The Applegater

Applegater Fall 2019 1 Nonprofit Org US Postage PAID Permit #125 Medford OR ECRWSSEDDM Local Postal Customer FALL 2019 Volume 12, No. 3 Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 13,000 Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine Celebrating Years ~25~ Photo by Teya Jacobi applegater.org ISSUE AGRICULTURE - WINE Well-loved pigs and goats in the valley See BOUTIQUE WINERIES, page 21. Summer recreation is abundant at Fish Hatchery Park BY LISA E. BALDWIN See PIGS AND GOATS, page 15. $50 PER PERSON. TICKETS AVAILABLE AT RUCH COUNTRY STORE AND EVENTBRITE.COM. MORE INFORMATION: APPLEGATER.ORG AND FACEBOOK.COM/APPLEGATERNEWSMAGAZINE OR EMAIL GATER@APPLEGATER.ORG. MUST BE OVER 21. ALL SALES FINAL. NO REFUNDS. STORYTELLING | DAVID MODICA ON GUITAR | SILENT AUCTION | DINNER 4 - 7 PM | WILD RIVER PUBLICK HOUSE, 533 NE F STREET, GRANTS PASS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 25 YEARS OF STORYTELLING 25 YEARS OF STORYTELLING APPLEGATER NEWSMAGAZINE PRESENTS ANNIVERSARY FUNDRAISER 5 - 8 Tickets on sale September 10. See page 4 for more information. BY DIANA COOGLE T h e b o t t o m l i n e for Old MacDonald's Farm is money. When the moneymakers are pigs and goats in the Applegate, though, a lot of love flows through. Nikki Elmore, who raises pigs in Williams, says, "Pigs are the most interesting creatures God put on this planet." ey use mud as a sunscreen. ey are as loyal as dogs and can be trained, as they were in World War II to sniff out bombs. "Turbo's my buddy," Nikki says about her big York-Duroc-Hampshire. "I take a cup of coffee and go for walks with her. She grunts back when I talk to her. Buying Turbo from a kid at the fair was the best purchase I ever made," she adds with affection. Just as Nikki loves her pigs, Westi Haughey, at Twin Pear Farm, on Beaver Creek Road, loves her goats. She attends every birth and sleeps with does in labor. She kisses her goats (even the bucks). She says that raising goats after working a lucrative job in the San Francisco Bay Area "is pure love. I've never worked harder or cried more." (e tears are for kids lost in birthing.) Like Nikki, Gilly Gifford, at Rogue Artisan Foods on Highway 238, raises pigs; like Westi, she raises goats. She loves her animals, including—besides her Westi Haughey, at Twin Pear Farm, gives lots of affection to her goats (and vice versa). Photo: Diana Coogle. At the core of Applegate Valley's wine-making community is a preserved rural-town culture. e charm of family- owned and -operated vineyards reflects l o n g - s t a n d i n g f a m i l y a n d f a r m i n g v a l u e s — d e d i c a t i o n , p a s s i o n , a n d an uncompromised commitment to q u a l i t y o v e r q u a n t i t y — w h i c h are redefining our region as a wine enthusiast's destination. Applegate Valley— a stomping ground for boutique wineries BY CATHY RODGERS Today's Applegate viticulture pioneers are blending old traditions and new techniques. Barns have been transformed into tasting rooms, barrels to tables, bottles to lamps—all contributing to the rustic homegrown charm of our valley's wineries. e casual wine-tasting atmosphere is more like a visit with family and an opportunity to make new friends. e experience is enhanced by award- eight pigs, numerous piglets, and herd of goats—the rabbits, ducks, and white turkeys running around the farmyard. Her permaculture farming methods tie plants and animals together: she plants vegetables and medicinal herbs for the pigs and goats, who nibble on its bounty through a fence, and she raises rabbits for their manure. But farmers can't exist just on love. Gilly sells milk, duck eggs, pork, and goat meat for income. Influenced by her grandfather's farm, Gilly had wanted to be a farmer since childhood. For two years in Portugal and Spain she was a WWOOFer (a participant in "Working Weekends on Organic Farms," a worldwide program for volunteers to work on farms); she went to Duane and Kathy Bowman, owners of Cricket Hill Winery, recently opened a tasting room in the McCully House. Photo: Whit Parker. winning wines that distinguish our region among the best, tastings that are enjoyed w i t h a g o r g e o u s valley backdrop, and h o m e s p u n s t o r i e s that warm the heart. Small, family-owned wineries show as much character, structure, and variety as the wines they produce. C r i c k e t H i l l Winery. In the Little Applegate, Cricket Hill's vineyard sits on land rich in history. Once used by the Dakubetede Indians as a salmon fishing camp, it was later hydraulically mined for Help celebrate the Applegater's 25th Anniversary!

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