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Sauvies Island won the coin toss

1/14/2016

 
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The Old Johnson home and their children's house, the Young Johnson house, future home of Blue Heron Herbary.
PictureThis could have been my childhood neighborhood, Oak Hills. Thankfully my father happened to find the young Johnson House!
I found an old aerial photo of our property. It was taken some time in the mid 70s.


At this point in time, we had just finished building a pig pen, next to the chicken house.  My father found a huge hunk of steel, salvaged from a ship that wrecked across the road down on the river. They drug it up using a couple of tractors. The first thing my father built on our property was the chicken house. It still stands, barely. As a kid, my brother and I raised hogs for 4H, in addition to sheep. We finally tore down the pig house in 2009 when we build our 2nd greenhouse. 

My father also found the orchards final resting place by this time. He had moved the trees 3 other times before settling on the current location. What I find amazing is that when my parents moved to the island, there wasn't a single tree planted on the property. 


We raised all sorts of things before finally landing on the Herbary in 1992. My parents were involved in Field Trails, showing Springers. Their kennel were called Mipen. (Mike-Penny) We had horses, and even a cow! We were involved in 4H so of course, I raised everything under the sun; ducks, geese, rabbits, chickens, turkeys... Heck even Guinea Hens. The barn stands were the Herbary shop is located. We had horses at this time, a big beautiful quarter horse named Skeeter and a pony named cookie. I raised some Grand Champion Lambs, and hogs. Occasionally, we still raise a couple spring lambs, and of course some chickens and now 2 geese! 

My parents were torn when it came to purchasing the house on the island. They use to come out to the island for field trail meets. Mom always like the Johnson house, (where Jimmy and Denise live) and would have loved to have bought their house. However it was the young Johnson's that was up for sale. Mom called it an ugly mushroom house from top to bottom. The other option was to buy a house in Oak Hills... For those that don't know, Oak Hills 

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The neighborhood is north of the Sunset Highway and is bounded by Cornell Road on the south, West Union Road on the north, Bethany Boulevard on the west and Northwest 143rd Avenue on the east. It was a planned community and was built in the 1960s.The first ten homes were completed in May 1965, the first of about 650 planned, in an area of approximately 250 acres (100 ha).Oak Hills today includes around 650 residences, of which 627 are single-family homes.The neighborhood is located at the western end of Cedar Mill and southeastern end of the Bethany area. 






Omg!! Thank goodness my father saw the magic of owning a couple acres!  My parents moved to the island, Thanksgiving of 1968. 

More to come another day- 

Heather ​

Linette
1/14/2016 03:21:41 pm

Thanks, Heather! I love the history of your place and your folks!

Temple
1/14/2016 03:35:50 pm

What wonderful memories! Thank you for sharing.

Jennifer Cooper
1/14/2016 07:08:06 pm

I love this blog post. 4-H was such blast with you Heather. I remember your mom hauling turkeys and other various animals loose inside your van. Today that thought cracks me up. The Herbary is such great addition to Sauvie Island.


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    About Us

    Blue Heron Herbary is a herb plant nursery and gift shop located on Sauvies Island in Portland, Oregon.

    We also create a line of handmade herb vinegars and herb blends with the no-pesticide herbs we grow on our Portland farm.

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Blue Heron Herbary
27731 NW Reeder Road
Sauvies Island, OR 97231
ph: 503-621-1457



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