Clyde School and Wheat Chaff

To the north of Walla Walla is a small community named Clyde. There is not much there now, just a few scattered farm houses and some agricultural support activities. It is wide open, rolling terrain, wheat country. Here is a map that gives you a perspective of Clyde in relation to Walla Walla. Clyde is about 30 miles north

We had mentioned the wheat country. Here the field has been harvested and the wheat chaff has been baled for further uses. Bailing the chaff keeps the farmer from burning all of it or tilling it back into the soil. The bails are quite large weighing 650-800 lbs and that is dry wheat chaff.

Here is the very old Clyde School. Deanna, years ago, was raised outside of Clyde and went to this school when it looked much better and was functioning. It was a 1 room schoolhouse and had several grades all taught by the one teacher. The home, the teacher lived in, is the small attached building on the left in this image.

This is just a view a little further to the right and you can see all the windows. A family was supposed to take care of and restore the old school but as you can see that did not happen. It appears to be well beyond repairable at this point.

When the wheat is harvested it is taken to any number of terminals and storage facilities scattered around the county. This terminal is along the Snake River and has large storage elevators. Additionally the large pyramid shaped pile under the white canvas is all wheat waiting to be shipped down river on barges. A lot of wheat is harvested in this area.

When the wheat is harvested there is residual chaff left behind. As seen in the earlier image it is baled and used in a variety of other processes. Some for cattle bedding. Here we can see lots of large bales stacked in the field.

Another potential use for the wheat chaff can be found at Columbia Pulp a small production facility near Starbuck, WA. Columbia Pulp is North America’s first alternative fiber market pulp mill, using wheat farmers’ waste straw to create pulp for paper products as well as bio-polymers for a variety of industrial uses.

Unfortunately Columbia Pulp encountered various production issues and marketing problems and has not been able, yet, to get up to full production.

The wheat keeps growing and the bales keep getting created year after year but the pulp plant cannot process any of them. They claim they are going to get started as soon as some issues are worked out but that remains to be seen.

There are lots and lot of bales stored at a variety of locations. Many were purchased by Columbia Pulp and now just sit in storage, deteriorating. How long it will be before the mill starts up and the bales are used seems to be anyone's guess at this point.

Here we can see some of the deterioration. It is not clear how useable these bales could be. They are really not bales any longer so beside of the issue as to what to do with them there is the huge problem of handling and tranporting them in this deteriorated state.

The pulp plant with promises and big dreams remains in idle limbo. There is a skeleton crew working there to keep the place functional but not enough staff to actually run full production. It remains to be seen if or when it actually gets going and the wheat chaff is processes.

This was a brief look at the growing number of wheat chaff bales. As you drive around you can see a lot of these bales stacked and waiting, just waiting. Some will be used for livestock fodder and bedding in dairys but a lot will just wait stored in a field.

We hope you enjoyed this brief look at wheat chaff and the old school.

Let us know if you have any questions.
All the best - Be Well - George & Deanna

Swainson's Hawks and Alfalfa Seed

In this post we will look at some Swainson's Hawks in and around Alfalfa fields.

The map gives a perspective of the area with the alfalfa and raptors. It is about about 14 miles west from our home in Walla Walla and off McDonald Road south of Lowden. In this area they grow alfalfa and harvest a lot of alfalfa seed.

In early to mid September the fields are dry and the seed is harvested. It also happens to be the same time of year when the Swainson's Hawks are gathering to head south for the winter. The hawks can form very large groups called Kettles, by the birding folks, as they head south to Argentina, Brazil, and other warmer winter climates.

This is an image of a green, growing alfalfa field. The alfalfa is used for livestock feed along with a variety of other uses. Alfalfa means “father of all foods” in Arabic. Us humans even consume some of the alfalfa though just a small amount compared to the pigs, horses, goats, and dairy cows that devour it in large quantities.

Now the fields are dry and the seeds ready to harvest. Here is a large piece of equipment called a combine, it is essentially mowing the dried alfalfa and separating out the seed. The same piece of equipment is used for harvesting wheat.

Here is a Swainson's Hawk sitting on a power pole. This is fairly typical color markings for a Swainson's Hawk though as we will see they can come in a wide variety of coloration.

This image is of a dark morph Swainson's hawk sitting on a power pole. There are some number of poles in the area and they are great perches to watch for rodents moving away from the harvested seeds.

This image shows a Red-tail hawk. When they are soaring, such as here, you can easily tell the difference between the Red-tail and the Swainson's. The leading edge on the wing is called the patagial stripe, and on Red-tail hawks it is usually dark as in this image.

On the other hand this soaring Swainson's Hawk does not have such a marking and the front edge of the wings is not dark at all.

This is a young Swainson's Hawk as evidenced by the coloration. It will most likely change into a dark morph with the entire breast area appearing darker as seen in the earlier hawk image.

Another adult Swainson's Hawk. Typical in it's coloration though as we have seen there can be a lot of variety. The juveniles are often much lighter in coloration. In addition to the patagial stripe the Swainsón's has longer wings than the Red-tail and the Red-tail has different chest markings though in Red-tail hawks there can also be wide variations in coloration.

The harvesters are working the field to get the seeds while the raptors are busy harvesting the mice and other critters that are scurrying about. We counted about 63 hawks in a relatively small area and that was probably a low count. Lots of food is available and they will need it for the long journey south.

So with the dust kicking up and the seeds being harvested and all the raptors soaring around we decided to leave this magical, wonderful place. We are outta here.

We hope you enjoyed this look around at the raptors and the alfalfa seed harvest. It happens every year about the middle of September and is quite a treat to watch.

Let us know if you have any questions and stay safe
All best - George & Deanna