Another year has turned, the winter holidays are here– St. Nicholas Day, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, or Three King’s Day. The cold damp days of Oregon winter are now upon us and the fire beckons us to gather together as we watch the flames unwind the sun’s warmth from the wood. Looking back since our last letter to our family and friends, the summer and fall seasons have come and gone.
This year the summer was particularly mild and long. The garden gave abundantly and we celebrated its bounty with many impromptu luncheons and dinner parties. Summer lasted through October this year. I recall eating a handful of sweet, sun ripened blackberries while looking at the fall colors on the trees. . We had many opportunities for hiking in the woods and seeing the elk as they returned for the fall.
Around the farm, upgrading infrastructure continues. That’s a fancy way of saying that we fixed our plumbing which is a general way of saying that we replaced three toilets. At least one of the plumbers wishes to remain anonymous as he doesn’t want it generally known that he can do these repairs. He would like to be known for his love of cooking and taking naps. Keeping up with farm traditions, we also spent time repairing equipment. This summer the focus was Stihl chainsaws, weedwackers, John Deere mower and International backhoe. Those newly repaired chainsaws were put to good use as workers tackled the pile of big Douglas Fir logs for firewood.
The Nature Conservancy’s work on habitat management and restoration continues. Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz is now managing the Yamhill Oaks Preserve which includes The Gahr Farm. The Institute for Applied Ecology conducted a survey of checkermallows (Sidalcea spp.). Their survey identified over 1,000 Nelson’s checkermallow (Sidalcea nelsonii). This plant is on the federal threatened species list. Ted has long been interested in and worked on recovery of this wetland species and the survey was documentation of the success of his work.
The surveyors also found a number of meadow checkermallows (Sidalcea campestris). While not considered a threatened species, nevertheless, the meadow checkermallow is a beautiful flower that lives only in the mid to upper Willamette Valley and we are happy to see its blooms every summer. The Nature Conservancy also continued its understory vegetation monitoring and inventory and are working on plan for removing some trees in the woods next year. They are also partnering with the Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to complete the Wetlands Reserve Plan of Operations. In September they mowed to reduce invasive woody plants.
Not all of the action was confined to the farm, in August, Ted and Thea took a road trip to northern California. They visited Rancho Rico, Big Sur, Yosemite as well as hung out in Santa Cruz.. The other noteworthy travel event is that Janet and Brian, after 25 years of Christmas at Incahoots, are taking a vacation. They are in Oaxaca to celebrate the radish festival and Christmas (On-line photos of the 2012 Oaxaca radish festival are amazing). However, after all these exciting travels, coming home is always sweet.