Making sure we're not forgotten....

Periodically we need to put our two cents into the public forum.
If we don't do this we run the risk of people forgetting that we face
some serious challenges to the future of Lusher Farm.
Here's the latest Opinion piece sent into the Review and Oregonian:

Since January of 2011 there has been a push to change the basic personality and usage of Luscher Farm.
The Parks and Recreation Department has visions of ball fields overlaid on top of fertile farmland and turning the Community Gardens into a backdrop for public and private events. Parks and Recreation does not recognize that there is a desire not only to have a place to grow one’s own food, but for a respite from the urban noise we all have to endure. We all need open and non-developed spaces to breath. Forested paths to walk along and room for children to explore and stretch their imaginations.
There seems to be a disconnect between Parks and Recreation and what is happening food wise. There is a huge ground swell of local and national support for buying and growing food locally.
In this month’s Clackamas County “Going Beyond Green” publication there is an article about the 2011 School Garden Grant Project. Having children engaged in physical and academic school garden activities.
The Oregonian’s July Homes and Gardens featured Sustainable Bounty: growing your own food at home or in a Community Garden.
Even a New Seasons Market advertisement says “Let’s hear it for Home Grown” and Lake Oswego Review October’s special publication showcases our Farmers Market and Oregon Tilth’s demonstration garden at Luscher Farm.
Meanwhile the Parks and Recreation Department’s latest plan for Luscher Farm would move the CSA and Oregon Tilth Demonstration Gardens. Why would anyone place a ball field on top of land that has been feeding families for the last 7 years? Wouldn’t it make sense to place a ball field elsewhere? We need to keep our CSA fields exactly where they are and we want to keep Oregon Tilth located here at Luscher Farm.
Lake Oswego is located next to cities that are investing in land and protecting their open lands to potential inappropriate development and or destruction.
Here are some fine examples:
West Linn’s Oak Savannah: Grass root volunteers have been raising funds and working on restoring these 14 acres for the last 5 years. 100 Oak seedlings have been planted and non-native invasives are being eradicated .
The city of Tigard recently acquired 43 acres of unspoiled park land. This will eventually help link natural areas stretching from Beaverton to the Tualatin National Wildlife River.
Hagg Lake: owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, maintained and operated by Washington County, the Park features numerous picnic areas, two boat launching facilities, a fully stocked lake for fishing, more than 15 miles of hiking trails, and observation decks for wildlife and bird watching.
The Tualatin Hills Nature Park is a 220-acre wildlife reserve in the heart of Beaverton, Oregon. It is made up of evergreen and deciduous forests, creeks, wetlands, ponds and meadows. There are approximately 5 miles of trails. About 1.5 miles are paved, the rest are well maintained soft surface trails.
There are plenty of other places in Lake Oswego to place ball fields if indeed more are needed. The Armory comes to mind along with that stretch of land along Iron Mountain Boulevard past the Hunt Club. Let’s leave our dear Luscher Farm a Farm .
After all- we already have 27 Parks, 13 School Facilities, 9 Recreational Facilities and 22 Natural and Open Spaces but we only have one Farm.

Eloquent Opinion Piece

The Luscher Farm Master Plan is out- and it's a disaster! Here is an eloquent Opinion piece written by a fellow Luscher Farm gardener Ann Christensen:

Guest Opinion
PRAB acts in ‘slash-and-burn style’
By Ann Christensen

Jun 23, 2011

On June 15, I attended a Lake Oswego Parks & Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) meeting where the Luscher Area Final Draft Site Plan was presented. As many already know, Luscher Farm is an award-winning gem of beauty, refuge and environmental stewardship. It is the demonstration home of Oregon Tilth, an organic certification entity whose influence is international in scope. There is a successful CSA. The farm provides education, classes and clean, local, affordable food for hundreds of families, including a half-ton donated to local food banks. Calls come in nationwide asking how this model can be implemented elsewhere. Because Luscher Farm is so popular, citizen demand cannot be met and there is a three-year waiting list to be admitted to the community garden.

But, in stunning industrial slash-and- burn style, PRAB’s plan wants it all gone in favor of a mega sports and entertainment complex, turning a rural gem into an overdeveloped urban nightmare, with new roads, new parking lots, increased traffic and light, noise and waste pollution issues. All of the very popular farm programs that have made Luscher Farm what it is today will be destroyed, moved or repurposed. Sustainability, natural resource and cost questions were raised at the meeting and dismissed by the board. Other elements in the plan were very poorly thought through. And for months, public opinion has been sought as input, and options have been developed – with votes taken and tabulated. The majority of votes indicate that public opinion sides with keeping the Luscher area mostly as is. The four most popularly desired elements for the use of this land are already being met – as is. But, lest they lose control, PRAB then proceeded to lecture the attendees that such public input was not “representative.” Wow, since when was a majority opinion not valid in a democracy? Answer: Since PRAB’s co-chair Steve Dodds publicly stated that Parks & Rec will do what it wants – period –making all the meetings and public opinion surveys just an expensive taxpayer-funded quasi-democratic dog and pony show to prettify their blatant takeover of LO citizen wishes. During the meeting, Dodds made no effort to disguise his irritation with citizen after citizen who pled that Luscher Farm be protected and preserved.

In a further show of power, Parks director Kim Gilmer denied the Natural Resource Advisory Board’s request that the June 15 meeting be held jointly, thus keeping NRAB’s input out of the meeting. We cannot allow Parks & Rec to simply railroad this plan through. Lake Oswego’s Natural Resource & Sustainability Advisory Boards need to get involved and take an unbiased look at the data and impact of this proposed plan. The public supports keeping organic farming and environmental stewardship front and center at Luscher Farm and the master plan should too.

Ann Christensen is a resident of Lake Oswego.

Centennial Celebration at Luscher Farm

The city had a huge Centennial Celebration on July 17th.

From 11am until around 9pm everyone could wander the farm

and enjoy all the different exhibits. This photo is of all the Farm Partners

at our information booth. It was a fun day with all of us together

as we had time to chat through the day in between answering

questions from all the people who dropped by.

Laura Masterson of the CSA was there, Conner Voss from Oregon Tilth, and

Jan Wirtz and Karen Davis who are with the City of Lake Oswego.

Karen is the Community Garden Co-ordinator and Jan Wirtz

is the Recreation Supervisor for Cultural Programs/Luscher Farm.

Here's a photo of Morry Fealy next to the Farm Partners booth.

We called these two scarecrows "The Polyester Sisters"-

Polly and Esther....hahah!

and here's a link to the Lake Oswego Review's coverage
of that day:
http://www.lakeoswegoreview.com/news/story.php?story_id=127975011862130900

Luscher Farm chicken coop dedication honors efforts of Riccardo Spaccarelli

Usually it is things like ships, statues and buildings that receive dedication ceremonies.
But the chicken coop at Luscher Farm was deemed suitable for this honor by
the Friends of Luscher Farm.
After all, without the chicken coop there might no longer be a Luscher Farm.
And for the chicken coop, Lake Oswego must thank Riccardo Spaccarelli.
“We wanted to dedicate the sign as a way to thank Riccardo for all he’s done,” said Laura Masterson, director of 47th Avenue Farm. “It is also a way for people, when they come to the farm, to learn more about what the Friends of Luscher Farm group is doing.”

So recently, a friends group – Spaccarelli, his daughter Maria Morrison, Kathe Worsley, Tom Schirle, Russell Jones, and Masterson – showed up in cold, drizzling weather to dedicate the sign.
Also in full attendance were the chickens and all of the other birds who live in the coop, and they handled the frigid weather much better than the humans.
But the beautiful sign was worth the effort. On it, Spaccarelli explains the history of the chicken coop. There is also a photo of Spaccarelli, his dog Buck, and his old pal Rudie Luscher, the late former owner of the farm.
“There was no Rudie Luscher signage around here,” Spaccarelli said. “We needed to have some. Rudie sold this farm to the city and made the project possible. He started a precedent.”
The Riccardo-Rudie friendship began one day in the early 1990s when Spaccarelli was out running with his dogs near the hills of Luscher Farm.
“I was wanting to have access to the property and also do some bird training,” Spaccarelli said.
I decided to come to the farmhouse and knock on the door. I introduced myself to Rudie and he was very kind. We developed a friendship.
“Rudie loved to chat. I used to come over and talk to him for an hour before running my dogs.”
Luscher ended up almost like part of the Spaccarelli family. He allowed Spaccarelli to build a bird run to raise pheasants, quail and other birds. Spaccarelli repaid him by picking berries for Rudie’s wife Georgette to bake pies.
“Rudie became part of my extended family,” Spaccarelli said.
As the friendship evolved, so did the dream of Luscher Farm – as a rural spot in an urban setting, as Lake Oswego’s experiment in sustainable living. The city of Lake Oswego took over the farm after Luscher’s death in 1997 and allowed Spaccarelli to keep raising his birds.
That set the tone for everything that followed. The city liked what was happening at Luscher so much that it continued to purchase agricultural property, and now has 100 acres. To preserve “this special property” the Friends of Luscher Farm,
a non-profit organization,was formed in 2004.
While Masterson farms the land, the chicken coop thrives.
“The coop is a big draw to kids,” said Worsley. “They love to come watch the birds.”
All of this makes Spaccarelli quite happy.
As he says on the sign: “Perhaps the best legacy of my friendship with Rudie Luscher is this development of the FOLF through which we can support ongoing farm projects.
“Specifically, we hope to endorse projects which are consistentwith the dreams of Rudie Luscher.”

By Cliff Newell The Lake Oswego Review, Jan 7, 2010