I'll bring you plums to-morrow: The Opposite of East

Oregon is a strange place.

Eugene Oregon is a very difficult place to describe. Heidi, who had lived here before, had tried and failed. It is in a valley, wide and flat. One could picture cattle being herded through here generations ago. It is surrounded by mountains called Buttes. Not really sure what a Butte is. Kind of a rolling hill, kind of not. Eugene is kind of like a giant green bowl. I cannot describe it further than that.

The architecture in our neighborhood (as well as many others) is made up mostly of small, one story houses that I would describe as bungalows. Imagine northern California in the 40’s. Many painted either red or green.

Our neighbors are a mix of people. Physicians, academics, students. We have plum trees in the front and back, as well as pear, apple, and peach trees. Our back yard is so large that four different families are growing vegetables. In the back half of it. The yards are so large and long that many have a second house on the property that faces the alleyway. The house next to ours is owned by two students from Washington State. The yard behind them has chicken wire along the top of it. The owner has 14 cats. He is also growing medical marijuana (legally) in his back yard, and is known to have many firearms and a tendency to be paranoid. I have yet to meet him.

The lawns in the Summer were brown. As Fall descended, it became cold and rainy, and everything turned green Gardens flourish year round. You walk by houses that are engulfed with colorful flowering bushes, fruit trees, sunflowers, vegetables. Front or back it doesn’t matter. Everyone seems to garden here. When people ask you what you are going to plant in your “Winter garden”, they are not joking.

Many people keep bees to make honey and help pollenate their gardens. There are many backyard chicken coops. It is not unusual to hear roosters crowing. Strange, since this is Oregon’s second largest city.

Everyone is friendly. Everyone smiles and says hello. The East Coaster in me keeps thinking that they want something from me, but no one has asked for anything yet.

We are dining nightly on vegetables from the garden: String beans, squash, zucchini. Broccoli, peppers, kale, and many other things to come soon. The cherry tomatoes are so sweet that they actually taste like cherries. There are mint plants growing by the garage door. The garage smells great! Thinking of planting them under all the windows.

The vegetarian option at most restaurants? About half the menu. Everything is local. Everything is organic. The land is very fertile.

People stop at stop signs. They wait for you to walk. Pretty sure that this will end up being my demise, when I go back East and forget that they don’t do that there.

I took a drive to the mountains the other day. (took about 15 minutes to get to them.) I drove through two national forests on the way. It was ridiculously beautiful. It was so beautiful, I started to get angry. Not sure why. Perhaps it is the East Coast in me starting to leach out. Strange being this friendly all the time. Not sure, but actually may be starting to relax.