Rick & Lavinia Ross, Salmon Brook Farms – Spring 2023

Our feature photo is of our female persimmon tree after a late February snowstorm.  Same tree, different season.  If you look carefully, some of last year’s fruit is still clinging to the branches amid the snow.

Same tree, different season.

The old Sony Cybershot P93 camera finally died, and I have been experimenting with a Canon A800 Powershot on loan from a relative.  It will take a little getting used to.

An old apple tree with a “home” at the base.

Like many areas of the country, we are having an unusually difficult ride into spring.  She has arrived, bucking and snorting, attempting to throw Old Man Winter off her back.  He is a determined soul, and is attempting to hang on as long as possible.  We have had rain, snow, hail, rain mixed with snow punctuated by sun and some days in the 60s.  Clear nights bring mornings below freezing.

Out back past the persimmon tree.

Daffodils proceeded with caution, and are now finally adding a bit of color to the farm.  Life emerges, as it does every year.  On warmer days the scent of petrichor greets me as the breeze plays in the chimes, reminding me there is life in that dark soil.  I must be patient.  It may be a few weeks until the kaleidoscopic weather patterns have passed, for the most part, before I get to cleaning up garden beds.  They are all untidy, in need of weeding and a fresh load of compost and manure.   I am pacing myself and taking my time with various projects.   I will have Herman’s Cherry Tree garden tidied as well as Elbert’s Garden (Doug Thomas) with additional plantings by next post.  I have put in flowers or trees for many other friends, family and readers and over the years.

Flower’s planted in memory of Tim Price’s mother and father. For Tim and Laurie at https://photoofthedayetc.wordpress.com

Michael Knight’s tree and daffodils surviving last year’s gopher attack. For Derrick and Jackie Knight at https://derrickjknight.com/

Michael Smith’s tree. For GP at Pacific Paratrooper, https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/

On occasion, non-blogging guests have made an appearance on this blog.  Marti and John, who live in Sicily, run a working olive farm there, and have plenty of helpers, both canine and feline.  Here two of the kitties are helping run the tractor.

For you speed readers, long time friends Marti, John, and their cats and dogs live on an olive farm in Sicily.  Marti writes “I thought you would enjoy this picture, Lavinia. Ranger is on my lap, Spanky on my left Art and YouTube on my right and NewDude in front. The only one missing is Simon as she is in the house napping on a chair away from the Almond Brother bullies and Ranger who is the gentle bully. That bench is the best spot for all of us. John made this bench last year and it is perfect for me and the cats.”

Marti and the cats on the olive farm in Sicily

Marti sent me her morning musings from Sicily on February 2nd.

Seated on the bench my husband made

Sun beating on my knee length black sweater,

Espresso in hand.

Youtube, the kitty sheriff, arrives first – chatty as usual,

NewDude horns in, head butting his almond colored brother.

Ranger, next, upon my lap,

Obsidian fur melting into the sweater.

Simon the heat seeking feline basking in the warmth

On top of the spiral staircase

Doing a pole dance with the railing.

Starlings cackling in the mulberry tree

Hatching the day’s avian devilry.

Magpies chittering and whistling in the conifers

Dive bombing each other for the best perch

Hilda pressed against the warm metal siding of her chalet

Little Girl reclining in her kennel

Ebony fur absorbing the solar rays

Nature in Sicily

At its morning best.

– Marti G.

**************************************************************

Thank you for reading down this far!   My music schedule is filling up again, and I am booked through  the end of 2023,  with room to fill in a few extra shows here and there.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood of where I am playing, please do drop in and say hello.

The blog portion of this site will be ending in December of 2023.   This blog began in June of 2013 and will end in 2023.  The last ten years of my life on this farm in Oregon are enough to look back on, and I am looking forward to devoting my time to projects here.   The blog will be archived for people to wander through if they are interested, and the site rearranged.   Some of the commenters over the years are no longer living, some have quit blogging for various reasons.  The archive is a place to remember them, to stop and think about them and what they mean to me.   Friends I never met.  I will still drop in on readers from time to time to see what they have been up to.  Some of you have also known me outside the blog.  That will continue as before.

I leave readers with an old Irish blessing.  Until we meet again.

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.