Artist: Sarah Red-Laird
Title: Bee Habitat in Cyanotype 21
Location: Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts & Agriculture
Flower: Pisum sativum, Common Pea
Bee(s) in cyanotype: Bombus vosnesenskii, Yellow-faced bumble bee
Materials: Cyanotype, Barnwood
Field Season: 2023
Composed: 2023
Pine Meadow Ranch was acquired by The Roundhouse Foundation in 2017. Prior to this acquisition, this 260-acre ranch was ranched, farmed and cared for by aviatrix and rodeo stalwart Dorro Sokol, who died in 2017 at age 90.
Many of the buildings at Pine Meadow Ranch were built in the 1930s. They include a bunkhouse, caretaker’s cabin, woodworking sheds, tack rooms and a home designed by one of Oregon’s preeminent architects, Ellis F. Lawrence. Lawrence was the mind behind a score of historic buildings around the state, including the University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene.
Today, Pine Meadow Ranch continues to operate as a working ranch and is developing and expanding arts, agricultural and ecological projects using the assets of the property. Their goal is to preserve the land, the views, and historic buildings of Pine Meadow Ranch for years to come.
In late August / early September of 2023 I was an “Artist in Residence” at the Pine Meadow Center for Arts and Agriculture.
While in residence, I lead a workshop for the community members that included a studio tour and pasture walk, connected with and visited local beekeepers and ranchers, worked on a collaborative art project, and produced about 30 pieces for the “Bee Habitat in Cyanotype” collection (this is one of them!!).
In the year prior to my residency I worked with ranch operations director, Pam Wavrin, to plant 40 acres of "Regenerative Bee Pasture" 🌿 for me to pull some inspiration from, and for the ranch to be able to demonstrate what a highly diverse pasture can look like to the local ag community.
The pasture was highly compacted, with low soil nutrients and organic matter, so this is just the first step.
Here is a color-coded guide of what was planted, and what came up, and here is an iNaturalist project page with photos and locations of the flowers that came up from our seed mix.
I'm excited to stay in contact and support the process as the soil recovers and becomes an exceptional place to feed bees, cows, and people!
Pisum sativum goes by the common names “common pea” “Austrian winter pea” and “field pea.” This is a good plant for feeding livestock, building soil organic matter, and fixing nitrogen. You can even grow a winter cover of field peas in your garden beds to protect your soil during the cold months.
The shoots, pods, and peas are all edible.
Bumble bees love this flower, and in the pasture tended to visit it late in the day.
While I was out monitoring the field at PMCAA on a hot afternoon I kept hearing LOUD snaps and pops all around me. I finally put two and two together, and realized the pods were EXPLODING! It felt like the pasture was playing a joke on me 😉