the playing field were level, solar would be even more competitive. Likewise, the cheap power that folks in the Oregon rural co-ops pay is a result of taxpayer investment in hydroelectric power. Is that the “free market” or is that a government incentive? Finally, if you believe like I do, that climate change and its consequences are the biggest threat to our children, then you need a widespread social and community response. It seems it will take continued catastrophes to motivate the people and politicians to do the right thing and invest in solar. Our nation could easily generate 100 percent of its power with wind, solar and other renewables.
Top 5 Energy Sources in Oregon
Hydroelectric – 40%
Coal – 32%
Natural Gas – 17%
Wind – 6%
Nuclear – 3%
Biomass, solar, geothermal, biogas, waste and others – <1%
The best dishes in some of the region’s most popular brunch restaurants. Who decided that only moms love brunch? Yes, Mother’s Day is synonymous with brunch, but the dual-purpose meal has become a whole new ballgame. There’s a brunch restaurant for every culinary trend, monster-sized drinks that could easily be a meal on their own and a new use for that charming Craftsman in your neighborhood. In Central Oregon, the brunch line is as ubiquitous as the lift line. With so many options, it’s impossible to narrow down the best or the favorite, but these are the dishes that make us want to skip the standard soggy cereal and indulge.
Christie’s Kitchen
Order: The quiche, made special every day
Christie Bryant of Christie’s Kitchen in Redmond wouldn’t call her restaurant a brunch destination, even if other people might. “We’re a breakfast and lunch restaurant, but we serve breakfast all day,” she said. “Especially on the weekend, our guests really enjoy the option of all-day breakfast.”
Christie and her husband Gary sold their previous restaurant, the Country Nook, over a decade ago to retire. “But I got bored,” said Bryant. Christie’s Kitchen was born in a red house in downtown Redmond six years ago to immediate popularity, given the frequent line out the front door. The menu is diner happiness, from biscuits and gravy to an eight-ounce sirloin to a malted waffle. Homemade cinnamon rolls or muffins are a delicious smaller treat, or go big with chicken fried steak, country gravy, eggs and potatoes.
Bryant’s “brunch” choice? The quiche. She makes it herself with handmade pie crust and different fillings every day. “I like them all, as long as they don’t have mushrooms,” said Bryant. Try the bacon spinach Swiss quiche or the club quiche, which mimics the namesake sandwich with smoked turkey, bacon, American cheese, Swiss cheese, ham and fresh grilled tomatoes. The quiche comes with fruit or hashbrowns, or upgrade to a soup or salad. When you’re finished, wave into the open kitchen to thank Bryant yourself for a great meal—just don’t call it brunch. — Kim Cooper Findling
Chow
Order: The Blackstone
In peak season, there’s going to be a line out the door of Chow no matter what day of the week. Not to worry, though, as there are bloody marys and mimosas to tide you over until you can nab a table at the popular west side Bend breakfast and lunch destination. Known for its commitment to locally sourced ingredients, including from the onsite garden, Chow offers a unique take on traditional and Southern-style flavors. Everything is made from scratch, from the sourdough toast to the innovative hot sauces like habanero carrot at each table.
There are classic breakfast options to choose from, but Chow is the kind of place to get out of your breakfast comfort zone. The Blackstone is a new take on eggs Benedict, with cornmeal-crusted tomatoes serving as the platter for smoked bacon, spinach and two perfectly poached eggs. A bernaise sauce, similar to a hollandaise but with more acidity from white wine vinegar and includes shallots and herbs, is poured over the top of it all. The result is a savory dish that feels fresh with each bite.
Opt for the bacon cheddar grits on the side instead of standard fried potatoes. The Southern delight could be a standalone meal, with bits of bacon and melted cheese inside a not too mushy, not too grainy corn grit. This is comfort food at its finest and what keeps people coming back. — Bronte Dod
Jackson’s Corner
Order: The Cristo
When Jackson’s Corner opened its doors on the corner of Delaware Avenue and Broadway Street more than a decade ago, it was on the leading edge of the local farm-to-table movement, with an emphasis on fresh and local ingredients and handmade breads and pastas. Today the cafe is an institution in Bend, having expanded to a second location near St. Charles Hospital.
The breakfast menu is straightforward, but the execution is pitch perfect on standards like huevos rancheros, prepared with Imperial Stock Ranch beef chorizo, and the playful Green Eggs (and ham), pesto scrambled eggs with shaved parmigiano-reggiano. But if we had to select just one dish that embodies Bend’s brunch ethos, it would be Jackson’s Cristo, a sweet and savory delight that is part lunch sandwich and part breakfast plate in one decadent package.
A variation of the traditional croque monsieur, a fried ham sandwich that appeared in French cafes in the early 20th century, the Cristo takes the concept to another level with egg-drenched French bread enveloping thinly sliced Hill’s ham and Tillamook Swiss cheese. The entire concoction is then pan fried to crispy perfection. Jackson’s finishes the sandwich with a fried egg perched atop. A dusting of powdered sugar and a side of maple syrup completes this brunch de resistance. — Eric Flowers
McKay Cottage
Order: Stuffed French Toast
The service at McKay Cottage is just about as charming as the 20th-century Craftsman that was converted into the brunch destination. Servers buzz around the tables, topping off coffee, chatting with regulars and balancing the plates that come stacked with food. The restaurant is off the beaten path for Bend standards, overlooking the Deschutes River on O.B. Riley Road, but that doesn’t stop the hordes of people who will wait in line for a table.
McKay Cottage has been open for more than a decade and is well known for its scratch-made dishes and freshly baked treats. If your meal doesn’t come with an incredibly light buttery scone, splurge and order one for the table, especially one that comes with a seasonal fruit baked inside. There are more than enough options to choose from for breakfast, including classic favorites such as eggs Benedict and biscuits and gravy, as well as modern takes such as breakfast burritos and even what can only be described as breakfast nachos.
The stuffed French toast is one of the best options. The typical hearty slice of toast is swapped for a flaky croissant, which is stuffed with an Italian mascarpone, a citrus and cheese filling. The entire concoction is dipped in batter, grilled and topped with a strawberry compote. It’s less adventure-fuel and more indulgence, but entirely worth the wait. — Bronte Dod
Bos Taurus Chef George Morris leverages modern techniques for classic steakhouse fare with a progressive American twist.
It’s the early ’90s in suburban Chicago. A 7-year-old boy, at home on the couch in his basement, is flipping through channels and comes across a cooking show. It’s with a lady who talks funny, so he stops, then watches as Julia Child prepares coq au vin. He’d never seen anything like it before.
That moment was what set George Morris on his life’s path. He asked his mother about the dish of chicken braised with wine. “That weekend, my parents took me downtown to a French bistro,” he said. “They were really good at recognizing how interested I was, and they’d take me to new, hip restaurants, ones with open kitchens where I could watch the cooks and chefs doing what I do now.”
Chef George Morris
Today, as the chef of Bos Taurus, an intimate downtown Bend restaurant serving some of the highest quality beef from around the globe, Morris feels that he has finally found his true home after nearly two decades in the industry. While at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., he’d done stages at some of Manhattan’s best restaurants, from Le Bernardin and Daniel to Per Se and WD-50. He was sous chef at 5 Ninth in New York City (working with Chef Zak Pelaccio, James Beard Award winner of Best Chef Northeast) and at some of Chicago’s top restaurants. He rose to executive chef at Truffle Pig in Steamboat Springs, Colo. By 2015, he’d become executive chef at The Madeline Hotel and Residences in Telluride, Colo., overseeing the luxury resort’s three restaurants.
After he and his wife, Kellie, visited her father in Bend, George asked his father-in-law to let him know if he ever heard of any executive chef positions here. At the same time, the team behind 10 Barrel Brewing, founders Chris and Jeremy Cox, company president Kyle McKee and James Meskill, director of operations of The High End (the craft brands of Anheuser-Busch, which bought 10 Barrel in 2014), were looking to launch something new in Bend’s culinary scene. They got a lead that Barrio was looking to expand and leave its spot on Minnesota Avenue.
“It had been super successful, and some of our favorite restaurants had been there, such as Mars,” said Meskill. “And all of us remembered how much fun that place was, and we were excited to be the next in line.”
The space dictated the concept—a twist on a classic American steakhouse. “We wanted to keep it simple, classic, somewhat timeless, with clean lines, but with a Bend feel, not stuffy. We wanted to have fun with it.” Morris learned of it, came out to meet the team, and they hit it off. He said he wanted to grow with the endeavor, and they offered him a partnership.
Morris researched ranches, selected thirteen, and sourced seventy-five steaks. “Every cut we thought we wanted to use: porterhouse, ribeye, filet, New York, bavette and hanger.”
In one night, the five partners and general manager Jim Kiefer tasted all of them. “It was one of the greatest and worst days of my life,” said Meskill. They compared notes and voted unanimously on about a dozen steaks from five ranches. The ones that made the cut for the opening last year range from Japanese Hokkaido A5 Wagyu, with its off-the-chart marbling for tenderness and flavor, to the hanger steak from 7X Ranch in Hotchkiss, Colo., where the sustainably raised cattle graze on nine types of grasses.
Morris rubs the steaks with hickory-smoked salt and a blend of peppercorns and seasonings, sears them on a custom-made, two-inch thick, 200-pound, cast iron slab heated to 550°F, removes them, rubs them with local butter, lets them rest, and re-sears them to achieve the perfect crust and medium-rare doneness.
“I don’t think people realize how difficult it is to cook a perfect steak … every time,” said Morris. “It’s hard to find a staff that can do that daily. They’re amazing.” Morris and Meskill said the most important ingredient in any restaurant’s success is the quality of the staff, and they’ve got it.
Tumalo couple Rand and Holly Rodes Smithey are both self-taught artists who collaborate on contemporary art.
Randy and Holly Rodes Smithey
Lovers of contemporary art and natural desertscapes will find the perfect confluence of the two off Innes Market Road near Tumalo. That’s where Rand and Holly Rodes Smithey have built their home on ten acres with Cascade Mountain views and studios for making and showing art. The place is relatively easy to spot—just look for the contemporary metal sculptures rising from a former hay field in seemingly random displays of curves and geometry.
As they walk visitors through their two studios, the couple recounts meeting each other in 2002, marrying in 2006 and the collaboration that’s defined their lives. “It’s been about us coming together and having a similar eye,” said Holly, with Rand adding, “We tend to gravitate to the same pieces when viewing art.”
Rand Smithey
Their artistic expression is decidedly abstract and non-representational. In general, Rand creates steel sculptures, large and small, on wood and stone pedestals. He and Holly occasionally collaborate on large sculptures and metal paintings. Holly assembles patinaed metal and mixed media into paintings for wall display. Both spend time metalsmithing in the studio they built in 2004 and remodeled three times to accommodate their growing need for space. They recently finished a second studio with high, open spaces and a profusion of natural light for Rand’s big acrylic and oil paintings.
Self-taught, Holly enjoys the sense of discovery and physical aspects of making art. She moved to Bend in 1996 and worked for five years at the paddle company, Kialoa, where she hand-shaped outrigger canoe paddles. “I liked using my hands to create things,” she said, using that experience to segue into welding to express her art after meeting Rand.
“I draw inspiration from a sense of place and its connection with architecture and the natural world,” she said. “The work is guided by this combination of transitions, a fabric of rhythm and pattern between the visual and physical in a sculptural way.”
Also self-taught, Rand was influenced by “the wonderful sculpture collection” at Western Washington University in Bellingham where he studied science and literature. “I take pieces of vocabulary, transform and recombine them to create my own abstract visual language,” he said. “Sometimes I use explicit symbols. In my paintings, the ladder is metaphor for aspiration, our need to become more than we are, more than we think we can be, more than others expect of us. It’s about transcendence.” Rand often borrows from literature to title his paintings, including “Sea Starved Hungry Sea,” from a poem by W. B. Yeats or “Earth in Forgetful Snow,” from a poem by T.S. Eliot.
The Smithey’s gallery and workshop at home.
To share their love of art and artmaking, the Smitheys conduct workshops and are offering a new series of one-to-three-day classes from May through August. They’ll be teaching welding, mixed media techniques of acrylic paint on copper, abstract painting with the influence of poetry and abstract painting with the influence of sound. “We love the amazing energy participants bring,” said Holly, and Rand adds, “It’s a relaxed atmosphere with lots of room for people to explore.”
Both Rand and Holly have joined the Peterson/Roth Gallery in downtown Bend as gallery artists and will be the featured artists in May. Gallery Director Ken Roth said the pair has been active in the Central Oregon art scene for years and has a loyal following. “It’s unique to have a married couple who share ideas and a work space,” he said.
The Smitheys also do commissioned pieces, and their work, which sells for $500 up to $9,000, is collected coast to coast. Members of the public can make an appointment to visit their studios and meet the artists.
Five of the best mountain biking trails to ride in Central Oregon this spring. The snow has (mostly) melted off the lower elevations and some of the region’s best mountain biking trails are opening up for spring rides. Check out these easy to intermediate mountain biking trails across Central Oregon.
Cline Butte
Inside the Cline Buttes Recreation Area, the Cline Butte Trail is a perfect spring mountain biking trail. While the rest of the area is low in elevation, this trail climbs up Cline Butte. There are some steep grades that will get your heart pumping, as well as a fast downhill on the way back. The downhill is technical, with some steep rocks, but there are three routes down that all lead back to the trailhead, so you can pick the best option for you. The views at the top overlooking Redmond and the Cascades are well worth the ride.
Location: Redmond Type: Loop Level: Intermediate Length: 8 miles Open: Year-round; Best riding in late fall to late spring.
Lower 66
The Ochocos are well known for stellar trails, but most are ranked intermediate to advanced. Lower 66 trail system is close by in Prineville and offers some easier trails for beginners. There are five trails to choose from that all connect, but Rocky Racoon is the easiest loop in the trail 66-acre trail system. The trail has a few rocks to navigate as well as as a rock bridge over a creek.
Location: Prineville Type: Series of loops Level: Beginner to intermediate Length: 4.2 miles total, but can be broken up into shorter loops Open: Year-round
Black Rock Trail
This is one of the oldest mountain biking trails in Central Oregon. It begins at the Lava Lands Visitor Center near the Newberry National Volcanic Monument and ends at a connection on the Deschutes River Trail between Bend and Sunriver. The ride doesn’t have much elevation gain and isn’t considered technical, so it’s a good trail to try if you’re new to mountain biking. The name comes from the lava flow that the trail parallels. Take the turnoff about halfway down the trail. You’ll ride on a quarter-mile trail to an overlook that’s worth the detour.
Location: Between Bend and Sunriver Type: Out and back Level: Beginner Length: 8.2 miles total Open: May-October
Lake Creek
You won’t find many people on this trail, which is one of the newer hiking and mountain biking trails near Sisters. The 4.5-mile trail begins near Camp Sherman at the community hall. The double-track trail winds through the old-growth forest, a section of the Metolius Preserve before finally reaching Suttle Lake. While there are a few hills, the trail is considered easy and a great ride for beginners who want to work on their skills riding over roots and rocks without the crowds sharing trails.
Location: Camp Sherman Type: Out and back Level: Beginner Length: 9 miles total Open: Year-round, condition dependent
Catch and Release
Catch and Release is in the Wanoga Trail System, which doesn’t open until June. It’s a connector trail from the Forest Service Welcome Station on Cascade Lakes Highway to the more difficult trails in that area, but it’s a great trail for beginners to try. You also extend your ride and catch the loops of Lower Stormking or Tyler’s Traverse.
Location: Bend Type: Out and back Level: Beginner Length: 9 miles Open: Year-round
Mark your calendars for these concerts and music festivals in Central Oregon this summer.
Photo by Mitch Wiewel. Courtesy of Elk Lake Resort.
While Central Oregon regularly produces a solid lineup of shows and festivals throughout the year, summer is really where we hit our stride. From raucous shows on the lawn at the Les Schwab Amphitheater to folk festivals out on high desert ranches, these are the concerts and music festivals in Central Oregon and beyond that you don’t want to miss this summer.
Note: This list will be updated as more shows are announced and dates are confirmed, so check back throughout the summer for the latest shows.
Ray Lamontagne and Neko Case
May 30
Les Schwab Amphitheater
In a pairing that ensures the music gods were looking out for Bend this summer, singer-songwriter Ray Lamontagne and Neko Case (with her first solo album in five years) will be performing at the Les Schwab Amphitheater and opening a summer concert lineup of your dreams.
Jethro Tull
June 8
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Classic rock favorite Jethro Tull comes to the Les Schwab Amphitheater. Jethro Tull just released a new album and is on its 50th anniversary tour.
Slightly Stoopid
June 9
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Reggae band Slightly Stoopid will be in town again this summer. If last year’s performance is any indication, the reggae band will throw a party the whole town will be talking about.
Corner Gospel Explosion
June 16
Elk Lake Resort
One of the region’s best places to listen to live music in the summer is also one of the most scenic. Elk Lake Resort hosts a series of outdoor concerts for everyone. This season kicks off with Corner Gospel Explosion.
Michael Franti
June 19
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Is there any other town that loves Michael Franti more than Bend does? Back again this summer, Michael Franti will be taking over the lawn at the Les Schwab Amphitheater with his feel good summer jams.
Chris Isaak
June 21
Athletic Club of Bend
Singer-songwriter Chris Isaak kicks off the Clear Summer Nights concert series at the Athletic Club of Bend. The musician is known for the hit songs “Wicked Game,” “Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing” and “Somebody’s Crying.”
4 Peaks Music Festival
June 21-24
Stevenson Ranch
Each year, 4 Peaks Music Festival brings in some of the best acts in bluegrass, folk, Americana and more to a four-day festival in Bend. The event includes plenty of camping sites and activities for the whole family to enjoy.
Primus and Mastodon
June 23
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Rock bands Primus and Mastodon take the stage by the Deschutes River. These two acts bookend the “prog” rock genre but share a cult-like following. Pack your “moshing” shoes and your ear protection. It’s about to get loud.
Bill Keale
June 23
Elk Lake Resort
Spend one of the longest days of the year, at least in daylight terms, up at Elk Lake for an outdoor concert featuring Bill Keale. Pack some chairs for a picnic or eat at the lodge while you listen.
ZuhG
June 30
Elk Lake Resort
ZuhG is a jam group from Sacremento that will surely have the crowd on its feet at Elk Lake Resort.
Crawfest Music Festival
July 6-8
Powell Butte
The Crawfest Music Festival is a three-day music event that rocks Powell Butte in July. You’ll rock and roll, country, hip hop, EDM and more across two stages at an old ranch. There’s local food and drink vendors onsite as well as activities that the whole family can enjoy, including a nightly bonfire. It’s also one of the most affordable summer music festivals in Oregon.
Steve Martin, Martin Short and the Steep Canyon Rangers
July 6
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Steve Martin has completed one of the most successful pivots in show business and we are fully on board. Actors and comedians Steve Martin, also a successful folk musician, and Martin Short will be at the Les Schwab Amphitheater to perform their comedy/music act. The Steep Canyon Rangers and Jeff Babko will also be performing in the show dubbed “An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life.”
Wheeler County Bluegrass Festival
July 6-8
Fossil
Bluegrass connoisseurs won’t want to miss the Wheeler County Bluegrass Festival held in Fossil. The annual show brings out bluegrass bands to entertain throughout the weekend and hosts other activities and events for families.
Broken Down Guitars
July 7
Elk Lake Resort
A Central Oregon favorite, Broken Down Guitars will be playing at Elk Lake Resort on July 7. Get to the resort early to find a spot because this concert will be busy.
Bookends
July 14
Elk Lake Resort
Bookends, a Simon and Garfunkel tribute band, will be playing at on the shores of Elk Lake.
G Bots and the Journeymen
July 21
Elk Lake Resort
Hometown band G Bots and Journeymen will be at Elk Lake. Take a break from your normal weekday routine and head up to the lodge to listen and a enjoy a hot summer evening.
Jackson Browne
July 24
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Seventies icon and erstwhile Eagles collaborator, Jackson Browne makes a stop in Bend on his West Coast tour. The “Running on Empty” singer-songwriter is a must-see for classic rock lovers.
Sheryl Crow
July 25
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Everyone’s favorite rock-country-pop crossover Sheryl Crow will be at the Les Schwab Amphitheater this summer. Her last studio album was released in 2017.
The Decemberists
July 26
Les Schwab Amphitheater
A Pacific Northwest favorite from Portland, The Decemberists arrive on the banks of the Deschutes River on July 26. The band always puts a great show and will be performing songs from their newest album, I’ll Be Your Girl.
Newberry Event Music & Arts Festival
July 27-29
Diamondstone Guest Lodges
Don’t miss this music festival in La Pine, a benefit for Defeat MS. The Newberry Event Music & Arts Festival in the woods at the Diamondstone Guest Lodges will have more than twenty bands throughout the weekend. It’s a family-friendly festival full of activities everyone will enjoy.
Kayleb James
July 28
Elk Lake Resort
From Redmond, Kayleb James and his guitar will be at Elk Lake Resort for a show.
Sisters Rhythm & Brews Festival
August 3-4
Village Green City Park
A new festival comes to Sisters this summer. The Sisters Rhythm & Brews Festival is a two-day music event with craft brews and live music from John Mayall, Nikki Hill, Curtis Selgado, Hillstomp and more.
Willie Nelson and Alison Kraus
August 4
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Tickets are already sold out for this show. Willie Nelson takes the stage in August along with Alison Krauss, creating a folk lineup that will surely be talked about for awhile.
Doc Ryan and the Whychus Creek Band
August 4
Elk Lake Resort
Doc Ryan and the Whychus Creek Band is an Americana and blues band taking the stage at Elk Lake Resort in August. It’s a popular band in the region that always puts on a great show.
Pixies
August 5
Les Schwab Amphitheater
The seminal alt-rock band of the 1990s is still going strong and will be in Bend at the Les Schwab Amphitheater playing songs from a catalog that reads like college radio playlist circa 1993 along with material from the more recent studio albums from 2015 and 2016.
Amos Lee
August 9
Les Schwab Amphitheater
The rock, folk and soul singer-songwriter Amos Lee (“Windows Are Rolled Down” ring a bell?) comes to Bend this summer on tour with his most recent self-produced album.
Cosmonautical
August 11
Elk Lake Resort
Bend indie-rock band Cosmonautical, who released their first album in 2016, will be at Elk Lake this summer.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead
August 12
Athletic Club of Bend
Playing “mostly Grateful Dead songs,” Joe Russo’s Almost Dead will take the stage at the Athletic Club of Bend this summer. The rock band was formed in 2013 in Brooklyn.
Rebelution
August 15
Athletic Club of Bend
Summer plus concerts plus Bend equals reggae. Rebelution, a popular reggae band, will be in Bend at the Athletic Club of Bend to perform for a night.
Moon Mountain Ramblers
August 18
Elk Lake Resort
Around for more than a decade, the Moon Mountain Ramblers are a favorite local band in Central Oregon that takes bluegrass to a new level.
Steve Miller Band and Peter Frampton
August 21
Les Schwab Amphitheater
They bring down the house every year. Steve Miller Band and Peter Frampton will once again perform by the river and will produce a show that is one of the most popular tickets in town.
Brandi Carlisle
August 25
Les Schwab Amphitheater
With a new album under her belt, Brandi Carlisle will be in Bend at the Les Schwab Amphitheater on August 25. The singer-songwriter puts on sought-after shows that everyone will love.
Honey Don’t
August 25
Elk Lake Resort
Fans of American and folk music will want to head to Elk Lake for the Honey Don’t concert in late August.
Dave Matthews Band
August 28
Les Schwab Amphitheater
The rock band that you couldn’t get out of your head in the late-nineties and early-aughts will be at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in August. Dave Matthews Band recently released its ninth studio album. Update: Tickets have sold out.
Portugal. The Man
August 31
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Portland darlings Portugal. The Man, fresh off their recent Grammy win, will be at the Les Schwab Amphitheater. Tickets are already on sale and are likely to go fast, so get yours now if you want them.
Melanie Rose Dyer and Daniel Cooper
September 1
Elk Lake Resort
Soak up the last days of summer at Elk Lake with a performance from Melanie Rose Dyer and Daniel Cooper in style they call “American roots music with R&B influences.”
Sisters Folk Festival
September 7-9
Sisters
After last year’s wildfire season left the town of Sisters too smoky to host the Sisters Folk Festival, the festival returns this year with high hopes. The festival always brings some of the best acts in folk, Americana and bluegrass music to the Western-themed town for a weekend with music around every corner.
Mark Ransom
September 8
Elk Lake Resort
Mark Ransom, who also founded Bend Roots Revival will close out the summer concert series at Elk Lake Resort. Don’t miss this outdoor concert from the popular folk duo.
The Head and the Heart
September 19
Les Schwab Amphitheater
Indie-folk favorite The Head and the Heart will be at Les Schwab in one of last days of summer. Portland band Blind Pilot will also be on stage with them.
Central Oregon’s ever expanding fleet of food trucks rivals the region’s brick and mortar restaurants when it comes to culinary variety and creativity. Whether it’s a fusion of different styles or a new take on classic stand-bys, the region’s food trucks always seem to hit the mark. While it’s tough to narrow it down, here are the five Bend food trucks to track down and try.
A Broken Angel
A Broken Angel is one of Bend’s best food truck options and one of Bend’s best all-around options for vegan dining. Operating from the tiny cart parked next to Palate Coffee Bar, Chef Richard Hull creates dishes bursting with flavors. The menu features Southern dishes with French and Pacific Northwest influences. A Broken Angel’s range of options makes it one of Bend’s best lunch spots.
Find Them: 1124 NW Newport Ave., Bend
A Broken Angel food truck in Bend. Photo by Alex Jordan
Big Ski’s Pierogi
If you’ve never had a pierogi, get down to GoodLife as soon as possible. Big Ski’s Pierogi is a Polish food cart serving an incredible variety of dumplings. Find traditional ingredients like beef stroganoff, sauerkraut or potato inside the perfectly crisp dumplings, but don’t be afraid to try out the seasonal morel or white button mushroom varieties. The pierogi pairs perfectly with beer, and are a great alternative to traditional Bend pub fare.
Find Them: 536 NW Arizona Ave, Bend
Sol Verde
Breakfast is not often on a food truck menu. While there are a few great breakfast options in Bend for a sweet morning indulgence, Sol Verde takes care of the savory side. The New Mexican-style food truck has a great menu of burritos, including a solid vegetarian option. The chili verde is another great option to try.
Find Them: 1040 NW Galveston
B’s Teriyaki
Ben and Lindsey Stuart never intended to open up a food cart when they moved from Washington to Prineville. But amid a pandemic and struggling with nine-to-five fatigue, they decided to take the leap. The Stuarts purchased a used food cart in early 2020 and took advantage of their time at home to hone their new craft. After fixing up the cart, they elected to focus on a dish that Prineville lacked: rice bowls. They kicked it into high gear, continued to adapt to change and launched B’s Teriyaki. “We decided to flip the switch and start up right during the middle of the pandemic. Our first day of business was August 20, 2020,” said Lindsey. The cart offers rice bowls with your choice of meat, salads topped with grilled chicken teriyaki, and the newest addition, Yakisoba noodles, all of which have been embraced by Prineville’s patrons.
Find them: 1255 NE 3rd Street, Prineville
Westside Taco Co
The menu at Westside Taco Co. is unlike anything you might expect from a taco cart, with options like Thai curry chicken, root beer carnitas and the best-selling blueberry brisket. “The blueberry chipotle brisket is an Oregon favorite, and the root beer braised carnitas taco took second place overall in the biggest taco competition in the country, Tacolandia by the LA Times,” said Amber Amos, co-owner and operator. Amos and her partner, Aaron Notarianni, relocated to Oregon from Southern California, where they owned and operated a catering company. “We grew up on street food, and it was something that we wanted to put a spin on. [Opening a food cart] was the quickest way to introduce our food to the community,” she said of their decision to open Westside Taco Co. “The community support has been insane.” The couple, who also own the Redmond restaurant Westside Local, attribute a few factors to their success: work hard, play hard and have a good sense of humor.