High Desert Gardening Lore...

There are numerous notable peaks visible from the high desert of Oregon. The Three Sisters, Mt. Bachelor and Mt. Jefferson are probably the most well known. But come this time of year, perhaps the most watched is Black Butte, elevation 6,076 feet. It is an extinct volcano made up of basaltic andesite.

This is the north side of Black Butte. The story in this high desert region is to wait "until the snow is gone from Black Butte" to plant most of your garden, which is often around the first of June. You can certainly plant earlier and try to beat Mother Nature but you often have to plant again after she deals a nasty weather blow of some sort.

The nasty weather today is wind, very strong and sustained wind with mighty gusts. We were warned by NOAA that it was coming, so last night and this morning, we toured outside to make certain that things were either stowed away or lashed down. But one thing we can't control is the dust. With this being spring planting season, the high desert is humming with plows, etc. as farmers and ranchers prepare their fields. The dust is so bad in some areas that it looks like fog. And the tumbleweeds are wheeling about, unleashed and traveling willy nilly at great speeds. Driving home from town, a huge specimen close to three feet in diameter came bouncing down the road and smashed right into the hood of my car. And there it stayed... I finally had to pull over to get it off. All I had to do was turn the car in another direction and it was ripped right off.

Today is Tramp 1's first day back at work - just a half day to start. He is really glad to be back there and I am happy for him - and me, too! I drove him into work at noon and someone from the office will bring him home tonight. Thank goodness he will have something else to do now! For a guy with one arm strapped to his side, he can sure do a lot of things and he has had me running trying to keep up with him. I must say, he can do more work with one arm than I can do with two!