SENSE OF PLACE -  Palouse Seminar (Notes by Nancy Chaney, Assistant)

9-14-02  8:30-4:00

Paradise Farms, Paradise Ridge, & Old Blaine Schoolhouse

Presenters: Mary Jane Butters (organic farmer, entrepreneur), Rodney Frey (Anthropology, Indian Studies), Bertie Weddell (botanist, restoration ecologist), Al Harrington (agricultural historian), Nick Ogle (fourth generation farmer), Ron McFarland (poet)

8:30 (All times approximate) Breakfast by Mary Jane’s Paradise Farm Organics: Coffee (with real cream!), scones with walnuts and orange peel, lemon puff cakes, blueberry cookies with white chocolate, and fresh fruit. Mary Butters discussed challenges and rewards of organic farming and marketing organic products.

9:15 Rodney Frey: Traditional land use by Nez Perce on the Palouse. Told Sam Water’s 1967 version of the story of Snowshoe Rabbit "up there" (in the mountains) and Cottontail Rabbit "down here" and talked about the time before humans, gifts of the earth (use rather than ownership), seasonality, and continuity. This area has been called "Te kee mee poo" (Help me out on the spelling here, Rodney!), or "place of the spotted deer." He spoke of how relatively few names the Nez Perce have for places, presumably because naming implies exerting control, taking, trespass, or desecration. (In contrast, he said, the Coeur d’ Alene have a naming campaign, to keep their cultural heritage alive.) Bill McLaughlin interjected that oftentimes, "products" (natural resources, "gifts") define place. Rodney made the distinction between "heart knowledge" and "head knowledge," "orality vs. literacy." Group passed around Nez Perce items, including handwoven baskets, a digging stick, tule mats, camas, biscuitroot, etc., courtesy of Josiah and D’Lisa Pinkham.

10:30 break

10:45 Bertie Weddell addressed problems on the Palouse, including high rate of soil erosion, stream sedimentation, species loss (sharp tailed grouse, giant earthworms (2-3 feet long!)), loss of wetlands (At one time, she said, wetlands comprised 13% of the Palouse), and the status of the Palouse Prairie as a critically endangered ecosystem. Bertie provided a couple of definitions of the Palouse, one narrow, core definition, preferred by botanists, and the other, much broader and inclusive. Her preferred definition is that of a meadow steppe environment of eastern Washington and adjacent Latah County, with native grasses (mostly bunchgrass), low shrubs, wildflowers, rolling hills and deep loess soils suited to dryland farming. The broader cultural definition sometimes includes the entire Columbia Plateau and adjacent forested areas. She compared some presumed optimal ecological state of the Palouse to "a snapshot in time" that "leaves people out of the picture." (Nels Reese commented on the parallel in architecture and gave an example of our choosing to remember Williamsburg in 1731, not 1700 or 1750…) Bertie discussed the concept of plant communities as "superorganisms" and Weaver’s idea of natural consistency toward a stable climax, i.e. that equilibrium/stability is interesting and desirable. She emphasized that "there’s no such thing as a place without disturbance." Bertie tied-in Tom Williams’ geologic talk from the Palouse prep session on 9/12 by reiterating the geologic background of the Palouse. Volcanic activity created the Columbia Plateau, she said. Windblown loess formed the hills/dunes so distinctive of this area. Glaciers to the north contributed to the unique topography and soil types, and floods formed the channeled scablands to the west. Other influences include frost heaves and human/animal/fire disturbances. Bertie pointed out that reintroducing fire would be problematic because a number of non-native weeds (e.g. thistle, Methuselah head) are better at colonizing disturbed areas than native vegetation. (Those weeds, she said, came from places where they had thousands of years to adapt to survive agricultural practices.) When asked to comment on place attachment, Bertie said that this is a "place that gave me space to figure out a lot of stuff." She has found acceptance and developed "roots" here." In closing, Bertie related a story about her husband’s experience in Bloomsday, shortly after coming here. After rubbing elbows with tens of thousands of runners and walkers in the Spokane event, he said, "You know, I’ve never been in a crowd this big without teargas involved!"

12:00 Lunch: 3 salads (one with goat cheese, one Lebanese pea bulghur, one tabouli), Co-op bread with hummus and garlic scape pesto, fresh fruit.

1:00 Al Harrington, Professor Emeritus began work at WSU in 1946 and his work in ag econ evolved into history of agriculture on the Palouse. When Kenton asked him to identify the "hooks" that enticed him to participate, Al singled out the fact that the information gathered will be used for education. (He recalled the honor of having received a teaching award in 1968 from his much-admired colleague, Rod Bertramson.) He also was pleased to have the opportunity to teach again, pleased that the sessions involve the humanities, and anxious to help integrate knowledge, without the all-too-common focus on specialists with enviable academic credentials spouting jargon that few understand. Al described the Palouse as "a unique oasis in the great American desert," and said that in 1946, when he and his wife (Harriet) first moved here, "As the Palouse was growing on us, we were getting our roots into the Palouse." He talked about early Euro-American immigrants to this area, and cited Frederick Jackson Turner’s work on the significance of the frontier. He explained that early farmers on the Palouse farmed low-lying parcels (protected from wind, ease of access, availability of water), but found that early freezing of crops was more likely there, so the transition was made to farming the hills, as we see today. Al described history as the coherence of feelings and human relations with facts, much as Mary Reed of the Latah County Historical Society described it in her presentation on 9-12.

2:30 Nick Ogle spoke about the personal significance of the Blaine Community, restoration of the historic Blaine Schoolhouse, human bonds, challenges of coordinating traditional and organic farming practices, state-of-farming on the Palouse and projections for its future. Told vivid, lively stories of growing up there, how anxious he was to get away, how he came back, and is so firmly rooted there. When asked about the individual after whom the schoolhouse and the once vibrant community were named, Nick confessed that he didn’t know. Still, his attachment to that place is so powerful that "Blaine" is his firstborn son’s middle name. Nick led group on a visit to an old cabin, with a panoramic vista of the farmland he holds so dear.

3:15 Ron McFarland read some of his place-connected poetry to a rapt audience, gathered outdoors in the shade of trees by the schoolhouse. His words painted images of people, as reflective of place, and gave hints about his own connectedness.

4:00 As if choreographed, Ron concluded his final reading, and Sense of Place participants lifted their heads to the low rumble of what appeared first as a dark silhouette in the dusty glaze on the horizon, then became recognizable as the UI Events truck, cresting Eid hill, on its way to pick up our long-warmed chairs.