“Eclectic” is the word that I used to describe the 2017 Britt Line-up at our April 6th Season Announcement party, where we had a record-breaking crowd of over 250 upper-level members, Business Partners, and press come together to celebrate the launch of another spectacular Britt season. We revealed many […]
The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt,
head in the sun, heart with nature.
To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body,
but the soul.
~ Alfred Austin
Gardening…I think it might mean something different to every person. To some it means hard work, to […]
If you hold a pencil in your hand for a few minutes, it will not have much of an impact on your arm. If you hold it for hours… your hand, your wrist, and your shoulder start to hurt and over time this little pencil feels like heavy concrete and can […]
For 15 years now we’ve lived in the same, sweet house, and for 15 years I’ve been walking our dogs along the same street. Yesterday as I leashed my companions I grumbled aloud how tired I was of walking this street every single day, twice a day. As we slowly made […]
Although some ignore the time-treasured brooch in favor of something trendier, the cameo has always been a fashion statement. (A brooch is defined as “an ornament fastened to clothing with a hinged pin and catch.) By “always,” I mean at least as far back as the Hellenistic period in the […]
They’ve been around for more than 100 million years. They’re most active at 80°F and unable to function below 50°F. They can sense the lactic acid and carbon dioxide from an animal’s breath up to 100 feet away. The females beat their wings 500 times per second producing a piercing […]
Buying a home involves many steps and the type of financing you choose is one of the most important. Just as homes come in a variety of architectural styles and prices, so do the ways you can finance them. While it’s easy to tell if you prefer a […]
The North was losing the war to keep the Union. Robert E. Lee, a southern aristocrat, originally asked to lead the Union, chose the side of his beloved Virginia even though his personal belief was slavery to be a moral and political evil. Lee was a […]
We just got back from a week-long real estate conference in Las Vegas. We hadn’t been there in a while and I was quickly reminded of what man has built in the Nevada desert. It’s a strange combination of fantasy hotels, 5-Star restaurants or buffets, carnival rides, gambling, world-class […]
Thank You Volunteers—Our sincere appreciation and gratitude to all the volunteers who showed-up for our first Community Clean-up Day of the year on March 10, 2017. It was a beautiful day and a great turnout with members of the community and the Church of Latter Day Saints pitching-in to clean-up the grounds of winter debris. […]
If you have trouble getting your child to help with household chores, try asking them to imagine what it would have been like to be raised on a farm, let’s say during the late 1800s or early 1900s. With no modern plumbing system, how was water transported from the nearest creek? With no mechanized method […]
It takes a different breed of volunteer, student, and professional, with a burning desire to discover and preserve local history to join an archeology dig. We arrived at Hanley Farm March 31st in unpredictable weather to dig deep into the earth, lift heavy buckets of saturated, compacted mud, and then spray […]
Adapted by Carolyn Kingsnorth from “A Lasting Impression: The Art and Life of Regina Dorland Robinson” by Dawna Curler, with the permission of the Southern Oregon Historical Society and the author.
For most of her brief life, Regina Dorland Robinson worked steadily toward one goal: to become an accomplished and successful artist. […]
ART’clectic “Garden Party” Group Exhibition—ART’clectic takes over the gallery at Art Presence with a “Garden Party” show for May! The group offers original pieces created by sixteen of the group’s artist and artisan members, an eclectic mix of framed fine art, giclée prints, home and garden decor items and furniture, photography, pine needle baskets, textile […]
Halfway through last winter, we began to feel antsy. We’d hike the Woodlands trail above the Britt Festival grounds—and pause to look longingly through the fence. We’d drive up Oregon Street—and inexplicably detour past the Britt Pavilion just to… just to…
Like we said: antsy.
Patience, it’s been noted, is not simply […]
The power of intention is a phenomenon that has been scientifically measured in many studies, like the one Dr. Masaru Emoto did with water. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAvzsjcBtx8.)
This particular study took water samples infused with spoken and written intentions like peace, love, truth, etc. The frozen water revealed beautiful, symmetrical […]
Spring is finally upon us, yet those friendly white flakes of so many recent winter days flutter past my window as I write this. We’ll venture bravely forth to see what wonders a long, wet, cold season has bestowed upon our forested hills. Perhaps the blooms […]
We’ve been having an interesting adventure these past few weeks. Having sold our ginormous SUV, we are hunting for a second car. Brand new is not an option, so we’re hunting for a used something. The problem is, all the cars we really like are new, or close to it. In […]
The earliest known door keys were large wooden shafts designed to lift a pin tumbler lock that held a crossbar across a door. The shaft, or key, would push the beam in or out of position from the door frame. This crude Egyptian design was replaced by a Roman invention […]
For licensed massage therapist and clinical aromatherapist, Laura Jarrell, using a multi-disciplinary approach with her clients is standard practice.
In practice since 1989, Laura notes that, “Recently, the use of essential oils has exploded in popularity and for good reason—they are wonderful gifts from nature, capable of treating both physical complaints and mental-emotional distress.”
Essential oils are […]
We pull them, mow them, dig them, stomp them, spray them, shout at them, and lament how they are a nuisance in our lives.
Dandelions.
An underappreciated and underutilized plant in our society, the dandelion in the Asteraceae (aster or sunflower) family, is one of the most nutrient-packed foods on earth and […]
The use of technology in everyday life has sky rocketed. We have our “smart” house, “smart” phone, so how about our “smart” landscape? Even though technology impacts us all differently, we probably all agree that the use of technology to help make our life simpler and save us time is […]
Greenway Spray owner Greg Stewart says springtime is a great time of year to take control of the noxious weeds in your yard, pasture, and lawn as well as address pest issues impacting your trees. For 27 years, Greg has been working with the local agriculture industry and with homeowners, farmers, and ranchers in the […]
My heart is smit
With love so strong
I must declare,
But have no tongue.
Come to my aid, Thou Tulip Red,
Go and declare
My love instead.
~ Mandy Kirby, A Victorian Flower Dictionary, 2011
Before beginning to write about tulips, I checked my own plants to find small, green fingertips—fledgling flowers—still nestled cozily within the protective […]
We just posted four articles to our blog, (expertprops.com/blog) from major publications—all focused on Southern Oregon. One article has Ashland listed, and another has Jacksonville listed, as the top towns in the US to visit. The other two both talk about our wine industry—one noting the awards we received […]
As a seller, nothing is more frustrating than having your property sit on the market without selling while other homes around yours proudly display a “Sold” sign! Here are several reasons homes don’t sell, and how to go about addressing this issue.
Price—Pricing your home properly from the start […]
In my years as Mayor, the two questions I get most often are, “Will we have a museum again?” and “What are the chances of having a live theater in town?” In case you didn’t know, Jacksonville once had a permanent melodrama theater in the old Pioneer […]
Marker Cleaning Workshops will resume on Saturday, April 15 and then on June 17, and on the third Saturday of each month through Saturday, September 16. Workshops are not held in May as volunteers are busy preparing the Cemetery grounds for the Memorial Day holiday weekend activities. The marker cleaning series of workshops is a […]
When the City of Jacksonville and the Oregon Department of Transportation uncovered a pile of horseshoes while transplanting a tree along C Street in 2010, they unexpectedly uncovered the remains of one of the town’s earliest blacksmith shops. Subsequent excavations by the Southern Oregon Laboratory of Anthropology (SOULA) revealed a variety […]
Although hotel proprietress Jeanne DeRoboam Laugier Guilfoyle Holt (see Pioneer Profiles, March 2017) was the most prominent of the DeRoboams to settle in early Jacksonville, her brother, Jean St. Luc DeRoboam, also left his mark on the town.
Jean St. Luc DeRoboam was born in France in 1829, but potentially conflicting stories […]
April is a special month for the Southern Oregon Historical Society and Hanley Farm. SOHS is proud to be the Grand Marshal for the 64th Annual Pear Blossom Parade, April 8. To celebrate the Pear Blossom Festival, Pear Blossom Posters for the past ten years, created by artist Debby Elder, are on display in the […]
“The most precious factor in the creative life of an artist in any medium is freedom. Totalitarian, political and national leaders who seek to control or deprive the artist can strangle their work and cripple a culture. Throughout history, artists have used their creativity in times of social and political upheaval to provide a balance […]
Hollywood’s movie business is exactly that: a business, dedicated to the creation of art that (hopefully) will bring in enough money to cover the cast, crew, and dozens of others whose names you read in the end credits, while still garnering a sizable bottom line for the studios. The studios, […]
When you need to make an important life decision, how do you know if the feeling in the pit of your stomach is an emotional response that comes from fear of the unknown, or if it’s your intuition kicking-in to help you avoid a painful and/or expensive mistake. Our emotions are […]
A few years ago I spent many weeks overtaken by pain, the result of a bike accident. The pain in my neck and shoulder was intense. I couldn’t find a peaceful placement of the head to relieve it. Sleep nearly disappeared. The simple act of being alive meant that I was […]
In the 1860’s, German immigrants settled along the Mississippi River in a town called Red Wing, Minnesota. Fortune smiled on them, as they were skilled potters and the clay soil was perfect for producing stoneware crocks, jugs, pottery for food storage, and other household items.
At first I thought they were flies. Tiny, black, wings. Two of them I found legs-up in the windowsill. They were swept away with nary a thought. Until I saw another one on the floor. The dustbuster was poised to devour this third creature when something caught my eye. Movement. […]
With wet weather having soaked Southern Oregon for a couple of months now, the topic of proper drainage should be on everyone’s mind. Many of my neighbors in Jacksonville ended-up buying sump pumps and extra hoses, in an effort to keep way too much rain water at […]
“Everything in the forest has its season. Where one thing falls, another grows.
Maybe not what was there before, but something new and wonderful all the same.”
~Felix Salten, Bambi, A Life in the Woods, 1923
Twenty years before Walt Disney produced what has become a classic animated film, […]
*March 4th, 10:00am, Natural Pruning-—Everything does not need to be ‘mushroomed’ when pruning. Join Eric, our expert pruner, for this informative class on achieving a natural, healthy look with your shrubs and small trees. Let your plants natural beauty shine through! Landscapers: this class qualifies for 2 hours of CEH credit. Registration fee $15. 10% […]
Oh, but if we could hear what the stones have to tell us. So often we walk along the trails admiring the flora and fauna, ignoring the living rock beneath our feet. Sub-consciously we might appreciate the rock cycle and the millennia needed to morph sandstone […]
160 years ago, Michael Hanley purchased what is now known as Hanley Farm. Originally the farm was called “The Willows,” a name taken from a weeping willow planted in the 1860s, a tree that has “…toppled twice, in 1940 and again in 1986.” But, “…in each instance it regenerated […]
The small, relatively plain, headstone in the Catholic section of the Jacksonville Cemetery simply reads Jane Holt—an ironic “grand finale” for Madame Jeanne DeRoboam Laugier Guilfoyle Holt, one of the larger-than-life characters in 19th Century Jacksonville.
Born in Bordeaux, France around 1820, some stories portray Jeanne with an aristocratic heritage. Other tales […]
According to a 2014 survey by the National Association of Realtors, 83% of people view their home as a good financial investment. Not only is their home the biggest single asset they own, it’s also filled with family memories—the average seller has lived in his house for a decade, […]
Marge Wall, the owner of Country Quilts here in Jacksonville, decided to take it a little easier this January and close on Sundays. So now, instead of operating her quilt store seven days a week, she cut back to six. And this is a woman who will turn 83 this April. […]
I have been working with SOULA on the archaeology of my historic home and property for more than a decade. Each time I need to renovate, update, or improve the home and grounds, artifacts turn-up. Evidence of Euro-American and Chinese presence are common on the property, but previous to these finds, […]
“What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject-matter, an art which might be for every mentality, every worker, be he business man or writer, like an appeasing influence, like a mental soother, something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue.” […]
Recently a movie named A Dog’s Purpose flickered through the multiplexes. It hasn’t fared well. Critics across the country panned it. The New York Times’ reviewer got right to the point: “You can skip it because it’s clumsily manipulative dreck.”
We suspect that’s not the reaction the filmmakers hoped for. But […]
At your Britt Orchestra’s February 11th Valentine Gala, Music Director Teddy Abrams revealed the 2017 Season to an enthusiastic crowd of over 200 music lovers. Since beginning his tenure as Britt’s Music Director in 2013, Teddy’s programs have both delighted and challenged our audiences through a skillful blend of […]
While this is the Year of the Rooster, I’m thinking about other birds of late: ducks and swans to be precise. You might recall the story of The Ugly Duckling, in which a signet is born amongst a brood of ducklings. Being so different, he is persecuted and ostracized by his […]