Eric Adams, Treasurer
Arriving in the Applegate Valley in 2020, Eric is a management consultant specializing in coaching professional services company executives and corporate mergers and acquisitions. After 25 years in Seattle, the opportunity to return to rural life presented itself, and he and his wife Heather jumped at the chance. He grew up in the mountains of Maine, has lived in eight states, and has traveled to all 50. He and Heather are in the process of building a glamping guest ranch in the east end of the Applegate with their three dogs. The welcome to the Applegate that they received from neighbors reaffirmed their decision to move from the big city. He enjoys participating in community development organizations, fine food and wine, travel, skiing, hiking, whitewater rafting, and working on their property. Eric holds a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Don Tipping, Secretary
Don Tipping has been farming and offering hands-on, practical workshops at Seven Seeds Farm since 1997. Seven Seeds is a small, certified organic family farm in the Siskiyou Mountains of SW Oregon that produces fruits, vegetables, seeds, flowers and herbs, while raising sheep, poultry and people. The farm has been designed to function as a self-contained, life regenerating organism with waste products being recycled and feeding other elements of the system. Lauded as one of the best examples of a small productive Biodynamic and Permaculture farms in the Northwest by many, Seven Seeds helps to mentor new farmers through internships and workshops. In 2009 we began Siskiyou Seeds, a bioregional organic seed company that grows and stewards a collection of over 700 open pollinated flower, vegetable and herb seeds and is constantly breeding new varieties that we distribute nationally. Siskiyou Seeds produces about 50% of the seed at our home farm and then sources the remainder from a network of organic seed growers throughout the PNW.
Don is active in the Seed Stewardship movement and educates regionally on seed saving through the Seed Academy, the Student Organic Seed Symposium, Seed Schools and numerous conferences. He currently sits on the board of a new non-profit called Seeds of Light that is developing educational programs from Gap year students and workshops aimed at growing humans through their head, heart and hands.
Other collaborations include: Top Leaf Farm (Berkeley, CA), Ecological Farming Association (Watsonville, CA), founder of Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative (Applegate, OR), the Family Farmers Seed Cooperative, contributor/educator Our Family Farms Coalition(Ashland, OR), Organic Seed Alliance (Port Townsend, WA), OSU Extension Small Farms Program (Medford, OR), the National Heirloom Expo(Santa Rosa, CA), the Ecology Center (San Juan Capistrano, CA), the Organicology Conference (Portland, OR), the Organic Seed Growers Conference (Corvallis, OR), and numerous other small organic farm conferences and organizations.
Peter Salant, Board Member
Board Member Peter Salant has lived in the Little Applegate Valley since 2000, having bought a small beef cattle ranch there in 1994.
Peter was born in New York City, and grew up in California since he was a four-year old. Raised in both rural and urban environments, he took to raising cattle as a teenager and pursued Animal Husbandry, attending Cal-Poly Pomona in 1975.
Peter has worked in drug rehabilitation and juvenile re-education, has been in the wholesale food business, the international import-export business, and the raising of beef cattle during a lifetime of adventure. He and his wife moved to Southern Oregon to raise their daughter here in the Ruch area, with a strong belief in public school education. She has now fulfilled her dream and become a Marine Biologist.
Raising home-grown, quality beef for the public is Peter’s retirement passion, and he works at it daily. He’s been on the Board of the Medford Schools Foundation, as well as that of the Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market. He is excited to be part of this bread-basket of locally grown, high quality food produced here in Southern Oregon. He is honored to be newly nominated to the Board of A Greater Applegate, and continue participating in the positive momentum we’ve achieved here in the Greater Applegate Valley.