Question of the Week: How do you love the Earth?

By Tom Peterson

Welcome to Question of the Week, a weekly news column that poses timely questions about life, politics, culture, economics, health, and more to people out and about in our communities. Our hope at CCC News is that having this space dedicated to being curious about other people’s experiences can help us to deepen our understanding of people from all walks of life. 

This Week’s Question: How do you love the earth? - out of honoring our big blue marble in recognition of Earth Day. 

Tom Rietmann, 64, Condon

“We think a lot about saving the soil,” said Tom who grows wheat and barley near Ajax Road between Wasco and Condon. “The big issue is soil erosion. So, we use no till farming, which also keeps a lot of carbon in the soil.”

Tom said he had also put a lot of acres back into grasses in areas where rain and snowmelt erode the soil in the steep country.

“Now the soil is no longer running off into the John Day basin,” he said. “We also are doing a lot to restore organic material to the soil. We have 64 test plots in a 250 acre field to check data to improve the soil.” Rietmann said it is a collaboration with the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service. “We have to be resilient to drought and climate change to keep the soil productive.”

Emmett Peace, 4 right now, but my birthday is in June, The Dalles

And ‘Grammy’ Nancy Krewson, 73, Wasco

“I try to take care of the city,” Emmett said. “I always try to dig outside and dogs do that at the same time. We have two dogs a big black lab. He’s so big, and when he looks at people he gets so excited.

What’s his name?

“Ernie,” Emmett said. “We have a half dog half beagle, but we don’t know. Her name is Diva.”

Grammy Nancy said she liked to garden.

“We’re just getting ready to plant flowers, but we put it off cause of the ice and hail. But we will do it now. It’s time.”

Just up the street, Tito Garcia, Jim Rutherford and John Thornton were probing the ground outside a home on west 8th Street in The Dalles. Uh, oh.  They were looking for a sewer clean-out. Oh well, still sunny and gorgeous on a Friday with quitting time within three hours … maybe. They were upbeat.   

Tito Garcia, 31, Hood River

“Me and my uncle plant corn, and onion, and I  water the lawn to have it nice and neat,” Tito said. “We grill corn. It’s so good. We also make sweet tamales with the corn. Oh, and we make salsa too.”

Jim Rutherford, 73, Spokane

Jim ‘I would Rutherford than a Chevrolet’ said, “So far, I have planted 4,000 trees in the forest. It’s a voluntary carbon tax for me and my kids and my grandkids.”

“I do it instead of sending flowers to memorials,” he said. “The National Forrest Foundation in Missoula will do it for a dollar a tree.” Rutherford said he was visiting his 91-year-old uncle as he tends to drop in to help mow the lawn and help out with other chores.

Just down the street, I could hear the buzz of a lawnmower. 

 Ruth Beecher, 71, The Dalles with Trusty Honda mower

“I go buy flowers and plant them,” Beecher said. “That’s how I love the earth.” Beecher had moved into the house several years ago. It had been a rental with dirt and weeds out front. 

Now it’s a masterpiece of flowers, shrubs and trees. 

Nice work Ruth!

“My passion is gardening,” she said while taking a break from the mowing. She rested under her Monkey Puzzle tree. So unique! “I ordered it from a nursery,” she said. It is native to southern and central Chile, and, man, does it have cool branches - like a noble fir but spiked like a Sid Vicous. 

Monkey Puzzle- sharp like an English suit. Approachable, but not cuddly.

“It only grows one set of new branches a year,” she said. 

“I have planted dozens of tulips and daffodils.” She also has Dahlias that grow as tall as Beecher. 

Wow, that’s some love. 

Look out rando weed - you’re about to meet your match.

Marilyn Petersen, 87, The Dalles 

“I love it ‘til the weeds come up. The rain has been helpful so far in getting things to grow good. We needed it,” said Marilyn.

Marilyn was kneeling on her knees in the concrete driveway and removing some vined brutes that had busted out of a crack.

“I’m just about ready to tackle that one,” she said pointing to the matted greenery in front of her. “Then I’m going in.“

Well, that’s it for this week. Get those gloves dirty in the meantime, and maybe next week it will be you in this column.