No Soul in Sight: Badlands of Central Oregon

Went hiking in the badlands of Central Oregon today. Hiked approximately 3 miles on extremely easy trail to find quite the spectacle... Flat Iron Rock. An outcropping of basalt rock in the middle of nowhere. Hell, the entire hike I did not come across one soul except for my partner, Jake. It is truly gorgeous out in this area. Not many tourists are attracted to the badlands and instead primarily explore around Smith Rock State Park or up in the mountains in the Three Sisters Wilderness area... boy, are they missing out! Good climbing, especially traverse, is to be had in plenty and the quiet twilight shadows the fragrant sage with a poetic nature of sheer raw beauty. While hiking, I could easily place myself two hundred years ago and know the terrain and scarcity of persons would still remain the same. I could spend days out there and never grow bored with the open space and quiet.

Currently reading: Mutant Message Down Under and cannot seem to put it down. Fantastic, easy to read, and a great message.

Smith Rock State Park, Oregon

Back in Central Oregon and sure enjoying the hiking... no tourists, beautiful winter colors, quiet, and crisp air. Simplifying all over. Currently: working a bit, reading Jack London a lot, hiking/climbing on days off, and spreading kindness as much as I can to those I encounter in any moment. Radiate love. May good grace, warmth, and love find you this December.

Garden Plans

I throw my dimes and quarters into a recycled mason jar that has the intention of funding my own piece of land to cultivate in the latter years ahead. I toss the spare change with such pride and am never tempted to dig my fingers into the metals to fund some impulsive desire. With this jar adding up slowly but surely, I have also found the Oregon valley in which I reside is a prime area for growing fruits and vegetables and foraging otherwise. As a college student, I feel blessed to have two 3x8 raised garden beds in my sideyard. With the ample annual rainfall, irrigation is far from an issue. However, the impending work load and part-time jobs are. They limit time spent in the soil and instead, my knees only greet the carpet floor as I search for books housed on the low, dusty shelves of the campus library. I am angered, frustrated, and inspired by this to change my daily life- to somehow incorporate more grown vegetables and fruits in my own yard vs. buying the produce at the grocery supercenter. More and more, I am quickly losing patience with having to buy food being I could actually be growing it myself. With this, I have decided to plant the gardens and make time to tend to them... even if it means cutting back work hours by a couple hours. I am starting with seedlings for a few lettuce varieties, carrots, and parsley in my windowsill and will also be planting a variety of pees and asparagus come February. I am very happy with this future endeavour and am hoping for the best! Below are some photos of things I've either foraged, grown, or traded for in the past. Blackberries grow like weeds around here so I take advantage of their deliciousness in early Autumn and make preservatives while still freezing Tupperware's full of whole berries. Along with blackberries, plums grow free! My friend, Rachel, an environmental chemistry and toxicology major, owns chickens and is never selfish in all the eggs she accumulates each morning so I am blessed with free-range organic eggs weekly. Lastly, I have found various herbs growing around campus and have cut countless sprigs of rosemary and lavender so far for cooking. 

Not pictured: the abundance of apple trees, pear trees, raspberries, wild strawberry, mushrooms, and much more I am sure I'm missing!!

Updates coming on the garden life.

Short Introduction

First blog post ever! How exciting is this?! I feel it most important in my first blog post to discuss my beer making. As an employee at one of the finest, coolest, and raddest microbreweries in the United States, I have quick fallen in love with the art of beer making... especially when it raids your rental's kitchen for hours on end and the house no longer smells of various meals cooked from three other people, dirty laundry, and college shenanigans spilt on kitchen counters but rather, the sweet, sweet, sweet aroma of hops! I began this endeavor with a kit out of Midwest Brewing Supplies... an irish stout, of course. The first brew day was an apprehensive one with lots of stress, sanitation and re-sanitation of anything and everything coming into contact with the boiling wort, and great excitement. My partner in crime, a mate from the Portland suburbs, is meticulous and decided it would be best to record our procedures in a torn up notebook of mine that doubles as a sketch pad with the hours of boiling due to my low power range. Fast forward two months, and the stout was drinkable. First fermentation, carboy transfer, secondary fermentation, bottling, and the moment the growler blew off my hand was all a raging success and a new love was formed.

Currently, our second brew sits in the carboy as of today with great CO2 activity, a brilliant smell of strong booze (already!), and organic pumpkin chunks clinging to the glass. Along with this beer, I have started a gallon of hard apple cider in my bedroom and am either lulled to sleep by the rain of the Oregon valley or the sounds of gaseous carbon dioxide releasing from the airlock. As a biochemistry major in organic chemistry this year without a lab, brewing has doubled as my laboratory time and although there are never any lab reports, I find a mason jar of beer or cider much more of an incentive to experiment than an A on a report card.

Without sounding like to much of an alcoholic, let me write a little about something other than making booze... My name is Karleigh and I am a student in Oregon studying biochemistry and biophysics. I enjoy to surf, rock climb, garden, and read. I consider Walden by bible and will most likely paraphrase or quote the brilliant of Thoreau throughout this virtual blogging adventure to document any travels, adventures, thoughts, etc.

Currently: Fall term just ended, heading back home to work because money unfortunately has me by my hair with tuition bills, reading Call of the Wild, have no idea what the hell I'm going to do with my life and strangely enough I am totally ok with this.

On my mind: Cycle touring, a piece of land to cultivate, Bob Dylan's 'Girl From the North Country,' and loneliness. I cannot wait to be back in the mountains with my boots, a small fire, the quiet, and my companion... a furry mutt who goes by the name Bo.

Cheers to all