The Great Roberts Mt. Bonsai Project

[RKatzin]

With all the talk of craziness here on the B-nut, well, I just feel right at home. I see some grand scale plans being tossed around and I have a definite contender for the youcrazysob award.

Roberts Mt. is located in the northeast corner of Josephine Co. Oregon. Jump-off JoeCk flows down the east side, between Roberts and Elk Mt, and Jack Ck flows out of an arm of Roberts on the west side. The mountain is 4400' at the highest point and we are located at 4000' on top of the northern end of the mountain.

We've bought 40 acres and are intent upon creating a bonsai garden/farm/workshop/education center.

That's the gist of it, the mere seed of the vision/dream/idea that came into being several years ago when thinking of where I was going on my bonsai journey.

Now we're here, actually moving trees and personal belongings. Our first abode will be a 20' trailer which I hauled up the hill yesterday, then drug my cargo trailer down with a flat tire, so nothing moves today, thankfully, I feel like I been rode hard and put up in the barn wet. Never been happier though, to see this project move forward.

There will be lots of pics and tales as we clean and clear the land for garden areas and buildings. I want to get the thread started and will add pictures etc. As you can imagine I have lots of questions so we'll have plenty to chat about, like how crazy is this.

I sincerely hope you all will enjoy the journey and join in the adventure, Rick and his lovely wife and faithful companion, Shelley

 

[fredman]

Want the best out of life? Live your dream....!!!
Seems that is what you're doing. Man that is exciting. I got this thread watched and looking forward to its development....

 

[Stickroot]

Wow!
This sounds like a Discovery show, I love it! I wish you guys the best and am excited for your next post.

 

[Arcto]

What a cool area. Very rich botanically. If you haven't yet, you should get to know the people at Forest Farm. They have a huge selection of plant material. Not a criticism, but I hope you have a wildfire mitigation plan started. That region of Oregon always seems to go off in the summers. Best of luck with your dreams.

 

[Tieball]

Awesome follow through on your idea and plan! I look forward to seeing some progression photography.

 

[RKatzin]

Here's a couple of pics, both from our western border. One is looking south at the Siskiyou Mts. in N. Cal. The other from the same spot looking west across the Inner Coastal Mts.
We're pretty much settled in, with the abode in place, leveled and plumbed, water in, water out, ect., the main event at present is moving the last of the trees. I've got another 30, out of 190, of the biggest containers and that's three or four trips down and up the hill. For each load space must be made for setting out the trees. It's rough and rugged, but the trees are really doing well.
We're facing extreme fire danger levels now, which means no saws or machines in the woods. All hand work to remove slash and debris.

 

[Vin]

Man, that is some kind of serious view. Looks like there is plenty of material for ROR as well Now all you need are some trees.

 

[CWTurner]

That's beautiful. Are you top of the mountain, or is there more mountain behind this view.
CW

 

[CamdenJim]

Here's a couple of pics, both from our western border. One is looking south at the Siskiyou Mts. in N. Cal. The other from the same spot looking west across the Inner Coastal Mts.
...

Will you take seasonal boarders? "Will work for the view," that sort of thing?
Such beauty.
Judy and I would love to visit
Jim, in the soggy and relatively flat southeast

 

[Tieball]

Awesome location! It's going to be fabulous to see your development. I'm in a high altitude too...I think I'm at 875'. I have a hill in the backyard that is probably 879' at the peak. Not much of a view from the peak though. Ha!

 

[eferguson1974]

Looks like you may have lots of yamadori. Maybe even clearing you will find good trees. Maybe really cool if theyve suffered fires for a long time and keep living. Find anything cool yet? I wish you the best of luck! I know about chasing dreams. Even if Im not exactly living mine, Im living where I always wanted, more or less. The beach was too much. Too much money, party, problems and too crazy. So Im ended up in the mountains too, at 1300 meters, just waaaaaaay south of you. And found peace. Whats better than peace, right? My point is to fallow your dreams but stay flexible but keep on keepin' on. You can do it. Wont be easy or without risk, but give it your all and be proud. Ok, end of pep talk. Or poor attempt at inspiration. Either way, good luck! Nice views too, btw!

 

[RKatzin]

Thank you, everyone, it really is spectacular up here. That is our top border, but not the highest level of the mountain. There's three summits and we are on the lower at 4000', the highest is 4400', so we look up a bit more from here.

The view is great, but it's not what really brought us here. Indeed, it was the trees, hundreds, maybe thousands of high quality collectable trees.

I know that's what you all are here for, too, so I'll put up a small sample for you now. It's very difficult to get a good pic that doesn't blend all the greens together. Once I get some clearing done I can use some backdrops for better pics. There are these scrub oak everywhere, especially in the old skid trails, that have literally been scrubbed off to not much than a nub. Many are partially uprooted, very hard dig though, lots of rock and hard clay.

Then there are the Yew. I've not been able to get a count of them yet, but I feel safe in saying there are hundreds of the size my walking stick is leaning on, and I can't even guess how many I'll find like the little one. You can't see the trunk, but it's about 2" and my hand shows the how tall.

 

[sorce]

Crazy to a beautiful end!

That kind of view changes a feller.

Nice!

Sorce

 

[eferguson1974]

You will be a tree digging expert! Get a pick. Sharpen all digging tools. And maybe some local younsters to do some of your digging.
Idk about there, but I get tons of 2 gallon buckets from bakeries, free or a quarter each. They use lots that come with filling. A donut shop should have a lot too. Theyre cheap and stand up to the sun. Just drill holes and you have recovery pots, maybe cut them shorter for traing flat roots. Thats just an idea for cheap, long lasting pots with handles. For 5 gallon size, look for painters working on a big job. They have tons to give away, much cheaper than paying for them. And recycling is good too. Sounds like you will need lots of cheap pots, and maybe you or someone else will be able to use the idea. Works great for me. Just having handles makes a big difference when moving lots of trees around. So I hope that helps you, or anyone who hadnt thought of it.

 

[Arcto]

Great views and material! Curious how deep your well is and flow rate? It looks like lucky you are above the poison oak zone. I don't have fond memories of a miserable week after a few river trips down there.

 

[RKatzin]

Rhodies and Azalea abound on about a third of the acres. This is also the source of our water, a large natural spring that just flows out of the ground. I've done some ponding that I'm watering out of now. Pretty much inexhaustible, Azalea will not grow in the wild without a consistent source of water very near the surface.

 

[RKatzin]

How about them apples! There are several of these Oregon Crab Apple I've located and Manzanita (if you're up on your Spanish, you know it means, little apple) pretty much grows wherever nothing else is growing. The bears love the stuff.

 

[RKatzin]

You will be a tree digging expert! Get a pick. Sharpen all digging tools. And maybe some local younsters to do some of your digging.
Idk about there, but I get tons of 2 gallon buckets from bakeries, free or a quarter each. They use lots that come with filling. A donut shop should have a lot too. Theyre cheap and stand up to the sun. Just drill holes and you have recovery pots, maybe cut them shorter for traing flat roots. Thats just an idea for cheap, long lasting pots with handles. For 5 gallon size, look for painters working on a big job. They have tons to give away, much cheaper than paying for them. And recycling is good too. Sounds like you will need lots of cheap pots, and maybe you or someone else will be able to use the idea. Works great for me. Just having handles makes a big difference when moving lots of trees around. So I hope that helps you, or anyone who hadnt thought of it.

Thanks for the tips, a feller can't have too many containers. I know some drywallers, they buy their mud in 5gal pails, much easier to clean than paint.

Here's one for you. I buy big pots when I can, usually they have a big tree in them. I cut these off at the bottom to make a 6-8"x12-14" grow pot. This leaves more than half of the top to dispose of (says the guy who never throws away anything I can find a use for). Yeah, well, I got lots of rock, so I turn the thing upside down and fill it with rocks and it makes a great plant stand.

 

[RKatzin]

Will you take seasonal boarders? "Will work for the view," that sort of thing?
Such beauty.
Judy and I would love to visit
Jim, in the soggy and relatively flat southeast

This is a big part of our overall plan, that is to create a place where like minded folks can come to enjoy bonsai in a wild and natural setting. We are working on water and facilities and hope to build several cabins for that purpose. It's rough camping at present, but the welcome mat is out (it's been getting near 100f in the valley, but we haven't been over 80f up here. The sun's hot, but the breeze is stiff and it's cool in the shade. Y'all come if you will, just don't expect to stay in the chalet.

 

[RKatzin]

Here's an interesting tree growing on the property, I thought you might get some inspiration from. I know I would like to recreate this in a landscape.

This tree is about 4' in diameter, 100' tall. The branch reaching out and clasping the house sized rock is 12" in diameter. The wood has molded in several places to the stone. The tree itself is growing out of a lower ledge of rock. Root over rock, rooted in rock, clasping the rock, awesome! And the view from there, great place to sit and have a smoke.