We live on the Oregon Coast, around Cape Blanco, the westernmost spot in the continental United States.
The Oregonian. the state's newspaper, had an article yesterday about the children who attend the local schools here in Port Orford and Langlois. It talked about the poverty level of our school children being the worst in the state.
These are the stats; but stats only tell the obvious.
The not so obvious fact is that people here are resilient; they hunt, they fish, they grow food, they do odd jobs like cutting down trees, chopping them up for fire wood and picking mushrooms after each rain.
In schools, students don't talk about fashion and celebrities, but about their 4H project last summer that got their hog recognized and sold to the highest bidder The high school ag. program-yes-indeed-agriculture is still alive here-will be raising pigs this year, in addition to maintaining a green house for the elementary school garden, maintaining cranberry bogs, and providing gardening assistance to our seniors. The woodshop class just sold out all their wood projects, to locals and friends of locals. Adirondach chairs, pizza paddles and cutting board were sold out in no time, with orders coming in from as far south as Arizona. (Yes, the community is full of retirees with connections to other states.)
The digital media class just produced and sold a Farm-to-School Calendar highlighting local food sources, including seafood coop and farm coops with reminders of what to do in the garden each month.
For the last few weeks we have seen three different holiday bazaars with an array of products from hand made jewelry, jams and jelly, knits, mushroom-died silks, paintings and potted palms. I was able to pick up stuff for my grandchildren, stock up my pantry, and admire the craftmanship of so many people.
Most important at these events was the catching up with friends and neighbors, finding out who has company and who is convalescing. We exchanged news and tidbits; and we wished everyone a safe and dry winter. Some of us will be lucky enough to visit relatives in warmer climates for a while, while others will hunker-down and wait for spring.
