I have taken a month off from posting. This next year I will continue but will do so on a periodic basis – when the mood strikes. During May I took another trip east. I revisited old haunts in the hardscrabble region and ventured into the Palouse. The Palouse is the region bordering Idaho south of Spokane. It is markedly different than the wheat country that I am used to. It can be recognized by road cuts that are sliced through soil rather than basalt. The terrain undulates, it is smooth and sensuous as if sculpted to mimic reclining nudes. Precipitation is twice what it is where I have been working. Crops are planted every year and include peas, alfalfa, garbanzo beans, and wheat – lots of wheat. Farms are neat and many towns are prosperous.
Farmers in the Palouse preserve small islands of trees on occasion creating visual oases.
This would never be found in the drier country.
Garfield, Whitman County.
Sensuous landscape.
I will definitely return to the Palouse, however, it requires me to reset my thinking and vision, which is good.
Love These. The one with the clouds feels surreal. Beautiful work!
These are extra great by the way.
Next time you are around Garfield, find you way down to the idyllic little ghost town of Elberton. A valley oasis. Two or three families, where there used to be prosperity and industry. I’ll put you in touch with my brother, who is unofficially the “mayor” of Elberton and can tell you all the history.
We should get together. When I spent four days photographing in the Palouse recently I noticed that the prosperity you mention is mingled with a lot of abandoned buildings. I believe that the farms are still prospering, but that mechanization has paradoxically put a large number of people out of work, making many of the old farm houses and ancillary businesses that agriculture once supported redundant.