Amanda Rohne-Life as a mortician, dairy farmer, Scandinavian Festival president and Grange event organizer

Amanda Rohne has lived in Brownsmead, Oregon since  2005
when she married Dirk Rohne and became a dairy farmer's wife.

She is the mother of two.

She spent the first two years of her life living in her parents' mortuary and later became a mortician.

She organized the Scandinavian festival

She is currently coordinating all events at the Brownsmead Grange.

Subscribe to the Women of the Northwest podcast for inspiring stories and adventures.
Find me on my website: jan-johnson.com

Transcript

[00:05] Jan: Hey, friends. Welcome to episode 54 of Women of the Northwest. I am your host, Jan Johnson. Today's guest is Amanda Rohne, and we'll get to hear what it's like to be a mortician, a dairy farmer, the Scandinavian Fair president, and involvement in the Brownsmead Grange. Enjoy this episode.

[00:31] Jan: Welcome, Amanda. Nice to have you here today.

[00:33] Amanda: Thank you for having me.

[00:34] Jan: Yeah, it should be fun. I say that every time because really all my podcasts are pretty fun. And you've been neighbors? Kind of. Dirk was in high school or younger.

[00:52] Amanda: We live in the house that Dirk grew up in.

[00:55] Jan: Yeah. Dirk’s dad and Ed were friends for many years, right? Yeah. Before that, farm stories from way back.

[01:07] Amanda: Right?

[01:08] Jan: Yeah. So I heard that when you were little, you grew up in the mortuary.

[01:15] Amanda: I did.

[01:17] Jan: Tell us about that.

[01:18] Amanda: Sure. My parents bought a funeral home in Astoria, gosh, 1970 sometime. They were like 25 years old, and they moved there. And then I was born in 1981, and we lived at the funeral home until I was two years old upstairs.

[01:37] Jan: What prompted your parents to buy a mortuary?

[01:39] Amanda: My dad went to mortuary school and then and then they got married and my mom was a school teacher. And anyway, the funeral home came available and they decided they wanted to buy it. And so then they moved here from I think they were in Portland at the time.

[01:53] Jan: Oh, I see.

[01:54] Amanda: Yeah.

[01:54] Jan: Okay.

[01:54] Amanda: So then my mom stopped being a teacher, and then she started working at the funeral home.

[01:59] Jan: I don't know, way it out kids or whatever.

[02:01] Amanda: I know. Nobody is talking back to you.

[02:05] Jan: What's that like? I've been to a mortuary before.

[02:12] Amanda: Right. I know. For me, it's so normal when I would have friends come and visit and then we would go to the funeral home and they were all scared about it's going to be creepy and this and that, but I don't know. I mean, I screw up and it's just fine. I would sit on the side and my mom would do hair for people's hair, and my mom said they used to put my infant carrier in a casket while they were working and yeah, it was fine. It's not scary. It's a very warm place.

[02:43] Jan: What are some of the processes?

[02:46] Amanda: Well, so I went to mortuary school for I just have a degree in mortuary science embalming and funeral directing. And so it's a two year school, and I went to Mount Hood Community College. And so then you learn well, you do the embalming side of everything where you're embalming people, preserving people, and then you learn for the funeral, directing, planning, coordinating. It's a lot of coordinating the event and everything. And then just a lot of psychology classes and just grieving process and learning how to help people, right? Yeah. In their worst time. Yeah.

[03:27] Jan: And then makeup.

[03:32] Amanda: My mom mostly would do all the makeup. I mean, she would teach me how to do things and she would do hair. She's really good at hair. Yeah. But yeah, it was a lot. It's not after Dirk and I got married and then I started doing some of the farming stuff, and the funeral home stuff just wasn't my thing. I liked working with the people. I didn't really like doing the physical involving in that part of stuff. So anyway, I decided I would change it up and become a full time farmer. That's what I'm doing. And it's been 17 years. I figured it out.

[04:08] Jan: Yeah. I wouldn't mind doing the talking to families business because I think that's.

[04:18] Amanda: I.

[04:18] Jan: Don't know, I feel like that's kind of a gift. I have to talk to people through grieving or just, what are you going to do next? And here's your opportunities that you could do, or how to put together a funeral or memorial service or whatever, that kind of thing.

[04:34] Amanda: Right.

[04:34] Jan: But the actual thing, I don't know.

[04:36] Amanda: Yeah, well, when I was so young, when I was doing it, I was like 21, 22, and so the people that I would meet with were a lot older than me, and so I wasn't intimidating to them, which was good. They almost didn't know if it was going to work out. And then afterwards, they would say to my mom, like, oh, wow, everything was great. We weren't really sure how that was going to be. I was like, I could handle this. This is okay.

[04:56] Jan: Yeah. Okay, well, that's interesting.

[05:00] Amanda: Yeah.

[05:01] Jan: Well, so now you're a farmer. Yeah. What was that like when you first started living on a farm? It was a little different for me.

[05:09] Amanda: Yeah. Well, Dirk wasn't. He just let me kind of adjust to doing things on the farm on my own terms. I started feeding calves and learned how to feed calves. And I still feed the calves, but then, like, with the milking, I would come in there and he would be milking and I would maybe put on four or five machines, and then maybe the next time I'd put on ten machines, and then pretty soon I was putting on just working just equally. Yeah. And it was no big deal.

[05:40] Jan: So what's the day look like? What's a typical day?

[05:42] Amanda: Well, it's very different. Every day a typical day. Like today I got up at 530 and I go out and feed the calves, and dirt goes out and feeds the cows and feed them milk. Yeah. So I'm feeding all the milk calves, young calves up to about three months old, and I feed them twice a day.

[06:04] Jan: And so just bottle feeding them?

[06:06] Amanda: No. Well, some are on bottles, but mostly they have buckets. I try to get them to drink out of buckets as soon as possible. A lot easier. It's a lot easier. Yeah. So then I do that, and then I come home, and then our kids get them up at six because they have to catch the bus at seven. So then it's breakfast and getting lunches made and everything. And then they catch the bus. Yes. And then we go back outside. We went out like, 7:30 today, and it just depends if you need to. The wintertime, they're all in the barn, the cows. So there's a lot more cleaning that we have to do. And then you have to sort animals depending on if they're going to calves in the next couple of months or whatever. And then I do all the cattle records and all the health records and everything. I have a computer program, and then when we have the vet come and we check animals to see if they're pregnant and so on, and then I enter it all into a computer and then I know when they're going to calve. And I do all the financials taxes, payroll, everything like that too. So I kind of have a variety of stuff that I do. I'm the business manager for sure. Yeah. And then in the summertime, we make round bales, and so then that becomes like there's less cleaning, but then we're doing farm work. Field work and stuff.

[07:32] Jan: Yeah.

[07:32] Amanda: So our days just change. And then if something breaks down farm work. Right.

[07:38] Jan: Opposed to what you're just doing.

[07:40] Amanda: Right. Well, outside field work, I should say, but yeah, it's just different. But how many cows we milk around 160. And then we have we probably have 300 animals altogether. We raise all our own replacement animals. So that's like those the milk calves that we raise. What type of we have Jerseys and Holsteins, but we have Jersey bowls, so everything is gradually turning into a Jersey.

[08:06] Jan: Okay.

[08:09] Amanda: And all our milk goes to Tillamook Creamery.

[08:14] Jan: So you must have a big tank or something.

[08:15] Amanda: Yeah, we have a big tank. And then the milk truck comes up every other day and picks up the milk for us.

[08:23] Jan: Okay.

[08:24] Amanda: Yeah.

[08:27] Jan: That goes to cheese.

[08:28] Amanda: Cheese and ice cream. Yeah, mostly cheese and ice cream. Yeah. They don't really do much like bottled milk or like fluid milk. Yeah.

[08:39] Jan: So what are some obstacles that you might face doing farming work?

[08:46] Amanda: Well, I think the first thing that comes to mind is Calving problems. And I've gotten better. I've gotten pretty good at pulling calves and trying to figure out what the problem is. And so our veterinarian, Dr. Hunter, has taught me a lot of things. He's taught me one of the last things he's kind of taught me how to do is like, a prolapsed uterus, which is really challenging, and that's not.

[09:11] Jan: Fun, but dad was a you and.

[09:15] Amanda: I was just like, yeah, it's not fun. But like, our daughter Ellen, she's more of the farm kid of the two, and she's out there and she's watching and, you know, looking, and she's not grossed out by anything. And if there's an animal that needs, like, a wound care or something. She's like, Dr. Hunter made a kit, and like, here you go, you can do this. And then she just loves it. It's neat to see that and for them to learn the difference, don't you think?

[09:49] Jan: Living on the farm, there's so many things your kids to learn.

[09:52] Amanda: Oh, my gosh. Just the space and everything. I mean, they're more likely they pay attention to, like, farm equipment, so it's like they're always looking for, like, a tractor or something. But you take them downtown and you have to tell them, don't step off the curb, you're going to get hit by a car. But they're more used to tractors than watching for tractors than for cars.

[10:11] Jan: Right.

[10:11] Amanda: Yeah.

[10:12] Jan: And I think the things on a farm, it doesn't matter, like, doing outdoor things in general, it doesn't matter, like, what kind of a learner you are. It may be a more natural thing to do than maybe being in a classroom sometimes.

[10:30] Amanda: Sure, yeah. Well, then you can figure out what works for you. It doesn't have to be just one specific way. You just figure out I'm always learning different things that work better. It's amazing. You think you know what you're doing, and then you do something else. You're like, wow, that was such a great idea.

[10:49] Jan: Yeah.

[10:50] Amanda: Why doesn't I do that before?

[10:52] Jan: Okay, so you have a milking machine, nuts in their hand.

[10:57] Amanda: Milking. Right. We have a milking parlor. And so you can milk 20 cows at a time, ten on each side. Yeah. And so they come in and they get milked, and then they go and.

[11:11] Jan: They just kind of know, hey, it's time.

[11:13] Amanda: Yeah. They're pretty good about coming in.

[11:17] Jan: So much water.

[11:18] Amanda: Yeah. Well, those first cows that come in are just like the smartest cows because they're in and out in, like, ten minutes, and then they can go hang out and eat and drink and sleep and whatever. And you have the cows at the end who are not too sure, and then they end up standing there for, like, an hour. This could have been much faster.

[11:36] Jan: Well, what could make it faster?

[11:38] Amanda: Well, I don't know. I think they're just not it's just the cow. I think it's just some of them.

[11:42] Jan: Milk doesn't let down or what happens.

[11:44] Amanda: No, I mean, they're just waiting their turn in the barn. So the first cows that march on into the parlor first because they're like, yeah, I know what to do, I want to get in there first.

[11:54] Jan: Yeah.

[11:54] Amanda: Gets like, consistently the same cows.

[11:57] Jan: That's funny.

[11:57] Amanda: Yeah. They like certain sides and everything, so yeah, they're neat, they're fun personalities. They definitely have personalities. Yeah.

[12:07] Jan: I don't know why the sheep have that much personality.

[12:13] Amanda: With their baby. I guess you have to have a little one, and you have just, like, petted all the time because that's what I find with the calves. It's like the ones that I pet all the lot. Then they're chewing on you when you're out in the field, but if you don't, then they're just and the Jerseys, they tend to be more friendly animals than the Holsteins. You know, they're a little more standoffish.

[12:33] Jan: Yeah. So the only probably as close as I've ever been to a cow. My uncle lived on a ranch in New Mexico and he had beef cattle.

[12:48] Amanda: Okay.

[12:49] Jan: And there was a calf born, and my mom said, oh, come on, see the cat? I'm going out there. But you had to cross in front of the mother to get and my siblings did that fine. And I got petrified and just waited too long and she just ran right over me. She knocked me down.

[13:08] Amanda: Right.

[13:09] Jan: That's not my comfort zone. And I just have had a healthy respect for those animals.

[13:15] Amanda: You do. And the beef cows are much more have the instinct, the mom instinct, where, like, dairy cows, because they calve and then we bring them into the barn and then they're in a maternity pen together, but they only stay together for like one to two days, and then I take the calves and raise them at that point.

[13:34] Jan: I see.

[13:34] Amanda: So some cows really do have a maternal instinct, but there's a lot that just no, they have a calf and then they're like, I don't remember where I put the calf. And then you're like, oh, I'll find the calf.

[13:51] Jan: Let's see. You are also been involved in the Scandinavia Festival Arena. What's that like? Yeah, that organization.

[14:00] Amanda: So I was Missed Norway when I was in high school, and then I won I was in Scandinavia. And then after college, after I came back, I was part of the Scandinavian Festival Association and I helped coordinate the entertainment, and then I chaired it for a couple of years. And then my son Kirk was born and I just didn't have the time. Yeah. But now my son Kirk, he was the crown bearer a couple of years ago in the festival. And then my daughter Ellen was a junior Miss Norway last year in the festival. And so they've gotten too they really love it. They really enjoy learning about their heritage. It's a really nice event. Yeah. They have costumes and everything. Yeah, it's a really neat event. And the new Nordic Park downtown is amazing.

[14:56] Jan: Yeah. Did you help with that?

[14:58] Amanda: No, we were at part of the dedication and stuff that Ellen was so cute.

[15:03] Jan: The little gnomes.

[15:04] Amanda: Oh, yeah. And the archway and how it lights up. It's really beautiful.

[15:07] Jan: It was very well done.

[15:08] Amanda: Yeah, I agree.

[15:09] Jan: It's a nice thing when you're just coming into town for tours, whatever.

[15:13] Amanda: Yeah, it's really neat. And how it tells the story of immigrants and everything. And then walking up the steps from the riverwalk side is really neat too. That's supposed to be like, the main entrance. It's like a very grand entrance. It's really beautiful.

[15:30] Jan: Yeah. What kind of things happen at the Scandinavian Festival?

[15:36] Amanda: Well, they have the coronation, which is the first night, and so they have the princesses who represent the different countries, and they do a speech about what their heritage means to them. And then somebody's crowned Scandinavia, and then there's some dances, and there's just music that they have. People come from Scandinavia, whichever country they have that year, somebody coming in to do entertainment and then lots of food and artwork. Cultural food. Yeah. It's a really neat and that's not at the fairground. It's at the fairground, yeah. In June, usually. The end of June. Okay. Yeah, it's really neat.

[16:20] Jan: Yeah. Different kinds of instruments, probably.

[16:23] Amanda: Yeah. So when I did it when I was on the court, when I was in high school, I'm Norwegian and Danish, but we got the material sent over from Norway, and then all the directions were in Norwegian. And so Judy Dreyer in town, she translated it all from my grandma, and then my grandma made the costume, and my aunt and my grandma both embroidered it and then sewed it together. So it's pretty cool.

[16:53] Jan: So you're making new costumes every year.

[16:55] Amanda: For your kids because they know well, I bought a costume for Ellen. It's a Norwegian it's an authentic costume. We bought that for her. And then I've made vests for Kirk, so I'm kind of waiting for him to get to stop growing, and then I'd like to make him a little yeah, make a costume like a vest that would match where mine is from. Yeah. Then we could have something. And then hopefully Ellen could wear my costume if she decides to be a senior.

[17:23] Jan: If she follows senior footsteps.

[17:25] Amanda: Right. Which I think it will not be hard to convince her to do that. She was really sad when it ended this year, so she really loves it.

[17:35] Jan: Do they teach non Scandinavian people how to do the dances?

[17:39] Amanda: Yeah, I think anybody can join the dance group in town, so yeah, you just have to get yourself a costume.

[17:48] Jan: And then pretend that you're one of.

[17:50] Amanda: The yeah, you could just learn some of the dances and then do it at the dance at the event.

[17:58] Jan: No imposters.

[17:59] Amanda: Right.

[18:00] Jan: Might have a little imposter syndrome.

[18:02] Amanda: Right.

[18:03] Jan: And so now you're involved with the Brownsmead Grange.

[18:08] Amanda: What are you doing with that? I think I'm the secretary right now. My husband Dirk, and the vice president. I think Matti is in there.

[18:21] Jan: Has to be a secretary.

[18:22] Amanda: Yeah, I'm the secretary, and then Hillary is the treasurer and somebody else somebody is the worthy overseer. I know that's a title, and I'm not really sure where that fits in. It's a good group of us. And so yeah, we have actually, coming up on Valentine's Day, we're going to have an Italian family dinner at the Grange, and it's on Valentine's Day, which is a Tuesday.

[18:50] Jan: Okay.

[18:50] Amanda: Yeah. So that'll be fun. I have to get my advertisements going for that. And then we have in July or August, we do a crowd ad feed, and then the corn feed is in September, October, whenever the corn is ripe. But those events have been really fun, and we're just trying to get more community events at the Grange so more people involved and coming down there, and we've done some pickleball.

[19:18] Jan: Yeah, we can get together.

[19:20] Amanda: Yeah, it's such a great space. And then we have, like, a basketball court, and so that's been fun.

[19:30] Jan: Well, it's not technically. I mean, it kind of looks like you could have a stage there if you wanted to right now.

[19:36] Amanda: Yeah. I with Charlotte's interview, and she talked about how the whole kitchen was the back of the stage and everything, which would be kind of interesting to see. I think there could be something to talk about.

[19:50] Jan: What is a Grange? Not everybody knows what a Grange is.

[19:54] Amanda: Well, I guess it's just a community hall, meeting hall.

[19:59] Jan: But, like, Grange is all over right there's.

[20:03] Amanda: The Oregon State rules or something. Yeah, there's rules. I think there's a lot of rules, but I think it was originally just set up in all the small, little rural communities, and then I think the farmers and everybody would get together. I think it was just more of a meeting place.

[20:22] Jan: And then you have membership.

[20:25] Amanda: Yeah, there's membership. And what do you get for being a member? You just get to be a member.

[20:33] Jan: I think we should have a pin or something. There should be a special T shirt.

[20:38] Amanda: I am a Grange member.

[20:39] Jan: Browns member.

[20:41] Amanda: Yeah. Well, and it's interesting to see the newsletter with the Grange, oregon Grange newsletter, because down in the Valley, there's a lot more people who are in their Granges are really big. They'll have attendance, like, how many people? They've grown 80 people joined or something. So they have really large groups. And so we're really a small Grange. We maybe have ten to 15 members.

[21:05] Jan: Well, and even scale. When you pay your membership, where does that go?

[21:09] Amanda: To the that goes to the Oregon Straight Grange. Yeah. We don't keep the money, so we're happy to have people volunteer and just you don't have to even be a paying Grange member. You can just volunteer and help and be part of it. It's fun. I think it's a nice group of people, and it's a fun place and trying to make it more friendly for volunteers. So we changed the cord and feed this year where we had it as one seating, and we sold tickets ahead of time. And that was really enjoyable because it wasn't just an eight hour slog of work. It was like 2 hours of serving. And then we had so many people that volunteered to help clean up and everything. It was really wonderful.

[21:54] Jan: Yeah, well, having the Grange there and that community is really fun to be a part of, and it brings people closer together, and we're all there for each other, right?

[22:05] Amanda: Yeah.

[22:05] Jan: And even like, last week when it was raining like crazy and was out there trying to do sandbags and keep the dike from overflowing and everything, and when he gives call to people, people show up.

[22:18] Amanda: Yeah. That was wonderful. Sandbag creating event.

[22:23] Jan: I mean, how many people even know about doing that? I don't know.

[22:26] Amanda: Yeah, I've never done it before, but it was great because ed was going.

[22:31] Jan: To do that by himself. I said, we have neighbors and we have other people who will help.

[22:35] Amanda: Yeah, no, everybody showed up, and it was really fun.

[22:40] Jan: And I think what happens is, because of the things that are going on with the grades you develop, the friendships and the wanting to be a community, to be for each other, it's more than just, oh, there's something and somebody.

[22:53] Amanda: Else to do it, or whatever. No, I agree completely.

[22:56] Jan: I think that's really good. Okay, I'm going to ask you one more question.

[23:01] Amanda: Okay.

[23:04] Jan: What is the thing that brings you the most joy?

[23:08] Amanda: Well, probably my kids. Yeah. I mean, it's fun to watch them grow, and everybody says it goes quick, and it really does go quick. See what they're interested in and be.

[23:24] Jan: There and train them up to be new farmers.

[23:25] Amanda: Yeah. Try my best. Yes. Try to prod them along and keep them going in the right direction. But they're really good kids.

[23:36] Jan: Okay. Well, thank you, Amanda.

[23:37] Amanda: Thank you. Thank you very much having me.

[23:39] Jan: All right.

[23:40] Amanda: Okay.

[23:46] Jan: So to answer some of the questions about the purpose of a grange, which both Amanda and I were not quite sure on, here's what google has to say. The purpose of the grange, officially named the national grange of the order of patrons of husbandry, is a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well being of the community and agriculture. Grange meetings are run by Robert's rules of order and are designed as a forum for civil discussion and debate in which all can have their say and be equal in decision making. Why did farmers form Granges? The grange, also known as the patrons of husbandry, was organized in 167 to assist farmers with purchasing machinery, building grain elevators, lobbying for government regulation of railroad shipping fees, and providing a support network for farm families. By the early 1870s, there were more than 1 million members. What did the grange believe? They believed that the farm held the country together and that every American relies on the farmer. So they wanted to make sure that the farmer was heard in all things political, social, and economic. With increased membership fees, grangers began petitioning politicians for measures that would be beneficial to farmers. And how did the grange affect farmers? Some farmers learned basic educational skills like reading and writing through The Grange which would take us back to John Fenton teaching kindergarten there. The Grange organized social events such as fairs and gatherings which helped break up the tedium of farm life. Indeed, the community aspect was a big draw of The Grange. So as Amanda said, she's organizing all kinds of activities there. And wherever you live, you are welcome to join in the fun. Thanks again for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Share it with your friends if you'd like or you know somebody that might be interested in this. And, as always, you can find me on my website@janjohnson.com. We'll see you again next time.