The Yachats Gazette, Issue 81, June 6 2018

For a printable version of Issue 81, please click here

Interview with Adrian Beatty and
Vanessa Millard
of the Green Salmon

The interior of the Green Salmon

Adrian and Vanessa both work at the Green Salmon. Adrian is the current coffee roaster, and Vanessa is one of the baristas.

TYG: So, when was the Green Salmon founded?
Adrian: Thirteen years ago, the 7th of June. 

TYG: What was it named after?
Adrian: Green Salmon is named after the Green Dragon, a coffee house in Boston. Since we are in the middle of salmon nation, [they called it The Green Salmon. But it also has eco-friendly overtones.] The co-owner at the time, Dave, had random things like a wind-powered cash register.

TYG: I remember that! There were solar cells on that front deck, or something.
Adrian: Yep—this is before I even started working here.

TYG-Graphic Design: And he was trapping water in a barrel, wasn’t he?
Adrian: He was. He was catching rain water.
Vanessa: We still try to practice green.
Adrian: All the time. He was also roasting coffee either in the oven, or on the north end of the building, outside, in a homemade contraption.

TYG: That sounds dangerous!
Adrian: No, it was built the way it should have been—it’s just how we go from that to what we have now, our eight pound roaster.

TYG-GD: I sure remember when that eight pound roaster came in! “They’re taking room away from the dining! I can’t believe it!” [laughs] Oh, and it was that mess with the fencing, that was so industrial!
Adrian: So the fencing is there because of fire requirements. It’s kind of a pain in the butt, because being the roaster, all of my work is very condensed, and I have to pack every single time. It takes upwards of an hour to do all of that, plus the setup. Which is alright—it’s good for you.

TYG: What’s amazing to me is that you have all these sacks...
Adrian: But there’s a lot of space. You have about shoulder width between those and the pallets, where all the coffee’s strapped down. And the vents in the back also have a distance of at least a foot.

TYG-GD: So it’s all within fire regulations.
Adrian: Yes.

TYG: So how did you guys get involved?
Vanessa: I actually grew up here in Yachats, went to Waldport schools. Never actually got to come into the Green Salmon as a kid. I graduated from high school and moved away for a while, but I found myself back at home in Yachats. I was actually working at the Luna Sea across the street—I had the breakfast shift. [...] I’d actually been a barista for three years prior, and I thought, “You know, I’m going to go over there and get a cup of coffee.” [laughs] So I walked in, and... oh my gosh. So that’s how I came. I was just like, “I’ve got to be over here, back in the coffee life.” [to Adrian] How about you?
Adrian: So I came here looking for a job one day. I’d done mid-tray type serving...

TYG-GD: “Mid-tray”?
Adrian: Mid-tray is like your Mom and Pop establishments where your requirements are pretty relaxed but you still have some formality to it, and then you’ve got your family diner type status. There are more or less random tiers. Like I said before, I’ve done the “penguin” thing, nail checks every night, cuticle checks every night...

TYG-GD: That wasn’t here in Yachats was it?
Adrian: No, just really stupid stuff. I had an accident, and because of that accident I wasn’t able to do that kind of work any more, so I was looking for something that was a little more mellow, and there was a sign here in the window, and on the door, and on the other door, and in the other window, that said “hey, we’re looking for a barista.” I thought, “Well, I’ve worked in kitchens, that should be easy. I’m just making drinks, that should be super easy!” So I was making drinks for three days a week for the entire summer. Then it turned into a full time job, things happened, and changed, and new people came in like Vanessa, and I helped her get at least solid, and then she took off like a bat out of hell; her drinks are amazing, she’s always got amazing art. Then I started working up front, so, I’m not working in the back so much anymore. Dealing with people is a lot of fun. You get a lot of customers that come in with the same order every time, or they have a fixed set of options. One customer for example has six options, and based on what they drink and eat, there are six different options to choose from. Usually though, you can just feel it out and hit it on the dot every time.

TYG: Or it is like me, cookie and bagels every time.
Adrian: With cream cheese, right?

TYG: Yeah.
Vanessa: The two of us compete as well some times: “Oh what’s that lady’s name?” and “What does she get?”
Adrian: I try to remember everyone’s names, because I think that’s important: it makes people feel recognized and important when you come here, especially over and over again. Well, they are spending all this money to help pay us so that we can stay here and live here; but they are also spending money at a local business and helping it develop; and people really like it. They really like that fact. We have name games a lot of times, and I’ll just type in smiley faces, a lot of times just because I am drawing a blank, and [Vanessa] is always here and always says, “Oh, it’s so-and-so;” and it’s like, yeah that’s right! Or I’ll get it after I sent the ticket out and I just wait for her response and I think: “Bingo, we’re on it!” So, we have a lot of fun that way. I started roasting coffee because the coffee roaster at the time was changing jobs to drive a truck, and have a little more of a relaxing job where you’re not having to put in the nights, because [roasting] is a long process. And I’ve been doing that for three years.

TYG-GD: So can you take us through a night? What does a night of roasting look like?
Adrian: So, after you break down and clean the machine...

TYG-GD: Well what time do you start, first?
Adrian: Oh, so, in the summer time, I start at about 1:00 or 1:30 am. So I get up between 12:30 and 12:45 am. Sometimes I don’t get up till 1:00 am, and that’s just me being lazy. But I try to get about a five hour roast each time, because in that time I can go anywhere from 128 pounds to 140-something pounds, and I then bag it, and prepare for the next roast which is another five hours. So about two to three times a week I do a five hour roast. I spend about an extra hour the night before just because that way, you can come in groggy and get straight to work.

TYG: What time must you go to bed?
Adrian: Heh, so I typically sleep about three hours a night, sometimes four; again because of the accident. But, that’s all I get, so I just make use of that when I go to work; and I only go to work a few days a week, but I maximize the time that I’m at work by putting in about two shifts a day, three days a week.

TYG: [to TYG-GD] That’s like what you used to do.
TYG-GD: I know!
Adrian: And it’s fun, it’s a challenge.

TYG-GD: Do you blast the music or is the roaster too loud?
Adrian: Actually no, I have a kid’s Kindle Fire and a blue tooth speaker and so I watch movies. Sometimes I watch the Cheddar, or Newsy or CNN, just for background noise. And towards the end of my roast I am usually watching “Trevor Noah: The Daily Show,” or Oliver on “Last Week Tonight”...

TYG-GD: I only saw it once at my mom’s two weeks ago.
Adrian: It’s super amazing. And if I’m already caught up on all of those then I find a science documentary to watch. I kind of just play it by ear. Sometimes I watch history.

TYG-GD: Cool, yeah.
Adrian: Boring stuff, you know.

TYG-GD: Oh I don’t think so! [To Vanessa] Do you work more normal hours than all that?
Vanessa: Yeah, about 7:30 to 3:30, a little later in the summer time. 

TYG: Not so bad, then.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Adrian: Sometimes you just have to train yourself, and sometimes it is just a developed thing. You know, “Oh, I have to roast this much coffee, do I want to do it at the end of the day when I just got finished talking to close to a thousand people, answering questions and trying to think for other people, giving change in nickels, and just generally so burnt out?” I want to put good effort into my work, so sometimes, you just have to do that.
[Vanessa leaves to go pick up the phone]
Adrian: We do a lot of retail too, and a lot of our calls come in after hours, which is cool because a lot of times Deb’s here or I’m here, or Vanessa’s here. For example, today: We take phone orders for retail coffee, retail tea, lost and found. We keep a lost and found going for about 90 days, sometimes in the winter time we will keep it for a little bit longer. Sometimes people don’t correlate the fact that “Oh, I was here when I last had that...”

TYG-GD: So when you say retail coffee, what does that entail?
Adrian: So, for retail coffee, we sell it by the pound.

TYG-GD: So you actually sell your beans to other businesses?
Adrian: We sell it here and then we have wholesale accounts with Ona or Heceta Head Bed and Breakfast that feature our coffees; and they feature Colombian, and then they also have the same decaf that we have, which is Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. That is all Swiss water processed.
Vanessa: We also mail coffee all over the country, all the time.
Adrian: We do. We mail coffee all over the country, all over the place.
Vanessa: To people in Texas, Florida, New York...
Adrian: We actually have “coffee contracts” so to speak, where we are sending out coffee at a scheduled date every month.

TYG-GD: Oh, like Gevalia!
Adrian: Yeah, well I just sent this guy in Chicago like three pounds of the house coffee! He loves it and he keeps getting it. The first of every month is when he wants it shipped out.

TYG-GD: That’s awesome!
Adrian: Then I’ve got people in Texas, like Vanessa said. She gets the same thing: four pounds of dark Sumatra whole bean, every single month. Once in a while she makes a trip to Oregon, and then we get to see her, but other than that, four pounds of coffee.

TYG-GD: It’s like my family! Every time I go back [East], I buy stuff, and at Christmas...
TYG: Yes, usually some of our gifts are you guys’ coffee!
Adrian: Yes, your dad comes in and buys a lot...

TYG-GD: And you guys have a huge tea array, right?
Adrian: My gosh. We have so many teas... so many organic teas, I should say. We have high grade teas from China, Pu’ehr, anything, everything!

TYG-GD: Who does the shopping for that?
Adrian: Deb [Gisetto, the owner of Green Salmon.] She’s like the maestro.

TYG-GD: Is that her specialty?
Adrian: [laughs] I would say everything here is her specialty.
Vanessa: Yes, she’s the one who does the shopping for the whole store.
Adrian: She’s the visionary...
Vanessa: The backbone...
Adrian: The drive behind the force... and the inspiration.

TYG: Wow! Pretty impressive!
Adrian: Yes. So many crazy teas, and a lot of them we blend. Like the Silent Lucidity: that was a blend that she came up with.

TYG-GD: Do you have a lot of tea shoppers here?
Adrian: Oh my goodness. On an average week, we probably sell 83 or 84 pounds of tea a week.

TYG-GD: Still, less than the coffee.
Adrian: Still a lot. It takes a while to weigh out all the tea, and package it—to get it set up that way, it’s pretty time-consuming. There are some times when some people will just bring a basket and buy the entire basket.

TYG-GD: Do people browse the teas for medicinal purposes?
Adrian: All the time. A lot of the time we get asked about tummy aids, or at one point we had stuff for blood-enriching tonic—that was a tea blend we had. We get a lot for sleeping—the lavender/chamomile blend that we have. Digestion: we have the Chaga Chai; we have caffeine-free blends as well. [...] We also have the Persian Mint [Blend], which is like spearmint, peppermint, ginger, and dried orange. It’s super-amazing—that’s one of my favorite teas. And then there’s the cold and flu blend, which has...
Vanessa: Chamomile, elder flower, ginger, and spearmint.
Adrian: It’s really good iced.

TYG: So how has work been here? Everything going well with you guys?
Vanessa: Yeah! It’s really steady work. We always have a job.
Adrian: It’s getting way busier.
Vanessa: Yes, I feel like this was probably the busiest winter I’ve worked here. And I feel like every summer it just gets busier and busier. [...] We’re trying to keep up—if you know anybody who’s looking for a job... We’re hiring!

TYG-GD: How old should an applicant be?
Adrian: Well, we’re looking for someone to work the counter, for the moment, a couple or a few days a week. Since you don’t have to handle anything hot, but you have to be personable and quick, and able to tolerate all the satire that we throw at you [laughter] ... 16, 17, 18? Get a food handler’s card—that’s super-easy to get.

TYG-GD: So what’s the difference between the front and the back? I mean, I know you wash dishes back there...
Adrian: Okay, so front of the house is basically the counter—everything counter-side, menu-side, table-side. Anything that needs attention: tables wiped, water [filled]—that’s all “front of house.” And then you have the back, which incorporates the kitchen, and the barista area.
Vanessa: We’ll have a line out the door, and a line of tickets in the back, of things to make.
Adrian: And three years ago we started with this really neat point-of-sale system. And this point-of-sale system lets me scream through the line like nobody’s business. Partially because I designed [the implementation of] the interface, the menu parts and where everything is. So to me it’s mostly auto-pilot. But over the last couple of years, we’ve been changing it, and condensing it, and making it more refined so it’s a little more speedy. Because of that, we have this thing now where people who work up front are supposed to be a little more mindful about how many tickets they’re throwing in. So we kind of have this range where if there are so many tickets hanging on the kitchen side, [we have to] slow down just a few seconds, come out, wipe a few tables, take a bus tub back, do something, because in thirty seconds you can do a lot of things. You can make four drinks, you can set up plates for so many tickets, you can do this, that, or the other. But thirty seconds is an honest-to-god amazing breather sometimes. Having been on the barista side, and in the production of all that, thirty seconds is amazing when you’re just being hammered by tickets! But before, when we had the cash register, you had to know the PLU. And if you don’t have the PLUs memorized, you have to stop and look at the sheet, and it slows things down.

TYG: What is a PLU?
Adrian: It’s just like a little code.
Vanessa: For the old-school cash registers, where you have the little numbers on one side. [NB: PLU stands for “price look-up.”]
Adrian: And we’d use these as sub-headings for certain things, like if you have a small coffee, and you want room for cream, it was 313. You’d hit the PLU button, and then it would put that text onto the ticket. We’d have to print out two tickets; one would go to the kitchen, one to the barista area. Then we got this point-of-sale system. It took me a long time to set it up, between roasting coffee and whatever. The longest part of it was programming the menu and going from the PLU sheet. I just threw everything in there, and over the last few years I’ve been working through this and weeding things out that we don’t use anymore, don’t serve, don’t have. This year I just decided that it was time for a change. It’s been two and a half months that I’ve mapped out all the mocha drinks, the coffee drinks, lattes...
Vanessa: Right. It’s going to make this summer with a line out the door way easier.
Adrian: Condensing the menu, like [going] from two or three scrolls on an iPad to one and a half. It’s a huge endeavor, but it’s necessary, because we’re just getting too busy. I think that it will make it easier, especially for new people coming in, to be able to identify what they see; it’s just simple.

TYG: I’m guessing the way it works now is that it’s a basic touchscreen with info on each one of the panels.
Vanessa: Yep.
Adrian: Yes. Everything has a “button,” if you want to think of it like that, and within that button, there’s a little pop-out, and it gives you a list of options. [...]

TYG: Especially because your menu is huge, so there are plenty of options!
Adrian: And it expands, too! And it’s always changing. And because it’s always changing, you have to take things into account. For example, I’ve never had anybody ask for an ALT [avocado, lettuce, and tomato] with eggs on it until two months ago. So that gets me thinking: why not have that as an option? Because I’m bound to get that again. I have another gal who comes in, and she gets a Caesar salad with no cheese—but she gets scrambled eggs on top of it, with half of an avocado. 

TYG: You guys are so cool to offer all of that.
Vanessa: I’ve never worked at a place where the menu is so flexible. And I’ve had a dozen different jobs. This is the only place where we’re like, “Yes, I guess we can do that!” [...]

TYG: So how has the Salmon changed over the years?
Adrian: So, [starting] a few years back, Deb has incorporated more vegan pastry options into the line-up of fresh-baked goods.
Vanessa: Yes, more vegan pastries, and the food line-up is almost all vegan and vegetarian, which is different from when I started four years ago.
Adrian: Yeah, we used to have the New Yorker, which was a turkey pastrami and Swiss.
Vanessa: Tuna, turkey sausage, kielbasa—I’d say that’s the biggest thing. And I’d also say that it’s made taking orders a lot easier, because the menu’s a lot more comprehensive, I guess. It’s pretty straight-forward and vegetarian.
Adrian: A lot of people do get tripped up on our “chicken,” and they don’t understand that there’s an asterisk [...] that says it’s Gardein brand veggie chicken.
Vanessa: There’s no real meat for lunch anymore, so that’s why as a cashier it’s been easier to explain.
Adrian: We do have the cold smoked salmon, though. People do [ask] for it on salads or on ALTs once in a while. That comes out of Eugene, from the Eugene Lox Company, I believe. Our tea, latte, and cocoa menu has also changed over the years. A lot of drinks that were around in the beginning that were just really long to [make] have either evolved, or been replaced by amazing alternatives. Now we’re also incorporating more alternative milks into the base of the drink, instead of just letting people order it with cow’s milk [as a default]. But you can’t get a Coconut Crack-Out without coconut milk! A Café Oregonian is not going to be a Café Oregonian if you get it with hemp milk! That would be just a café au lait with hemp milk. So our cocoa menu has hemp milk, rice milk; tea lattes have rice milk, oat milk; oat milk is earthy and sweet, so it tends to provide a good complement to what is going on with the cocoa. Like a SuperShroom Cocoa: if you don’t specify the milk, they’re automatically going to make it with oat milk: it brings out the flavors, and it’s a complement between the hand-mixed Ecuadorian chocolate and the mushrooms and the oat milk.

TYG: How do you make oat milk?
Vanessa: Squeeze the oat real hard! [laughter]
Adrian: If you make oatmeal with just water, it’s a similar process. Or if you look up how to make almond milk or cashew milk, it’s the same thing.

TYG: Okay, so it’s pressed, and add water, then. Soy milk, I think, is actually using fluid from inside, not just ground.
Adrian: Well, some of it is also that you saturate it overnight for 24 hours, so then it’s drawing flavor and properties out of [the ingredient] and then strained with cheesecloth. It’s pretty cool.

TYG: So where do you see the Green Salmon in five years’ time?
Adrian: Being amazing, being a voice in promoting world causes, like bat conservation; and things like Oregon Wild.
Vanessa: Yes, Deb’s been donating a lot of money to things like that.
Adrian: The Farm Sanctuary, things that are opening up the minds of other people. We have [books] like What the Health, and Forks Over Knives, and Cowspiracy. Just trying to show people that there’s a different way of going about your daily life. You don’t have to put this huge carbon footprint out, and you can be more mindful of what you’re doing, whether it’s not helping to sustain a puppy mill, for example, or helping other farm animals instead of just having them be put down. Why not put them in a place where they can just live out their days, just doing their thing like Nature intended them to do?

TYG-GD: So, still being very green.
Adrian: Green, more sustainable, promoting healthy alternative ways of eating instead of just your fast food normal. We don’t serve anything here that’s fried.
Vanessa: We don’t have a microwave.
Adrian: So none of our pastries are going to be nuked—they’ll just be put back in the oven and gently warmed.
Vanessa: We also have the website that we’re working on, and that’s going to be huge for the Salmon. We’ll be selling coffee and tea online, retail. That’s going to be huge in the next year or so. [http://www.thegreensalmon.com/]

TYG-GD: Is that with Lisa Gray?
Adrian: Yes, Lisa Gray. And she is pretty darn close to finalizing that project. Fingers crossed, we’re going to be going live close to, or at, our thirteenth anniversary.

TYG-GD: Remind us when that is?
Adrian: That’ll be the seventh of June.

TYG-GD: Are there any plans for that?
Adrian: Uhm... [laughs] Other than being amazing or awesome?
Vanessa: [laughing] Maybe a drink special...
Adrian: We can’t quite tell people, that would be just giving it away.

TYG-GD: Oh! [laughs] Would you briefly like to mention some other things that the Green Salmon is involved in after hours?
Adrian: Yes! We do open mike every third Sunday. I believe it’s at 7 PM. Sometimes we have random things happening in our parking lot, but those are never really planned, they just kind of happen.

TYG-GD: I do remember, with a certain fondness, the Community Thanksgiving that used to be here.
Vanessa: We’ve done one the last couple of years. And we’ll also do art projects.

TYG-GD: Oh, yes! And Deb is the artist, right? Who does all the drawings [on the T-shirts and coffee labels]?
Adrian: Yes, she does all the drawings, like for our new CBD menu, we have this amazing little snail, with all kinds of beautiful information.

TYG-GD: Did you want to talk about that menu?
Adrian: It is taking off like a rocket. It is crazy. We have this CBD oil that’s grown in Oregon, processed in Oregon, and sold in Oregon, called Oregon Fusion. It’s a hemp CBD oil.

TYG-GD: And CBD stands for cannabidiol, right?
Adrian: Yes. You’re not going to get stoned, you’re not going to be macraméd into your couch, and having forty, fifty munchies in your pocket. [CBD] is the more beneficial and therapeutic side of [marijuana]. It’s calming, it gives you less anxiety and less stress. It also helps for relieving tension. Some studies have put it at helping fighting certain types of cancer, or keeping certain types of cancer at bay, taken in high doses. There are all kinds of benefits [for] arthritis, just... everything. And it’s not an opioid. It lines [up] with a system that’s already in your body, which is an endocannabinoid system. There are receptors in your brain that are built-in for this, whereas if you take opiates, within roughly eight days your brain is transformed, because you’ve been taking these opiates. They can be soft opiates too—what they call the exotics—dilaudid and things like that. But they just wreck you. At least with this, you can function. You’re going to be in better spirits because you’re feeling less miserable, less achy, you’re not going to be doing this [pops various joints] all day long. [...] The drinks are all measured out; we purchase specially-designed droppers that have the milligrams actually labeled out.

TYG: To ensure the right dosage happens, and that there’s no addiction?
Adrian: Well, this is not habit-forming—that’s the thing. There is nothing about [CBD] that is habit-forming. You’re not going to go to your aunt’s house and take her stereo and put it in a pawn shop to pay for this, because it’s not like that. In terms of a youngster like you, think of it more in terms of being a super-aspirin without the damage to the liver or to the stomach lining that aspirin tends to do. You can take a lot of CBD, and all that you’re going to feel is more relaxed, you might sleep better; stress levels, anxiety [improve]; sometimes [you get] just a little bit more focus if you’ve had it with a caffeinated beverage. [Our] French Press and Get Toasted are really good. You can also get it in any other beverage. You can get a dab of CBD in your cocoa.

TYG-GD: Is there an age limit for this? Is it federally regulated at all?
Adrian: So, it meets the federal requirement of [less than] 0.3% of total THC. You can’t be higher than that. And you would have to consume the entire [500 milligram] bottle to get the amount of THC that’s contained in [the equivalent of what you would get by] going to the local dispensary, spending $18 to $22 with tax, on five milligram edibles, and just eating a bunch of those. But you’re not going to get stoned—that’s the thing. There are so many CBD’s in this that it negates that whole effect and doesn’t allow for that limited amount of THC to actually bother you. You’re not going to get high. [...] I probably spend about an hour each day explaining this to people. [...]
Vanessa: My mom likes it. She has arthritis and high blood pressure, and it helps for both. Good stuff!
Adrian: As far as age, because it is just hemp, and because it’s made from the whole plant, [I don’t think there are any restrictions.]

TYG-GD: Does hemp milk contain any CBDs?
Adrian: I think that’s from the seeds, and I think that you’d have to consume quite a bit or have it really highly processed. The hemp milk that we have does not contain any CBDs.

TYG: Are you okay to drive [with CBDs]?
Adrian: Again, it’s like taking a super-aspirin. It’s not like marijuana. [...] We do actually get quite a few of our locals that come in on a regular basis, and they get it added to every drink. We also have quite a few of our locals that are elderly, and not only do they get the drinks, but they’ve also purchased the bottle or have inquired about more information to help make a better assessment as to how they want to incorporate it into their daily life.

TYG-GD: Do you get any parents with small kids who worry about it?
Adrian: I’ve actually had two parents that have asked me about it, and I usually keep my phone handy so I can just blast out with my phone and give people a quick look, because again, there’s no THC, so you’re not getting any psychoactives, and it should be very much kid-friendly.

TYG-GD: Well, I just wondered if they were worried there was residue in the coffee cups or something.
Adrian: Nope!
Vanessa: Actually, I had a lady come in a few weeks ago, who was saying that her friend’s son had ADHD, and he hated his medication while he was in school. But in the summertime, his mother would give him just a little cup of coffee in the morning, and it would work better than his medication. [...]

TYG: [CBD oil] doesn’t change your personality at all, either?
Adrian: Nope! Not at all. Doesn’t make you any different, it’s not like consuming two or three mixed beverages, or smoking a joint, or ingesting a marijuana edible, or taking oxycodone or things like that. Those things will impact your behavior or your mood.

TYG: All good stuff to know!
TYG-GD: Anything else you wanted to tell our readers?
Adrian: Let’s see—we have over 18 countries in coffee!
Vanessa: Coffees from all over the world, always organic, always fair trade, always home-roasted.
Adrian: Our Congo [coffee] does come from a women’s co-op.

TYG: Well thank you so much for sitting with us!
Vanessa: Thank you so much for having us.

Yachats Events of Note:

WHAT: An Art Show

              “BEing in Nature”

              featuring new works

              by local artists

WHO: Jay Chambers & Eileen Lighthawk

WHEN: June 23rd & 24th

               Meet the artists

               Saturday and Sunday

               Noon to 3

WHERE: Toad Hall

                  237 West 3 rd Street

                  Yachats

WHY: Because Art is Fun!

             Enjoy an array of inspired small works in several mediums.

             Contact: Jay or Eileen at 541-547-4833

             Or email: jayvchambers@gmail.com

Yoga Classes with Altruh Dominion 
Classes are offered at the Commons in Yachats (either in the Gym or in Room 8. Please call Altruh at 541-547-4138 for more information.

Therapeutic Yoga -

Tuesdays - GYM - 9:30-11am and Fridays - GYM - 8:00- 9:30am

  

Bikram-Ease -

Tuesdays - Room 8 - 4:15-6pm

Vinyasa Flow (Beg-Intermed)

Thursdays - Room 8 - 3:00- 4:30pm

The Yachats Gazette, November 30 2012

Interview with Dr. Stacey Harper

The Yachats Gazette attended a lecture on Nanotechnology by Dr. Harper in October, and was invited to tour her lab at Oregon State University. This is the first part of two installments.

TYG: What is your personal background?
Dr. Harper: So my personal background: I actually was trained as a comparative physiologist. […] I looked at different organisms and studied their physiology, how their bodies work, and how they deal with different stressors in the environment. […] I studied things like: Some animals can live with very very little oxygen, and those same animals can live with lots of oxygen, and they do fine either way. So [what interested me was]: how do they do that? So I studied that for a long time. And then, I got a job with the Environmental Protection Agency, and in that job I did some computer modeling, to try and figure out how to group chemicals based on their structure, to try and predict what they’re going to do and where they’re going to go in their environment. So after two years at the EPA, I realized that I like toxicology a lot, because it’s kind of a mixture of a whole bunch of different fields.

TYG: Yeah, physiology and anatomy all wrapped up in one, because it affects how they work, and it travels through the structures.
Dr. Harper: Exactly. And it’s what happens when something goes wrong and that was really interesting to me. Before I left the EPA, I knew that nanomaterials were going to be something that the EPA were going to be tasked to deal with, but they didn’t have the science or the knowledge to address these newly emerging materials. So that’s why I focused on that when I got to [Oregon State University]. And then, I just stayed! [laughter]

TYG: I remember one time, I was watching, I think, a video by David Attenborough—he’s a very good British BBC reporter—and he was talking about a fish that could breathe air! I forget what it’s called […]. It goes into the reefs in the Caribbean Sea, and it can pursue the mangroves because, when the water starts to run out of oxygen, it can simply go up to the surface and breathe. […] It’s really weird to see fish doing that.
Dr. Harper: Yeah. The little shrimp that I studied looking at the effects of oxygen on them, and how…

TYG: Brine shrimp maybe?
Dr. Harper: No, these are called tadpole shrimp. They’re a cousin to the brine shrimp. But they’ve had the same body structure for the last 180 million years. They’re considered living fossils. […] But I thought their behavior would change, when the oxygen in the water changed, kind of like the fish that go up. But they didn’t do that. They actually have—you know how we have hemoglobin that transports the oxygen through us? We have four sub-units of hemoglobin—they have 29! And, they can mix and match them depending what type of environment they’re in, to make it either grab the oxygen more, or grab it less. So it was really cool, yeah. That was the last thing I looked at.

TYG: What experiments is your team currently running?
Dr. Harper: Let’s wait for that one until we walk through the lab, because I can give you a tour of the lab and I’ll show you all of the different studies we have going on.

TYG: What are the nanomaterials you’re currently testing for oxidation properties? […]
Dr. Harper: So, some of the materials that we’ve tested, and what we’re trying to do in that project, is develop an assay that could allow us to assess the materials for their oxidative potential. […] You can predict then, hopefully, when they go into living systems if they’re going to cause things like oxidative stress, which is a disruption of the oxidative balance in your cells, and your cells are not happy when that happens. […]

TYG: Why is cellulose related to nanoparticles? I mean, I thought it was like a biological material. 
Dr. Harper: It is, but, remember how we define nanomaterials? […] The nano-crystalline cellulose is the basic building block of cellulose, but it’s within that size range. Do you remember the size range [that defines what concerns nanotechnology]?

TYG: 100 to 1 nanometers. 
Dr. Harper: Right! And so if they’re within that range, they’re considered nanoparticles. […] There are a couple of different reasons that we look at nano-crystalline cellulose. One is because they’re going to be a really important nanomaterial for a variety of applications: for building new materials, for strengthening things, for additives to concrete to make it more pliable so it doesn’t break. […] So it’s an important materials class that just hasn’t been studied. That’s one reason why we liked it. But we also liked it because we didn’t think that it was going to be toxic, and so we have a lot of different nanomaterials that we look at it, we think that this surface chemistry, when you stick it on a particle makes it more toxic. So what we wanted to do is to use the nano-crystalline cellulose to test this hypothesis correctly. […]

TYG: Why are zebrafish so important to scientific research? 
Dr. Harper: Ahh. Many many reasons. So they have a lot of investigative tools associated with them, because they’ve long been long been used for developmental biology studies. […] They start with one cell, and within 24 hours they have almost all of their organs formed […] and by five days everything’s fully formed and developed.

TYG: That’s incredible. So you mean these things mature within five days?
Dr. Harper: Yep, and they look just like little, miniature fish.

TYG Ed. Asst.: Speeds up your experiment that way!
Dr. Harper: It does! So it’s rapid throughput, and we can do our exposures in cell culture plates—they’re called 96-well plates—and we can stick one embryo per well so we don’t have to use much nanomaterial, which is important, because you can’t buy big bags of nanomaterials [laughter]; you usually get very little quantities. So they’re very valuable that way. […] And we expose them very early in development because during that early life stage all of the signaling that your cells are going to do for your entire life, all of the genetic molecular signaling that’s going to happen, is both active and necessary for normal development to occur. So if you want to see if this nanoparticle impacts any of the signaling of those signaling pathways, that’s the time to do it.

TYG: I’m just wondering how long these fish live?
Dr. Harper: They sexually mature at 60 days, and they can live for up to 2-3 years. So you can do generational studies if you want to. […]

TYG: […] So that means in fish years, these fish live to about 200 years old! That’s incredible… So I bet they have a lot of babies.
Dr. Harper: They do. They have thousands of babies.

TYG: And they don’t have to do them very fast, because they have such long lifetimes, comparatively.
Dr. Harper: Yep, and they can have babies every single day. So they can lay thousands of eggs every day.

TYG Ed. Asst.: Can I ask a question? What are some of the advantages of dealing with zebrafish as opposed to another well-studied organism; say, Drosophila or E. coli? 
Dr. Harper: Zebrafish are vertebrates, so that gives us a huge advantage. […] And the molecular make-up, the physiology, the cellular anatomy are very similar between zebrafish and humans, mostly because they’re vertebrates. Fruit flies are not. So they have some genes in common, but the zebrafish have way more. I think like 80% of the genes are virtually the same, or have the same type of gene in humans. So when you hit one of those signaling pathways, and you see some kind of malformation comes from that, you can go back and see what signaling molecular pathway did that hit, and do the humans share that pathway, because then it would be a concern for humans. […]

TYG: What is a “Nanomaterial-Biological Interactions Knowledgebase”?
Dr. Harper: Ahh, OK. So, all of this data—so, we’re collecting data in these embryos, right? And we look at 23 to 30 different endpoints to evaluate; so we look at all their malformations, study their behavior, and their development. And, so with all of that information, and with the complexity of just trying to describe a nanomaterial, we had to move to some kind of database/informatics-type system, because my little brain wasn’t able to make the connections. We needed to be able to use some computational tools and some intense mathematics that I can’t do myself. […] But that knowledgebase, we have it as a public resource, so that people in the nanoscience community can look at that and looking at some of the materials that they’re planning on making something out of, and see how toxic they are compared to other materials. […] But with the academic teams that we partner with, and faculty around here that synthesize nanomaterials, we make that publicly available immediately.

TYG: Let’s go into the lab!

[To be continued]

Interview with Richard Sharpless

The Yachats Gazette spoke with Richard Sharpless.

TYG: Where are you from?
Richard: San Gabriel, California.

TYG: Another Californian!
Richard: Well, I haven’t lived in California since 1969. [chuckles]

TYG: When and how and why did you come to Yachats?
Richard: When I was in college, my friend’s aunt had a place on Salmon Street […] and we used to come here, so I knew about Yachats. My mom moved to Yachats, and then she had problems; she was getting old and she needed someone to take care of her, so… I was living in Nashville at the time, and I came out to take care of her.

TYG: I see. What is your background in music?
Richard: Well, let’s see—I used to play accordion. That’s why I know so many polkas.

TYG: So many what?!
Richard: Polkas. It’s oom-pah-pah music. And when I moved to Oregon, I picked up the guitar, and used to carry around a guitar with me wherever I went. And some people thought I was really obnoxious by doing that.

TYG: Obnoxious? Why?!
Richard: Because, when somebody doesn’t know how to play an instrument very well, and they start playing it, it sounds like static. [laughter]

TYG: How many guitars do you have, and what are some of your favorites?
Richard: Uh, five guitars, and each one has a different function…. I’ve got an electric guitar that’s kind of a jazz guitar […] The one I play [at The Drift Inn] is my Martin—and it’s the cheapest Martin they make, it’s a no-big-deal Martin….

TYG: What’s a Martin?
Richard: Martin is a company that’s been around since the early 1800s, and makes guitars. Oh, and then I’ve got an Alvarez-Yairi, which is another guitar similar to the Martin, and it’s a nice guitar in itself. And then I’ve got a resonator guitar, that metal one that I play… and I really like that one too. And two ukuleles.

TYG: [laughter] Do you ever play those out and about?
Richard: Sometimes when I’m with The Bad Weeds, I do…. They’re fun instruments, and they’re really portable. When I was going back and forth to Florence, for a friend of mine, I’d keep a ukulele in the car, and when I’d get stopped with traffic in the construction and stuff, I’d be sitting there playing my ukulele while everybody was getting mad. [laughter]

TYG: Do you play any other instruments, besides the guitar and the ukuleles? Do you still play the accordion?
Richard: Yeah, I play the accordion every once in a while, but I’ve got these long nails that make it really hard to work on the keyboard. I used to play synthesizer….

TYG: What’s a synthesizer?
Richard: It’s an electronic keyboard that has all these different sounds….

TYG: When and where do you usually play?
Richard: Wherever I can. I play at parties, I play at events, I play at the Drift Inn, I just recently played at Ona, I play at the Green Salmon…. And if somebody wants me to play in other places, then I’ll play there too.

TYG: I see. What songs do you usually play at each place, and how do you choose what songs to play?
Richard: I don’t. [laughter] I know a lot of songs… and when I play at the Green Salmon, I have to play songs that I’ve got memorized. When I play at the Drift Inn, I’ll have music in front of me, and I’ll play different things. I know hundreds of songs.…

TYG: Wow….
Richard: Well… that’s what I do. That’s my thang.

TYG: Why do you do what you do?
Richard: Because I can’t do anything else! I can’t repair cars, I can’t build a building, I can’t be a guard, I’m not real good with dogs…. I have a cat; it beats me up all the time.

TYG: Dogs don’t usually beat you up.
Richard: No, no… I mean, I’m good with other people’s dogs, but having a dog of my own—that’s too much responsibility for me.

Interview with Rod Smith

The Yachats Gazette spoke with Rod Smith.

TYG: Where are you from?
Rod: I grew up in California and Colorado. I moved to Yachats after I got out of the Coast Guard in 1981. The Friday the 13th storm was my moving day.

TYG: How and why did you come to Yachats?
Rod: I found Yachats on a motorcycle trip while I was still in the Coast Guard. I had two years left to serve. My folks were looking for a new place to live, so I sent them up here to look, and they liked Yachats, so they moved here, and they opened Captain Nemo’s crab and fish stand, which used to sit where the whale’s tail park is now. My brother, who moved them up, he decided that he wasn’t living there anymore, so he moved up… and he started working at a fish plant. Now he works for the PUD; he lives in Waldport. I finally got to come up here after two years, and that was 1981, … Why did I come to Yachats? Hm…. I’d traveled all over the country on foot, 48 states—and this is the best spot.

TYG: What time of year do you do most of your tree work?
Rod: Different kinds of tree work need to be done at different times of year. We do a lot of our storm-proofing of trees in the fall. We have a lot of damage usually during the wintertime, with weather events. But also, springtime is a big time for all of our orchard work. We go trim people’s orchards and apple trees.

TYG: What’s your best time for trimming trees at private houses?
Rod: Anytime. Anytime is a good time to get a tree away from your house.

TYG: What is your background in tree work?
Rod: I started out working on the power lines, for a private contractor that worked for the PUD [Public Utilities District]. And we trimmed trees over electric [lines]. I was mostly a chipper stuffer then. And then I worked as a private tree worker for many years, and then I became an instructor, and a certified arborist about ten years ago. And I taught at the Job Corps—I started the arboriculture program at Angell Job Corps… and we had four national championship teams there.

TYG [Ed. Asst.]: How does one judge a champion arborist?
Rod: We have jamborees. And the different aspects of tree trimming and tree climbing and safety are all involved. And there are certain events, just like in the Olympics. Like, speed climbing—how fast can you climb a forty-foot rope. And throw-bag, seeing how accurately can you hit with your string and your throw-pouch. There’s an aerial rescue drill, where they have a dummy that’s in a tree, and you have to climb up to the dummy, rescue him, and bring him to the ground safely….

TYG: Isn’t that more of a firefighter’s work?
Rod: Firefighters can’t go where tree climbers go. Their ladders won’t reach, and they don’t have the trucks and equipment. Usually a tree climber is who rescues a tree climber. An ambulance driver or fireman is not going to go a hundred feet up a tree.

TYG: What is your background in working with dogs?
Rod: Oh, I always had dogs when I was a kid. I worked at a dog academy in California, where they taught guard dogs. I was mostly not a trainer then; I was mostly the target.

TYG: Why do you like animals so much?
Rod: I just have a natural affinity for ‘em. They just naturally understand me. I don’t know—that’s a hard question to think about. Hm.

TYG: What other projects are you currently working on?
Rod: Well, I’m trying to set up a Yachats-based security service. It’s going to be called Yachats Executive Security. We’ll be doing homes and business in the area.

TYG: I’m glad that we’ll finally have a sort of […] mini-police department in Yachats.
Rod: Oh, we won’t be the police department; we’ll be a private security firm. […] It takes the sheriff and the security services that are already operating in Yachats a long time to get down here.

TYG: Why do you do what you do?
Rod: I always like new and interesting challenges, and I don’t like doing things that other people do.

The Yachats Gazette, Friday October 21, Issue 3

FEATURE INTERVIEW: MARLA GILLHAM

In honor of the Yachats Mushroom Festival October 21-23, The Yachats Gazette spoke with local resident Marla Gillham, one of the Festival’s founders.

TYG: What got you interested in mushrooms?

Marla: When I was nine years old, my family spent part of our summer vacation in the small, mountain town of Igls (pronounced “eagles”), Austria. My mother had grown up 185 miles away in Regensburg (translation: “Rain town”), Germany, and had known the edible   mushrooms of the region very well. All five of us kids were to look for “pfefferling” (translation: “little peppery things”—known in Oregon as chanterelles). Figuring out where the next mushroom would be was so much fun for me that it seemed like the ‘shrooms were singing to me “over here… over here….” I found more mushrooms that day than my entire family!! This is my first memory of understanding the concept of “habitat.” I was hooked!!

TYG: What brought you to Yachats?

Marla: I had been coming to Yachats for over 20 years. I knew it was a great place to be close to nature. I wanted to walk the trails and beaches and maintain my health to the greatest extent possible. I hoped I would also find it to be a community that would support my desire to heal spiritually.

TYG: How did the first mushroom festival get started?

Marla: I wasn't one of the very earliest people conceptualizing the festival.  I joined the effort at the first planning meeting.  On August 9, 2000, Bev Wilson sent a second email to all members of the Yachats Chamber of Commerce, regarding this meeting.  Melitta Marshall of Oregon House forwarded this second announcement to me.  That announcement listed the ideas under consideration, at that time, as including:

• A pasta feed to benefit the Yachats Health Clinic;
• Fall fashion show;
• A mushroom "trail" between the Commons and the Lions' Hall;
• Presenters from the Extension Service (mushroom preservation, business development), Forest Service (permits, harvesting), local mycological society, Yachats mushroom growers and gatherers.  Videos, mushroom display and identification, and a possible hike with Bruce Waugh.

I was glad to see that the planning committee was at least interested in some aspect of information-sharing…  I was already thinking wayyyy beyond this extremely general level.  But then, I am a forest ecologist and educator who had hiked the trails of the area for over 20 years and who loved collecting and consuming all edible wild foods, including the abundant mushrooms of the region.  AND it just so happened that a bunch of my friends and colleagues at/from OSU were mycologists…  I got online and searched all over the web for mushroom festivals with a true educational program.  One where scientists interacted with the general public; something scientists are often criticized for not doing enough… but then, there are very few venues that support a "science for the people" approach.

• Farmers Market at the Lions' Hall with a beer and wine garden;
• Concession booth for food/other products;
• Gourmet mushroom chefs involved;
• Music ongoing with local talent;
• Chalk drawings on street;
• Impromptu Parade;
• Restaurant mushroom cook-off.

(Source: Email from Bev Wilson to area members of the Yachats Chamber of Commerce, Date Aug. 9, 2000 20:39, Subject: Village Mushroom Festival Planning Meeting-2^nd announcement)

At the planning meeting, the first Fest was set for October 20 & 21, 2000.  Present at this first meeting were

• festival co-chair Kathy Plunk (now Smith), (Yachats Inn) who kept the meetings running smoothly, and
• co-chair John Ullman (Bonaventura Catering) who organized a fundraiser dinner for the Health Clinic. 

Other community members present at the first planning meeting included

• Caroline Bauman who volunteered the Polka Dots to be the entertainment for the fundraiser and who organized the music segment of the festival;
• Shawn Ferrell coordinated events at the Lion's Hall; 
• Bev Wilson handled Youth Activities and festival communications (e.g. press releases);
• Yachats Mayor Paul Plunk coordinated needs with the City of Yachats and
• Myself.  I offered to create a forest ecology / mycology educational program with mushroom walks, talks and displays.

Community members who were not at this meeting, but who had expressed an interest in participating included

• Susan Garner coordinated events in the Commons;
• Freda Halloran of the Lincoln County Mycological Society expressed an interest in "participating" in displays, talks, and demonstrations.

Possible Festival "events" suggested at the first planning meeting were

• Friday, 20 October
• Fundraiser dinner for the Yachats Community Health Clinic;
• First annual "Fungi Fashion Show" or "FunGuys and FunGals Fashion Fabulanza";
• crowning of Queen Chantrella or this year's Fungus King and Queen;

• Saturday, 21 October
• A breakfast to recognize the Commons volunteers;
• Educational walks with ecologists and mycologists at Cape Perpetua (suggested and organized by me);
• A van to shuttle people from the Commons to the Cape;
• Talks and demonstrations on mushrooms/mycology/ecology given by mycologists (GILLHAM:  suggested and organized by me), Forest Service personnel, extension service, local harvesters, commercial growers, etc.;
• Sell books;
• "Make your own mushroom dish" booth;
• purchase wild mushrooms from local pickers;
• kids activities --  sidewalk chalk art, parade, a "mushroom trail";
• bonfire.

(Source:  Email from Kathy Plunk to attendees of the first planning meeting, 23 August 2000, 12:19,  Subject:  Village Mushroom Festival, minutes of 14 August 2000 planning meeting  Bev Wilson, John Ullman, Shawn Ferrell, Caroline Bauman, Paul Plunk, Marla Gillham, and ? Susan Garner ?)

TYG: What changes have you seen in the mushroom festival over the years?

Marla: Seems like it gets bigger every year.  I hope it is remaining high quality.  Although I have contributed in substantial and meaningful ways in the last two years (2009 and 2010), it has physically become much more difficult for me to attend the festival as Parkinson's disease progresses. Most of all, I hope people are being safe, responsible, and ethical when collecting, and ALWAYS HAVING FUN!

TYG: Do you have a favorite mushroom?

Marla: ABSOLUTELY!  For me, the best edible fungal, fruiting body (aka mushroom)  is the matsutake  (Tricholoma magnivelare)! For sheer otherworldliness, I would have to say the very beautiful Fomitopsis cajanderi. And for its contribution to all our lives, because of its importance in conferring resilience (hence productivity) on old-growth forests, without a doubt my favorite fungus is Lobaria. Lobaria forms a symbiotic association with Nostoc, a cyanobacterium capable of "fixing" an excess (i.e. beyond its own needs) of 5 kg/hectare/year of biologically "inert" (unusable) atmospheric nitrogen.  "Nitrogen fixation" is how nitrogen is converted into bioavailable form.  Five kg/hectare/year is exactly the quantity of nitrogen needed by the old-growth forest to grow and be healthy.  Shortening a long explanation…  the huge amount of CO₂ stored in forest soils depends greatly on Lobaria, which protects Nostoc and gives it a great place to live -- the canopy of old-growth trees.

 1 Tricholoma magnivelare (c) Ryane Snow             

  2 Lobaria pulmonaria (c) Bernd Haynold              

Interview: Heidi Travaglio of Heidi’s Homemade Food

TYG: So what’s going on with the shop?

Heidi: Well, we have a new member of our team. His name is Cliff Butler, and he’s originally from New York, but he’s lived a long, long time in Oregon. He’s our dinner chef now, and we’re collaborating on recipes and techniques. It’s very exciting that Cliff is cooking, because I get to do more with pastry, which was my first restaurant job in Yachats, in 1988!

TYG: Is that when you came to Yachats?

Heidi: Yes, in 1988—I started working at La Serre restaurant, which was a 30-year family business, down the street on Beach Street. One of the special places.

TYG: What brought you to Yachats?

Heidi: [laughs] Uh, finished with college, and no idea what to do.  I knew some people here, and I came to visit them, and then I moved into a little trailer out in the woods by myself. At the end of the summer of ‘88 I moved onto Second Street, right behind the fire hall, and that was fun.

TYG: When did you open this restaurant?

Heidi: Ten years ago, actually! This is my tenth year in business here! We never had a party....

TYG: It’s not too late!

Heidi: It’s not!

TYG: Let’s talk about the big fire.

Heidi: The fire was three years ago this month—October 19, 2008. There was a devastating electrical fire in the ceiling, and everything was burned inside except the floor, which actually had burn marks, but my landlord did an awesome job sanding the floor. All the interior is new, and we’re already talking about a new color scheme....

TYG: Any architectural changes? Because I see an area clear of boards on the floor there....

Heidi: That’s a very good observation. These are old mill workers’ cottages from the 1920s, and then they were used as vacation rentals, and it’s been many different retail incarnations over the years, even since I’ve lived here. It used to be a place called the Hair Hut. This was also the original home of In Sheep’s Clothing gifts and video. [That area of the floor] is concrete because that’s where the fireplace was. That was a river rock fireplace, really pretty.

TYG: How’s the shop going business-wise?

Heidi: Very well. We actually decided this summer, after some other staff changes, to eliminate serving lunch. It makes my day easier. And there are lots of other choices for people to eat lunch. We are growing the dinner business, nicely.  We’ll be closed in December and January for two months, and will celebrate the holidays and catch up on our hobbies, like walking on the beach and reading....

TYG: Anything else?

Heidi: We’re looking forward to a great month! October is a great month to be cooking and eating in Oregon. There is so much great food—apples, pears, and still fall raspberries. We just got fresh deep-water scallops last week from Alaska. Local mushrooms—I’ve got local chanterelles, local shiitakes, local spinach for the salads. [...] Cicely, a local grower, provides sunflowers for our tables [and] vegetables, which I try to showcase in my cooking, like on the veggie special pizzas (which your parents like) or in appetizer dishes. And I have other local growers. I feel pretty lucky.

 Interview: Matthew Buonaiuto of The Green Salmon

The Yachats Gazette spoke with Matthew Buonaiuto about the Open Mic events that take place at the Green Salmon Coffee Company.

TYG: So, what is the Open Mic?

Matthew: The Open Mic is an event that happens once a month, the third Friday of every month, from 7:00 to 9:00 at night. It’s open to performances of any kind. There’s a number of musicians who play every month, also poets and writers who speak and perform. We’ve had stand-up comedians. We have had a rapper perform. I’m looking for as many different types of performances as possible.

TYG: When did you start doing this?

Matthew: The Open Mic started in December of 2010. We’re approaching our one-year anniversary, as a matter of fact. It’s been a fun, solid year.

TYG: How did you come to Yachats?

Matthew: By alien spacecraft! Just kidding. I had a couple good friends who lived here. After living in Portland for five years I had an opportunity to move here, a good job, an opportunity to live in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever lived in.

TYG: What do you like best about Yachats?

Matthew: What I like best about Yachats is the people’s commitment to their community. There’s a lot of passionate, talented, good people here and they definitely make Yachats a very special place.

TYG: Anything else you want to add?

Matthew: I’d just like to invite everyone to come, and to thank those performers who have come and made it such a special event. I’d also really like to thank Deb Gisetto of the Green Salmon for opening up her space to allow people to commune here and share their talents together.

 Interview: Barbara ADKINSON-SHEPHERD of The Village Bean

TYG: So how’s the shop going?

Barbara: Marvelous! It’s super busy. We haven’t slowed down any since summer. We are into our favorite time of year, fall, because of all the yummy drinks, and everybody gets cozy this time of year with all the fall weather.

TYG: How long have you been in business here?

Barbara: We’re going into our eighth year.

TYG: What did you do before you started here?

Barbara: I’m a graphic designer. I’ve been doing graphic design for over 30 years. I had my own design studio in California. I do all the graphic design for the city of Yachats, and some for the county and other businesses.

TYG: Do you have any new drinks or flavors?

Barbara: We do. We have all our fall special drinks—pumpkin spice lattes, and eggnog, and maple brown sugar breves... and we do them all frapped and iced and hot. We do mochas with toasted marshmallow.  We also have oatmeal with all kinds of nuts, and oatmeal with brown sugar and cranberries. Our scones are our biggest hit here—we bake them fresh every morning, and people come just to order our scones. For the fall we have eggnog scones, and pumpkin scones with white chocolate drizzle frosting.

The Village Bean is located on Highway 101, next to the 76 Gas Station.

*****

Stay tuned for next month’s fascinating interview with Yachats’s Fire Chief, Frankie Petrick!