Mustard with Clouds

 I might have found the last Palouse canola/mustard field that was still in bloom! Other than the colorful patches this scene is little empty of subject matter...I was trying to stay away from the red barns, and guess I overdid it a bit...but this is mainly what you see driving through the Palouse so in that way it's quite a good representation of the region. Structures of any kind are very few and far between. Rolling fields and rolling clouds as far as they eye can see. 

White Barn

I was out visiting in the Palouse a few weeks ago.  From my few early springtime trips, I have come to know the region for its green fields and red barns.  And for mid-June it was actually still quite colorful, with fields in all stages of growth and harvest.  But there were also plenty of fields like this one, prepping for another round of planting.  I don't typically pay attention to the bare fields, but this one caught my eye with the graphic white barn and telephone poles.

Waves of Grain

Or maybe a better title would be Rows of Grain.  One of the interesting things about the Palouse was the row patterns cut into some of the hills by the farming vehicles.  It's the same sort of pattern you see mowed into baseball fields. I know I've obscured it somewhat here with another panning shot, but it was really striking, especially in early April when the grain crops were just starting to grow.  I think it will completely disappear soon as the crops really take off. It came out really strong in this photo though, which was taken just a few minutes before sunset on April 6th.

Waves of Green, take 2

The Palouse

The Palouse is a large agricultural area in the southeastern part of Washington and western part of Idaho.  It was originally a rolling prairie, but settlers converted the area to productive grain and legume fields in the late 1800s. I read that this area of Washington was the most populous area of the state then, which is why it became home to Washington State University in Pullman, and the University of Idaho six miles to the east in Moscow, Idaho.  And even though the region is no longer a population hub for Washington, it remains an agricultural center, growing 97% of all US grown lentils.  In fact while we were here, we saw signs for the upcoming Lentil Festival! The crops don't need irrigation, and I'm not sure why that is, because they get very little rain here compared to western Washington.  We got here a little early in the season for photography; by late May this entire region will be a rolling blanket of vivid green (wheat, lentils, etc.) and yellow (canola, wild mustard).  I'm already planning my photography trip back here during this colorful season.  Here, the green hills are freshly planted, and the majority of the brown hills have been plowed.  This particular photo was taken from the top of Steptoe Butte, elev. 3612 ft, and I thought this was a good "overview" photo to introduce the region.  The hills look tiny from up here, but they're pretty large.  And those puffy clouds hung around the whole weekend we were here.  The Palouse is a windy place, and the clouds move over the hills pretty quickly, so the hills were always coming in and out of shadow, which added extra to the interesting curves of the land.