An In-between

The days spent in town here have been really great. Was able to finally go check out Smith and Bybee Lakes, thank you Matt, and saw many a cool creature as well as practiced my tactical sliding on muddy banks. And a look at a pretty awesome research lab on crabs! I went on a bike ride out around south Portland about 17 miles with Lucy on Thursday. Ate and stared in awe at Bob's Red Mill. (Yumm, and oh my what amazing amount of product there is...) Then today, friend Kirsten invited me to walk with her border collie and his friends along Washougal River followed by a great quiche for lunch with Richard as additional company. The two of them host amazing conversations and encouragement that I most thoroughly enjoyed. With Kirsten as my willing friendly coach, I will now have weekly assignments in photography to be shared with her. :) She is pushing me effectively into making some moves that will help get my career track in line. Love it.

Now some photos from the last farm and my activities.....

Mr. Salamander, one of several in the pond

Cool teeny frog

Smells wonderful

Belinda!

My own graft

Pretty Ollie

Very funny Keiran (sp?)

Love these two

Dog Mountain hike

These damsel flies and dragonflies were all over

Tons of baby catfish

Nest right at eye level, shows how rare it is  to have company out there

4 turtles on this cute log

GF bread, mine tastes better than theirs and it's the same mix haha

Young robins waiting for snacks

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

Portland Pictures

Andee is amazing. I was thinking basic items and she went all out!

Really cozy! Nice space

I think I could manage in a camper for a long time.

little firepit too, but its been so rainy I havent used it yet

great house, great property

the beautiful chestnut trees

Main source of compost is old mushroom blocks, so they just keep growing

Happy :)

Amazing market selection

Haha, Tito following Anthony and Chris around the farm

Nutrient Rich

And by nutrient rich, I'm talking about all aspects; from the physical make up of the soil here, to my experiences and growth.

These hosts here at Cascadia Chestnuts have been really awesome. Andee and Chris are knowledgeable and always committed to having me get what I need or want from the time I have available here. They have both lived on this land for over 20 years and have lived in Oregon, as a whole, much longer. Andee keeps busy at a part time nursing job and when she's not doing that she is focusing her time on the 40 chickens and their fantastic yard, or making my stay more comfortable (if that's possible). Chris is out amongst his chestnut orchard everyday either checking up on the growth or watching out for any threat at this young production stage or grafting different varieties.

What I have been working on mostly is clearing spaces in the garden with heavy weeding, or thinning young veggies. Also, the many raspberry and blueberry bushes require some care and every time I am out there one particular Rhode Island Red claims me as her companion. She gets right next to me and eats the goodies I'm digging up while weeding, then I find myself having conversations with her and I question my sanity on occasion. She's funny though, she'll let me pet her and push her out of the way when I need the space, then she'll sit on my boots and watch for a while. Haha yeah...my entertainment. (I've named her Belinda) The apples have been thinned considerably, the thistles and morning glory vines have been cleared out around them too. And they have tons of huckleberries here, that they use mostly for ornamentation! I told them how lucky they were to not fight for a berry picking spot every year.

The dog here is Ollie. She is adorable, and hilarious. A big chocolate labradoodle. Her face is beautiful, I'll get a picture up sometime. She loves the attention and has once pushed me over so she could sleep on my legs. Sometimes there are guest dogs here for sitting and they've been fun. At dinner in the house, Chris and Andee will tell me about their fascinating, detailed travels to Turkey and France and Morocco. They have gone all over the place for fun, but also to attend Chestnut Grower's conferences. Chris has an extensive knowledge about all things related and is considered the expert on certain diseases related to the crop.  He took me to a friend's farm yesterday, who provides ingredients to many gourmet places in Portland and used to be the main grower for Cascadian Farms berries, where we toured the property and he inspected this person's chestnuts for issues.

I have taken a few adventures here and there to little towns and attended the Portland State Farmer's Market, which is magnificent to say the least. He bought me the best-tasting Gluten Free/Vegan cinnamon roll and cupcake I've tasted. I felt so meshed with the community in that outing, there is no doubt that I will do perfectly fine moving here. I felt inspired and driven to keep pursuing my goal of living here long term. New Season's Market here is a brilliant organization and I am in the process of filling all of the application requirements. My hosts also have been providing produce for them for the 12 years they have been open, so I'll get a killer reference when needed.

And for those who have not heard, since I have been down here the last 3.5 weeks I have been gaining my immune system back and have been overcoming my food allergies. Straight dairy, via yogurt, has not been successful, but soy use in foods has been fine and small gluten exposure has been ok, along with cheeses. :) This makes me very happy, and I am clearly gaining my weight back. Now I'll let you gaze at some pictures I have so far, could talk forever, but I'll rest now. :)

"Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind." -Seneca

Round 2 Pictures

The group.

Love it! :)

 Thunderstorm with hail (Above and Left)

Mae

Tasting Room

From Left: David, Robert, Felix and Fletcher

Mr. Loki (always spelled diff)

Spanish Marcona Almonds and green tea at The Horse Radish

Jersey girls following me up the fence line on my walk

The arrangements for wine weekend

Ducks trying to sneak in the back way

The sweet brotherly love. Actually sleep like that with the arm around :)

Summary of Stay at Carlo and Julian

Wow, so I'm a little challenged as to what things I should narrow the summary to. Lots of things.

My main task in the vineyard was shoot thinning. Row after row. This is where the now present back and leg aches came from, and where I developed my sunburn-turned-tan specifically on my arms, hands and left shoulder. Haha. I could spend six hours out there and do nothing but thinning.

Towards the end of the stay I turned to gardening work. In the vegetable garden we planted potatoes, peppers, eggplant... and weeded the beets. The thicket of climbing rose bushes and scattering of ruthless blackberries around the house gave me hours of gratifying work. I discovered old pathways amongst the calendula and thistle...tied back a plum tree and supported the drooping peonies, and trimmed the boxwood into a proper low-wall on the west side.

A task that required special attention was that of feeding the cats in the morning. As soon as the kibble hits the concrete the ducks sprint in waddle over to the pile. The cats, not particularly defensive, or perhaps avoiding an unwanted smack on the ear, step back and let the 3 ducks in. So whoever was feeding them had to stand about and run at the ducks when they got close. They were extremely persistent, and I have pictures to show their tactics.

I did a nice bit of fence-work for the lambs in pouring rain and the day after we opened the new grazing area; a mama sheep got herself caught on all sides in a blackberry patch. She eventually let me work her out of it and the adventure of gathering all the sheep and their matching lambs included coercing two back from the garden and into the pen (which I had left open at some point).

Memorial Day weekend in the Willamette Valley is considered "Wine Weekend". So we catered to the needs of many customers and visitors around the tasting room the length of three days. The need for animal rescue came again that Sunday when one of the cats brought over a live starling and i practically pinned the thing down to pry the bird out of his mouth, which encouraged a lengthy event of distracting the cat and getting the bird away. (Silly maybe but I've been known to move caterpillars off grass before mowing.....)

Two nights ago Mae was yowling outside the cabin with a catch in her mouth. When I looked to see what she was staring at I saw a skunk waddle his way up into the rows and then when he was gone she came and presented me with her lovely trophy. We had a great thunderstorm with some hail, lightning and a rainbow all at the same time. I walked to McMinnville and back via highway 47 just to say I did it. Attended the small farmer's market there another night, and also went with Felix and Madeline to a free-form dance class at the college. That was fun with an eight year old encouraging me to keep jumping around for 90 mins. :)

Jeez look at the novel I produced...amazing. But I could keep going. I learned so much about different things there, and from all of the great people both working there and in the town. I learned a lot about cooking from Felix who makes nothing but excellent food. Soooo good. I will prorbably return for harvest and crush just to check things out again. So now, finally, I will post another group of photos for you all. Enjoy!