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The contest begins on June 3 at 12:01 a.m. and ends on June 16 at 11:59 p.m. For the complete list of rules, visit our contest policy page.
Northwest Woodlands a new neighborhood that offers homes made by a custom-home builder starting at $400,000.
Across the street from Bend’s recently opened Riley Ranch Nature Reserve, just a short drive to downtown Bend, is Northwest Woodlands, a new northwest Bend neighborhood that offers rustic modern homes with attractive finishes at an affordable price point. The neighborhood features large trees, spacious lots and a friendly layout near the new North Star Elementary School, making it a perfect location for families.
Angie Mombert and Brent Landels of The Cascadia Group at RE/MAX Key Properties represent the neighborhood, which has sixteen sites available. Buyers may choose to engage the talents of neighborhood builder R.D. Building & Design, or purchase a home site and bring in their own builder.
R.D. Building & Design owner Ryan Duble brings twenty years of Central Oregon construction experience to the Northwest Woodlands project. Duble is well-known for his custom home building work in Bend. For the homes in Northwest Woodlands, Duble developed home designs that are elevated by custom touches, without the custom price tag. “Buyers get to have the same type of feel as a custom build, without the same cost that is typically entailed in a custom build,” explained broker Brent Landels. “It’s the best of both worlds.”
Home designs in Northwest Woodlands include desirable features such as tall ceilings, engineered wood flooring, quality cabinets, beautiful appliances, a gas fireplace, as well as artfully selected tile work and decorative light fixtures. Details like tall doors, lower-pitched roofs and stacked windows that reach to the floor add a luxury feel to each of the homes. The garage also offers ample storage for cars and gear, while front-yard drought-tolerant landscaping maintains the natural look of Bend’s terrain.
For those buyers wishing to add on even more accoutrements to their home, Duble’s experience in custom home building makes him well suited to the task. “Duble is a hands-on builder who brings attention to the little details,” said Landels. “He is involved at every stage to ensure a finished product that meets both his and the homeowners’ expectations.”
Duble will be at each home site throughout the building process. “I want to make sure the homeowners are truly getting what they want,” said Duble.
Working alongside Duble is project manager and interior designer Tia Hanson, who has a master’s degree in interior architecture and design. Hanson designs the interior and exterior of the homes, creates custom features the clients can choose from and keeps a consistent design stamp across the homes, ensuring the neighborhood’s future value. Her designs bring a custom aesthetic to the neighborhood.
Each buyer will get to work directly with Duble and Hanson to put their own touches into the home. “Each house will have unique character,” said Hanson. Clients may choose to upgrade features like windows, light fixtures, tile, and appliances, or even make small adjustments to the floor plan.
Homes in the neighborhood offer a blend of contemporary and rustic design. “While there is a contemporary feel, it’s still very much a Bend neighborhood,” said Hanson. Warm elements inspired by the Pacific Northwest soften otherwise clean, modern lines to nurture the sense that this neighborhood belongs just minutes from the forested banks of the Deschutes River. “Expect bold but comfortable designs,” added Mombert.
With only sixteen homes in the neighborhood, the lots have ample space . Homesites are defined by large trees with space for drought-tolerant landscaping suitable for the high desert aridity.
Northwest Woodlands home are designed in three-bedroom layouts. Some homes offer bonus rooms, or the master bedroom on the main level, and there are both single-story and two-story layouts. Prices for the homes range from $400,000 to $600,000, depending on the custom design features in each home. “Northwest Woodlands will be a terrific family neighborhood with beautiful homes full of custom touches,” said Landels.
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This home kitchen in Southeast Bend is an example of this cross between modern and rustic, with touches of industrial hardware.
Baby boomers may recall the popular television show “The Jetsons” and the futuristic family’s ultra-modern lifestyle, which included a household helper named Rosie the Robot. That once-fantastical lifestyle is trending towards reality as kitchens evolve towards high-technological centers.
While high technology is popping up more and more in the kitchen, styles are going back in time. Ultra-white kitchens have been trending the last few years, but designers are now seeing a return to a cross between rustic and modern styles. Contrasting different textures like woods and metals to create a rich and nuanced look, while at the same time incorporating high technology into the kitchen, is all the rage.
The Coupar-Marina home kitchen in Southeast Bend is an example of this cross between modern and rustic, with touches of industrial hardware. Kristin Coupar and her partner Sonia Marina wanted a warm and inviting look for their new home. Pops of color in matte finishes, like their grey kitchen cabinetry, adds depth and warmth, while clean lines of the cabinet design keep the style minimalist. Matte finishes also reduce the appearance of fingerprints and dirt. All the while, the kitchen is designed for high-performance, with the finest in technology and appliances.
A fourteen-foot, single-level black matte quartz island stretches the length of this rectangular kitchen, serving as the center of activity. In the center is a six-burner Thermador stove and double oven, with an inset griddle. As an avid chef, Coupar insisted this arrangement be set into the island, so that the chef at work faces out towards the living room. “When we have guests and I’m cooking, I want to be part of the party and conversation,” says Coupar, a retired law enforcement officer.
The biggest conversation piece in the kitchen is above Coupar as she’s cooking for friends. The custom-made hood/vent is comprised of texturized powder-coated iron around stained wood. This statement piece matches a wall surrounding a wood burning stove in the living room. The layered look that incorporates different metals and woods, provides a laid-back rustic look, and yet has an elegant touch.
To go with this bold industrial style, the couple installed black metal hanging caged pendant lamps that drop over the island. While recessed lighting has been the norm in the past decade in kitchens, pendant lighting is making a comeback. On the cabinetry, they installed the perfect pulls for their cupboards and drawers, with the industrial, gun metal patina look they were going for.
The backsplash for the sink wall is the latest take on subway tiles. Instead of plain white and one dimensional, these tiles are in different hues of grey with angled surface cuts. The couple opted for white granite countertops with veins of grey and black. Sonia Marina demonstrates her smart kitchen faucet that automatically turns on the water with a simple wave of the hand.
Another high-tech built-in appliance the couple installed is the steam oven. Coupar demonstrates how her new steam oven works, pointing out a special section that holds the water for the steam to permeate food as it bakes. The steam keeps foods moist, reducing the need to add extra fats to baked goods.
A weathered grey barn door next to the kitchen slides away to reveal the butler pantry, where they hide their appliances like the toaster and microwave oven. In this pantry, Coupar shows off her appliance with the most whimsy—a retro Smeg brand refrigerator decorated in the U.S. flag motif.
Handling heating and cooling needs for the couple’s kitchen is a Nest system. This learning thermostat handles home temperatures with efficiency, as well as remotely from computers and phones.
Even with all the newest trends and technological advances that continue to evolve in the modern kitchen, some things like a good old-fashioned meal with family and friends will still remain the same. Whether a quiet night home for two, or with a house full of guests, the Coupar-Marina kitchen shines.
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How to update your kitchen with open shelving, a trend that’s not so new after all.
Popularized by reality remodeling TV and expertly curated Instagram feeds, open shelving is the current darling of kitchen updates. But open shelving isn’t really a new trend after all. Before all of our chipped dishware, best-dad-ever mugs and mismatched wine glasses were hidden behind cabinet doors, it was common for dishware to be displayed and easily accessed. It was only into the 20th century that everything went behind cabinet doors.
Open shelving is an affordable and easy way to update a kitchen. It can also bring some needed personality into the most used room in the house, allowing knickknacks, art, plants and more to be displayed alongside coffee mugs.
In a small kitchen, open shelving that is painted the same color as the walls can provide the illusion of a larger space. Conversely, installing shelving that stands out, especially if it is used in just one area, can have a big impact on the look of the kitchen—white lacquered shelves can turn a kitchen into something Joanna Gaines would approve of, while steel or copper on top of a brick wall can make a kitchen look like it came straight from an urban loft.
There are some risks to be considered before unscrewing hinges or tearing down a cabinet.
One factor to consider is if mismatched plates, glasses and mugs fit the kitchen’s aesthetic. Those nostalgic mugs that have been in use since college might be sentimental, but in the open air they may not compare to a crisp set of new dishes that are often shown in glossy magazines and home tours with open shelving. It can be tempting to want to update everything from water glasses to flatware when it’s in full-view of every day—and that update does not always come cheap.
One trick to ease in to open shelving is to start by just taking off the cabinet doors. That, plus a fresh coat of paint on the remaining cabinet shelves, can help remodelers decide if open shelving suits their lifestyle. That built-in look also adds a new element to the trend that is reminiscent of the 19th century farm kitchens, and it won’t break the bank or require a demo day.
When it comes to styling the shelves, less is more. This part of the process may require one to channel their inner Marie Kondo (of the now ubiquitous “Konmarie” method. Does this platter spark joy? If not, and it hasn’t been used since in a few years, maybe it’s time to donate.) Leave out only the number of dishes that need to be used each day. The rest can be stored in a pantry or bottom cabinets.
Consider pairing dishware with something green to liven up the space, like a houseplant that does well in a variety of temperatures and environments. A favorite keepsake or tsotchke could also be used here to contrast a collection of monochrome dishware. A canister of coffee could be set next to mugs; a set of cookbooks could be displayed alongside plates—get creative with the infinite possibilities for adding some character into the kitchen.
The best plants for your bathroom that can withstand a range of temperatures and humidity.
A pop of green can liven up one of the smallest and perhaps most overlooked spaces in your home when it comes to design, the bathroom. Houseplants keep the air around you fresh and add life to a room, but choosing a plant that will thrive can be difficult. In a bathroom, which can have wide temperature fluctuations, low light and varied degrees of humidity, choosing the right plant for the space is necessary. Here are a few options of plants that would work well in any contemporary bathroom design and space.
The asparagus fern is a low maintenance plant that is neither a fern nor a vegetable, but its needle-like leaves are soft and airy and will provide a magical quality to this greenery. The plant should be kept moist as well as in varied shade, which makes the bathroom the perfect place to decorate with this plant in your home. Place it on a shelf and let the needles hang for a dreamy effect.
Air plants come in hundreds of shapes and sizes and require much less attention than other house plants. If they are submerged in water every two to three weeks and misted every few days, given enough bright filtered light and allowed to dry before placed in a glass terrarium, the plants should thrive in a bathroom setting. Each air plant can look unique and is an affordable addition to bathroom greenery.
These hardy succulents will do well in a bathroom with bright, indirect light and humidity—just be sure to keep the plant in a pot with a hole in the bottom so that it can drain any excess water. The serrated leaves, which contain that cooling elixir you can your use on your skin after a day in the sun, will grow up and out. Place your aloe on a wooden bench in an underutilized corner for a spa-like atmosphere.
Commonly known as the snake plant, Viper’s Bowstring Hemp is a plant that comes with the added wow factor of height that will elevate any bathroom design. A benefit to the snake plant is that it can be forgotten about for weeks at a time and continue to thrive in your home, while still helping cleanse the air of toxins. The blend of green and yellow in the plant will complement many different design aesthetics.
Real estate in Tumalo is a gem of a find in this small community just outside of Bend.
Tumalo sits on the outskirts of Bend, west of the city en route to Sisters. Known for wide open spaces and a western vibe, the unincorporated area with a small town center has long been a favorite alternative for those looking for acreage, views, privacy and maybe a barn or horse arena. For residents, Tumalo is one of the growing communities of Central Oregon that has also maintained its small-town charm and a balanced lifestyle.
Putting down roots in Tumalo is exactly what Marie Timm and her family did almost fifteen years ago. Like others before, Timm was drawn to the landscape and the lifestyle, but mostly the chance to escape the rain.
“We lived in Portland and Seattle,” said Timm. “When you live on the wet side, all you want to do is dry out.” So they’d come to Central Oregon, and in 2003 found the small, quiet town of Tumalo.
Timm and her husband bought five acres, and the first thing they did was build a barn among the sagebrush and juniper trees that drew them to the region.
“Tumalo, the town itself, was pretty much just the gas station and the little store across the street that sells produce and a small Mexican restaurant and Lodgepole,” she said. “Now, there are speed limit signs,” she said, adding, “With all the population increase comes some good things.”
Tumalo, originally called Laidlaw, was planned to be the hub of Central Oregon. But when the Southern Railroad was diverted to Bend in 1910 and the Tumalo Irrigation Project failed to deliver water as promised, the people and the post office migrated to Bend, which became the center of the region. But Tumalo never died; the post office reopened in 1923, and the town changed its name to Tumalo.
Throughout its life, Tumalo has kept a population of just a few hundred people. Agriculture is still the backbone of the town, but small businesses are the heart of it. Today, Tumalo is home to more than a handful of locally owned businesses. Tumalo Feed Co. Steakhouse, a longstanding restaurant on the highway, has become recently managed by a young couple eager to keep the family-friendly atmosphere alive. Across the highway, The Bite is a popular food cart pod that serves some of the best dishes in the region.
Places like Tumalo Garden Market and Beyond the Ranch Antiques offer personal expertise to homeowners. Other local businesses include Tumalo Coffeehouse and Pisano’s Woodfired Pizza. Nearby, Bendistillery is a local spirit maker that is open for tours and tastings.
As Bend has become a popular tourist destination on the West Coast, Tumalo has drawn visitors as well. Recreation opportunities include camping at Tumalo State Park, floating the Deschutes River and riding the horse trails.
For Timm and her husband, a software project and engineering manager, living in Tumalo suits their lifestyle. The couple has run marathons and participated in triathlons. They spend their free time on bikes in the mountains, and they often ride their bikes into downtown Bend.
“It just fits who we are,” said Timm.
Timm said she and her husband have loved their location on the west side of Tumalo because it feels like they live in the foothills of the mountains. The area has attracted others who are looking to build on land, with more space between homes, and unparalleled views of the Cascade Mountain Range and Deschutes River.
Real estate in Tumalo is a gem of a find. Most parcels have significant space, around twenty acres, because of the farmland zoning. The median home price is around $500,000, with houses and land selling in a range of price points.
With just around 500 people, the town has maintained its charm even in the region’s growth. It’s also become a sought-after area for telecommuters, or even people who work in Bend or Redmond but are looking for a more rural lifestyle. For families, Tumalo sits in the Redmond School District.
As Central Oregon continues its rapid growth, expect to hear more about Tumalo, the little town that has become more than just a stopover on the way to the dry side of the mountains. Its location, scenery and lifestyle have driven people to the town for almost a century, for good reason.
Mark you calendars for these food and drink festivals that will take place around Central Oregon this spring and summer.
When: June 14-16
Where: Downtown Bend
Taste the local bounty of the region at Bite of Bend. The chefs, bartenders, brewers, winemakers and food enthusiasts take over the streets of downtown Bend for three days of culinary delight. There are cooking demonstrations and chef competitions, mixology showcases, local vendors, a family play zone and more.
When: July 18-20
Where: Broken Top Club
In a region obsessed with beer, Cork & Barrel is a three-day event that is all about wine. A fundraiser for the KIDS Center in Bend, Cork & Barrel will feature wineries from Southern Oregon. Meet the winemakers, taste wine and food pairings, and join exclusive dinners throughout the weekend.
When: July 26-27
Where: Village Green City Park
Good music and good beer are the heart of the Rhythm & Brews Festival in Sisters. This is the second year for the festival that takes place in Village Green City Park. The 2019 lineup will include Larkin Poe, Mr. Sipp, The White Buffalo, Sassparilla, Hillstomp and more.
When: August 15-17
Where: Old Mill District
There are more than 200 craft beers, cider and wine to try at Bend Brewfest. The August event draws tens of thousands of people to the Old Mill District to taste new brews and meet the brewmasters. There are food trucks on site and live music to close out each night.
When: August 30-31
Where: Deschutes Historical Museum
The Little Woody Aged Beer & Whiskey Festival is one of the best events of the summer. The festival is smaller compared to Bend Brewfest, but it also has a unique selection of barrel-aged beers and whiskeys that you won’t get to try anywhere else. The event has local vendors, food trucks, and live music—all in a community atmosphere.
Award-winning Hollyman Design makes a strong entrance into the Central Oregon design market.
In 2018, the Central Oregon Builder’s Association honored Darrin Hollyman with the Home Designer of the Year award. Hollyman has drawn hundreds of homes in his twenty-five-year career, met amazing people and been rewarded with many happy clients. But winning this award, he said, was his highest honor to date. “It’s so humbling, and such a high tribute, to be honored by your peers.”
Hollyman’s career began in the early 1990s with an associate’s degree in architectural design from a building design school in Arizona. A native Oregonian, Hollyman returned home and worked for an architect on the Oregon Coast and a structural engineering firm in Eugene before moving to Bend, where for twenty years he worked for a high-end custom home design/build firm, designing homes under a lead designer.
Last year, Hollyman hung up his own shingle and launched a new business, Hollyman Design. “I was ready to be more directly involved with clients, to have more creativity and autonomy,” he explained.
With two decades of experience living and working in Central Oregon, Hollyman understands—and respects— the natural environment and the land on which he designs homes.
“I believe strongly in respecting and working within the existing environment, by carefully designing and placing homes that blend into the natural landscape of the desired community,” he said. “Preserving the natural beauty of Central Oregon is key to my design.”
Recent Hollyman Design projects include a 3000-square-foot, large-scale Craftsman bungalow on Awbrey Butte, a high desert lodge home and an addition to a home near Mirror Pond which required a historic review. With each project, Hollyman connects with the future homeowners to achieve their intentions.
“I spend significant time with the client, to come up with a list of their wishes,” he said.
To achieve the synchrony with the land that he intends, Hollyman spends time on the lot, understanding where the views are, where the sun comes up, where are good areas to spend time both inside and out.
“I believe Central Oregon provides beautiful and unprecedented outdoor living and my designs are carefully thought out so that the flow is natural going both in and out,” he said. “I want the home to look like it belongs there—like it’s supposed to be there.”
Hollyman has designed multi-family and single-family dwellings as well as ADUs and additions since opening his own business last year. In the length of his career, he’s designed homes for many local high-end communities and neighborhoods, including Pronghorn, Broken Top, Crosswater, Sunriver, North Rim and Tetherow, often being the designer of contact for design review and submittals. Hollyman has recently been approved as a Professional Designer in Brasada Ranch.
With so many years of experience and so many homes designed under his belt, and even a major award won, one reward remains the same for Hollyman— designing a home that a new owner will love. “I like making people happy,” he said.
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Whether it’s your first date or your 100th, here’s our shortlist of where to go and what to do for a date night in Bend when you want to add something extra into the evening.
I’m no expert at dating in Bend. I had my share of the good, the bad and the ugly dates before meeting my partner. My only advice is to skip the standard small talk over brewery pints and try out some of these fun options for date nights. You’ll have more fun and probably get better stories out of it, too.
On one of my first Tinder dates in Bend, the guy took me to see live comedy at what was then Summit Saloon. It was a great idea for a first date because we were able to laugh and there wasn’t too much time for awkward small talk. There’s a great scene of stand-up comedy in Bend (even without Summit, R.I.P). Bend Comedy hosts stand-up comedy nights around town each week. They usually take place at Seven Nightclub downtown. Grab drinks at a bar downtown first, then settle in to laugh.
Bend has a ton of options for trivia nights at bars and breweries. Get a group of friends together to make a team, or try it out as a duo. You’ll probably learn something new and impress your date with your general knowledge sans Siri. Silver Moon Brewing, The Astro Lounge, Worthy Brewing and The Lot all have trivia each week.
Craft beer gets all the attention in Bend, but the town has its share of intimate wine bars where you can try out some nice pours in a quiet atmosphere without emptying your wallet. In the Old Mill District, try a flight of wines at Naked Winery or Va Piano Vineyards. Both have a small section for outdoor seating, so you can enjoy sipping wine al fresco. In downtown Bend, find a collection of international wines at The Good Drop Wine Shoppe. And in NorthWest Crossing, Portello has a great food menu with snacks to enjoy on while you share a sip.
There’s a reason dinner and movie prevails as one of the timeless date options. It’s a nice mix of casual conversation and pressure free entertainment, plus a movie can offer a glimpse into your date’s personality and tastes. In Bend, Regal has the new releases, McMenamins has the cajun tots and comfortable couches, but Tin Pan Theatre, recently purchased by BendFilm, shows a rotating selection of indie films that you won’t see anywhere else in town. Impress your partner with your cultured side by grabbing tickets to see a new film at the independent theater tucked away in the alley.
Downtown Bend also has some fun bars where you can play games and drink, which is always a good way to pass the time on a new date without having to make too much small talk. Duda’s Billiard Bar has a handful of tables where you can show off your pool skills, as well as darts upstairs. Around the corner, Vector Volcano has old-school video games, offering endless replay of the classics that claimed so many of our quarter dollars as kids. Vector also has one of the city’s best pinball machine assortments and a selection of local brews on tap, so you can bond over your nostalgic sides while you drink. Still got more game? Head over to J.C.’s and play a round of giant Jenga (watch your toes!) and then drift down to McMenamins for a game of shuffleboard.
Of course, there is always the old standby: happy hour. Less of a commitment than dinner, but a bit more formal than a round of beers, happy hour is a classic first date for good reason. Plus, it’s a good way to try out some of downtown Bend’s best restaurants without breaking the bank. Share some drinks, share some bites, and when the check comes you can either keep the night going with one of the ideas above, or part ways and make it back home in time for your favorite shows (which is what you really want to be doing anyways, right?).
Take a tour inside this modern ranch retreat, a custom home built by Norman Building & Design in the new Bend neighborhood The Tree Farm.
When Mac and Patti Douglas moved from Seattle to Bend four years ago, they bought a house in Broken Top. While they loved the large, refined-style home in the high-end development, and especially its very livable layout, the location wasn’t quite right. “We wanted more privacy, and a view,” recalled Patti.
They searched for some time for a new home, but the right place didn’t materialize. What they found was either too dated, too large, or on too much land. Explained Patti, “We wanted more elbow room, but not too much property.” Patti was interested in custom building a home, but Mac was hesitant. “We’d been through that process before,” he said, referring to two homes the couple had designed and built in the past. “I wasn’t ready for that level of involvement and intensity again.”
Despite Mac’s hesitation, the Douglases reached out to Bend company Norman Building & Design—the team that had built the Broken Top house that they liked so much. The match was instantly positive. The company’s long history in Central Oregon made them knowledgeable and reliable, and the team was easy to work with. “It was convenient and stress-free to work with Norman,” said Mac. “Everything was done in-house—they really hold your hand through the process.” Patti added, “The relationship was so much fun.”
Patti was born in Bend, and the couple and their family had been vacationing during summers at Black Butte since the 1970s. The Douglases were familiar with the region. Once their thoughts shifted to building a home, the task turned to finding land.
After a thorough search, Mac and Patti bought a lot in The Tree Farm, one of Bend’s newest neighborhoods. Located west of town off of Skyliner Road, on what was for many decades actually a tree farm owned by the Miller Lumber family, the development consists of 50 two-acre home sites on a ridge and in the forest. The Douglases secured a spacious lot with views of the Cascade Range, and began plans for their new home.
While contemporary design is trending now, the Douglases wanted a warmer style. “We knew we wanted many of the same elements as our previous home, but with a more rustic lodge-style.” said Patti. The completed nearly-4000-square-foot house is in the style of a modern ranch home, or rustic lodge, with plenty of wood and stone accents. Their Tree Farm residence is a grand home that is also extremely comfortable, welcoming and warm.
As one approaches the home, a circular drive parallels a fence and gate which protect a spacious front courtyard. The home’s exterior is cement shingles accented with rusted metal, for a rustic appearance that blends nicely with the forested landscape. The exterior of the home is entirely fire-safe, per the Tree Farm’s strict requirements, as a Firewise community from the ground up.
The timber-framed front entry shelters a large alder door surrounded by two massive rock walls. Guests enter into the great room, facing huge windows framing a northwest view, taking in sights of a sloping hill, a Ponderosa forest, and Mount Bachelor, Mount Jefferson and Black Butte in the distance.
The great room, purposely, has no electronics or screens installed. “There are no distractions,” said Mac. “We can just read here, or watch the views.” The couple owns a large collection of Western art, from sculpture to paintings, which is subtly placed throughout the home, including a piece prominently displayed over the great room’s massive rock fireplace.
To the southwest of the great room, the master bedroom opens into a den, enlarging that space when desired. “We wanted the home to be designed smart, with no wasted space,”said Patti. “Each room works for us.” Patti’s spacious, coveted sewing room is on that end of the home as well.
On the other end of the home is a family and media room, with two guest rooms, one with a bunk as well as a queen bed. “Every room has a reason for being,” said Patti.
In the kitchen, a huge dish pantry contains everything cleanly, with easy access. “I have so much storage in this house,” said Patti. Polished concrete countertops cover a large center island in the open kitchen space.
The theme of wood—purposefully compatible with a tree farm—appears throughout the home. One hallway wall is rugged reclaimed barn wood. Even some of the tiles in the bathrooms are designed to look like wood, in different grain appearance. The woods contribute to a rich and warm texture. Patti is a quilter, and several quilts and other fabric panels are hung around the home, also adding texture.
An outdoor patio off of the back is tucked into the shape of the house, designed for shelter from the elements, with an overhang inset with heat lamps. A full-size outdoor fireplace sits near several seating options. Off the patio is a round fire pit, perfect for roasting marshmallows on a summer night. “The fire draws people in and brings conversation,” said Patti. “The patio brings us together.”
Patti and Mac have three grown children as well as many grandchildren, and one desire for their home was that it would be welcoming for their family to visit. “We had fifteen people here at Christmas, and it worked out very well,” said Patti. The guest wing closes off entirely, giving both guests and homeowners privacy.
The Douglases moved into their new home in April 2018. “We just love our home,” said Patti. “It lives so well.” Mac added, “And we have good memories of the process. The Norman team did a great job of listening to us.”
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Small-town commitment and a champion hell-bent on a comeback meet at the Sisters Rodeo on the eve of its eightieth year.
Steven Peebles is in the bucking chute, on the bare back of a bronc. He runs his gloved right hand into a leather rigging on a cinch around the horse’s powerful chest.
It’s a crucial moment, technically and psychologically, Peebles says. “You know it’s gonna hurt, and in a sick, twisted way, you’ve gotta crave it, love it.” That’s the only way to summon the final shred of strength to hang on with that one hand for at least eight seconds—or walk out a loser. To score well, though, he’ll have to stay on longer.
He leans back and nods—that’s the signal. The gate swings open and the 1,400-pound animal does what it was bred to do: buck like hell.
Three rolls of athletic tape strain to keep Peebles’ wrist, elbow, every bone, muscle, tendon and joint from tearing, breaking or hyperextending. The world champion rider from Redmond who, at age 30 has broken his back three times, is about to look like a rag doll on a roiling, insane roller coaster — fringes flying, left hand flailing, cowboy hat flipping furiously into the dirt. He’ll hang on for dear life, with points awarded for technical style.
Peebles fell in love with this in seventh grade, after moving from Salinas, California to Redmond. His uncle, a rodeo veteran, like a second father to him, introduced him to a friend, Bobby Mote, of Culver, who was halfway to becoming a four-time world champion in the event.
Peebles and his family would go to the Sisters Rodeo every year. As soon as he turned 18, he was eligible to compete in the professional event, practically in his backyard, using it as springboard to a career that has spanned two decades and the continent. On the pro circuit, traveling to scores of rodeos across the country, his goal became winning a world championship, which he did in 2005. He’d qualified for the national finals seven times, until 2016, when he broke his back twice and had elbow and shoulder surgery.
Even for someone who has reached the pinnacle of the sport, the Sisters Rodeo, among the oldest and best attended in the Pacific Northwest, bears a distinct significance.
“It stands out from the rest,” says Peebles. “Riding is a little different when your family, friends, your hometown are in the crowd. You don’t want to mess up. If you’re in Kansas City or somewhere—every time you want to win—but if you don’t do good, you go somewhere else and don’t dwell on it. It puts a little twist on it.”
For the rodeo to have endured for seventy-nine years, though, has demanded that many people think well beyond the excitement in the arena. Like a tenacious bronc rider, it has held on tight, maneuvering through hard times and evolving from an amateur event to a professional one with a permanent home because of locals who’ve loved it and worked hard for it.
Several of the rodeo’s eleven board members have been with it about a half-century. That includes Arena Director John Leavitt, who began competing in the rodeo at age 17 in tie-down calf roping, steer wrestling and doing pickup riding (scooping up competitors on horseback after bull riding, saddle bronc and bareback riding). He reminisced about those early days, when his sister barrel raced and the rodeo was right downtown, on North Pine Street, where Hoyt’s Hardware & Building Supply is today.
He ran his Western wear store, Leavitt’s, in downtown Sisters for four decades, outfitting real cowboys and cowgirls as well as those enamored with Western style. The rodeo queen’s outfit would come from the store, a tradition that continues since Leavitt sold it in 2015 and it became Dixie’s.
Leavitt takes pride in the work that the board and two hundred volunteers do to make the event run as smoothly as the state’s largest professional rodeos, the Pendleton Roundup and the St. Paul Rodeo. He credits Sisters Rodeo Board President Glenn Miller, who has volunteered for about four decades and oversees sponsorships that support awarding $10,000 to each winner in seven categories from bull riding to team bronc riding.
Board Secretary Bonnie Malone has put her University of Oregon journalism degree to work for the rodeo, leading media and communications for the event she’s served since moving here nearly forty years ago. Malone, a chiropractor, savors the stories she finds at the rodeo.
For example, there’s Peggy Clerf Tehan, the 2019 Grand Marshal of the Sisters Rodeo Parade. Tehan sang “The Star Spangled Banner” at every rodeo for twenty-nine years, almost always a capella on horseback. That first time, Tehan left her three-month-old daughter in the stands with Jean Wells, founder of the Stitchin’ Post sewing shop and the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. As the young soprano sang, she could hear her infant howling. Four years later, Tehan sang, albeit not on horseback, a week before giving birth to the howler’s sibling.
Last year, Tehan retired from lending her voice to the event. Rodeo organizers asked her to chair a committee to bring on new singers for each performance. Audrey Tehan, the howling infant at her mother’s debut, sang in her mother’s place at the rodeo opener last year.
As essential to the rodeo as the national anthem is the rodeo clown. When Sisters hired neophyte performer J.J. Harrison thirteen years ago, it launched his second career. This clown holds a master’s degree and was teaching middle school in Walla Walla, Washington when he heard about the opportunity. Last year, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association nominated him for Clown of the Year.
Malone recalled one of her favorite rodeo moments, in 2010. Harrison jumped up on a barrel, taunting a bull, and as the massive, horned bovine started toward him, the clown dropped inside the barrel. “That bull took on an attitude and started whacking him down the field, rolling it like a soccer ball, right through the center exit gate,” she said. The crowd went wild. “Everyone was like, ‘Goal!’ It was hysterical. You just couldn’t plan this thing.”
Harrison appears at Sisters Elementary School on the Friday of every rodeo. “As a former middle school teacher, he just takes over, and his whole message is about not bullying, standing up for people who are bullied, and befriending those who look like they’re alone,” said Malone. “The kids absolutely love him.”
Board member Cathy Williams, 86, volunteered at the rodeo since the early 1980s, and just retired as board member and ticket office manager. After teaching in Portland schools for thirty-two years, she moved to a log cabin, a family vacation home, just north of Sisters.
From the ticket booth, she educated spectators coming to the rodeo for the first time. She let them know about the event’s emphasis on animal care.
The animals, Malone points out, are athletes, bred and groomed for their careers in rodeo. They’re valuable—six-figures for the best performers—so it makes sense that their owners would take good care of them, she said.
Like a successful rodeo, a rider’s career is sustained through passion and almost slavish devotion to excellence. It’s a journey that has taken Peebles to the sport’s highest highs and its back-breaking lows. This year, the Sister’s Rodeo and dozens like it will be key to Peebles’ chance of another shot at that vaunted high. His goal is to once again qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, rodeo’s premier event, in December. If he makes it, it will add an exclamation point to a dramatic comeback.
Last year, he’d finished a rodeo in Austin and was driving home to Redmond after a string of less than satisfying results. Near Llano, he stopped at a store and ran into his old friend Bobby Mote. Peebles didn’t know Mote had moved to that part of Texas. He went home with his mentor and friend, who took him back to the basics, refining the essentials of where they’d started nearly two decades ago.
“It took sitting down with Bobby,” says Peebles. “He grounded me. I had some time off in spring to slowly heal, and in summer, I started climbing back up. I was barely short of making finals, but it was a game-changer. I’ve been winning.”
Whether he can ride that momentum to Vegas hinges on how he does at the sixty-five rodeos he’ll have driven to across the country, between February and September this year. The Sisters Rodeo, June 5 to 9, is one of them, as it has been nearly every year for the past decade.
It’s a mental and physical grind. On the road, Peebles will get to a rodeo, ride, and sometimes will drive all night to the next. After the Sisters Rodeo, though, he’ll change out of his gear, get to see the second half of the saddle bronc riding, and meet his friends and family in the beer garden. But he won’t linger.
With two rodeo buddies, they’ll share the driving, to a new state practically every day. “There’s Reno, then July 4th weekend. It’s called cowboy Christmas. We’ll go to twelve rodeos in five days. Arizona, St. Paul and Molalla (Oregon) … Arkansas, Colorado, Alberta…” Enough high scores would mean a return to the finals.
Like the Sisters Rodeo, Peebles has stood up to challenges, which, for other folks, would’ve done them in long ago. Now they both stand to reap the rewards of hanging on, no matter how rough the ride.
In May 2019, Steven Peebles broke his leg and will not be competing in the Sisters Rodeo.
A Bend mother-daughter duo author a teen mystery about family secrets, brave girls and spectacularly bad weather.
Oregon Media’s own Kim Cooper Findling has written three nonfiction books, including Bend, Oregon Daycations: Day Trips for Curious Families. In addition to serving as the editor of our newly launched Bend Home + Design magazine, Kim recently completed her first fiction effort—a teen mystery set on the Oregon Coast, co-written with her 14-year-old daughter Libby, titled The Sixth Storm. Bend Magazine sat down with the two to discuss collaborative writing, dark humor and the long road to publication.
What was the inspiration to write a book together?
Libby: On a stormy night four years ago, I said to my mom, “What if weather patterns represented people changing?”
Kim: I scribbled what she’d said on a piece of paper. I knew at that moment we had to write a book together.
What was the writing process like for you?
Kim: We began weekly brainstorming sessions at a sandwich shop in Bend while Libby’s little sister had dance class next door.
Libby: We did all the concepting and character development together, stealing names from family members and out of books on the sub shop book shelf. I loved creating people straight from scratch.
Kim: Then I began writing chapters and bringing them to Libby…
Libby: …and I would fix them!
What were the biggest challenges you faced?
Libby: Time. I had school, mom had work. We fit it in where we could, around activities and on the weekends.
Kim: Writing fiction was a blast but from the start, but really whipping a whole novel into shape was much harder than I expected. I had no idea what I was getting into. A third of our first draft ended up on the cutting room floor.
Tell us about your book’s setting.
Kim: The story takes place in a small rural town on the Oregon Coast, similar to where I grew up.
Libby: People who know Oregon will recognize a lot of familiar places, from the beach to Mount Hood.
What was it like to kill characters off on the page?
Kim: Delicate. I needed to kill five or six people without upsetting a young reader.
Libby: I said, ‘Mom, just kill ‘em’. I think we should have done more to upset the reader!
What impact did writing a book together have on your relationship?
Libby: We have the same type of mind and love dark humor, so it was easy to work together.
Kim: We are a lot alike and made a natural team. Writing is typically a solo sport, and it was wonderful to not be in it alone for the first time.
This project took four years. How did your perspectives change over that time period?
Kim: I started writing a book with a ten-year-old and finished writing it with a 14-year-old. That’s a period of life full of a lot of change. The story elements that mattered the most to Libby shifted over time.
Libby: Like romance.
Kim: There is debate about our protagonist. I think she has an innocent crush on the weather man.
Libby: She definitely does not!
Who is your favorite character?
Libby: I love Ashley (the protagonist’s best friend) because she’s so quirky and shows up when you least expect her to.
Kim: Andrew (the protagonist’s brother) is the big brother I always wanted.
What’s one thing that each of you learned about the other through the book writing process that you might not otherwise have known?
Kim: I knew Libby had a rich imagination and loved storytelling, but I didn’t realize the depth of plotting and character that she could bring to a project.
Libby: When my mom starts writing something she will not stop until she’s happy with it.
What are readers most enjoying about The Sixth Storm?
Libby: Fast pace, fun mystery, a brave female lead, and my friends say they can really relate to the characters.
Kim: The second half is a page turner, and there is a delicious plot twist at the end.
Will there be another book from you two?
Kim: This has been so much fun, but I am tempted to turn the reins of fiction over to Libby for the long haul.
Libby: I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
The best glamping destinations in Central Oregon.
The tent leaks, the sleeping bags are MIA and the campstove is temperamental. If you can check any or all of these boxes, it may be time to reconsider your approach to camping this summer (yes, camping is still mandatory—this is Oregon). Thankfully, you have options that allow you to forego the traditional ritual of gathering and inventorying gear, during which you will no doubt omit some essential item, thereby sending the entire ill-conceived excursion into a tailspin. Consider instead booking a turnkey operation that removes the stress from planning and turns the prospect of disappointment into delight. Here are a few options from rustic to resplendent.
This forty-acre luxury tent resort and spa Panacea at the Canyon offers a solar-powered oasis prompting guests to truly unplug and reconnect with nature to nurture their mind, body and spirit. Yoga and labyrinth meditation are among the offerings here, as is a rimrock clifftop soaking pool.
The popular Elk Lake Resort offers cabin rentals and rustic camping, but added glamping into the mix recently with the addition of more than a half-dozen luxury tents that include two futons with full bedding, a dining room table and access to the resort’s showers.
The Cove Palisades State Park at Lake Billy Chinook has more than 200 campsites, many with RV hook-ups. But if you want to travel light, book one of the three deluxe, lakeside cabins. The cozy log homes sleep up to eight people and offer easy access to the popular boating and fishing destination, with separation from the campground to offer some privacy. Boat rentals are available through the nearby marina.
Austin Anderson, a former Bay Area software engineer, finds a home in Bend for Rupie, his cutting-edge game development platform.
Austin Anderson left a downtown San Francisco job at LinkedIn and came to Bend with little more than an idea of what was next. Friends talked him out of starting a boutique video game development studio here. But the idea of creating a niche in the game development space stuck. Just one year later, Anderson’s new company, Rupie, is rolling out a game development and team management platform that could change the way that games are built. The company has seen strong seed funding and is poised for rapid growth. Earlier this year, BendTECH tapped Anderson and Rupie as the first company to occupy its Startup Founders Office incubator space, a move aimed at helping the company connect with more local talent and dollars. We talked with Anderson about the company’s plans.
What problem is Rupie addressing for game builders and studios?
It’s really a challenge for game talent to find consistent work, and one of the reasons why is because about 80 percent of game studios leverage outsourced talent. It’s huge. And there are some, I’d say, less than healthy practices in terms of releasing talent after contracts expire. A lot of times [agreements] are very informal; there is not a lot of tooling built around how these transactions operate. It’s not like enterprise software where the processes have been established and really baked in for decades. In the games industry, it’s still very much the Wild West. That idea of starting a gaming studio didn’t come to fruition.
How did that idea evolve into Rupie?
I figured out after a lot of investigation that finding talent in the games industry is really hard. There are some unique reasons for that, but it’s a big pain point. I thought, well there is this interesting Venn diagram-like conversion of my LinkedIn experience combined with my gaming experience. I wondered what it would be like to create a managed marketplace for game developers to help them connect with opportunity consistently and also to help studios find talent. It seems what you are doing at Rupie could be applied to many industries.
What is it about the gaming industry that speaks to you?
I really just love what games represent. To me it is this openended creation process. You’re not confined to a specific medium or physical reality when you’re creating. To me it’s about the convergence of what games can do. We see games being able to leverage virtual reality (VR) for therapeutic purposes and all sorts of things. Right now, the gaming industry is bigger than the film and music industries combined. The futurist in me says that augmented reality (AR) and VR are going to enable more opportunity and expansion.
Can Central Oregon become part of that story?
My longtail vision [that] I’m very excited about is that I think Bend could easily become a hub for game developers and game events. There are some pretty large spaces here, it’s a little cheaper, there is good airport access and there are also quite a few companies here [already]. So, we’re excited about bringing the events that we are already doing and pulling them into Bend. It’s one of my personal goals with Rupie.
The Haven is a new co-working space that will allow for 100 members and space for collaborative and independent work.
In 2011, Bend native Carrie Douglass worked from home and felt stir-crazy. As the founder and CEO of the national nonprofit School Board Partners, a co-owner of Cascade Relays, a Bend-La Pine School Board member and a wife and mother, Douglass, 38, wanted to mix with the world while still clocking some serious productivity.
Douglass checked out Bend’s co-working spaces, of which there are now about half a dozen and largely cater to tech startups, but they didn’t meet this sweet spot of cozy inspiration and functional utility, Douglass said. So, she took it upon herself to start her own co-working space, The Haven, with the help of an all-women team and a small local “tribe” of ten investors. The Haven blends the best attributes of the coffee shop, living room and conference hall into an intuitive floor plan.
Douglass said that most co-working spaces start with a certain number of square feet and ask themselves how many desks or offices can fit into it. “We started with questions like: Where are you most creative? What amenities would help you be at your best? What spaces inspire you?” said Douglass.
The Haven’s executive director Chelsea Callicott also knows the value of a tailored space. Her husband Preston Callicott is the CEO of Five Talent software, which is BendTech’s anchor tenant. Chelsea Callicott tried to work at the space but the silent focus of the tech incubator didn’t help her productivity.
“I just couldn’t do it. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop,” Callicott said. “That’s a different kind of intensity than the way I work. I need a little bit of conversation.”
According to a recent US Census estimate, the Bend-Redmond metropolitan area leads the country with 12.1 percent of workers who do so remotely. The national average hovers around 3 percent, according to a report by Flexjobs. That local number will only grow, said Adam Krynicki, the executive director of OSU-Cascades Innovation Co-Lab, which opened in spring 2018 and incubates as many as fifteen one-to-two-person startups at a time. Bend’s easy access to the outdoors and the burgeoning tech scene has become increasingly attractive to entrepreneurs and aspiring remote workers, he said.
Opening in June, The Haven will occupy 11,000 square feet across two floors of the Deschutes Ridge Office (1001 SW Disk Dr.) in southwest Bend. While The Haven is dedicated to the needs of professional women, about 25 percent of the approximately 100 members who have already signed up are men, organizers said. Membership will be capped at 200.
“Women are still such a small percentage of entrepreneurs, CEOs and politicians that we want to focus specifically on helping women succeed in those leadership roles,” Douglass said. “But lots of men are also finding that they are excited about our programming, amenities and design.”
Drenched by sunlight that pours in from eight 180-degree views of the Deschutes River, The Haven is anchored by a striking communal work table salvaged from the trunk of a 380-year-old ponderosa pine that grew in what is now Drake Park until it toppled from natural causes. Conferences and brainstorming sessions will be aided by complimentary coffee, kombucha, craft beer and wine. Beneath a ceiling of cheery no-knot pine panels, mornings may begin with a sketch pad in the cushy yet cell phone- and conversation-free living room area called The Refuge. Afternoons might happen in The Pods, which features six semi-private booths for conversation with drawable curtains for heightened privacy. There are also five soundproof phone booths. Other members may wrap up their workday at one of fourteen dedicated desks or one of seven private meeting rooms which can hold four to fourteen people.
The Haven’s diverse spaces are owed to the vision of creative director and interior designer Susan Manrao, who has previously worked with luxe hotels such as W Hotels Worldwide, St. Regis and Waldorf Astoria. The Haven team also conducted focus groups to hone in on what remote workers wanted.
“The Haven’s space is the antithesis of the typical office environment,” Manrao said.
Progressive amenities abound. Mothers will have access to a nursing/pumping space. Those who are invigorated by mid-day runs and hikes can freshen up afterward in the locker room area replete with four showers and beauty stations. There will also be programs dedicated to public speaking and personal marketing.
“We learned what people needed from a co-working space to function and also what they needed to thrive, to bring them to their best every day,” Manrao said.
Douglass hopes The Haven will foster a work-life balance and help mitigate against an all-or-nothing attitude toward one’s career.
“I feel like we’re in this grand experiment at the forefront of the country,” Douglass said of Central Oregon being the nation’s leader for remote working. “So how do we really maintain the special, close-knit relationship-based community that I think makes Bend really special? We’re trying to be that place-based community for this huge section of our population that no longer has that.”
A four-day itinerary to experience Central Oregon and the Painted Hills as a family.
RVs and campers are a great way to experience Central Oregon and beyond. They are are also extremely costly to maintain. Enjoy the benefits without the hassles by renting an RV and taking your show on the road. In Bend, Happy Camper RV Rentals has a fleet of late model campers and RVs available for about the same cost as a cabin rental at many of the local resorts.
Head to historic Prineville and hang a right, following the Wild and Scenic Crooked River deep into the canyon. Pick a riverside spot as your temporary home. Wet a line on the blue-ribbon trout fishery or just kick back with a good book.
Return to Prineville and from there it’s on to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Head east through Mitchell and onto the Sheep Rock Unit where you’ll find the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center. Visitors learn about the fossil beds that date back millions of years, some of the oldest records of animal life in North America.
Get your hands dirty by heading to the Clarno Unit, near the small town of Fossil on the John Day River. Head into town and explore the open dig site behind Wheeler High School, where the public is welcome to comb for fossils in a prehistoric lakebed that dates back 33 million years.
Head back to Bend, but stop first at Smith Rock State Park, where the Crooked River winds around the base of one of America’s premier rock-climbing destinations. Watch as climbers dangle impossibly from the volcanic tuff spires. Finish your day with a beer and a snack at Redmond’s Wild Ride brewery.
Whether you live in Bend or are just visiting for the weekend, consider this your cheat sheet for floating the Deschutes River.
The popularity of floating the river has surpassed what anyone envisioned when Bend’s Park and Recreation District formally opened the river for business. Unfortunately, the amount of trash, from lost clothing to littered cans, has also ballooned. Rather than curtail floating, the park district and its partners, including the Old Mill District and Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe, are asking locals and visitors to consider their impact when they set sail from Farewell Bend Park. Points of emphasis include eliminating trash and litter on the river and reducing stress on native and restored riparian areas, by helping users identify and use established access and exit points on the river.
Check out these places with limited light pollution for some of the best stargazing in Central Oregon.
The beauty of living in the high elevation and relatively low population region of Central Oregon is that our night skies are some of the best places in the U.S. to see stars. You don’t have to travel far from home to get a taste of what the galaxy has to offer. Early summer is a great time to stay out late and immerse yourself in the natural world. Whether you view by telescope, binoculars, or nothing but your own set of eyes, here are three locations we recommend to get a view of our galaxy.
Within just a few dozen miles of Bend, you can find yourself at any one of your favorite Cascade Lakes trailheads. Really anywhere will do, but we recommend hitting Todd Lake. Open meadows nestled in majestic pines with a serene setting of chorus frogs serenading your visit makes this the perfect location to go looking for constellations and the occasional shooting star. Remember: these are breeding grounds for many local amphibians, so please respect their space and avoid trampling the shoreline.
You’ve yet to really experience the Milky Way if you haven’t observed it from the heart of one of North America’s largest lava fields. As you surround yourself with jagged rocks that feel almost extra-terrestrial, you get the feeling that you are watching the stars from the surface of another planet. Head west from Sisters on Highway 242 towards the Dee Wright Observatory (telescopes not included) and accompanying lava flows. Find yourself a place with a good view of the southern sky. Note: The Old McKenzie Highway, aka Highway 242, is closed during winter and spring and typically opens in mid-June to motor vehicle traffic.
For arguably the darkest skies and best star viewing in the western United States, head east on Highway 20 towards the Badlands Wilderness, an ancient juniper forest perched on the edge of a shield volcano. With few visual obstructions, this expansive and open natural wonder gives you the sense of being surrounded by the cosmos. While looking south will no doubt give the best view of the Milky Way, turn your eyes in any direction and find the majority of constellations viewable in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as planets like Jupiter and Saturn.
Park the car and take a walking tour of downtown Bend to find historical tidbits, architectural legacies and even a ghost.
Built in 1909, this is the only remaining original wood frame building from downtown. The Smith family moved into the apartment upstairs, and Marjorie, their daughter, lived there until her 90s. During the devastating fires of the early 1900s, their building survived because Cora Smith hung wet sheets out the windows. All the other wood frame buildings either burned down or were replaced by brick buildings. [Learn more about how Bend was built brick by brick] The first gas tank in Bend was here, and today there is a little square piece of cement in the sidewalk out front that is both unmarked and out of place—that is where the first gas tank was.
The original Bend Hotel on the site was one of many that burned to the ground, so Hugh O’Kane went for all brand-new fire-proof construction in building its replacement in 1917. The other special piece is that he built the Bend Emblem Club logo into the transom windows. The building was home to the original offices for the brand-new county government when it opened, as well as many other important businesses and offices over the years, including the Grand Theater and Cashman’s clothing store.
Built in 1904, this is the oldest standing structure within the city limits. Arthur Goodwillie came to Bend in his early 20s to work for Alexander Drake and at 23 was elected the first mayor of Bend, right after the construction of his home. A makeshift band marched to his house celebrating his election. The town was only about 530 people then, and his was a substantial home with leaded glass windows. The other reason to love the house is that it was almost torn down in the 1990s and the community rallied around it to save it from being torn down to put up a parking lot—literally like the Joni Mitchell song.
This spot is a testament to humanity. Frank was stumping for his presidential candidacy with a speech at Drake Park in 1928. During the speech, he heard a young boy cry for help in the river. He took off his jacket and jumped in, a healthy and strong man in his thirties. This story also shows what we have done to the river—back then it was fast, dangerous and cold. Johns was unable to save the boy and succumbed to the cold water himself and they both drowned. The citizens of Bend pooled their money to get his body back to Portland, as well as to give a small fund to his widow and their two daughters. A couple of years later, citizens of Bend wrote and nominated him for the Carnegie medal for his heroism, which came with a lifetime stipend for his wife. They were successful and he was awarded the medal posthumously.
Named for Ruth Reid who came to teach in Bend in 1904, the building was the first modern school built in Bend. Opened in 1914, it had indoor plumbing, heating and electricity. Many of the children that first attended the school did not have indoor plumbing yet. Ruth founded the first high school classes and became first principal of all schools. She had to quit after marrying a local entrepreneur and politician H.J. Overturf, for whom Overturf Butte is named. Reid took her husband’s name, but when Reid School was built, they named it for her by her maiden name. To this day, the building (now home to the Deschutes Historical Museum) is reportedly haunted by the ghost of George Brosterhous, who died of a fall during the building’s construction
The fresh prepared food service Boxwood Kitchen opened a brick-and-mortar in Bend’s Old Mill District.
When Chef Eric Rud describes Boxwood Kitchen, which he opened in the Old Mill District at the start of the year, it’s devoid of trendy terms.
“My vision is comfort food and all the little details, the efforts behind the scenes that no one would know about,” he said. “I want a plate to be recognizable and delicious, beautiful without being pretentious, and I want to give value.”
That’s just part of the story, though. The phrase “efforts behind the scenes” is essential. For starters, Rud and his staff of ten make all the pasta, from pappardelle and gnocchi to spaetzle. House-made dinner rolls emerge warm from the oven nightly, served with lava salt and herb butter.
A savory dimension to the vegetarian gnocchi comes from umami powder, which the kitchen makes by dehydrating mushrooms, a process that requires two days and valuable kitchen space. Smoked shallots further boost the dish. All meats, including a hanger steak, are cooked sous vide, vacuum sealed in a pouch immersed in precisely heated water to achieve optimum flavor and texture. The pork chop is brined and marinated first.
“In our dry storage, in winter we have canned tomatoes, oil, vinegar and salt—no other cans,” said Rud. “We make all of our red curry, sauces and vinaigrettes from scratch. Personally, for me, there’s no other way to do it. It’s tricky, it causes a little stress, but we all take pride in it.”
Boxwood stands on the shoulders of the personal and career experiences of Rud, 42. He was born in San Francisco, but doesn’t have many formative food memories before age 6, when his family moved to Germany on a military assignment.
“While we lived on a military base, my parents insisted we would get out every weekend,” said Rud. He and his sister discovered the food cultures throughout Germany and in Italy and France. Being a picky eater wasn’t an option. “It pushed me in the right direction,” he said.
He started working in restaurants in Germany when he was 18, and about five years later, returned to the United States to attend Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Minneapolis. He returned to San Francisco and co-owned Aliment, an inventive, American eatery. Eventually, he and his girlfriend, Riane Welch, wanted to move on from the area, with its high cost of living. They saved for a year, and he sold his share in the restaurant.
They moved to Welch’s parents’ vacation home in Sunriver and launched Boxwood Kitchen, offering thoughtfully prepared salads, sandwiches and noodle bowl dishes, for online order, delivery and in local boutique grocers. The concept wasn’t taking off, but one of their delivery customers, the Old Mill District management office, approached them about opening in the fifty-two-seat space, behind Jimmy Johns.
While Boxwood still sells vegetarian and vegan salads at Market of Choice and Newport Market, the focus is on their popular eatery. This summer, they plan to add planters (of Oregon boxwood, an evergreen shrub) outside to create a patio.
Welch works full-time in marketing for Les Schwab Tire Centers, and as a restaurant partner, lends those talents to Boxwood, too. “I am, and will always be Eric’s biggest fan,” she said. “He takes so much care in crafting dishes and combining flavors and elements. He is always pushing himself to find that one thing that will really take our menu items over the top.”
This article was originally written in May 2019. Read our 2023 restaurant review of Boxwood Kitchen here, or continue on to more about our local food and restaurant scene.
In the heart of Powell Butte, an organic farm is a model of efficiency. Every element of the farm is utilized, including the minutes in the day.
Michael and Onda Hueners must have more hours in the day than the average person. The Hueners run Bluestone Natural Farms, a thirty-five-acre organic farm in the heart of Powell Butte, producing beef, pork, eggs, vegetables, goat milk products, textiles and more for their farm stand as well as local farmers markets. They host educational farm tours on their property and are leaders of a handful of local agriculture organizations. And they do it all while holding full-time jobs—Michael owns Bluestone Gardens and Landscapes and Onda is an RN at St. Charles in Bend.
“It started out as a hobby, with the idea that we would work it into our retirement,” said Onda. “We started with a couple cows, and it’s just gone crazy from there.” Today they have about twenty head of cattle, fortyish pigs, about the same number of goats and another couple dozen chickens. A greenhouse and garden beds around the property produce a variety of vegetables.
Michael and Onda bought the property in 2004. Onda grew up in Wallowa County on a small farm and Michael grew up in Minnesota and moved to California, where they met in 1999. They have seven children between them from previous marriages and eighteen grandchildren who occasionally lend a hand, but most of the time it’s just the two of them.
Their main goal is to have the farm be as self-sufficient as possible, and they work with local businesses to collect food waste to feed the animals or create their compost. They collect spent grains from Kobold Brewing in Redmond to feed the cows and pigs and pre-consumer food waste from Worthy Brewing and Dairy Queen. (One look at the bucket of melted soft-serve next to the pig pen will put you off Blizzards forever. “The pigs just go crazy for it,” said Onda.) Facebook, and soon Apple, give them their pre-consumer food waste as well, which is part of a new initiative for the companies.
Unlike the narrow vertical approach of Big Ag, every component in the Bluestone operation has a dual purpose. Waste from the animals, along with hay grown on the farm and their own food waste, makes the compost that nurtures the vegetables.
While it may lack the economies of scale that are the hallmark of modern farming, there is an elegant efficiency here unrivaled in commodity driven farming. “Why have the farm that raises pigs, if you don’t have this, that and the other,” said Michael, referring to all the other components of the farm that aid in the process of raising pigs, like hay from the fields and whey from making goat’s milk. Otherwise, “It’s not a complete circle,” he said.
Education is another priority for the Hueners. They work with local schools to bring kids out to the farm to learn where food comes from. The adults are just as intrigued as the kids, they said. “It’s important to us because people have lost track of where their food comes from, or the work that it takes to produce that food,” said Onda.
A less diversified farm might be more profitable for them, but that isn’t the point. They do it all to be stewards of the environment, an example for a new generation of small farms and to be able to say that an average meal for them was produced entirely on their thirty-five acres.
“We haven’t made our own lasagna noodles yet, but everything else, even the tomato sauce, is from here,” said Michael.
A Bend couple decides to retreat to the little town on the Deschutes River and renovate a century-old home.
The first thing Kyle Suenaga noticed when she walked in the house was that it smelled 100 years old. Not that it was a bad thing. Just that it smelled like this house, on the corner of a Maupin neighborhood that overlooks the Deschutes River, had 100 years of life in its floors and walls, which it did, and just needed some TLC.
Kyle discovered Maupin a decade ago when she took her two sons on a rafting trip for the weekend. After that, they started visiting year-round to retreat from the Bend area. “We’d just come up here to unplug. No cell phone reception, no TV. It was awesome,” said Kyle.
That’s changed in the past decade. Today, Maupin not only has cell phone reception but also high-speed internet, which makes living there full-time a much easier transition for people like Kyle and her husband, Stan, who spent the majority of their lives in cities. By way of contrast there are about 430 full-time residents in Maupin, though the population booms to a couple thousand in the summer, with seasonal residents and tourists drawn to the world-class rafting and fishing.
Last year, the Suenagas were living in Bend but wanted a change of pace; Maupin fit the bill. When the century-old grey house on the corner came up for sale, they took the leap and decided to take on the fixer upper themselves.
“We moved in on a Friday and Saturday and started ripping up carpets on Sunday,” said Kyle. The asbestos abatement and roofer came on Monday. Kyle kept her job as an English teacher at Mountain View High School until the end of the school year, and Stan retired from his work for the government. By the summer, every day was devoted to renovating the house.
“Every single day was a project—that usually took three days longer than I thought,” said Kyle. “They make it look so easy on DIY shows.” (The modern farmhouse style popularized by HGTV’s Joanna Gaines is prominent throughout the remodel, replete with white shiplap on the walls.) “We tried to do it systematically, and then it ended up that everything was torn apart. And we’re still married,” said Kyle with a laugh.
While they were sledgehammering the lath and plaster walls and replacing the white shag carpet with hardwood floors and tile, they slept on cots on the screened-in front porch and cooked on the back patio throughout the summer. They didn’t have electricity for months; extension cords ran the coffeepot and fans—the latter of which is a necessity during Maupin summers that consistently hit three digits.
They tackled the kitchen first. The couple took down two walls, which opened up the front of the house. Butcher-block counters and white cabinets replaced the dated laminate and plywood and provide a modern farmhouse look. The trendy open shelving was also practical for Kyle, who said that she’s too short to reach upper cabinets. The backsplash is a white subway tile with black grout, which Kyle learned probably should have been done after the house’s siding was replaced. (The pounding damaged the fresh grout, which had to be redone.)
Each home renovation comes with a unique set of challenges, particularly when it’s being done in a rural area.
Kyle described the process of getting subcontractors to Maupin as “hell.” It took months to get a plumber and an electrician to the house, and the couple decided to forgo gutters when they still couldn’t find someone to install them. Most of the wait is because of booming construction in The Gorge and Central Oregon has delayed subcontractors. So they learned to do a lot themselves and relied on the help of some family and friendly neighbors. One night while eating at The Riverside restaurant in Maupin, they were talking about needing to patch some cement in their walkway. A construction worker who was in town to work on Maupin’s new civic center offered to lend supplies and a hand.
Charming quirks appear around every corner. In the living room, Kyle found a patch of brick on a wall and decided to expose it. Turns out, it was just leftover from an old fireplace. But that corner of brick remains, and she whitewashed it as an accent.
“Our mantra is, ‘It’s a 100-year-old house.’ We’re going for rustic,” said Kyle. “Not perfect,” added Stan. “Doing the work yourself, we just stumbled through it. You spend a lot of time on it, you call it good.”
There are two bathrooms on the main floor, one that had been remodeled by the previous owners, and the other was without a toilet. They kept it as a bathroom anyway, adding a clawfoot tub, standalone shower and embracing the idiosyncrasy of a bathroom without a toilet.
A sliding barn door now opens to the stairwell. Upstairs, a landing area has a powder room tucked in an alcove. That was a remnant of the house’s previous life as Maupin City Hall. Kyle learned that at some point, the original city hall burned to the ground, and the city officials turned this house into city headquarters. The three bedrooms upstairs had been used for offices.
They’re still waiting for new trim for the windows and need to install doors upstairs. They haven’t done much to the exterior yet, which will be tackled next. They’re eager to get started, but then again this is Maupin. And they didn’t come here to rush.
An ethic of sustainable manufacturing drives Damien Teitelbaum’s durable designs.
As the adage goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” For local metal artist Damien Teitelbaum, it only takes a trip to the local scrap yard to find his latest inspiration.
Teitelbaum is the mind and hands behind Bent Metal Works, a one-man studio that uses metal as the basis for functional yet sustainable pieces that range from robots (R2-D2 makes a great a wedding gift!) to wine racks. Teitelbaum often merges wood and glass for finished pieces that have a rugged industrial elegance.
If you venture around downtown long enough, you’ll discover multiple examples of his projects consisting of upcycled bike racks that Teitelbaum fused out of old car parts. Walk into a local furniture store and you’re just as likely to see a steel-legged coffee table topped with an ancient juniper slab.
“I enjoy welding and how it’s somewhat forgiving,” Teitelbaum said. “It’s gratifying to take metal and build things that are both functional and fashionable.”
Bent Metal Works found its niche in the process of “upcycling” metals into functional everyday items. Rather than purchase new materials to turn into amazing artwork, Teitelbaum follows the four “R’s” of sustainability: reduce, reuse, repair and recycle. For Bent Metal Works that means having the least amount of impact on the planet while still creating something exceptional.
Bent Metal Works does most of its manufacturing at the local DIY Cave, a co-workshop studio on Bend’s eastside in the old Pakit Liquidators space off 9th Street. Here, professional and amateur crafts people, mechanics, designers and artists come together under one roof to turn ideas into reality in an atmosphere that fosters collaboration.
Teitelbaum frequently bounces back and forth from the metalwork to woodworking spaces while sharing concepts and strategies with other artisans. He said that DIY Cave’s access to such a wide variety of resources is essential when working across multiple mediums.
“Everyone at the DIY Cave is reading the same book,” Teitelbaum said. “But everyone here is just reading a different chapter.”
In the end, it’s all about community, said Teitelbaum. Whether it be at the DIY Cave or at the homes of his clients and friends, Bent Metal Works is all about creating something that lasts and doing it together.
“I’ve found that the people of Bend can really appreciate finding someone local to design their tables or furniture,” he said. “It makes me happy when, months down the road, people send me photos of the habitats where my furniture ends up.”
Take a tour inside a mid-century modern masterpiece in the high desert that is built around indoor-outdoor living.
If you’ve stayed in an open-air home in the tropics with birds and breezes flowing through, then you’ll have a sense of what Maya Moon and her husband Brian have accomplished in the high desert outside Bend. The mid-century modern home with Frank Lloyd Wright influences sits on twenty-nine acres of junipers, scrub brush and rock and invokes indoor-outdoor living.
“The homeowners will be able to open sliding-glass walls and large windows in their great room and be outside at the same time,” said Al Tozer, an architectural designer with Tozer Design. The home is built around the concept of “biophilia,” the human tendency to seek connection with nature and other living things, he explained.
Tozer and his design colleague, Cecile Cuddihy, spent many hours at the site evaluating elevations that would capture views of the Cascades, from Mount Hood to Mount Bachelor, and create multi-levels embedded into the natural landscape. “Walking through the home is like walking where the landscape originally rose and fell,” Tozer said.
To maximize the mountain views and have the connectivity with the outside through sliding doors and large windows, the home has more glass than solid walls, meeting one of Maya’s dreams to live in a glass house. The desertscape and the absence of nearby neighbors matched Brian’s desire for privacy.
With the high desert’s changing seasons and temperatures, capturing sunlight in the winter and shading it in the summer was important, especially with so much glass. The design team used strategic placement of overhangs, orientation of the home and operable windows to allow cross ventilation. The upstairs bonus room has five-foot high, fifteen-foot-long stacking windows on two sides that, when open, give the sense of being outside with unobstructed, clear mountain views, the scent of juniper and perhaps the possibility of a butterfly fluttering through.
To fashion a home for themselves and their two boys, the couple sold the house where Maya grew up, a converted 1915 schoolhouse in Olema (Marin County), California, which she inherited from her mother. Both parents were artists, her mother a puzzle maker and her father a wood carver of artisanal furniture and other pieces (and the road manager for the Youngbloods rock band). The proceeds of the sale helped fund the desert dwelling the family moved into in September 2018, a legacy to her mother’s memory.
A well-known local designer of high-end, handmade leather goods, Maya brought her distinct sense and quirky aesthetics to the project. During construction, Brian says that some of his wife’s choices “pushed my boundaries.” He said they had an agreement upfront about each having veto power. “I only used my veto card once,” he said laughing. “I couldn’t do a pink slab on the island.”
With so much emphasis on bringing the outside in, she chose clean, uncluttered lines that wouldn’t compete with nature. The walls are white, windows black, and the floors are concrete slabs.
“It’s a spacious home but still feels intimate,” said Jeannie Legum of Legum Design who helped select materials for hard surfaces, such as counter slabs, tiles and hardwood. “Maya’s modern design aesthetic worked well with her eclectic artistic flair,” Legum said.
The white walls feel like gallery space where the couple can display original artwork from Maya’s childhood and items they’ve collected more recently. Some of the pieces serve as the “wow” statement that Maya wanted for each room, such as the recently acquired Valerie Winterholler painting in the living room, the red front door and orange Vola faucets in the powder rooms.
The kitchen island and backsplash above the stove are black and white leather quartzite with the pattern “Skyfall” that feels like water swirling across the surface. Her eye for the unusual landed her a rare and expensive olivewood burl Milo Baughman dining table that she found on Craigslist. The mid-century wire Bertoia dining chairs are covered with sheep skin.
Her father, John Bauer, hand carved a hardwood “tree” chair and the wood-framed, animal mirrors for the home’s décor.
Cow hides and animal furs bring warmth and texture to the concrete floors throughout. Lighting fixtures include numerous large, ball-shaped hanging pendants that add pop to the dining room, island and entryway, and soften the square lines and corners in the house.
The focal point of the living room is the wood-burning fireplace constructed of black brick. “We’re all attracted to the romance of wood-burning fireplaces,” Tozer said, adding that fires elicit feelings of hominess, comfort and security. Underscoring that point, Brian said he loves sitting in the living room because it’s peaceful and zen-like.
The perfect union of the home’s design and aesthetics is found in the master suite that reaches west and is a quiet place for retreating. A hallway leads past the couple’s closets and bathroom to a cozy bedroom where they can lie in bed to see the occasional shooting star or step out to an alcove with comfy chairs for a nightcap.
Dave Wachs is a wandering landscape painter who draws inspiration from communion with remote places.
Dave Wachs is a hard man to catch up with. When you do, he conveys a sense of life in constant motion, whether he’s ping-ponging between his homes in Peshastin, Washington and Bend, traveling internationally or putting paint on canvas in hurried brush strokes. The frantic pace is a contrast to Wachs’ art that captures seemingly eternal landscapes in quiet repose.
The landscape artist’s wandering impulse derives from his love of the outdoors and his love of painting the outdoors. As an artist, he says the deepest inspiration he gets is from nature and the environment. “I don’t go to cities, and I don’t have to add barns or roads to my work,” he said. His landscapes convey an impression of mountainsides, pear orchards and the countryside in vivid colors, often blues, white and splashes of orange.
Those parallel themes of art and being in nature have driven his life since college. While he was earning a degree in graphic design and fine arts painting from Montana State University in Bozeman, he was hitting the ski slopes at every opportunity. “He was part of a group of guys who would focus their binoculars on distant mountain peaks in the summer, looking for one chute that still had snow,” recalled Julie Berry, friend and fellow MSU art student. “Dave was a skiing maniac. He and his friends spent days in the backcountry, climbing up and skiing down.”
She said Wachs committed the same devotion to his art. “We’d show up at the school’s painting studio at ten at night, paint till morning and then go out to breakfast,” Berry said. After graduating in 1983, Wachs moved to Portland from Montana, which he says “was a gnarly transition for me as I didn’t want to leave Montana, but you couldn’t make a living there.” He eventually worked in advertising with Nike and then snagged a project with North Face called Steep Tech to design a collection of hard-working clothing for legendary extreme skier Scot Schmidt, with whom he collaborated.
In 1992, he moved to Bend from Taos, New Mexico, and bought a farm in Tumalo where he worked for twenty-two years. In the three years since he’s left the farm, he’s worked out of studios in Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, Washington and Oregon. “I don’t need a fancy place to work, but it can’t be freezing,” he said with a laugh. His primary residence is a pear orchard outside Peshastin, near Leavenworth, Washington, although he returns to Central Oregon for several months a year.
Wachs travels to remote and inspiring places in his Chevy pick-up and on dirt bikes, gathering imagery with a camera and sketch book. “I have a rule that I have to have been there to paint a landscape,” he said. “I’m trying to capture the image out of the corner of your eye,” he said.
The resulting landscape pieces could be mistaken for photographs from afar but reveal brush strokes upon closer examination.
“Dave’s paintings take me to those peaceful spots where it’s just air, wind and what’s beneath my feet,” said Berry, who worked in custom picture framing for years in Bozeman and framed dozens of her friend’s pieces for an exhibit in Bend. Before receiving the paintings for framing, she saw photos of them. “They were so expansive in feeling that I thought he was doing six-by-eight-foot paintings. When they arrived, they were small, and I was amazed at how he captured such an expansive feeling on such a tiny surface.”
The landscapes feel eternal, but Wachs’ painting process is fast. He starts a painting with a sketch and then works quickly to cover the canvas in acrylic paint that he mixes himself. “I don’t have patience for oil or the smell of oil paints,” he said. He paints with big brushes and finishes most canvases in two to three days, mostly at night when he says “the creative stuff comes out.” He adds that, “If it looks good at night, it will look good in the day.”
He strives for spontaneity, which ironically takes a lot of discipline. He compares his process to the art of Japanese Haiku poetry. “I have to think or meditate about a piece of work before starting,” he said. He draws inspiration from the 1920s-era Canadian “Group of Seven” artists who explored the countryside and documented their impressions through painting. But he’s clear that he doesn’t emulate them or anyone else. “I think my work looks like my work, and I’m proud of where I am now.”
Wachs has done commissioned work for individuals and businesses across the country. He is currently represented in Central Oregon by art consultant Billye Turner who will be hanging about twenty-five recent landscapes at Franklin Crossing in downtown Bend during June. His pieces sell for $500 to $10,000, with the larger canvases at the higher end.
“The quality of Dave’s work is worthy of collecting…because his genuineness and talent add up to paintings that you’ll love for decades and still be transported to another place,” said Berry.
