Austin House, LLC

Mark and Mindi Shelton

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Mindi grew up on a cattle ranch in northern California before her family settle on a ranch in Hereford, OR. She graduated from Burnt River High School in Unity, so living in Bates, is a lot like coming home.

Mark grew up on a farm in Helix before his family moved to Welches, to run Camp Arrah Wanna. He graduated from Sandy High School.

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Mark and Mindi both spent some time out of high school in adventures across the country and later met at Blue Mountain Community College in lifeguarding class.  Mindi had returned from living in Atlanta, GA, where she had nannied and work in several culinary ventures.  Mark was living in Milton-Freewater on his family apple orchard after spending time working at Mt Hood Meadows Ski Resort and while working as a wildland fire fighter. 

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Mark and Mindi got married and settled in Union, OR. Mark continued fighting wildland fires on the La Grande and Union Hotshot crews and later did some logging.  Mindi completed her teaching degree and they had their two children, Austin and Mikaela.  They had an opportunity for Mark to complete his education, so they moved to Molalla, where Mark became a paramedic and Mindi taught school at the Colton School district. 

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During their time in the valley both honed their natural culinary skills. Mindi, teaching and studying culinary while Mark turned to the BBQ and started smoking meat as a hobby, that turned into Loco Ono BBQ, a successful catering venture and BBQ food cart.