This week, I took a few days to go into Portland to see family and friends, run errands, and revel in the warmest days of the year. Spring in Portland is a particularly wonderful experience. There’s little that’s better than wandering around pleasant Portland streets while the sun is bright and the sky clear and blue, providing for at least one day the warm and sunny spring I so desperately hope we get this year.
Due to my trip into Portland, though, and four hours of cleaning today as I prepare to move from my yurt to the farm down the street, I haven’t had much chance to write a new post. I feel bad that it’s been so long, so here are a couple pictures to help tide you all over until the next real entry, which will hopefully arrive Sunday night. In celebration of spring, I’m going green for these photos.
Cutting arugula in the hoop house last summer. I used to hate cutting greens, but I've long since come to really enjoy it. Arugula is one of my favorites.
This is from a 2003 trip to the Hoh Rain Forest on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula. The tree would seem to be some kind of maple—perhaps a Big Leaf? Sadly, my tree identification skills are not nearly as good as they should be. I labeled it as a spider tree when I took the picture, and I love the draping moss. The Hoh Rain Forest is insanely beautiful and highly recommended, if you ever get a chance to go.
This is a stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail, coming out of Panther Creek in Washington, and one of my very favorite hikes. In fact, it's where I first went hiking—with my father, during a camping trip. I owe him for showing me this glorious bit of the PCT and instilling in me a love of hiking that's served me well throughout the years. There's probably no trail I've hiked more often than this one. I know it intimately and I'll always love it.
Of The Hands 
The hiking trail photo is simply exquisite. It seems so peaceful. It seems magically appealing. One of the loveliest photos I’ve seen in quite some time.
Thank you, Jordana! Sometimes the subject does most of the work—which is generally the case when I’m taking the picture. It really is a wonderful trail to spend a day on and it is indeed magical. Every time I see that picture, it gladdens my heart. Posting this reminded me, in fact, that I need to get back out there. It’s been over a year.
Thanks for sharing your ‘tree’ photos. Trees are one of my passions. My tree identification skills are not great either however, I do know that I like them a lot.
You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it. I pretty much always enjoy a good tree picture—they’re a bit of a passion for me, as well. I dream of one day having a small wood lot of my own to manage, and help make my living off of, and wander within. That would be a pretty fine life, indeed.
Hurray for spring and green and trees! Thanks for sharing these lovely pictures. I was so glad that my first 3 days in OR were sunny and nearly warm. Now we’re back to the weather I was expecting…chilly and rainy. I’m hoping for a sunny spring! Good luck with moving. 🙂
Thanks, Sarah! I’m glad your first days were so nice, too. Oregon’s an amazing place, but even more so when it’s sunny and warm. And you were at the beach, right? Even better. It doesn’t get much better than the Oregon coast on a sunny day.
Hi Joel. Hope your move goes well. The photos are really good, it is amazingly green there. The volume of produce in the poly tunnel is quite spectacular.
Out of interest, do you know if that forest at Panther Creek has been logged? The reason I ask is because all of the trees are about the same age.
After the wet weather here, two chooks died of unkonwn causes. The remaining 14 now get free ranged through the orchard in the evening when there is less chance of predators lurking about. The wedge tail eagles ride the thermals so you don’t tend to see them in the evening. The chooks are quite good as they take themselves off to bed at about 8pm, but I still have to keep an eye on them for foxes, cats, dogs etc. Yep, chicken shepherd. Their shed is covered, however the run has to be changed to include some under cover area. Oh well. Regards. Chris
Hi Chris,
Green is one thing we have no shortage of here on the Oregon coast. Something to do with all that water, I suspect. Heh. And yeah, arugula is one of those crops that does quite well here, though the flea beetles love to come and gnaw on it. Really not a big deal, though—just cosmetic damage, essentially.
I don’t know if that stretch of forest was logged, but I assume so. The full length of trail I hike there isn’t as uniform as that stretch is, but I certainly notice how similar all the trees look when I get into that part of the trail. There are some older, charred snags around there too, so at some point a fire went through. But I can’t imagine it would take out all the trees and cause the ecosystem to essentially start over—that seems like it would have to be an incredibly hot fire. I’m not an expert, though.
Sorry to hear of your chook loss. Were they attacked by an unknown animal or died of some other unknown cause? Hopefully you haven’t and don’t lose any more, at least not in the near term. Chicken shepherd is most certainly a job and we do a bit of it here, but raccoons seem to be the biggest problem so as long as we shut up their house before it gets too dark, they’re generally fine. Back when I farmed on Whidbey Island up in the Puget Sound, though, we had to be wary of the bald eagles. They took a few of our ducks. The chickens tended to be okay, though—they were smart enough to stay near cover, had a rooster who kept his eye on the sky, and we had an incredible Anatolian Shepherd who also kept his eye on the sky, and was excellent at barking his head off whenever he saw eagles.