April 14th marked my return home for the season. I was surprised to feel how keenly my heart had missed being in Montana, and as I have suspected, will guide me to spend more and more of the year in my newly-chosen home state. Real estate is booming in Missoula (similar to Bozeman 10 years ago or Boulder 30 years ago), as all good things eventually are discovered. Therefore, I have been working with a real estate agent, with the (not urgent) intention of finding a small house or duplex within two miles of downtown. I’m hoping if it’s the former, that it will have (or able to be remodeled to have) a basement apartment, or ideally, a small separate garage that I can convert into a carriage house of sorts. Then long-term rent the house and VRBO the apartment so I can use whenever I want to spend a late night carousing in town.
So, that first visit consisted of a constant fires in the awesome Blaze King (the house is maintained at 45 degrees through the winter!) to keep the house at a balmy 68+/- and the final strategic planning for the garden. One day, sitting at the kitchen eating bar and working, I was startled by a loud noise. I turned around to see a tom turkey, on full display, with his beak pointed straight at the french door glass. He proceeded to strut back and forth by the glass, calling out every minute or so. I couldn’t help but to burst into laughter. Dude must have been preening himself in the reflection from the glass. I just never know what I might see when I look out of the window!
Planting commenced over a couple of days after my handyman (my savior!) turned the entire garden for me. Then back to Boulder as a way station for a fancy east coast wedding that was a total blast (danced like it was 1999!).
Back home May 1st to continue garden work (is it every finished?). So love watching it all evolve and wake up from its winter hibernation.
That long, dark patch on the ground is my 2018 brainstorm to use the super wide walkways to create a small wildflower garden inside the protected space that I can have for years and cut flowers for the house. We’ll see how it turns out.
The occasional Canada geese honking, a bald eagle screech, and just working away with music in the background. Little green shoots started to pop up and time to cover all of the brassica plants to try and avoid the flea beetle infestation that I battled last year. I first thought I was a failure as a gardener due to the pests my bounty suffered, but I’ve now embraced it as an evolving process of dealing with whatever each new season brings. Kind of like life! It’s amazing to look around beyond the garden and see everything greening up, wildlife with its young, and appreciate the fact that I am actually, really, indeed living out in the middle of the woods as I’ve dreamed of for so long. I feel suwarrow transitioning in my head and experience from a summer play camp that hosts a wonderful array of visitors into my true home. It’s a different outlook, though it’s still the latter (that’s the light-hearted fun, as opposed to the prairie-woman work of day-to-day life that is so rewarding. Even as it consists of reaching into the pantry and pulling out a jar of beets canned from last year’s garden. That’s when it hits home about the settlers from the 17- and 1800’s who had no choice but to live like this to survive).
Mark Vandermeer, the talented man responsible for the creek bank restoration and re-foresting my meadow (thanks to the donations of many visitors) came out to give me guidance on how to prune my fruit trees
Next up was a thorough cleaning of the house, piece-by-piece. And Brian (handyman) helped me get outdoor furniture back into place:
Errands into town to restock and get items for the upcoming season. Even two sessions at the Garden City Duplicate Bridge game! I am meeting some lovely people and building my community even further. Can’t get enough of that game. Checked out the Brewfest, had an overnight with my friend Beverly, and generally got settled in. Heading to town May 10th to meet a botanist for a hike and learn more about what’s growing around here, then to a meeting of “Bold Action on Climate Justice”, the invitation to which I received from a new friend. Friday night a party at the Great Burn Brewing company in celebration of Beverly. And on and on…
This week both the Clark Fork river and Fish Creek are nearing flood stages, as the bountiful 110 – 150% snowpack has accelerated its melting and a couple of serious thunderstorms have passed through. Mark supervised a very large restoration project on the creek bank off of the meadow after suwarrow lost over 1000 cubic feet of bank in last year’s torrential late March melt-off. Both bodies of water are within 2 feet of last year’s highs and downtown Missoula has flooding in low-lying residential areas. So far everything out here is holding; Mark says it’s a function of how much detritus flows down that could dislodge the work his crew did. The water is fast and furious, but so far everything is holding well (and peak is supposed to be tomorrow):
It’s so cool what they did. The rolled looking section, right by the water, is a false log made from bamboo. There’s another exactly like it underneath it (darker in color because it’s wet now), with shoots of willow sticking out with roots all the way down in the dirt to the water table. Hard to visualize unless you see it up close and personal, but if it holds this season, we’re good to go. Plantings all along the slope will turn the bank quickly into a natural creek bank. Time will tell, but it’s wonderful to be executing projects that will protect this land for generations to come. I sometimes think of all the people and fun that will transpire here long after I’ve been buried in a hole in the meadow with a beautiful pine tree growing up from my nutrients!
I look forward to the array of visitors who may come this summer and the adventures we will have. The trailer is going in on May 25th to be outfitted for easy loading and off-loading of the raft, so I’ll be all set for whitewater and float trips. The 2nd dirt bike is going in the same day to get it up to snuff for off-trail rides. What else? Ah…clay pigeon shooter for skeet and a good backstop for riflery practice with the .22. Sharpshooter badge, anyone?
So, there it is. As always, I will provide updates as appropriate and hope you can come by and experience for yourself before too long!