Winter 2002
Agriculture
Winter 2004
Livestock Advisors Celebrate 20 Years
While the nationally recognized Master Gardener Program celebrated its 30th anniversary last summer, another Washington State University Extension volunteer program observed its 20th year of lending good advice.
The early 1980s saw a growing a back-to-the-land movement in western Washington, says Mike Hackett (’76 M.S. An. Sci.), who at the time was a limited-resources farming agent in Snohomish County.
“But nobody was getting help,” he says. “So from 1980 to about 1982, it seemed like all I was doing was answering the phone or making farm visits. I was overwhelmed with questions.”
As it turned out, the answer to his problem sat in the office … » More …
Winter 2004
The Circle of Life and the Farmer's Daughters
Determined that, contrary to popular assumption, bread flour could indeed be grown in the Inland Northwest, a few years ago Fred Fleming ’73 and Karl Kupers ’71 started growing Terra, a new variety of hard red spring wheat developed by Washington State University wheat breeder Kim Kidwell. They named their business Columbia Plateau Producers and their flour Shepherd’s Grain.
Visualize how a small operation under the big skies of eastern Washington moves into the full-court press of deep-pocketed global business activity. Farmers talking to millers, bakers, and consumers. Convivial conversations that put loaves of bread on the table and spread the message about soil health … » More …
Fall 2004
McDonald at home on the range
At 77, Esther Johnson McDonald is still active in the day-to-day operation of the 9,000-acre Triangle Ranch in Philipsburg, Montana, with her husband of 51 years, John W. “Pat” McDonald. The two met at a bull sale in Missoula. Her mother operated a ranch in Darby, so Esther had an idea what she was getting into. She also had the foresight to earn a degree in animal sciences in 1948.
In years past, she cooked for ranch hands, while raising three sons and five daughters. The ranch is 75 miles southeast of Missoula in a mile-high mountain valley. “Some of the best feeder cattle come … » More …
Fall 2004
Cougar in the corn
Philipp Schmitt fashioned this elaborate Cougar Country corn maze on 14 acres east of Spokane near Liberty Lake last October. Each fall for the past five years, he’s used global positioning-coordinates beamed by satellite-to figure out where to plant the corn. Last year, he opted for the cougar-head logo, and relied on hand mapping to get all the details, including the whiskers, just right. The Pasco farmer attended Washington State University for five semesters from1994 to 1998.
Fall 2004
A library of rhizobial genes
Kahn and his team have nearly completed a monumental step in understanding nitrogen fixation. » More ...
Fall 2004
Field-burning study proves inconclusive
The study found no significant health effect from field burning--nor did it explain why. » More ...
Summer 2004
Full Circle
Steve Jones and Tim Murray want to make the immense area of eastern
Washington, or at least a good chunk of it, less prone to blow, less
often bare, even more unchanging. The way they'll do this is to
convince a plant that is content to die after it sets seed in late
summer that it actually wants to live. » More ...
Spring 2005
Stuffed Peppers from the Harrah Café
12 large peppers-cut tops off, seed, and blanch. 3 lbs lean hamburger Diced pepper tops 1 medium onion, diced 2 cups instant rice 3 cups tomato sauce (reserve enough to top peppers) 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 1/2 tbsp. Johnny’s seasoning dash of Tabasco sauce optional 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Mix all ingredients, stuff peppers, top each pepper with tomato sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Top with cheese last five minutes.
P.S. Please be mindful we are country cooks and don’t measure a thing. These are approximate amounts. Just play around with it!
Tana Olney, Owner Susan March, Manager … » More …
Winter 2005
Magpie Forest: Protecting a piece of the past
Magpie Forest is like something out of the Wizard of Oz, a strange green land in the middle of a field.
Nestled in a 33-acre parcel of wheat north of Pullman, the 14-acre tract is a remnant of the original Palouse prairie. Last spring, Washington State University purchased the property from a local landowner to protect it from being developed.
Accessible only through a network of game trails, the spot is covered with hawthorn thickets, quaking aspen, mountain ash, and native shrubs, grasses, and flowering plants. The University hopes to upgrade these trails and encourage people to visit the property. Plans for an access road … » More …