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This year again has been busy from start to finish, but with few life changes. Much of my year was spent on archaeology research and creating related web content. I took no trips nor vacations. I've been happy staying in Five Rivers. The property I caretake has been transformed from its abandoned look to occupied and manicured in appearance. My biggest change has been growing a full-scale garden for the first time in 30 years.
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The garden has been great fun with a constant supply of organic delights. It is a low terrace near the riverbank with rich, black soil. The solar exposure is great, especially for this steep mountain area of the Coast Range.
A short movie of garden photography is linked below (294 MB).
The garden and orchard have an elk fence. The local herd grazes right next to the house, pruning flower pots on occasion, so the fence is a necessity. The area was fallow for years, overgrown while this property sat on an idle real estate market.
Neighbor Mark came over twice with his tractor and rototilled. Mark also used the front loader to aid in cleaning blackberry vines from the orchard, saving me several days of hard labor. The river bank is lined with delicious blackberries. These had overgrown the row of fruit trees beside the garden. I spent days cutting them back and weaving them into a barrier to keep the bears out.
A row of Concord grapes at one end of the garden was overgrown with blackberries. I disentangled the grape vines and trellised them, then planted a row of raspberries beside them. The raspberries fruited until the first hard freeze in mid-November. There should be a grape crop next year.
A strawberry patch was buried under thick grass and brambles and I restored it. They produced heavily, but I soon discovered some competition for the fruit. I've since become a skilled gopher trapper. I'm also battling moles in a wide radius from the garden.
One of the delights of gardening is flower color spots. I planted a lot of sunflowers, standard snack sunflowers plus giants, chrysanthemum-like ones, and an exquisite mix of colors including gold, yellow, orange, rusty red, lime, burgundy, and bi-colors. Petunias, zinnias, marigolds, violas, hollyhocks, nasturtiums, and cosmos complimented the backdrop rows of Helianthus. A movie of sunflower photos is also linked below (255 MB). |
Click images to open larger versions.
Above, Sept. 12, peak harvest season. Below, the garden and schoolhouse view from Crab Creek Road, June 26.
One of my elder neighbors, Ernest, passed away in Feb. His kind widow, Dorothy, gifted me their Troy-bilt roto tiller. So I've kept her well-supplied with vegetables and fish and I'm her go-to guy for any emergencies. Rick and Carla, just up the road, keep me supplied with bee pollen from their hives, much of it from the sunflowers. A great stash of frozen yellow plum puree came from a tree at Louie and June's. Both Steve and Sharon supplied vegetable starts and I shared mine. Todd mowed the back field. Sara and i dug buckets of daffodil bulbs from an old homestead on Todd and Flower's property. Michael is generous with smoked salmon and he gets my salmon eggs. Fisher may be way out in the middle of Siuslaw National Forest, but our great community of neighbors all look out for each other.
Rest in Peace Ernie. As I took the last photo of Ernie and Dorothy together, on New Years Day,
a bald eagle flew into the frame (upper left) before passing overhead at tree-top level.
On the health front, I'm doing fine, with my blood pressure back under control. Returning to peaceful and stress-free country life has been good for me. The yard work, gardening, and fishing keep me fit. One of the greatest things about life on Five Rivers is the great trout and steelhead fishing in some of the most pristine waters in the world. Trout fishing runs from late spring to the end of October. The eagles visit the neighborhood for the good fishing too.
In late Summer and Fall, the local sea-run cutthroat, aka bluebacks (image below with vegetables), return from the ocean to spawn. They get fat on the salmon eggs. In late summer the salmon runs begin. The earliest steelhead are in the river now, and that run peaks in January. We have some of the best steelhead fishing in the world.
Five Rivers flows into the Alsea River, where we can keep a salmon catch limit. Both Coho and the larger Chinook salmon run the Alsea. Of course, we also catch salmon in Five Rivers, but we have to release them. This time of year, the freezer is full of garden produce, berries, and salmon. I've caught about 20 salmon this year, including three chrome-bright Coho (right) keepers and some very fresh Chinook (image below). Fresh from the river fish is incomparable, and the local trout is some of the best tasting of all the world's fish. |
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I make it to town every two weeks for groceries, usually to Corvallis, an hour drive. One of the social highlights of the year was a reunion in Tualatin for Milk and Honey Co-op. This year i reconnected with my partner from 30 years ago, Molly Welch, and we decided to organize the reunion. Molly worked as a manager of the Co-op and our social circle revolved around the Co-op too–it was even how we met. It was great to visit with such great old friends. Richard Hall had even preserved the old business sign. And Mark Newman was able to return a book after 30 years! As you can see, a great time was had by all. Thanks Molly for all the work making the event a success.
Here in Fisher, the Schoolhouse is now in full holiday mode, with lots of decorations and activities like baking. Owner Sara and her sister Mary are here for the holidays, and right now Corwyn, Sara's three-year-old grandson, is staying over for a few days. I'm looking forward to the year ahead and a milestone, my 65th birthday. We've planted buckets of bulbs and some Spring flowers are already peeking up. I'm starting more gopher-proof planters of tulips today.
On the health front, I've been well until the last month, with blood pressure normal without medication. Then I broke out with shingles for Thanksgiving. I still have discomfort, but will be ready to fish steelhead as soon as the river clears from recent heavy winter rains.
Well, that's the annual summary. In a nutshell, just like last year except way more garden produce and I'm 65 now. My research news is online in the ArchaeoBlog.
From my home to yours, here's wishing you a merry holiday season and all the best in 2015.
VIDEOS:
These two videos are large, 1280-pixel, HD movie files. They will take some time to download even at high speed.
2013 Garden - 294 MB M4V File | Sunflowers - 255 MB MOV File
jqjacobs.net
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