Lots of butterflies this year...

Painted Lady butterfly on the lavender....

Elk babes...

5 elk calves cooling off.

So darned cute!

Oregon Sunshine...

Oregon Sunshine 

attracts a lot of butterflies.

Yesterday we saw a monarch, swallowtails and others 

flitting from Sunshine to Yarrow and back again.

From 4 small Sunshine starts 

provided by local Soil and Water Conservation District 

a couple of years ago

to this.......

spring????

Beautiful,

Unbelievable,

February,

Spring Weather.

Couldn't resist these orange primroses.

Miniature iris.
At first glance, they look like a purple crocus.
No more than 4 inches tall.
First blooms of spring....in February.

White tailed kite...

Watching this raptor for the last week or so....
Yesterday morning got a good enough view to identify it as a white tail kite.

White Tailed Kite (not my photo)

Always fun to make a positive identification on a bird.  

Especially one seen for the first time.

From the Audubon Society:  The tame, elegant White-tailed Kite was formerly shot in large numbers by farmers who thought it threatened their chickens, although the birds feed almost entirely on insects and a few small rodents. The North American population was reduced to a pitiful remnant, and it was feared that the species might become extinct here. White-tailed Kites have since made a spectacular comeback in California and Texas and are now common in suitable lowland habitats. Like other kites, they are sociable outside the breeding season, congregating at roosts in groups of a dozen or more. They feed mainly on small rodents and insects, which they locate by hovering kestrel-like high in the air. These kites prefer to rest on treetops or other high lookouts.

(A very interesting piece on the Cornucopia site. Don't Ask How to Feed the 9 Billion....link at left.  Definitely worth reading to debunk Monsanto's claim that we need genetically modified crops and bundles of chemical pesticides in order to  end world hunger.)

Still fighting the damn dump...

Still fighting the expansion of Riverbend Dumpfill on the banks of the Yamhill River.
Waste Management Inc, the largest garbage company in the whole wide world, has an expansion application in front of the Yamhill County Commissioners.  During this application process Waste Management is spreading $500,000 around the area, $150,000 here in Yamhill County.

I guess they think that we are just local yokels and won't notice the connection between their application to expand the noxious unsorted-anything-can-be-disposed-of-here garbage dump in a flood plain and the greasing of palms.

Waste Management's arrogance and lack of concern for the environment and the surrounding farms and vineyards is crazy making.  Three letters to the local paper this week opposed to the dump's 37 acre expansion.  One of them mine.

A little too chummy?

Thank you, Jeb Bladine, for your Oct. 31 column, “Awkward time for county partnership.”

And thanks also for the News-Register editorial board’s Nov. 14 opinion piece on the local landfill debate. Reading these two pieces, I couldn’t help but consider the term “quid pro quo” in relationship to the county’s partnership with Waste Management. Waste Management/Riverbend Landfill gives $150,000 each to Yamhill County and its municipalities while soliciting an affirmative vote on Riverbend expansion.

Could the county’s acceptance of $150,000 from an out-of-state corporation with a pending land-use application be more than bad form or a conflict of interest?

Oregon state law says a person (corporation) commits the crime of bribery if the person offers, confers or agrees to confer any pecuniary benefit upon a public servant with the intent to influence the public servant’s vote, opinion, judgment, action, decision or exercise of discretion in an official capacity.

The federal bribery statute provides for a hefty fine and/up to 10 years imprisonment for persons corruptly offering or accepting benefits/dollars with the intent to influence official decision-making. The federal law applies at the local level when the offending official represents an entity that receives at least $10,000 from the federal government.

Partnership? Grant? Donation? Bribe? Quid pro quo? Sure seems like it is worth thought and good discussion at both the city and county levels

http://stopthedumpcoalition.org/TheDump.cshtml

A couple of good youtube videos at this link.

http://leakyland.com/?p=908

On Veteran's Day

Thank you, Dad.

Harry William Walster

1924-2014

Fly Fishing Moose Creek in Montana

Walnuts

Walnuts are back from the dryer!
A beautiful harvest this year.

Happy Halloween!

neighbors and visitors

visitor coming down the driveway

our neighbors across the road

visitors cutting through the hay field

Underwater Treasure....

I am thinking that the rainbow's treasure must be at the bottom of the small pond.

And the leprechaun guarding it is most likely a duck.

2 inches of rain last night.

Lots of wind today.

The second rainbow is in the upper left hand corner

Snow and orchids...

Outside,

14 inches of snow,

some ice,

and hungry cold birds.

We watched a dozen bluebirds enter a small nesting box to keep warm.

A lot of birds in a very small space.

This car is still snowed in.

So while it snows outside,

inside the wood stove keeps us warm,

and this orchid continues to amaze us.

12 blooms that came out 6 weeks ago

 continue to last.

This is the first time that the orchids have bloomed

since repotting two years ago.

A little summertime in a pot.

Keep warm.

Libby preparing for the SuperBowl & General Update....

Super Bowl Tomorrow. 

 Libby has been invited to party.

Seems only right that she should be sporting Seahawk colors.

Dump Update:

We lost the dump vote.  The two county commissioners voted (the third commissioner's husband works for Waste Management) to approve the dump expansion on the banks of the Yamhill River.  The Dump shall heretofore be referred to as the Springer-George Memorial Garbage Heap.  Since they are the ones that approved it, it seems only right and proper that their names should be adhered to it.  What a legacy!
(thanks to Peter for the renaming)

Farm Update:

We are way low on rain this year.  Hopefully, we will make it up in the next month or so.  We saw a bald eagle about a week ago, an elk cow out in the field yesterday, and the usual mergansers, mallards, and ringneck ducks in the pond.  It has been a fairly quiet and cold few months here.

Blog Update: 

Haven't blogged, figured there isn't anything real exciting to share.  However, Libby's Seahawk haircut gave me a little shove to blog.

Maybe I am finished blogging.  Not real sure.  Perhaps time to ride off into the sunset.  Perhaps I just need some inspiration to continue.  Perhaps there is a time when blogs just naturally go away.  When they are done, they are done.  I don't know, just thinking.  I have noticed that several other people have stopped blogging recently.  Maybe 3 years is it, except for the diehards.  We'll see.

Dancing for justice....

Our friend Eli very recently posted this video on YouTube.  As serious as he is for the cause, the vehicle for fundraising makes me laugh.  He is such a good guy and funny besides.

I tried to imbed the video, but couldn't make it happen, so here is a link to click on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aksNFkSVC2M&feature=youtube_gdata

I hope you can take a minute and enjoy Eli dancing.

Garbage...

Another Riverbend garbage dump hearing last night.

Lasted until almost 11pm.

This hearing is to rezone the dump to EFU, Exclusive Farm Use.

Yeah, right.  Like that land can ever  be farmed again.

A travesty and an insult to real farmers and real farms.

Feels like living in a Kafka novel or Alice making her way down the rabbit hole.

For those who don't live around here, this will be amazing, and a little difficult to understand.

Waste Management, the largest international garbage corporation in the entire frickin' world,  is asking to rezone the dump to Exclusive Farm Use so that they can then expand the dump onto land that is currently in farm use. 

Can this possibly be real?  Or did George Orwell make this up?

As I said in my testimony,

 "Let's get this straight, this rezoning of dumpland to farmland will allow farmland to become dumpland." 

 Expansion of the dump onto some of the best farmland in the entire world on the banks of the South Yamhill River.

And the Yamhill County Commissioners will fall all over themselves to approve it.

And it will go to court.

In the meantime Waste Management continues to dump 1000's of tons of unsorted garbage daily 

on the banks of the South Yamhill River, 

which flows into the Columbia River, 

which flows into the Pacific Ocean.

.  

This is Oregon.  

This is the Willamette Valley

This is Oregon's heralded wine country.  

This is lunacy.

And the video below is a sad testament to what happens to garbage when it enters the earth's waters.

A sad testament to the state of the earth and the oceans.

So disappointing....

To find that a product that you like is made by a company with total disregard for truth or concern for the world.  Cranberry juice from Ocean Spray, Larabar Bars, Ginger Beer from Knudsen...all regulars on the shopping list, but not any more.  All of the parent companies have donated to defeat the Label GMO Food Initiative (I-522) in Washington State.  When I have contacted the parent company, their consumer affairs department has sent me a response that is a slap in the face to any thinking consumer.  The latest was from Ocean Spray.

Their response to my concerns about GMO foods...

Thank you for contacting Ocean Spray.  As a grower-owned cooperative, food safety is a top priority for Ocean Spray and understands that some consumers have questions about genetically modified food ingredients.  While cranberries and grapefruit are not products of biotechnology, the sweeteners used in some of our products are from plants that are considered genetically modified. The use of genetically modified (GM) ingredients is not only safe for people and our planet, but also has a number of important benefits.

Many of the most influential regulatory agencies and organizations that study the safety of the food supply, including the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, Health Canada, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Academy of Sciences, have found genetically modified food ingredients are safe and there are no negative health effects associated with their use.

GM technology adds desirable traits from nature, without introducing anything unnatural or using chemicals, so that food is more plentiful.

It is important for our consumers to know that this technology is not new. In fact, it has been around for the past 20 years, and today, 70-80% of the foods we eat in the United States, both at home and away from home, contain ingredients that have been genetically modified.  If the ingredient label on any food or beverage product contains corn or soy, they most likely contain genetically modified ingredients, as a very high percentage of those crops grown in the U.S. use GM technology.  In addition, a high percentage of other ingredients in the U.S., such as sugar beets, are grown with the use of GM technology as well.

Ingredients grown using GM technology require fewer pesticides, less water and keep production costs down.  In fact, GM technology helps reduce the price of crops used for food, such as corn, soybeans and sugar beets by as much as 15-30%.  In addition, one in eight people among the world?s growing population of seven billion do not have enough to eat, and safe and effective methods of food production, like crops produced through GM technology, can help us feed the hungry and malnourished in developing nations around the world.

Ocean Spray will continue to advocate for the continued safe and effective use of agricultural biotechnology to increase the food supply while lowering cost.  And we will continue to engage in an informative dialogue with our consumers so that they understand the safety, prevalence and benefits of GM technology and can make informed choices for themselves and their families.  For more information, we encourage you to visit www.factsaboutgmos.org.  Thank you for your interest in Ocean Spray.

Sincerely,



And Your Friends at Ocean Spray

My response to their response:

Dear Friends at Ocean Spray,

Oh my, you have drank the kool-aid.

So many "untruths" in your response below.

I don't even have enough time to go through this point by point.

However, I have to say that this sentence all by itself is astounding.

GM technology adds desirable traits from nature, without introducing anything unnatural or using chemicals, so that food is more plentiful.

Really!?  The reason for Round-Up Ready crops is so that more and stronger chemicals can be used.  But then perhaps you don't consider Round-Up to be a chemical.

And desirable traits from nature...do you think that we are all frickin' crazy.  Round-Up ready is a desirable trait for Monsanto, and certainly is in no way natural.

Adding fish genes to tomatoes...natural?  Yup, Mother Nature has a really funny sense of humor.  Eel genes in salmon, yup, as natural as can be.

And as for food being more plentiful, since the advent of GMO in the past 20 years (yup a really long time), food is not more plentiful because of GMO.

My husband just walked in and I asked him to read Ocean Spray's response.  He said, " And I had always had great respect for Ocean Spray."  Note the past tense.

Guess we will be buying our cranberry products from Vincent Cranberries and other growers who do not contaminate their nutritious cranberry products with the addition of GMO sweeteners.

We will, with deep regret, be spreading your response.  

Sincerely, 

Marilyn 

In a statement from the World Future Council, a network of global luminaries who "form a voice for the rights of future generations."

Almost twenty years after commercialization of the first GMO seeds, by far the most widely used are not engineered to enhance nutrient content, but to produce a specific pesticide or to resist a proprietary herbicide, or a combination of these traits. Even in reducing weeds, the technology is failing, for it has led to herbicide-resistant "super weeds" now appearing on nearly half of American farms.

Further evidence from around the world is showing how ecological methods dramatically enhance productivity, improve nutritional content of crops, and benefit soil health, all without leaving farmers dependent on ever-more expensive inputs. The United Nations, through its Office of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has documented ecological agriculture's potential in hungry regions to double food production in one decade. Chaired by former World Food Prize awardee Dr. Hans Herren, the 2008International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report, developed by 400 experts and endorsed by 59 governments, calls for redirection of agricultural development toward such sustainable practices. Agroecology and food sovereignty are emerging solutions shaped and chosen by scientists and citizens worldwide.

Note that the World Food Prize mandate is also to recognize contributors to food "for all people," but GMO seeds make this goal harder to reach. Most GM crops are used for feed for livestock, processed food, or fuel -- products not accessible to hungry people. Moreover, the planet already produces more than enough food for all, and 40 percent more per person than in 1970; yet today 870 million people, still suffer from extreme, long-term undernourishment because they lack power to access adequate food. Developed and controlled by a handful of companies, genetically engineered seeds further the concentration of power and the extreme inequality at the root of this crisis of food inaccessibility. Monsanto, for example, controls 90 percent of the U.S. soybean crop and 80 percent of the country's corn and cotton crops.

Thanks to anyone who read this whole thing.

October, my favorite month.

Layer of fog in the morning,

With beautiful sunny weather in the afternoon.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Yesterday was apple cider making day.

The grinder just chews those apples into little bits,

releasing so much juice that the leftover apple pieces are almost dry.

9 or 10 different kinds of apples make for a yummy juice.

Everyone left with ample cider.

What is in the bags?

Chantrelles.

Yumm!

The staghorn sumac in full color.

What a beautiful October we have had.

Stitch: A thread or line that holds things together.

A year ago, I began a quilt for my daughter's birthday.

Recycled a pieced top from a garage sale. 

The fabric was blah, but a good place to start.

Finished Quilt

 I finished the quilt a year later.

Just in time for her October birthday.

Backed in softest flannel.
Tied with light green wool yarn.

Edged in polka dots.

Some of the Squares:

Great Grandma Edith.
(Thanks, Gayle, for the picture.)
Pictures transferred onto linen,
then sewn onto the quilt top.

The old coat button, a reminder of the button jar

that taught us to count, to sort, to know our colors.

 A partial map of NE Portland.

I, of course, "put a bird on it".

Portland, ORE - Put a Bird on It

 "Everything that slows us down and forces patience,

Everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature

is an instrument of grace."

The beauty of dog ownership.

You have to slow down, go for walks, love a lot.

Daughter and rescue golden retriever, Rusty.

This square was fun to design and embroider.

Borrowed from Julia.  Thanks. 

Embroidered spider.

 A self portrait,

from the first grade.

Will she recognize herself?

Embroidered self-portrait.

 Stitch: A thread or line that holds things together.

"Let us be grateful to PEOPLE who make us laugh."

Her brother fishing in Grandpa's Maltby pond.

No blanket for her would be complete

without a rabbit.

Random embroidered squares.

Wherever there is a heart, there is a hole in the fabric.

As the quilt becomes older and more tattered, 

more old wool hearts can be added.

It's very heavy, fits a queen size bed.  

One of those winter quilts that will provide weight and warmth.

I hope she likes it half as much as I enjoyed making it for her.

Better than wine! (Updated)

Grapes are picked and destemmed.

The press is ready to take its maiden voyage.

A press made by Cider Bob from Elmira, Oregon

 Grapes go into the press box.

 And the first grape juice comes out!

 It's so pretty.

Tastes so good.

Can't wait to press some apples.

What a great birthday present!

Update:
This is Cider Bob, who is over 80, and his son Dan.
A family operation, they make about ten presses a month.
Signed and numbered, 
 working pieces of art.
We picked the press up at the shop in Elmira, OR.
Both Bob and Dan were there, 
plus a granddaughter who was busy doing some finish work.
Lots of pride in the history of their company
and the high quality of their work.