9-10 Oct: weather, books, Cranberrian Fair

Friday, 9 October 2015

I looked forward to four days off, although I knew that various activities would require my leaving our property.  Friday was not a day that I had to leave home for any reason; company came to us.

We had an intensely stormy day with much welcome rain.

from 642.weather.com

Only Allan took photos today.

Prissy came from Seaside to get some Macleaya cordata (plume poppy).

Prissy’s friends Debbie and Steve came to meet her for a lunch date.  I did not get to them in time to warn them not to go back under the trees in the 30 plus mph wind!

They survived!  Steve said he had been scared!

much rain

Steve’s adorable dog: half pit bull, half dachshund!

a low slung pitty mix

Allan went on some errands and checked out the weather at the port.

storm flags

warning flags flown at the port office

choppy weather

gulls hunkered down in the field behind our house

Allan got a little too close for their comfort.

I had a lovely afternoon reading a Susan Conant Dog Lover’s Mystery.

Saturday, 10 October 2015

The rain was pelting and the wind at gale force in the late morning when I arose, expecting our friend J9 to arrive to collect some hops vines to decorate at a catering job.  I was not surprised when she changed her mind about the need for hops decor.

from 642weather.com, today’s impressive storm

Allan and I had to go out and about, first to buy two cozy mysteries by local author Jan Bono, who was doing a book signing of her “Sylvia Avery mystery series” at Long Beach Coffee Roasters.

Allan’s photo

photographing Jan’s books (Allan’s photo)

Jan’s book signing

Next, we headed up to the Long Beach Depot building for the Peninsula Arts Association art show, on a mission to deliver two big daylily hunks to our friend Debbie for the upcoming master gardener’s plant sale.

In Long Beach, I thought the planters were holding up well in the storm.

in the back way to Coulter Park (Allan’s photo)

the Depot building (Allan’s photo)

This building, like the Depot Restaurant, was a station for the long ago Clamshell Railroad.

Debbie’s steampunk-inspired jewelry at the art show

the art show

With the daylilies delivered, we returned to Ilwaco.  I had been planning to skip the Cranberrian Fair this year in favour of reading quietly at home on a stormy day.  However, Our Kathleen dearly wanted one of the buttons with its lovely heron logo, so we decided to go after all.  (To gain admission, the $5 button becomes your ticket to the event that encompasses two museums.)

button art by Debbi Littlefield of Naselle

Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco

The Long Beach trolley was called into service as the “Bog Bus” (Allan’s photo)

Susie of the Boreas Inn at the kitchen window, with cranberry peach pies (Allan’s photo)

potter Karen Brownlee (Allan’s photo)

We bought an assortment of delightful handmade cards from this vendor. (Allan’s photo)

Allan perusing the bake sale. Our dessert later on was two Pink Poppy cupcakes and pumpkin bread with craisins.

I liked this fellow’s couture.

blacksmithing demonstration

outside, people boarding the bog bus (Allan’s photo)

I had a sudden urge to get on the bog bus, which would take me to the Cranberry Museum on Pioneer Road.

As we walked back to our parking spot, I thought this planter was looking rather fine despite the weather:

We watched the trolley go by, heading north.

trolley on First Avenue

All of a sudden I had the most intense urge to go to the Cranberry Museum, as well, instead of going home to read.  So, most un-ecologically, we drove our van north again.  Part of the lure was that Sondra of the Cove Restaurant was catering the lunch at the Cranberry Museum, located at the Cranberry Research Station on Pioneer Road.

Washington State University Cranberry Research Station

The Museum and Gift Shop

in the gift shop

cranberry wine. We bought an orange cranberry blend to save for the holidays.

gifts displayed in cranberry boxes

in the Cranberry Museum

We’ve shared more details about the museum in this post from a previous Cranberrian Fair.

Cranberry Museum labels

and dress patterns

We bought lunch from Sondra.

some seasonal decor

Despite Tom Trudell’s piano music, the dining room at the museum lacks ambience.

I talked with Sondra of the Cove about helping to decorate it with some autumnal foliage and hops next year.

Outside, in the bogs, a harvest demonstration was taking place, and the rain stopped just in time for us to walk out and observe.

folks boarding the trolley for a return trip to Ilwaco (Allan’s photo)

This walking tour is available year round.

Allan’s photo

Flooded bog with floating cranberries (Allan’s photo)

corralling the cranberries (Allan’s photo)

Birds help out the growers. (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

The berries are corralled into a smaller and smaller area. (Allan’s photo)

cranberry conveyer (Allan’s photo)

A highlight for me was meeting this darling wire hair dachshund puppy, Britta, who had come all the way from Germany. (Although she looks a little bedraggled here, she was having a wonderful time.)

One of the ponds from which water was being pumped to flood the bogs.

Because of the unusually dry summer, cranberry farmers have been worried about whether there would be enough water to flood the bogs.  A crisis had been looming. They must have been rejoicing to have some rain.

In 1994, one of my first regular gardening jobs was weeding this garden by the Cranberry Museum.

Cranberry Research Station garden…looks like it needs a weeder’s touch.

Heather is grown to attract pollinators.

the trolley heading north again as we drove home

The rest of the day was all reading for me.

Next: two more days off, and after that, some boating.

 

 

 

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11 October: from cranberries to curry

Saturday, 11 October 2014

Chefs, don’t get excited; there is no recipe for cranberry curry here.

We planned on going to the Cranberry Research station to see the harvest demonstration that was part of the Cranberrian Fair. The yearly event takes place at Ilwaco’s Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum and the Cranberry Museum/research station.

Looking out our front door, the weather did not look promising.

Some kids sailed down the street on their bicycles, yelling and getting drenched, not at all dressed for the sudden downpour.

I was thrilled the rain had arrived, and at the same time hoped that a blue spot in the sky was not just a sucker hole, as I did want to take photos of the harvest. We set off, and as we drove up to Pioneer Road, the storm went away.

Cranberry Research Station

Halfway between ocean and Willapa Bay on Pioneer Road are the geometrical shapes of the cranberry station bogs.

Pacific Coast Cranberry Research Station, an extension of Washington State University

The Long Beach Trolley, known during Cranberrian Fair as the Bog Bus, is in the repair shop, so instead of riding the darling trolley between the two museums, attendees drove their vehicles. In the grass parking area next to the pond (see top left-ish, above), some hopeful lines had been painted on the lawn.

I say hopeful rather than helpful as the two rows were a bit close together!

Here’s the pond; the pipe is pumping water out to flood the bogs.

Water from the pond had filled up one of the bogs.

 

Allan’s photo: This amphibious vehicle flails the berries off the stems.

But before we walked over to see the harvest, we walked back to the museum to join Kathleen Shaw for lunch.

Allan’s photo; Kathleen on left

Lunch was provided by one of our two favourite local restaurants, the Cove; owners Sondra and Jim greeted us at the lunch counter.

Kathleen’s pulled pork sandwich with cranberry BBQ sauce

cranberry wine tasting (and in the foreground, free Ocean Spray bottled cranberry juice drinks

I tried the one mixed with Gewurtzraminer; delicious.

music by Bryan O’Connor

We took a tour through the Cranberry Museum so that we can enlighten our out of town readers about how the harvest was and is accomplished. This is especially for Cathy from Oz.

 

 

 

There was a sign asking viewers to not touch or try on the museum items!

I believe that the “dibble” garden tool dates back to old England and has nothing to do with Art Dibble!

a hand pushed cranberry beater

It is a striking sight in winter to see the irrigators spraying to protect the bogs from frost.

We battle these same weeds in our local gardens, especially the Bad Aster.

Some people use post-harvest cranberry mulch on their gardens. I won’t because it’s not organic…unless it came from Starvation Alley organic cranberry farm!

I considered buying some of the delightful offerings from the Cranberry Museum shop. However, it was so crowded that I decided to revisit another day as we often drive by there. It will have to be soonish as I believe it closes for the season sometime in November.

a busy scene in the gift shop

looking east from the porch of the Cranberry Museum

Now let’s go see the wet method of harvesting close up.

dike paths through the bogs

the cranberry vines (and a weed)

One of the bogs was slowly being filled for tomorrow’s harvest demonstration.

flooding for tomorrow’s harvest; note the tarp to direct the water into the bog

It had turned into a perfect day.

looking west toward the museum (and Allan taking a photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

In the flooded bog, the flailer in action

setting up a cranberry corral

Allan’s photo

The corral starts out very large…

..and slowly gets pulled to gather up all the berries.

It’s hard work but must be fun splish splashing through the water.

As we got closer to the harvesting machinery, we saw someone who may have been enjoying the day most of all.

six months old

 

Allan’s photo

She was utterly fascinated with the humans splashing in the bog.

Of course, I had to meet her.

another dog enjoying the day; Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

herding cranberries

The cranberries are all being herded to one end of the bog.

 

at the base of the harvesting machine

The corral has gotten much smaller.

The berries go up the conveyer belt.

Allan’s photo

The cranberries drop into the bed of a truck.

Allan’s photo

While I was watching the harvest, who should come up to me but David of David and Allison, Heather’s friends (and now ours, too, I hope) with whom we had dined at [pickled fish] restaurant the previous evening. When he told me Allison was hanging out on the museum porch, I walked back to find her, and later we all sat and enjoyed a confab.

me and the delightful David & Allison

When I first started gardening for a living in 1994, the Cranberry Research Station was one of our first jobs. (I found we could make more being self employed, so did not work there for long.) I had a look at a pollinator test garden that I used to weed.

The plants are much, much bigger now.

Peninsula Art Show

On the way home, Allan and I had a look in at the Peninsula Art Association show at the Long Beach Train Depot.

While I enjoyed the art, I was most impressed with the steampunky jewelry on offer by friend and blog reader Debbie Haugsten.

Debbie by her jewelry display

You can find her jewelry at Beach Homes Old and New.

at home

We had a brief interlude at home during which I sat on the porch and then strolled a bit of garden.

Smokey wished it our at home time was longer.

Mary and Smokey, and you can see the pots of rudbeckia starts that Kathleen kindly brought me.

Dicentra scandens vine still blooming by the porch

Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’ all aglow

passionflower finally blooming on the arbour

Astoria

And then we were off for dinner in Astoria with Kathleen.

view to the west from the Astoria Megler Bridge, mouth of the Columbia River

from Trip Advisor

After we had taken our seats at our dinner destination, Himani Indian Cuisine, I had to step outside to take a photo of the sunset over the west hills.

 

Kathleen’s dinner, a potato-onion pancake sort of dish, whose name I do not know, with soup and a sauce.

See Kathleen’s comment on this post for the names of her dishes.

Mine: delicious chicken korma

Allan goes for the spinach dish.

I had a double serving of raita, my most favourite yogurt-onion-cucumber condiment, and a salt lassi (smooth yogurt drink with lots of salt; those who prefer sweet can have the mango version).

Afterwards, we walked for a few blocks on the River Walk to enjoy the pleasantly warm evening.

I was surprised when the trolley sped by after dark.

the dark river contrasting with the well lit River Walk

Kathleen and I, Allan’s photo

The Wet Dog Café and Brewery…

with live music (Kathleen’s photo suggestion)

Allan’s photo as we pass Himani on our way to the van

Later at home in an amazing breakthrough, Kathleen lured Calvin with a bit of food to actually eat from her hand. For our very shy and neurotic black cat, this was great social progress. Most people don’t even get to see him, but he was interested in her even before she got the food.

Kathleen enticing Calvin

We are very pleased that she will be joining us for this year’s Ilwaco Halloween trick or treating extravaganza (distributing treats, not asking for treats).

Next: The Cranberrian Fair in Ilwaco.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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scenes of cranberry harvest

Cranberry farming creates many beautiful sights on the Long Beach Peninsula, from the haze of red on the field to the sparkling sprays of irrigation jets in the mist.  Every year Ilwaco’s Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum (formerly the Ilwaco Heritate Museum) hosts the Cranberrian fair with a “bog bus” (actually the handsome old Long Beach trolley) that will take you to see the autumn harvest in progress.  In October of 2010 the tour happened on a particularly beautiful autumn day.

the bog bus posed to take us touring

Cranberry Research Station

The trolley took us out of Ilwaco to the Cranberry Research Station with its bogs and its Cranberry Museum.

Cranberry Museum

cranberry harvesting tools

The method of harvesting does not seem to have changed much over the years…

corralling the berries

wading in

herding berries

cranberries

a modern procedure

cranberry truck

across the bog

the old-fashioned harvest

bog bus and harvesters on Pioneer Road

Heathers are planted alongside the bogs to encourage bees early in the season.  Bees are also brought in by beekeepers to pollenate the crop.

an edge of heather

view from the porch of the Cranberry Museum

Red is the perfect colour to wear to the Cranberrian fair.

Get your picture taken in a harvester cutout!

Inside the museum, we had a delicious lunch catered by Beach House Catering and perused Cranberrian Fair t- shirts, a wine tasting, a walk through display of old harvesting implements and history, and a gift shop full on cranberry related items (soap, food, even lampshades painted with cranberries).

in the museum

a collection of old Cranberry Festival buttons

In 2012, the fair will be on October 13th and 14th.

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