I’ve been thinking a lot lately about people. How different we are. How beautiful and broken and flawed we are. How stubborn yet patient, cruel yet kind, and gentle yet brutal we can be. In light of all the madness going on in the world right now, what can we really do to make it better? What can we do […]
It’s the beginning of March. It’s been cold. Usually wet. We’ve seen our share of rain. Even snow this year. The sky is dark and gray, gray, gray, and the days have been short. It’s the time of year best suited for curling up in front of the fire with a good book, making comfort food and hunkering down. Which […]
I’ve got to be honest with you. It’s been a hard year. From riding the highest highs of becoming a mother to the lowest lows as I held my brother’s hand as his marriage broke apart. From navigating the sleepless early days of parenthood, healing from birth and dealing with the various joys that come postpartum, to watching as our […]
There have been times in my life when I’ve felt utterly and entirely content. Like no matter how much or how little I had, it was enough. I woke up every morning with a word of gratitude on my lips. I went to bed every night thanking my lucky stars for another day on earth. Able to see my life […]
By Kali Ramey Martin Harvest widow. It sounds like a dramatic term but I’m guessing it feels pretty darn accurate for a lot of us around here these days. My first season as a harvest widow was hard, sure. I marathon-watched old episodes of Pioneer Woman before going to bed by myself, took dinner out to the field most nights […]
By Kali Ramey Martin One of the main reasons I like being a part of a small, rural community is knowing people who still work with their hands. People who own small or family-run businesses, who do the work themselves, who build things from scratch or grow food from seeds. The jobs are often far from glamorous, but for a […]
By Kali Ramey Martin I’ve learned a lot about myself in the last few years. I learned how to hold my own in the harsh, fast-paced, cutthroat environment of a fine-dining restaurant kitchen. Dealing with sexist, arrogant cooks and often a staff made up entirely of male co-workers. I learned how to break out on my own and start my […]
By Kali Ramey Martin I don’t watch the show Portlandia regularly, but when it first came out they released a song all about how Oregon is where the young people come to retire. The song pokes fun at young people who don’t have serious careers, who only work a couple hours at odd jobs here and there, and spend the […]
By Kali Ramey Martin Mike Roth has had bees in his family since the 1800s. His great-grandfather had more than 80 hives from 1894-96 in the Canby area. “I guess you could say I have bees in my blood,” Roth said. He developed his own love for bees when his dad kept them in the 1960s. “My dad quit before […]
By Kali Ramey Martin I wasted 25 years of my life thinking my grandfather was a jerk. I mean, the truth is, he really was kind of a jerk at times. He was moody and selfish and all I knew was that when he came around, we had to walk on eggshells. He was always upsetting my mom and as […]
By Kali Ramey Martin Sherry Hoefel is a wife, a mom and a grandma. She’s lived in Silverton most of her life, raised five kids and had a long career in software until a year and a half ago when she retired. Since then, she has filled her days with her two – soon to be three – grandchildren, gardening, […]
By Kali Ramey-Martin I’d love to claim that I came by fly-fishing honestly. That it was in my blood and I grew up in waders beside cold mountain streams, following along behind my grandpa as he pointed out insects and cast his line in secret fishing holes. What a legacy that would be! Unfortunately, both of my fly-fishing grandfathers passed […]
By Kali Ramey Martin Every year, my four best friends and I run away to a house at the beach for a weekend getaway. A retreat of sorts. We eat good food, stay up late, sleep in and wear our pajamas all day. We talk about everything from motherhood to politics, breastfeeding to fantasy football, raising kids to cleaning products. […]
By Kali Ramey Martin I feel hesitant to write this as I know, without a doubt, this community is stocked with seasoned farmers’ wives who’ve seen it all. I know I run the risk of saying something silly or naive, but I also know that when we made the decision to move out here and join the family farm, there […]
By Kali Ramey Martin The moment I found out I’d landed this gig as a small-town newspaper columnist, I knew I needed to consult the experts. I wracked my brain for who those experts might actually be and remembered suddenly that Laura Ingalls Wilder had spent many years writing articles for her local newspaper in Mansfield, Mo. To say I […]
By Kali Ramey Martin The face they make when they find out is always the same. A bit of surprise, a touch of skepticism and a moment of indecision. Do I take her seriously or dismiss her as a clueless enthusiast? That’s pretty much how it goes when people find out that this 28-year-old redheaded female with glasses is a […]
