Rick and Lavinia Ross Farm & Music Newsletter for June 2015

Meet the neighbors! Our feature photo this month is of our burro neighbor Speedo, a little fellow with a big personality. His pony mates Joe (sorrel) and Jack (bay) were a little camera shy, but at last came closer for a photo. The three can be seen racing around, or perhaps just hanging out under their apple tree on a warm day.

Neighbors Joe and Jack, grazing at dusk.

News from the farm

Summer is officially just around the corner on our little farm in the Cascade foothills, but already feels like late July with the unseasonably hot, and dry, weather. The gardens, trees and vines have all taken off in a race against the oncoming heat and drought, and Rick has been occupied tying up shoots that seem to grow a foot a day.

Rick tending the new shoots in the pinot noir vineyard. The table grapes outside the deer fencing are already attempting to climb the trees!

Growing apple. Healthy and coming right along.

Kale, mustard, onions and potatoes. A crowded bed and growing fast, they will help shield each other from soil dessication and cut back on our water usage.

The early mornings are in the low to mid 50s, cool and soft now. The welcome staccato of rain on the metal roof is becoming much more infrequent as summer solstice draws near, and we are already spot-watering in places where we would not have had to until July. It is a lazy, hot and increasingly cloudy day today, and a rainstorm is making its way up through the southwest pass, according to the forecast. I have been watching the sky over southwest pass all morning, as that is where most of our local weather comes in from. The light cirrus clouds of early morning have grown darker and heavier, and the Wind has picked up. I can see the footsteps of this unseen entity in the silvery waves of grass, bending in Wind’s path, running away across the back lot. The mood is uncertain today. Warm and humid enough to spawn a thunderstorm, but still playful and pleasant at this time. A fairy, flitting in and out of open windows. Orange trumpets of daylilies open skyward in the heat and filtered light, imploring the wanderers of the heavens to leave some moisture before they move on up over the Cascades. We wait.

Planted around the fruit trees, perennials such as daylilies add beauty and protection from mowing and weed-wacking.

News from the Cats of Salmon Brook Farms

The crew has been active in the early morning and evening, retiring to napping during the heat of the day, as any sensible cat would. Please visit their page The Cats of Salmon Brook Farm for more information

Nano, the Great White Hunter, hard at work. A good day for napping!

Hope, enjoying her morning snooze.

Lucio T. Ross, not getting into mischief at the moment. But not for long…

Unsuspecting little Marcus, peacefully snoozing. Unaware Lucio is about to claim his sun spot…

Lucio, cleaning off a spot to bite. Marcus will tire of this before long and move over, which is exactly what Lucio wants….

Abby is awake and alert, and wanting someone to play toy. Birdwatching will have to do for now.

Old Willow cat, blissfully asleep in her basket with a big smile on her face.

The Three Sisters – Wynken (left) , Nod (center) and Blynken (right). Blynken, the Quiet Intellectual, is watching the camera strap, wondering how to get a hold of it. She studies a problem until she figures it out. Wynken is the largest and gentlest of the three, and a real long-haired beauty. Camera shy, prefers chin scratches.

Little Nod – also known as Sister Bertrille,” The Flying Nod”. Playing with her brush. Loves to take flying leaps, land on my back, and ride on my shoulders. Smallest of the Three Sisters, the most vocal and opinionated of the three, quite striking with her Paul Newman blue eye!

Music news (schedule posted on the Performance Schedule page)

The outdoor music season is underway for me, starting with the Albany Farmers’ Market on back on 5/16. I worked as the market manager for Albany until it became too difficult to care for Rick’s mother and get up early and put in the hours required to work this market. I have known most of these vendors for many years now, having shared working outside in the cold, wind and rain of the beginning and end of the season as well as the relentless sun and heat of mid summer. The Corvallis-Albany market season is a long one, stretching from mid-April through just before Thanksgiving. They are like family, these farmers, all of them. I have watched their children grow up, shared the highs and lows of their individual triumphs and losses, fielded their complaints and problems as well as compliments. To be greeted and hugged by so many of my old market family each time I return to play music there is a wonderful experience like no other.

Our local Sweet Home Farmers’ Market opened this past Saturday June 6^th. Stop in on Saturdays if you are in the area! The Market runs from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. I kicked off the music season there this past Saturday, and like Albany, it was wonderful to see so many old friends there as vendors, and as customers. A farmers’ market is probably the only place I might have a performance interrupted to have someone tell me about their bees, or how their goats, cows or chickens are doing. Or perhaps to offer me some fresh produce, eggs or baked goods to take home after the show, a “thank you for being here today”. And that is OK – I am background music there, not in a concert venue. And I am just one of the gang.

We are still working on the Tiny Farm Concerts page on YouTube.  Stay tuned.  Everything in it season…

Roses from the north borderline.

In your area, wherever you may be, please do all you can to help keep your own local music alive. Go out and see someone you don’t know, host a house concert, download songs or buy CDs. Or even just stop for a minute to hear someone at a Farmers’ Market. Live, local musicians provide a wealth of talent most people will never hear about in this age of iPods, Internet and TV.

Bookings and home-grown produce:
Lavinia and Rick Ross
Salmon Brook Records / Salmon Brook Farms

http://home.earthlink.net/~redwine5

https://salmonbrookfarms.wordpress.com

Live well, love well. Be kind to yourself and to others. Tred lightly upon the soil and its inhabitants. We are all neighbors of a sort on this Earth, and all need each other’s expertise, hard work and good will.