Acknowledgements and Parting Words

So I am now back in suburban Portland, taking several days off before I plunge myself into the off-the-grid wonder known as Lunasea Gardens. I will recap on the events and experience of the last part of my stay with Andee and Chris at Cascadia Chestnuts here first...

As I continued to work on the garden and various weeding projects, Andee was there to make sure I didnt work over the time requirement per week. She really believes in spoiling her workers. She would tell me in the afternoon of nearly every day either "you work too hard" or "you've been working a lot of hours today, you've got to be passed your quota by now" and then the last day... "Jaida I mean it, stop working!" Haha so I gave in, but really the weeds in the patio or around the house were just calling me to tend to them... And she was not happy when I came to her beaming about having cleaned the floors in the camper on my departure day. Funny.

I did manage to learn about grafting the chestnut trees two different ways. Chris took me around and talked me through several scenarios, and then I was able to execute my own graft. We'll know if that is successful in about 2 weeks, he said he'll let me know. He also said he thinks it has a 75% success rate, given the average is 50% I think I'm doin' pretty well. Then again his own success rate is at 95%... 

I took many pics in the chicken yard and more of the beautiful flowers and interesting tadpoles. Then I ventured on the 7 mile hike of Dog Mountain on the Columbia River Gorge, upon invitation from a friend made here last summer. The elevation gain was ~2700 feet. (!!!) In 2 hours we were at the summit, the trail was approx 3.3 miles up. I think in honesty, that was the most physically demanding exercise I have ever encountered. Rough for thinking I was in shape this whole time...my legs are still healthily sore after 3 days. However, it was all wonderful, not in a hurry for another, but it was not regretted. Jessica and Holly were great trail buddies and didnt make me feel too bad about lagging behind. Their dogs are awesome and hilarious and that made it better. Now back to the hosts...

I will miss the company of these folks and their beautiful sweet Ollie. And that peculiar chicken. We agreed to be in contact about harvest time, and most definitely a little laid-back crabbing with them in September if they make time. :) To top it off, these sweet people who made a point of not celebrating holidays or birthdays of their own, left me with a birthday card which I promised to save for July. Man I love them for being such gracious hosts and priceless friends.

I will be updating once more, shortly, before I depart for Nehalem on Saturday. I will be out of cell range and internet connection completely, unless I go into town. So my updates following that will be very thorough I am sure.

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson