.Surfing and gardening make a great mix here  on the Oregon coast. Yesterday, I loaded buckets  and my surfboard in the car and went out to Cape  Arago. The day was beautiful and it was dark by  the time I got done rinsing out my bounty of seaweed  and wetsuit.  In most cases, water and nutrients go downhill  and downstream.

This makes the ocean, where it  all ends up, a huge reservoir of fertility and nutrition.  How did these washed out nutrients ever  return to the soil? Salmon.  Back when salmon were plentiful, these incredible  fish acted as vessels of nutrition, collecting  minerals and nutrients from far in the ocean, and  bringing them back inland, as they’d swim  upstream.

They would feed people, animals and  the forests, as their remains would spread across  the forested landscape through bears, birds and  people who ate them. Most importantly, this provided  phosphorous to plants, which otherwise  isn’t available in our clay subsoil. Nowadays, as  salmon are scarce, it is up to us to be the carriers  of these lost nutrients. Aside from the fun of surfing,  I really enjoy collecting washed up seaweed  from the beach and adding it to my compost piles  which will later nourish my gardens.

Not only is  washed seaweed healthy for plants it is also  healthy for people, as it is high in vitamins and  minerals. The beach is also a good opportunity for  collecting muscles, clams, and oysters, which are  a great coastal compliment to a garden-based diet  of vegetables, fruits and nuts.  Ultimately we can restore the forests, streams and rivers so  that salmon will fill them once again. Here at Mountain  Homestead restoring forest health is one of our goals. Thus  in our logging practices we take into account the effects on  riparian ecology.

We are also working together with the  Coquille Watershed Association to do an in-stream  improvement project. This will be done by setting large  Douglas Fir logs into Walker Creek which will slow the  current down in spots, creating pools and gravel beds which  salmon need for spawning. Walker Creek is a fish bearing  tributary to Rink Creek. I am excited to see fish returning to  our watershed. I’d like to be able to catch salmon in my  backyard, but until then I will continue surfing and gathering  ocean life to bring home with me.