growing own food

Karen Hawtrey, with her turtle Ferd Farkle, pose before the Alabama peanut plant that in a few months will be ready for harvesting.

For all the love between Karen Hawtrey and her mother, her mother’s cooking was never a strong point to put it mildly.

“If you were raised on sugar sandwiches on white bread, ketchup sandwiches and boiled sauerkraut and weenies, you’d learn to cook at a very young age and you’d learn to cook what you could,” Hawtrey said. “It was a matter of desperation.”

“I was the only one who cared about cooking,” Hawtrey said. To that extent, it is a running joke between Hawtrey and her sister that the best thing she can make is reservations.

Here in Lakeview, the youngest of four daughters in the family, Hawtrey grows nearly everything she eats, opting for the benefits and self-satisfaction of homegrown food, within the premises of her modest home.

A rather inconspicuous garden is home to, in her estimation, more than fifty fruits and vegetables. She grows spinach, bananas, eggplant, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, asparagus, strawberries, horseradish, concord grapes, dill, green onions, five colors of carrots, squash, pickles, onions, celery cilantro, rosemary cauliflower and garlic to name a few. 

One of her legumes has a special significance. In an orange flower pot feet outside her front door are Alabama peanuts, a delicacy in the south when boiled. 

“It’s the best piece of meat you’ve ever had in your life,” Hawtrey said. “It just has a meaty hearty taste to it.”

The weather in Oregon, which Hawtrey called unpredictable, fails to suit the growth of the peanuts as kindly as a place like Alabama does with more consistent heat. Neither does the soil.

Hawtrey receives the raw peanuts, which themselves function as seeds, from one of her sisters. From there, she buries the raw peanuts in a sandy soil characteristic of the south. Outside her house, there sits such a setup on a small scale. She has a flowerpot in which the raw peanuts are dug into the sandy soil. It will take nearly three months before the nuts are ready to harvest and should an early freeze arrive, the harvest will in all likelihood spoil.

Hawtrey’s attachment to growing nearly all of the food she eats she claimed is not done as a political or environmental statement. Her motivations are more basic.

“I just love to do it,” she said. 

“To get quality (food), you have to have quality ingredients,” she said.

Joy Schmidt and Mike Goodwin discuss engineering and construction of the proposed site of Element Power on property leased from Poplars Ranch, Inc.

Concerns about a new solar development were addressed at an open house hosted by Element Power at Christmas Valley on Thursday, Aug. 26. 

The event was a precursor to a public hearing where the development will be considered for a conditional use permit. Approximately 50 attendees had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with representatives of the Portland company about potential impacts of the new facility, to be located in north Lake County.

According to Element’s permit application, archaeological sites have been identified on the property, including one that is documented as Smithsonian Site Number 35LK1275. Element hired SWCA, an environmental consulting firm in Portland, to check for cultural resources and for potential impacts on wildlife. Prior to construction, an archaeologist will create a report for the State Historic Preservation Office, and development will wait for permits and approvals where cultural resources are found.

SWCA’s July 19 report described a small wetland, known locally as Windmill Lake, that the developers plan to avoid. The remainder of the site was found to have been heavily grazed. “Marginal habitat for burrowing owl, pygmy rabbit, and greater sage grouse exists within the analysis area…. These species or their sign were not observed during the field survey,” stated the report.

The potential for high levels of noise from the movement of solar panels has been a concern among residents, but Hughes said that after construction, noise would be minimal. “They move very slowly and they don’t make noise. The noise you would hear is from the inverter…. it’s like a very light hum. Like the sound of your home refrigerator running.”

In an email communication, Emily Sanders, development director for Element, responded to the public concern that the site will one day need to be cleaned up.  “The panels are designed to last as least 20 to 25 years, and at that time, the panels can be replaced while maintaining much of the other infrastructure of the project,” wrote Sanders. “Once a solar P.V. project is built, there are very few operating costs, so it makes sense to keep them running once they are built.”

“We would be happy to pay a bond, but it has to be after the project has been operating for a while, so that we can actually appraise the value of the project closer to when it would be decommissioned,” said Hughes. “We have an agreement with the land owner which requires us to clean the project up if we leave it.”

According to company literature, Element is a global company that owns and operates wind and solar facilities. The projects generate sustainable economic opportunity and growth in the communities where they are located.

The solar arrays will stand about 8 feet high, and the footprint of the site will be less than 100 acres. Element has leased the land from Poplars Ranch, Inc. in the west half of section 35, township 26 south, range 15 east. 

Several local residents attended a public hearing hosted by the state DEQ regarding an air discharge permit for a proposed biomass cogeneration power plant facility.

A public hearing held at the Lake County Senior Center on Monday, Aug. 23, provided local residents an opportunity to comment on a proposed permit application by developers of a biomass power plant.

The evening hearing, hosted by state Department of Environmental Quality senior permit writer Mark Fisher, began with a question-and-answer session.  A variety of issues were raised by local residents who came to share their concerns about the potential impacts of the biomass facility on local air quality.

Emissions by the plant would include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide, according to the public notice describing the permit request.

Fisher informed those present that a modeling process was utilized by Iberdrola Renewables to simulate the actual emissions of the plant, as well as demonstrate how such emissions would be mitigated.  

Some residents present at the meeting questioned how accurately the modeling process could mimic the process.

Fisher indicated that nitrogen oxide levels, despite being the most prominent impact of the plant, would be well below what the DEQ defines as ‘significant levels.’

Public comments on the permit application were due by Friday, Aug. 27.  Fisher said that the permit might be modified based on the public comments received.

The permit, if issued, would be valid for up to one year after the plant’s construction, Fisher said.

Many of those in attendance expressed concern that the plant would create additional issues with local air quality. Fisher said that the plant would not contribute significantly to Lakeview’s air quality. 

“We use the best available information available to us for a baseline concentration (level),” he said.  “It’s a very effective tool, and it’s used nationally throughout the whole program.”

The state defines the ‘level of significance’ for particulate matter measuring 2.5 microns in size as 10 tons per year output. The plant will be well below this figure, Fisher said. 

The level for particulate matter measuring 10 microns in size is 15 tons per year.  While the permit allows up to 15 tons per year, the projections indicate that the plant’s output will be at a level below the threshold at 12 tons per year.

Other concerns included how the DEQ monitors air emissions.  A single monitor unit is currently in place in the Lakeview community, which Fisher said is common practice.  

The DEQ does not install individual monitors at individual industrial sites, he said in response to residents’ claims that industrial emissions are the prime cause of Lakeview’s air quality issues.

Fisher also said that such sites as the biomass facility are permitted on the basis of the area in town in which they are zoned by the local land use committee.

The DEQ would also perform inspections every two years along with reviewing submitted reports by Iberdrola Renewables, who would be operating the plant under the name Lakeview Cogeneration, LLC.

Other concerns shared included the potential for hindrance of future economic development due to reduced airshed capacity.  Fisher said that the plant’s operation would not have any such impact locally.

opens Thursday, Sept. 2

Carnival action at the 91st annual Lake County Fair & Round-Up kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 2, at 5 p.m.

It’s that time of year again.

The air fills with the wafting aroma of varied tasty delectable treats as well as the irrepressible plinking tunes from the carnival midway, delighted screams periodically punctuate the night and considerable crowds seek out recreational refuge at the Lake County Fairgrounds.

Of course, such descriptions could only indicate the arrival of the 91st annual Lake County Fair & Round-Up weekend, which unites the county for several days of fun, fellowship and memory-making mayhem.

Interspersed throughout the weekend are weigh-in and showmanship sessions for 4-H and FFA participants, ultimately culminating with the annual livestock sale at noon on Saturday, Sept. 4.

Highlights throughout the weekend include this year’s Round-Up concert on Saturday, Sept. 4, at 6:30 p.m., with local band Missing Identity serving as the opening act.

Musical entertainment in the Re-Ride Room includes Catlin Martin and the Common Thread at 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 3, and Big Sage the evening of Saturday, Sept. 4.

On Sunday, the first day of the rodeo begins with grand entry at 1 p.m., while the Destruction Derby will commence at 6 p.m. See related story elsewhere in this edition.

The annual Round-Up parade will be held on Monday, Sept. 6, in downtown Lakeview, starting at 10 a.m.  

Parking permits are available for $3 for one day or $10 for four days.