The Methow Valley, Young at Heart

 
Photo by Joanna Bastian
View of Pipestone Canyon from the Rim Trail. Pipestone Canyon was carved initially by glacial meltwater. Later, the Methow Indians carved  stone from the canyon into pipes and bowls.

Methow Valley News, May 25, 2016

Ever wonder how the Methow Valley was formed?

I am constantly in awe of the beauty of this valley, how the shifting light of morning illuminates the variance in topography, how a rainstorm in the distance cuts a path through a maze of hills and valleys before crashing into the rocky crags of a high mountain peak.

When the warmth of spring melts back the winter snows, I wonder at the sheer number of flowers that bloom, all in different hues and scents: the lupine, balsamroot, Indian paintbrush, wild rose, shooting stars, buttercups, blue bells, and a myriad more whose names I can never remember.

The Methow Valley is geographically young, compared to other areas in the United States. It still bears the recent scars of formation by plate tectonics and glaciers. The Methow Valley is also anthropologically young, as one of the last areas in the country to be settled.

Next Wednesday (June 1), from 7 – 8 p.m. at Sun Mountain Lodge, I will be exploring the formation of the Methow Valley: going all the way back to early beginnings, and how different cultures carved a way of life in this scenic paradise.

I’ll be sharing excerpts from a diary of early fur trappers, early interviews with Indians and settlers, and archaeological evidence left by the first people who lived here 10,000 years ago. I’ll also share some of the experiences I’ve had while writing for the Methow Valley News.

It’s totally free, and I promise to make it entertaining. Where else can you get tectonic plates, glaciers, First People, salmon, fur trappers, European explorers, miners, China Ditch, orchardists, fire and floods all in one hour? Which reminds me of a T-shirt I recently saw in support of keeping the Three Devils Road open: “Because Hell and High Water Do Happen.”

The history presentation was the idea of my boss, Dr. Tom McCord, director of the Bear Fight Institute in Winthrop. The Bear Fight Institute conducts research for space missions, including the Dawn Space Mission, a NASA Discovery Program. Members of the Dawn team will visit the Methow Valley next week for their annual team meeting. As part of the evening’s entertainment, I will be talking about the history of the Methow Valley on June 1. Everyone is welcome to join us.

The following night, Thursday, June 2, from 7 – 8 p.m. at Sun Mountain Lodge, McCord and Dr. Marc Rayman, director and chief engineer of the Dawn Mission, will hold a public presentation about the Dawn Mission and its orbit around Vesta and Ceres, protoplanets from the beginning of the solar system. The presentation will be informative and entertaining, geared towards the general public. It is a perfect opportunity to learn more about our solar system and will offer a chance for budding scientists to ask questions of professionals in the field.

Bee-leiber

Methow Valley News, May 11, 2016

Due to a series of unfortunate events I did not have any bees last year. Long story short: 2014 gave us all a complex, stressing the bees going into winter of 2015, which they did not survive. Ankle reconstruction left me dubious about handling bee boxes while hopping around on one leg. As a result of wildfire, Frankenankle, and disappearing bees, I am just now getting that one part of life back into order.

This year I am trying two different sets of bees: a nuc — which comes with five frames of brood, 10,000 bees and a queen — and a package, which is a box full of bees, no frames, and a queen in a little cage.

The nuc arrived in early April about the same time that the snow melted and the wildflowers began to bloom. The frames easily slid into a waiting hive box and the worker bees downed a bottle of sugar water before setting out to find their own food sources. Within a week they had filled the other frames with comb and required another box. Today, they needed a third box as the second was already filled with nesting baby bees, nectar, pollen and capped honey.

The package arrived on the same day as my cousin Shelby, who flew out from Ohio to visit for a few days.

The package was delayed by a week. That day, I picked up Shelby at the shuttle drop off in Peshastin and apologized profusely that we had to cut our Leavenworth visit short because of my bee addiction. Shelby stopped me with, “Are you kidding me? This will be amazing!” She was thrilled that the bee shipment coincided with her arrival. It’s like we’re related.

After quickly downing a Bavarian lunch of ale, baked pretzels, and smoked salmon drizzled with huckleberry sauce, we returned to the Methow.

At the bee drop-off at the Methow Community Center in Twisp, everyone was true to form: covered in bees and grinning ear to ear.

Shelby also shares my heightened sensitivity to bee stings. We both donned bee jackets for the car ride home with a few “groupies” hanging on to the outside of the package.

At home in the garden, Shelby and I poured the bees into the waiting hive. The bees immediately formed a line at the entrance of the box and fanned their scent into the air, calling everyone home. For the next few days, they spiraled through the air above the hive box, orienting themselves. The buzzing was loud as they communicated where to find water and food with elaborate dances at the hive entrance.

After three days, the bottle of sugar water was fully consumed, and the buzz reduced to a quiet, satisfied hum. The bees no longer flew in spirals. Instead they come and go with a focused determination, some arriving with full pollen buckets of bright orange and yellow. Other bees diligently clean the hive, hauling out bits of trash and the rare dead body. Fascinating creatures.