Spring in the forest

Last weekend Big Ag and I went to the Peavy Arboretum in Corvallis, which is not so much a flower arboretum as a forest arboretum for students majoring in Forestry Studies at OSU. But as with most forests, there is much plant and insect life under the pine canopy, and plenty of beautiful mini-meadows in the spaces between. One thing I love about Oregon is the abundant hiking trails, and this place was no different. We could have wandered for days through this preserve. Where we lived before you had to travel a good 40 minutes to get to the good hiking trails near the beach, here there is great hiking 10 minutes down the road. Hopefully this will be an incentive to stay in shape! 

Telephone pole pastoral.

The garter snakes in Oregon are orange and black. My Giants fan husband was thrilled.

Experimental forest

Sunbreak in the meadow

A land slug the size of my hand!

Meanwhile, at Justin Vineyards...

The new owners of Justin are clear-cutting old growth oak forests to make room for more grape vines plus a huge reservoir, the filling of which will likely lower the aquifer level of the entire area, thereby impacting the wells of every neighbor they have (which luckily is not us).

They put some bullshit statement on their website about planting 5,000 NEW oaks to replace the century-old forest they ripped from the ground, but those will take 100 years to grow, assuming of course that they CAN grow to maturity amidst fields of water-sucking grapes, which I doubt. 

As for replacing the habitat and ecosystem of an entire oak forest? Ain't gonna happen, people.

If you drink Justin wines, this is the kind of environmental stewardship you are supporting with each bottle purchase. I don't know about you, but I've enjoyed my last bottle of Justin wine.

Actually the one thing I can say about their wines now is that they have unmistakable notes of dead forest on the palate and a very bitter finish. For me, anyway.

Here's a link to the article if you'd like to read it.

http://pasoroblesdailynews.com/justin-winery-clear-cutting/56473/