Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Bacon Park story

Beauty and peace befall upon Bigfork’s tranquil Bacon Park
By POLLY KOLSTAD For the Tribune Quiet discovery awaits visi­tors to Bacon Park on Eagle Bend Drive in Bigfork.A haven of tranquil beauty, the park treats guests to a peaceful descent into a land­scape where stones, shrubs, trees and flowers emphasize the subtle symmetry of nature.Laura and Jerry Bacon love the little oasis they have created in Harbor Village across the street from their townhouse.“Nothing makes me more happy than to get up with a cup of coffee in the morning and head over to our park,” Laura Bacon said. “It is our fairy gar­den.”The Bacons call the park their “peace on Earth.” It offers the solace they’ve sought since 2004 when they began planning their horticultural dream with landscaper, Jim Doepker.Doepker graduated with a degree in forestry from the Uni­versity of Montana, but found his niche in landscaping. He enjoys working with clients like the Bacons, who immerse themselves in a project.“We built the park, all three of us,” Doepker said. “The Bacons have very much been the inspiration.”The Bacons wanted a Mon­tana Japanese garden, and along with Doepker, made trips to the Portland Japanese Gar­den, bought books and studied them in the winter.The original plan was simply drawn on onion skin paper. There never was a blueprint or sketch.“That’s part of the Japanese philosophy,” Doepker said.A typical Japanese garden features several elements including rocks, water, islands, ponds, bridges, lanterns, plants and a teahouse. Japanese gar­dens present impressive vistas in a small place.Displaying these design tra­ditions on two-thirds of an acre was not an easy go.They started construction in 2004, designating where they wanted the pond and doing the excavation. The next spring they brought in soil from Cre­ston and 330 tons of boulders from McGregor Peak, west of Kalispell.“It was one year before we planted anything, and even at that, after three years, we redid one area as we discovered it was a dead zone,” Doepker said.The Bacons’ garden is under­stated when it comes to color. They have lilacs, azalea and roses, but more for the color and texture of the foliage rather than the flowers.It also features a waterfall that rushes into the pond.Botanical lovers enjoy the pond’s koi and goldfish. From under the dainty wooden bridge, they swim, darting in and out of blooming lily pads.Doepker said they will come to you and eat out of your hand. An older white one he calls “Hot Lips Houlihan” is his favorite. Occasionally, an osprey swoops down and takes a fish. They have even seen blue herons perched and ready for the take. And, a neighborhood duck has been known to waddle in with See BACON PARK, 4L

COURTESY PHOTO Bacon Park is located on Eagle Bend Drive in Bigfork. Jerry and Laura Bacon created the park in Harbor Village.Bacon Park: Park attracts birds and dragonflies
FROM 1L her brood.A key to an authentic Japanese garden are the maple trees. The Bacons first planted five, and now there are 30. Many of these plants come from the Iseli Nursery in Oregon, which grows dwarf conifers and Japanese maples and prunes them using a Japan­ese garden technique.Along the garden’s sylvan paths are many unusual trees, in particular, the Hindu Pan, an evergreen which is actually a type of shore pine tree related to the lodge pole pine.The park attracts humming­birds, cedar waxwings and robins. Laura Bacon enjoys watching the grosbeaks.“Their babies come right next to you,” she said.There are dragonflies of many colors, as well.Most of the trees and plants in Bacon Park were purchased at local nurseries and tree farms. Brenda Guild, of Montana Gar­dener Inc., maintains the plants and has been with the Bacons since the park’s inception.Jan and Bob Livesay of Great Falls said the park is one of the most tranquil places they have seen and are impressed with the ever-changing landscaping.“Each visit offers new plant­ings and seasonal varieties,” they said. “We are fortunate to have the opportunity to enjoy the gar­den.”The Bacons welcome the pub­lic to visit their garden, though they don’t allow large tours.This past winter was hard on Bacon Park, devastating Zone 5 plants as well as others. They brought a crane in to take out the dead trees and plant new ones. The loss really bothered the Bacons, but they are recharged and re-energized.“Now, I think the garden is about where they envisioned,” Doepker said.“Yet, they get more ambitious all the time.”

Flathead Cherry Story

Great Falls 08/11/2010, Page L01

Savor sweet cherry season
Flathead gems are ripe
Enjoy them now, preserve some for the winter

By POLLY KOLSTAD For the Tribune
I knew I liked Toby Phillips the moment I saw him.
Wearing sturdy boots, he came through my door lugging two boxes of fresh Flathead cherries.
He had come to help us with our wheat harvest, bringing a tasty surprise.
He had spent the previous day picking and culling 40 pounds of cherries with his father-in-law, Hugh Hockaday, at the family orchard on Angel Point near Lakeside.
Flathead cherries are abundant around Flathead Lake, and the season is at its peak. Orchard growers in this area are famous for their high-quality bounty.
Though the harvest is a little late, it’s a good year for Flathead cherries. Picking began around the first of August and will continue for another week to 10 days.
The Hockadays’ cherries are Chi­nooks, pollinizers that resemble a Bing cherry .
“The cherries are of good size,” said Hockaday, who has been running the operation for more than 50 years.
Other big sweet cherries that do well in the area are Bing, Lambert and Queen Anne varieties. These cherries ripen after the Washington and Oregon cherries are off the market.
With a little help, cherry trees live a long time. It takes three to four years before they produce. They peak at 12 years and might produce another 12 years.
The Hockadays cultivate their trees repeatedly over the summer to keep the weeds out and to make sure all the mois­ture is going to the trees. Any split, cracked or bruised cherries go on the ground, left for the deer.
His grandfather had bought the land in 1910. Hockaday moved onto the prop­erty with his dad in 1946 when his granddad had a stroke. There were some trees there then, and he planted a lot more for commercial sales. Even then, cherries were big business.
“Granddad hired girls t o pick in the morning and pack in the afternoon,” Hockaday explained. “Then the cherries were loaded on steamers (boats) and taken to rail at Somers,” Today, the Hockaday orchard is a U­pick operation charging $1 a pound.
Many people return year after year for the tree-ripened fruit which, according to Hockaday, is a lot sweeter because they don’t irrigate and pump them full of water.
My hands are beautifully stained from handling and pitting the plump red fruit.
Not letting one go to waste, I have pre­pared many recipes. Still, I have a wind­fall of Montana’s sweetest picking.
“Just throw them in bags and freeze them,” Phillips suggested, “that’s what we do.
“Then, in the cool of winter take out a bowl of cherries and relish the delicious memory of summer.”
SWEET CHERRY PIE
Prepare pastry for two-crust pie. Mea­sure 2 cups flou r into large bowl, and with your hands, make a well in the cen­ter. Pour in ¾ cup vegetable oil, and ¼ cup water. Mix together. Divide into two balls of dough. Roll out one ball between waxed paper and fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Roll out second ball between waxed paper, and set aside.
PIE FILLING
1 cup sugar ¤ cup flour Þ tsp. salt 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 4 cups pitted sweet cherries 2 tbsp. butter
Combine sugar, flour and salt. Add lemon juice to cherries and toss with sugar-flour mixture to mix thoroughly. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan. Dot with butter. Add top crust and crimp edges so juice doesn’t escape. With a knife, make three slashes on the top. Bake in hot oven at 425 degrees about 40 minutes.
SWEET CHERRY JAM or TOPPING 4 cups pitted sweet cherries 2½ cups sugar ½ cup lemon juice
Put ingredients in a heavy bottomed pan and mash together lightly. Cook, stir­ring while mixture boils, for five minutes. Cook five more minutes until thick and syrupy. Ladle into hot jelly jars. Seal with paraffin wax. Will fill two pints, or four small jelly jars.
CHERRIES JUBILEE
4 cups pitted cherries ½ cup water 1 tbsp. sugar mixed with 1 tbsp. cornstarch ¼ cup Kirsch (cherry liqueur) Vanilla ice cream
See CHERRIES, 2L


PHOTO COURTESY POLLY KOLSTAD
It’s easy to present cherries elegantly so your dessert looks as good as it tastes. Cherries Jubilee are pictured.


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