We drove along the Columbia River passed the “Welcome to Oregon” sign and towards the smoky horizon and the smell of campfire. When I was growing up, the smell of campfire was the smell of family road trips in our VW van with s’mores, long hikes, and no showers. It meant a fun summer adventure. This year as we drove towards our new home, the smell of campfire brought tight terror into my chest. What was this? How will we work and grow Kasama Farm in these conditions?
Welcome to Oregon sign in Umatilla, Oregon.
This year already 1,000,000 acres have burned in Oregon wildfires. ONE MILLION. That is more land than the size of Rhode Island (I looked it up, Rhode Island is 776,957 acres!). The smoke from those fires is drifting as far as Maine. In my childhood, there were no large fires. I remember in September 2011, it was my last week living at home before I moved into my freshman college dorm. There were unprecedented wildfires in neighboring counties. I remember being upset that my last days to spend at home and enjoy the summer were the only smoky days that I’d ever experienced in Oregon.
In the last three years, large forest fires have become the new normal in all of Oregon. We have to learn to adapt and try to change our ways to survive on a planet that our species has taken for granted and permanently affected.
In our first couple weeks in Oregon we’ve tried to do just that. Check air quality websites, wear N-95 masks outside (now dual purpose protection), and understanding Level 1, 2, and 3 evacuation orders. Learning of the incarcerated Oregonians who are protecting our communities while being paid $9 a day. Listening to indigenous elders and scholars remind us that native people lit small controlled burns to tend this land, recycle nutrients, and remove potential fuel for larger fires, until those controlled burns were banned by Spanish colonizers and U.S. laws. Finding only two vegetable vendors at the Gresham Farmers Market and learning that the smoky fields prevented several farmers from being able to come to market during peak harvest season.
Last week brought rain. Beautiful, sweet, cool, cleansing rain. The sacred water answered our prayers and the rainy season came early this year. The cool turn in the weather supported firefighters to bring the fire from 3% containment to over 33% containment. The rain washed the smoke out of the air and for the first time when we looked out of our back porch, in the distance we could see the outline of Mount St. Helens. Now that the air has returned to healthy breathing levels, we look forward to staying on the land next week and beginning ceremony and soil work.
- Jihelah