The Palouse

A rare tree in the Palouse, north of the Walla Walla Valley                   © Diane B. Reed

North of the Walla Walla Valley, the hills of the Palouse unfold, stretching north and east through eastern Washington and into Idaho. The soil (known as loess), deposited on the hills over millions of years, provides a fertile base for dryland wheat farming, which has been carried on in the Walla Walla area since the mid nineteenth century.

Walla Walla Grain Growers Dry Creek elevators       © Diane B. Reed

Although the hills roll on for miles and miles, there are very few buildings, save for an occasional grain elevator. A visitor to our area, familiar with more traditional Midwestern farms asked where the fences were. A local farmer reminded him that you don't need to fence wheat. And when he asked where the farmhouses were, the farmer told him that most of the wheat farmers lived in town, not out in the lonely windswept hills.

Every time I venture into the Palouse I'm reminded of the phrase "high, wide, and lonesome." But there is real beauty in the endless panorama of undulating hills and valleys stretching as far as the eye can see.

  Wheat stubble on the Palouse                                                        © Diane B. Reed