I live on a wheat ranch in eastern Oregon. The nearest grocery store is forty miles away in The Dalles. I grew up in Dover, Delaware; Osceola, Indiana; and Gainesville, Florida (Go Gators!). Living so far away from cities and neighborhoods and people is a huge transition for me, but after eighteen years I love it.
The nights here are so dark. And so full of stars! When I sit in my Jacuzzi at night, the view is incredible. You can hear the coyotes howling and the owls hooting. Or you can hear perfect silence.
Walking down the dirt road by my house is always peaceful. The stalks rustle and move in the wind, and when the wheat starts to turn and ripen it smells like you are in a bakery. Deer, antelope and jack rabbits are frequent companions, as well as pheasants and occasional elk. The sunsets are awesome. It is paradise.
We grow soft, white winter wheat. Most of it gets shipped to the Pacific Rim for Asian dumplings. Our wheat isn’t stretchy – that is, it doesn’t have enough “tensile strength” for noodles. I think some of it is used for cake flour, too, but Asia is our largest market. My father-in-law used to travel extensively for the Wheat League. He has friends all over the world that I would call while overseas. I remember the lunch his friend from Korea took me out for – wonderful food I would never have tried without him!
We plant in the fall, around mid September if there is enough moisture. We harvest in July and August, usually starting right after our four wheeling trip to the beach for the 4th of July. I love harvest, even with the long days and heat. Friends come out to ride combines and the hustle and bustle of the time is exciting. My only real job is to cook dinner and make goodies, so I find the days long and enjoyable. Its fun to go ride the combines, or sit in the truck on the way down to the elevator at the river.
The only “bad” thing about living here is the wind. Sometimes it blows for days. I can’t imagine being in a sod house, or a pioneer cabin where you could here it day and night. Perhaps that’s why people suffered from “prairie madness”! At least inside my house its fairly quiet – even when the wind is howling at 50 mph.
The bad has become a good. We are getting wind towers, and they will fund our retirement and our children’s retirement. Flying jets uses quite a bit of fuel; now I can “give back” something in the form of alternative energy.
I’ve found that you have to be careful what you wish for. For years I wanted to “farm the wind.” Now we are. So much for solitude. The holes are being dug as we speak. (May 2007) My front yard used to be wheat: now its a freeway. Huge semi and trucks thunder by at fifty miles an hour. The worst part of the project, for me, will be the huge, ugly transmission lines to take the power out. I didn’t think about that part.
Of course, in another six months it will all be done. Huge white blades will slice the sky around my house and I’ll be able to watch them turn. I love how they look – huge propellers that remind me of flying!
So, its Christmas 2007 and all the towers are finished. I heard you could hear them, and sometimes when I step outside I can hear the rhythmic swoosh. But its not loud, at least not louder than the wind is! It amazes me how many people hate how they look or sound. Compared to coal plants, wind towers are so clean. I know the wind doesn’t blow all the time, but I am amazed by how much it does. I never noticed. What seemed like a breeze is actually enough to power the turbines. They turn at 7 mph and produce power at 9 mph. Naysayers claim that they only produce power 33% of the time, but hey, that’s 33% more than nothing!
If you want to see more about our wind project, you can go to www.roadtobiglow.com Kevin and Colt are even on the video – if you click on the silo it goes to “Old MacDonald had a Farm” except its old McCullough’s…. Don’t even try to power up the Biglow site unless you have fast high speed. It takes an incredible amount of juice!!!
