#dorris ranch

[sherrylephotography]

Dorris Ranch, Oregon

The misty coolness wakes me up. Moss covers the trees and the bright green landscape says rain forest. The trail is a little muddy but I don't mind, it is nice to be able to get out and walk after being cooped up in the car. Sometimes it's the little things in life that breathe life back into me.

May, 2022

Posted 8/25

[spaciousreasoning]

Eating, Walking & Hot Tubbing

It got down to 46 degrees last night. Nancy shut the window over the bed part way during the night and all the way in the early morning. With nothing but clear blue skies today, the high reached 83 degrees.

My blood sugar finally dipped back into the “safe” range, to 156. Now we get to see if it can do it for more than a single day at a time.

We enjoyed our morning coffee and the Friday edition of the brain games, and then we began to think about how we might spend our Friday, since there was nothing on our agenda.

We considered going to the coast, either north or south. But the places we considered were at least two or three hours, which was spending way too much time in the car. Especially when we would have to go both there and back.

The Wooden Shoe farm is currently hosting a summer flower festival, which includes a lot of sunflower acreage. But buying tickets for the event on the same day we attend would cost more. So that idea was rejected.

We also cast about for other ideas, but they mostly involved going too far away.

Then Nancy came up with the suggestion to go walking at Dorris Ranch after having breakfast at Addi’s. I immediately agreed, and off we went.

Addi’s is located at the corner of South A Street and Pioneer Parkway West, which puts it directly on the route to Dorris Ranch. Nancy got scrambled eggs and potatoes with sausage links and wheat toast. I had chicken fried steak with eggs and hash browns and a lovely biscuit.

When we finished our meal, we drove right down to Dorris Ranch and parked near the Living History Village part of the ranch. We started out on the Middle Fork Path and headed east for almost a mile and a half before turning around. On the return route, we followed the path through Dorris Ranch, where there was much more shade from all the trees. We also passed by several fields where brand new filbert trees have recently been planted, accompanied by signs that said, “Be kind to the baby filbert trees.”

On the way home, we stopped at Old Crow and got a blended Mexican mocha to help cool off. Then we napped for an hour before showering and doing a load of laundry. After another suggestion by Nancy, we made an appointment for 7 p.m. at Onsen Hot Tubs. It was to be the first visit since March.

I posted a dozen pictures to the Flickr account from our visit to Yosemite National Park in 2016. Today’s total number of views for the account reached just over 3,000 by the time the count flipped at 5 p.m., a big dip from yesterday’s large numbers, but that was due to the photo that made the “Explore” page.

Nancy began fixing a small dinner a little after 5 p.m. We went with leftover meatloaf, more boiled potatoes, and a little bit of broccoli.

At 6:30 p.m., we took off for Onsen. It was our seventh visit since discovering the place during an exploration of the river path that took us through that part of Eugene. It was bit warmer out than during most of our visits, but it was nice to spend the time there, and we were quite relaxed by the time we left. Even one of the attendants mentioned that we looked quite mellow.

At home, we started our streaming with Colbert’s Thursday program. He met with a bunch of children to discuss what kind of superhero movie they might like, and after gathering some information, we were shown a trailer for a movie that starred several folks who have recently appeared as guests on the show.

Then we streamed the penultimate episode of “Outcast,” the series about the six British Mitford sisters who refused to play by the rules and whose often-scandalous lives made headlines around the world. Set in the 1930s, it is a tale of betrayal, scandal, heartache and even imprisonment.

Tomorrow promises to be a bit cloudy, with a low tonight around 54 degrees and a high of 83. That’s the precursor to the next three days in the 90s and the “extreme heat warning” that keeps popping up on the weather app on our phones.

Nancy has altar guild duties in the morning, and I might drop her off and make a visit to Costco for more gas. Afterwards, perhaps we can find something else to fill the day that doesn’t involve being outdoors.

+ + +

On this date in 1974, Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address from the Oval Office, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day, due to the Watergate scandal.

August 8, 1879, was the birthday of Dr. Bob (Robert H. Smith), the American physician and surgeon who co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous with Bill Wilson.

Today is International Beer Day, International Cat Day, National Happiness Happens Day, National Dollar Day, National Frozen Custard Day, National Mochi Day, National Pickleball Day, National Tarantula Appreciation Day, and Shop Online for Groceries Day.

[spaciousreasoning]

A Walk Among the Filberts

We kicked off Saturday by heading back south of downtown Springfield to take a look at Dorris Ranch, which we discovered earlier in the week. Dorris Ranch is a national historic site, a working farm and a public park complete with walking trails and natural areas.

Willamalane Park & Recreation District owns and operates the ranch, which contains the oldest commercial filbert orchard in the United States. Self-guided tours, school tours, facilities for public rentals and special events are offered at Dorris Ranch.

The filbert trees of Dorris Ranch have produced nuts every year since 1905. George Dorris, the founder of the farm, is credited with agricultural techniques and the overall success of the filbert industry in the United States.

Today, the orchards of Dorris Ranch contain more than 9,200 trees, which produce an average of 56 tons of nuts a year. More than half of all commercial filbert trees in the United States can be traced to Dorris Ranch. Proceeds from the harvest support educational programs at the ranch.

The smooth, acorn-like nuts are now known as hazelnuts in most of the world. But the nuts were historically known as filberts in Oregon, where most of the nation’s hazelnuts are grown. Nancy’s daughter has considered growing hazelnuts on some of the property she received from her father’s estate.

The trees occasionally fall victim to Eastern Filbert Blight, which first made its way to the Northwest in the 1960s. Farmers manage the fungus by pruning infected trees and spraying orchards with fungicide. The most successful intervention has been a disease-resistant variant that is bred into newer hazelnut plants.

Nancy and I walked at least a couple of miles along the trails, and there was a wide variety in the age of some parts of the orchard. Most of the trees appeared to be quite old, but there were also swaths of freshly-planted trees. Signs indicated that this was an attempt to fight the blight.

When we got back to the entry area, there was a group of dressed-up young men who appeared to be posing for a wedding shoot. There was also a bride nearby all dressed up, though we could not tell if she was part of the same wedding.

For our Saturday dinner, we joined members of the Mohawk Grange for taco night. We also delivered the cookies we had made for Sunday’s Flag Day event with the Lions Club and sat through some business discussions about the operations of the Grange.

[360nw]

Ford Tractor - Dorris Ranch, Springfield Oregon - March 2009

[queerkegaard]

Just got back from a site visit to Dorris Ranch.

So beautiful. And a "why have I never been there before?" place. Posting pictures later.