October in the mountains. Bonners Ferry, Idaho

[ErnieCopp]

While I left the Nursery 15 years ago, as Summer growing season is starting to wind down, just as my crew and I used to on the Nursery, i have been thinking of October in the Mountains. Each year in late September, we would go to some of the mountains that were tall enough to be near Timberline, and collect as mny Sub-Alpine Fir as we could until we were driven out by blizzards in late October. The tres, as their name suggest, grow best just below timberline, preferably on the North side of the mountains where the snow gets the deepest.

The picture below is the view from my front yard, looking across the Kootenai Valley, to Mt., Cook, the snow covered peak in the background. That was one of our digging locations, with a couple more to the north of us.



To be continued

 

[ErnieCopp]

OCTOBER IN THE MOUNTAINS, PART 2

As the fall freshened the air, we were all anticipating the start of the Alpine digging, but we had to wait for some Autumn rain to fall, and for the nights to cool to harden off the buds and put the trees in dormancy before we could dig them.

I would have my permits, but needed to go up and find out exactly where we would dig, as only a tiny percentage of the trees in only small areas were suitable for our purposes.

Finally the day would come, and about six of us would start to drive up in two pickups. Someone would mention the Grizzly Bear problems, and that would subdue our spirits for a while, but while some people would not go up there, none of my men ever quit because of the bears, but we would all keep a tight ass and a short breath while we were up there. We did not carry guns, because you had to prove the bear was attacking you before you were allowed to shoot it. 10 thousand dollar fine if you could not prove it. Once we got started in an area and the men were talking back and forth, making noise, we felt pretty safe, but my job was to flag the trees i wanted the men to dig, so i woul have to strike out from the group as we dug one area and look for another one.

We never saw a Grizzly close to where we were, but we had a Honda track barrow for hauling out some of the trees, and a Grizzly found the heavy plastic gas can. He had no trouble biting the corner of it. His teeth went through the thick plastic as clean as bullet holes. On one occasion, I was looking for new digging grounds, and went around the Mountain to the next drainage, and followed the creek down to the logging road. A light snow had fallen the night before, and after i got down in the drainage i saw tracks of a Mother bear and her cub, going down the same way i was. It was too late for me to go back up, as the days were getting short, so i followed the tracks, singing and banging on the trees with my spade. They finally turned off the creek, and I made it down to the logging road and then back up to where the trucks were parked.

Moose presented more of a danger. I was tagging trees on the edge of a small clearing, maybe 150 feet across, and a Bull and Cow came out of the other side. He was in Rut, and did not notice me at first. But when he did, he thought i might be interested in his cow, so he started over to where i was. He would swing his head sideways and kind of zig zag as he took a couple of steps, stop, swing his head and then take a couple more. I started edging away, keeping as many trees between us as i could, and he finally stopped and went back to his cow.

But other than that, it was all very enjoyable. I will talk more about the trees we were looking for next time.

To be continued......

 

[w_r_ranch]

I'm enjoying the heck out of these writings!!! Is that you in the picture???

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
That is not me anymore, but it is of me back when i was only 72, but for sure i do not look like that now.

It is hard for some people to understand how such hard work could be so enjoyable. I am glad you enjoy hearing about it.
There will be 3 or 4 more good episodes in it,

Ernie

 

[ErnieCopp]

View attachment 344 View attachment 344 OCTOBER IN THE MOUNTAINS. Part 3 The Trees

The Alpine Fir that we were seeking is a very slender, elegant tree, and if i could have hung a dress on them and taught them to strut down a runway, the could have competed well with the French Fashion Models, in my opinion.

Another reason we liked them so well, is because the other Evergreens we grew, such as Spruce, have very sharp needles, and pruning, digging, handling, etc, was very much like putting pants on a porcupine, as they continually stuck, stung and scratched. The Alpine were just the opposite, soft pliant needles, flexible, and if you brushed aganst them, no problem.

The pictures below, or above, will show hundreds of thousands of them, but what we were looking for resembled the top 5 to 8 feet of the slender trees, but sitting on the ground. in good moist earth, that could be wrapped and pinned in burlap that would hold the root ball together as it was transported to the Nursery. Broken root balls were fatal to the trees.

Of the Alpines we were harvesting, about two thirds of the ones selected would be of the Elegant type. We would usually try for about 1200, plus or minue of all types. Until I figure out how to post text above or below each picture as desired, i will only post one picture per episode.
Ernie
To be continued......

 

[w_r_ranch]

It's beautiful up there!!! We have never been to Idaho...

 

[ErnieCopp]

Some parts of it really is, but like everywhere else, when it dries out, it loses a lot of its beauty. Bonners Ferry is just 30 miles from Canada, and is the second lowest area in elevation. The Snake River leaves Idaho at Lewiston, and the Kootenai drains north into Canada and then joins the Columbia. I was right on the K. river so had lots of cheap water, but a lot of that country has no water at all, so farming is too dependent on rain and snowmelt. I try to go back once a year, but missed last year. I stay in a cabin right down on the river when i go, just wonderful to see the Nursery i built continue to thrive, when so many of them have failed from the recession.

Ernie

 

[ErnieCopp]

OCTOBER IN THE MOUNTAINS Part 4 CHARACTER ALPINES

The second type of Alpine Fir I looked for were what i called Character Alpines, as they grew in the coldest, most hostile environment and developed a log of character struggling to survive. They were found in the coldest parts of the North side of the mountains, where the snow drifts were the deepest, and sometimes turned to ice, either from the weight of the snowpack or perhaps from a Chinook wind that softend and refroze the snow. Those deep drifts sometimes did not thaw until July. This would bend the young trees over to the ground, and they would sometimes recover and then get bent again the other way.

None of the other Nurseries had seen any potential in trying to sell them, but they appealed to me, as most people build their character from struggling to overcome setbacks, and not from the easier parts of their lives. So, I dug some and offered them for sale to my customers and they quickly became very popular. As the supply was limited they never made up more than about a third of my Alpine sales.

But the last year that I was able to spend full time digging with my men, we found the two most exceptional Character Alpines of my career. I described them to one of my larger customers, a Landscape Designer and Contractor. Neither of us had everseen anything comparable to them so we did not know what they were worth, but he wanted them, regardless of the price. I was sure they were ten times better than anything else i had ever seen on the mountan, and as a regular Alpine of that size was worth about 100 dollars, I split the estimated value and charged him $500.00 each. He was so pleased with them he built an artificial stream on his own place to give them a proper setting. We moved them to Salt Lake City directly, as they would have been very difficult to plant on the Nursery and re-dig with a tree spade. They both survived, and were doing well when i last talked to him.

As i have several pictures of them to post with this, i will use the thumbnail method.

This Post completes 99% of the Alpine story and I have left the best 1% for the final episode.

Ernie
To Be Continued.

 

[w_r_ranch]

You named them well, they do have a lot of character!!!

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
Thanks for the kind words, and if you appreciated the character of those, wait until you see the picture of the one percenter in the next episode.

 

[ErnieCopp]

OCTOBER IN THE MOUNTAINS. Part 5. The One Percent
Natural Alpine Bonsai

I have enjoyed telling you about the Elegant Alpines, that grow in good moist soil, at the rate of about a foot per year, and i have also told you about the Character Alpines that get beat down by the snow drifts and ice, and get up and grow again, but by far the most interesting of them all are the ones that take root and survive under the very worst conditions.

Of the 12 or 15,000 that we dug in the years i was there, the one that stands out the most in my mind is pictured below. I found it when i was crossing a big patch of bare bedrock, and saw it in a small depression, in about 3 inches of soil, and not more that 3 or 4 gallons of soil at the most. There was a crack in the bedrock, where it was probably able to reach some additional moisture during the hot dry summers.

I hesitated to collect it, as the chances of it surviving was so small, but as it struck a strong chord with me, i took my best man back up to it and told him to take his time. He managed to get the burlap around it, without breaking the root ball, I took it down to the Nursery riding in the front seat of the pickup.

Alpine Fir only set one group of buds each year, at the tip of the branches. So, the age of the trees can be figured very closely, by counting the whorls of side branches, or the scars where those branches used to be. The tree proved to be about 20 years old. It had grown about an inch per year, while the Elegants had been growing nearly a foot per year.

I claimed this one for myself, and placed it in the container shown. It did well for the few more years i lived there, and i brought it to CA with me, but it went into a slow decline over the next four years. I assume it was from the natural alkali and the added chlorine in the water instead of the pure snow melt it had been used to, but the difference in climate could have also been a factor.

We collected somewhere between 50 and a 100 of other natural bonsai Alpines, and found a ready market for them, but none were as perfect as this one.

This finishes this series, but will write other stories of the more interesting parts of the Nursery in the future.
Thanks for giving me the occasion to stir up all these wonderful memories.
Ernie attachThumb366

P.S. I messed up on the pictures again. The winter picture was supposed to be a thumbnail. The Bonsai is the Star of this episode.
E

 

[w_r_ranch]

I for one want to thank you for sharing this Ernie!!! That was a beautiful specimen!!!

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
I am glad you liked it. There are just so many beautiful and interesting things going to waste in this world, just because we are all so busy we do not have the opportunity to slow down and actually SEE what we are LOOKING at. I sometimes wonder what all I have missed, simply because I was thinking about something else when I passed them by.

It appears I am going to feel like making the drive to Idaho and visit the Nursery this year, so while i will not get up to the mountains, i will get to see the River and the Trees again. Gene, the current owner, tore down an old log barn near the river and built the cabin where we stay.