It's the time of year when pantry shelves, freezers and attics begin to fill up with the harvest. Our attic eaves are starting to collect a whole array of wonderful things including braids of this year's Nootka Rose garlic crop. This heirloom silverskin softneck variety originated on Washington State's San Juan Islands and is late maturing and rust resistant. I have been growing Nootka Rose ...
Salmonberries
"Swordferns and salmonberries cover my sweetheart's backyard, way up in the mountains, to get there I must travel far, following a turquoise river, through the deep, dark forest green, where the swordferns and salmonberries fill the spaces in between." ~Laura Kemp Every time I pick juicy, ripe salmonberries along a creek, this song by one of my favorite local folk musicians plays ...
Hiking Quaking Aspen Swamp
It's good to take a break every once in a while from all the things that need doing in life, and just get out in nature to re-charge. We decided we were due for such a break this weekend, and after hearing about a local Quaking Aspen Swamp for some time, I was intrigued. First of all, we don't see many quaking aspens around here, so I wanted to know what that was all about. I had heard ...
Lavender Harvest
I have a case of lavender love. Why? Because of the aroma, because of it's soothing qualities, because it is so beautiful and because it is so purple, I am completely enamored. I look forward to harvesting and drying the bundles every summer, because it is seriously like a spa experience in the garden. When I was a kid I couldn't care less about lavender. I thought it was just a scent that uppity ...
Being a Good Butterfly Neighbor
The swallowtail butterflies have been showing up in our yard over the last week. These pollinators are always a welcome sight around the homestead, and their courtship dance is quite beautiful to see when I'm out working in the garden. Apparently I'm not the only one who appreciates having them around. Oregon decided to make the Oregon Swallowtail (Papilio oregonius) our state insect in ...
Love is the Flower
"Love is the flower you've got to let grow." ~John Lennon ...
Who are the Stewards in Your Watershed?: An Interview with Kurt Cox of the McKenzie Watershed Council
When Kurt Cox arrived in Oregon to teach, he saw that Salmon defined the Northwest and wanted to bring that into his classroom. In 1998, at the suggestion of the McKenzie Schools administrator, he joined the newly forming McKenzie Watershed Council in 1998, jumping in with both feet to restore salmon habitat through education. In the last 13 years of serving as a partner in the council ...
Camping at Crane Prairie Reservoir
When I asked my kids where they wanted to go camping to kick off the first weekend of summer, I was pleased to hear a definite favorite and immediate vote of Crane Prairie Reservoir. Located along the Cascade Lakes Highway south of Bend, it's a destination we've camped at many times over the years, and the primitive Forest Service campsites with sweeping views of the Three Sisters and Mt. ...
Summer Solstice
"and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birthday of life and of love and wings: and of the gaygreat happening illimitably earth" ~e.e. cummings ...
Lake Reflections
“A lake is a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” ~Henry David Thoreau "A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable." ~William Wordsworth "The great fact in life, the always possible escape from dullness, was the lake. ...