Harvest Moon

Sharing My Herbs

Some of you may remember I planted an herb garden this spring.
It is growing & thriving, however,
 I found something else that likes my herbs.

They are really enjoying my parsley.

After doing some research, I discovered they are....

 black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars.
I'll share my parsley!

Remembering Oregon

Agriculture is a big part of Oregon.

They are #1 in the country producing blackberries, grass seed & Christmas trees.

They also produce apples

herbs & grapes,

wine,

cut flowers,

crab,

and Tillamook cheese.

Its also good at making memories!

The Oregon Coast

The Oregon coast is rocky & scenic.

And at times, foggy.

But always beautiful.

 We were fortunate to see many of the local wildlife & sea creatures.

Sea otter

Jelly fish at the aquarium.

Harbor Seal

And lots of these sea lions!

Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the USA, measuring 1,949 feet deep at the deepest point.

It often  has water clarity to 100 feet.

Because of its depth & clarity it is always a deep blue color.

It is a truly a sight to behold.

The lake was formed when Mt. Mazama erupted into

a volcano and then collapsed thousands of years ago,

 leaving a 5 by 6 mile basin that filled with snowmelt and rain.

We were lucky enough to stay in the national park lodge

 which sits on the rim of the lake.

Which meant I was able to snap a photo of the lake at sunrise.

Happy Fall

Crabbing in Oregon

We had the pleasure of meeting some local fisherman fishing for crab in Newport, Oregon

The cages are baited with chicken & dropped to the harbor floor.

After 15 minutes, the cages are hauled to the surface loaded with crabs.

They explained that they are only allowed to keep male crabs over 5-3/4 inches across the shell

This one is a keeper!

Multnomah Falls

Beautiful Multnomah Falls drops 620 feet into the Columbia River Gorge.

Mount Hood

First stop on our trip was Timberline Lodge in the shadow of Mt. Hood.

The lodge was constructed entirely by hand in the 1930's by the Works Progress Administration.

It features many original woodwork & ironwork details.

A baby bison newel post

An iron dragon doorknocker

All the stonework was mined, cut and laid by immigrant Italian stonecutters.

There are thousands of surprising details around every corner.

The balcony over the main entrance

And the view isn't bad either!

Portland, City of Roses

We visited Portland, Oregon,

our first stop on a trip circling Oregon.

Portland is famous for its International Rose Test Garden, a

4.5 acre rose garden with over 7000 roses.

The garden is well worth a visit, sitting on a hill overlooking Portland.

I'd never seen so many beautiful roses.

There was even a wedding party there, taking pictures.

We also visited VooDoo Donuts, another icon in Portland.

Don't miss this special treat!

 

Inch Worm

Closeup of an inch worm that dropped on me while hiking.

He was only about 1/4 inch long.

Honey Harvest

The highlight of our first year as beekeepers is first honey harvest.

We finally get to see the fruits of our labor!
We were told not to expect too much until our hives become established.

 Psyching up, ready to rob bees.

The bees happily making honey

 A frame of golden honey

Each frame has the caps removed from the honey comb using a heated knife.

Frames are placed in the extracter where the honey is spun out.

Looks like a washing machine, doesn't it?

We strained the honey into 2 buckets,

keeping each hives' honey separate.

 We filled jars & jars of honey!

 We were hoping to get enough to fill these 40 2 oz. sample bears.

We did,

And filled 32 8 oz. jelly jars and 10 odd-sized jars!

Our harvest was 40 lbs of honey.

We were as busy as bees!