Rick and Lavinia Ross Farm & Music Newsletter for June 2017

Readers may click on any photo in this post to enlarge.  Our feature photo for June is one of our fine roses that came into bloom this month. Originally planted by the previous owner, this one and its many friends survived being dug up and replanted when the house was rebuilt 5 years ago.  I am forever grateful to the help we received from our friend Lyn in digging up all these thorny beauties and boxing them up until they could be replanted.

This lightly scented beauty begins life a creamy pink, and turns almost white as the blooms age.

Tough girls, they survived hot weather in pots and cardboard boxes covered with a minimal amount of dirt and infrequent watering.  Only one of the group has died back over the years, leaving just the rootstock to regrow and bloom.  The surviving rootstock we believe is an example of one called Dr. Huey.

Dr. Huey, I presume. The photo is from a previous year when the graft (pinkish bloom upper right) was still living and blooming. The Dr. Huey rootstock has taken over with masses of red blooms.

Tim & Laurie Price have some lovely photos of their Dr. Huey and other photos from the Corrales Rose Society annual Dr. Huey tours on their site.

http://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2016/5/third-annual-corrales-rose-society-dr-huey-tour

Susan B. Graham is a rose photography judge and avid gardener.  Please visit her sites as well for many outstanding photos, including the famous Dr. Huey rose.

http://susanbgraham.com/blog/

http://swdesertgardening.com/category/roses/dr-huey/

News from the farm

Sundown here at Salmon Brook Farms, view to the southeast.

The troubled weather that came riding in with Spring is transitioning peacefully as Summer asserts her time and place on our little farm in the Cascade foothills. Our first of the month arrived in a shroud of light drizzle and temperatures in the mid 50s, and ended that evening in the 70s watching the molten colors of sunset from a nearby mountain top, deep in conversation with friends.  June has come and gone quickly, mostly filled with snapshots in time of things I have seen, to be replayed in mind’s eye at later times.  I was struck by a quotation I recently saw on Baz & Janet’s Xplore site.  Avid travelers and explorers from Australia, they were visiting Merlin’s Cave, Tintatgel, Cornwall.

The Wisdom of Merlin…

“Spend time not pondering what you see, but why you see it…”

The blooms of the black locust scented the air in early June, attracting bees and admiring humans.

The creamy white, heavily scented blooms of the black locust tree have come and gone along with the irises, succeeded by other species now heavily in bloom. Roses wave and dance, colorful skirts swirling on the breeze, while the orange trumpets of daylilies continue to make a joyful nose of color, accompanied by the butterfly bush which has now joined the symphony.

Make a joyful noise! A bed of orange daylily trumpets at sundown last night. The purple butterfly bush in the background has joined in celebration.

A colorful dancer, she can be seen whirling and waving at the sky on breezy days.

A contemplative member of the garden who has seen several locations, and is much happier now. Planted in memory of my own mother, variety John Paul.

I recall one clear blue, cloudless sky morning earlier in the month; the waning crescent moon was still overhead, white and marbled with light grey like quartz tumbled by the sea. There was little to no traffic on the road, being an early Sunday morning.  It was pleasantly quiet; the land was still and the wind chimes silent.

A few days in the 90s caught my attention. The wind was continually restless and warm, and contained much energy; I could see cumulus piling up over the Cascades. The sky continued to marble with thin, high cirrus clouds, later on boiling with heavy, rolling clouds and widening chasms where one could see to upper levels and bright filtered light. That night, flashes of light over the mountains glowed on the underside of clouds as a storm brewed to the southeast.

Some of June’s many colorful clouds. An eastern view at sunset as the last rays of the sun reflected off the bottom of our aerial wanderers as they crossed over the Cascades.

A few morning cumulus and altocumulus reflected the peach and rose colors of dawn, and at least two clouds were presenting themselves as a colorful example of virga, rain observed to fall from a cloud and evaporate well above the ground.

Clouds in shades of lavender, white hot peach and rose painted in bold strokes against a deepening blue. A pleasant breeze came up after sundown that evening as the land cooled off. Movement over by the back north border head caught my eye. A brushy-tailed grey fox came down from the neighbor’s field across our back lot and into our patch of woods; a handsome little fellow in search of food. I recall Rick saying he had seen a fox a few nights prior to my sighting, but he indicated he had seen a red fox. I saw the grey fox on the border of the hazelnut grove another evening; he watched me intently as I closed the gate and shut off the water. I was probably within 100 feet of him.

Sundown, northwest view.

News from the Cats of Salmon Brook Farms

Mr. Nano has been occupied with important duties this month, so he has assigned Mr. Marcus and Mr. Lucio the task of filing the June report. The farm photographer was sent out to provide documentation on activities they have seen.

Mr. Nano has been very busy this month.

Without further ado, Mr. Nano presents Resident Feline Correspondents Marcus and Lucio, and their report for June, 2017.

 

Mr. Marcus (left), Mr. Lucio (right). Time to wake up and get to work!

We have observed the transition in the weather from cool and wet to drier and sunnier.  The mornings are still deliciously cool and pleasant, and often accompanied by the missives of small birds outside the office window as they cling to strong-stemmed plants and eat the seeds from neighboring dandelions. We have noted with alarm the distinct drop off in the number of bees, especially honeybees, this spring, which we attribute to wetter and cooler than usual weather.  Although there is much clover growing amid the grassy areas, few honeybees have been sighted feeding on it.

The vineyards and garden are now receiving much attention as the season progresses.   Tomatoes, corn, peppers and a few eggplants starts have already gone in, soon to be followed by squash, cucumbers, red cabbage and broccoli this weekend.

Rick carefully tending a pepper plant start.

Placing a cage around the pepper plant to support it as it grows.

The table grapes and pinot noir produced many flowering clusters, and barring hail or other calamities, should produce a good crop, and perhaps some good wine, this autumn.

Cascade table grapes in progress!

Pinot noir wine grapes in progress!

Flowers continue to bloom in succession, both domestic and wild, presenting a visual feast from any window.  The heirloom roses on the north border provide a riot of color in June.  They bloom but once a season, unlike our other roses.

The Shogun tiger lily collection, safely growing in a barrel planter away from tunneling gophers.

Colorful purple spires of the butterfly bush at sundown, growing crescent of the moon just off to the right.

Wildflowers in the meadow. Perhaps Clare from “A Suffolk Lane” would know what they are?

Heirloom roses on the north border, growing wild and carefree.

Cherries are now coming into season, along with blueberries, native trailing blackberries, strawberries and raspberries, providing delicious, healthy deserts.

Non-native blackberry in bloom will provide much needed nectar for bees, good eating later on for us. Wild blackberry provides the main honey flow in June for the Willamette Valley. There are far more of these about the farm than the native trailing blackberry which has ripe fruit now. We keep it in check as best we can. These plants can throw 20 foot, very thorny canes.

The black tartarian cherries, soft and very sweet, will become inky purple when ripe. There are also bing cherries here, as well as many wild cherries about.

A favorite image from back in the old house. our own roses and fruit. Wine is from Sauternes.

We would like to end this report with Michael’s Tree.  Planted in honor of GP Cox’s son Michael, USMC.  GP runs the site Pacific Paratrooper, dedicated to Pacific War era information.

https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/memorial-day-2017/

Michael’s tree at sundown. This redwood will grow tall and strong, providing shade and shelter. It will outlive us. It has already put on much new growth this spring.

Birds overseeing the photography at sundown. We believe these are the ones that were nesting in the eves of the old garage.

We wish our readers a pleasant day and evening ahead, wherever you may be.

– Resident Feline Correspondents Mr. Marcus and Mr. Lucio

Music news (schedule posted on the Performance Schedule page)

For those readers who are new or catching up, the Salmon Brook Farms YouTube channel now has content, and our first Tiny Farm Concerts one song music video was posted at the end of March. I am 14 years older and a good bit more grey since my first and only CD was released back in 2003, but still in the saddle. It has been an interesting ride, with more to come! I have received a request for a video of “Believe in Tomorrow” from the Keepsake CD, so that task is still in my work queue, which gets longer and harder to keep up with in summer.  I have no new videos for June due to all the activity here, but do keep an eye on more content appearing in July.

For those who have missed previous posts and wish to view the channel content, here are links to the  previous two videos.

The Orchard, our distributor, has placed some of our music from the Keepsake CD on YouTube. Anyone wishing to see the entire track listing and stories behind the songs should visit my personal page under MUSIC in the menu at the top of this post. Depending on what country you live in, the music placed on YouTube by The Orchard may be blocked. Readers can also access some songs from the CD via the old IUMA archive site. See https://archive.org/details/iuma-lavinia_ross

In the meantime, 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

Sundown here at Salmon Brook Farms. I often think of the last lines of Desiderata. When my father died, he left all his children a copy of Desiderata, which I value above all else. “With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.” Having survived many battles in the Pacific during WWII, including Peleliu, he understood far better than any of us what this actually means. I regret that he did not find true peace until the end of his life.