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Tag Archives: Methow photography

Fire’s Aftermath

Around here the biggest disaster the people worry about is wildfire. Last year we had more than our share of fires in North Central Washington and many folks were trapped in their houses for days in hopes of avoiding the choking smoke. I am reminded of this now with the US Forest Service doing controlled burning in hopes of preventing uncontrolled fires in the future. The smell is strong in the air and I can see the smoke’s haze all over the valley.

One gift of fire is the morel mushroom. The fire morel is a delicacy that is hunted with great zeal in a burned landscape. My uncle came to visit this week in hopes of getting the mushroom season off to a good start. He had studied last year’s fires’ locations and aspects and picked one area to explore. He was right. With the little bit warmer weather we are finally getting, the fungi are just starting to show themselves and we both came home with about a gallon of them. He said the ones we harvested are most likely natural morels and that the fire morels will come on a bit later. On our menu last night was morel risotto! What a treat.

 

 

The landscape looks very bleak.

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I heard and saw Black-backed Woodpeckers who come into a burned forest almost immediately to consume the insects that have arrived to consume the dead trees.

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Many of the morels were growing out from under rocks and burned roots. This is a nice looking one.

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I also heard Canyon Wrens’ beautiful songs from the cliffs above.

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Garden Compost

Every Spring, it’s a big project to move the finished compost to the garden beds and turn over last year’s accumulation of garden waste for next year’s compost. Sunday, despite forecasts of 30% chance of showers and some high winds, I was going to take care of the compost.

 

Getting started. You can see that the mountains are obscured by the ‘scattered showers.

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There’s my two-year-old compost. It filled the pallets a year ago.

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And that is last year’s garden waste.

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The whole setup is framed with seven pallets held together with baling twine from old straw or rotten hay bales.

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Beautiful compost! Gardener’s gold.

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My garlic was planted and mulched last fall.

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And it gets compost to get it through the growing season.

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With some help from Ken all of the compost is distributed to various garden beds and one flower bed.

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Here is a cross section of last year’s gardening efforts!

Shortly after this image, it began to rain and then it rained pretty hard. The wind blew and it snowed sideway too.

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Once the storm passed I returned to the compost project. Here I am getting through the hard part of turning it over and moving it. Also, I replaced the center pallet. It was rotting away at the bottom. There is old horse manure in the wheelbarrow that I layered in the pile. It will help it ‘heat up’ and break down.

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There it is finished. I topped it with some of the dead grass from our lawn mixed with some more manure.

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Next year’s compost!

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All tidied up and ready for more garden waste

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And the garden beds with the compost spread around and garlic mulched again. In the background you can see the beehives. Since it was so cold, they were not out and about.

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Everyday Walks

Luna and I walk on our hillside everyday. Sometimes we get away and walk other places. Spring is a season of change. Everyday, everywhere you look, you can see something new. Here are some images from recent walks.

 

This vernal pond above our house has not had water this year. By my reckoning, that makes this a dry year. Maybe today’s rain and snow will change that.

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Waterleaf is in full bloom now.

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It’s a ground-hugging, diminutive plant.

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Up valley, I found the spring beauty to be far more pink than around here.

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This snag is a great wildlife tree. It has lots of cavities for cavity-nesting birds and mammals.

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An interesting fungus

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And another one

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Luna found this last patch of snow and rolled around in it.

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Balsamroot

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At the Suspension Bridge along the Methow Community Trail. Compare it to how it looked the last time I went skiing on March 9.

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Looking up river

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And down river

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There is a series of William Stafford poems in the Methow. This one is at the Suspension Bridge.

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Back at home, the serviceberry is finally blooming. When I drove through Wenatchee on April 1, it was already in full bloom.

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Here is a batch of tiny tent caterpillars in the bitterbrush.

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Bluebells have been blooming for almost a month.

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A currant bush hugging an old lichen-covered fence post.

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The First Day of Spring

The calendar says today is the first day of Spring. Yesterday I saw my first yellowbell, a delicate tiny wildflower. This morning we awoke to three inches of new snow and it only just quit snowing an hour or so ago. Despite the conditions, Luna and I had our regular morning walk. Even she seemed less than enthused about the weather. Today’s snow was not unexpected. Now the sun is shining and soon this snow will be gone and the wildflowers can reappear.

 

I should advertise for Bogs boots.

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It’s been a while since Luna has been featured.

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Visibility was poor due to heavy snowfall

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Aspens were sheltering Mourning Doves

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A mouse or a vole hole in the snow

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She’s got the cute thing going

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Some springs, that depression in front of the aspens holds water

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These deer were none too happy about the snow

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I expect these daffodils will still bloom

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Early Spring Signs

More signs of Spring each day now. Yesterday the dog and I went for a steep walk above the bottom of Pipestone Canyon. I had thought about walking up the canyon but the access road is still muddy and snowy in places. Best not to even try to drive on those conditions. The bird highlight was a couple of Dusky Grouse. They should be displaying soon. Western Meadowlarks sang as we walked. It was overcast and a little chilly.

 

The view looking up towards Pipestone Canyon.

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A nest from last year high in an old bitterbrush. I had to hold the camera above my head to get pictures.

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The name of this flower has slipped my memory. Hopefully it will return soon.

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And I don’t know this tiny pink bud emerging from the crusty soil.

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Balsamroot buds

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And the first wildflowers – bluebells.

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Funny, I haven’t seen any buttercups yet.