In reflecting on my travels through northern
California and a good bit of its rice country, I am
reminded of author Lewis Carroll’s Through the
Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. Alice,
a young girl, tries to imagine what the world looks
like on the other side of the mirror. As she touches
the mirror’s reflection, Alice is surprised that she
can step through the looking glass into a world that
is clear and recognizable, yet, in many ways strange
to her – an alternative world, if you will.
My own adventure began as our publisher Lia Guthrie and I climbed into
her Pilot in Mendocino County, heading to California rice country to visit
with farmers. But, first, we had to make the 20-minute hike down the ridge
under the curious, watchful eyes of wild turkeys and small deer.
Just the afternoon before, I was mesmerized by my first strange wildlife
sighting: A White-tailed Kite, a delicate and graceful bird of prey that hovers
in the air like a lady’s white lace handkerchief, fluttering in the breeze. In
the past, when a lady dropped her handkerchief in front of a gentleman, it
was to let him know that she was romantically interested in him. When the
White-tailed Kite drops to the ground, the result in not quite so romantic as
he has just scooped up his supper – some unsuspecting small mammal.
When we reached the highway at the bottom of the ridge, Lia turned on
her GPS and programmed in the location of our first appointment in the
Sacramento Valley. “Marsha,” Lia’s nickname for the “GPS lady,” took it
upon herself to take us on the scenic route to the rice farm. After many miles
of obediently following Marsha’s instructions, we found ourselves in what I
would call “an enchanted land.”
Desert cottontails – storybook-like animals – appeared from the thickets
and scampered across the small, dirt road. The next sight we encountered
was a pair of peacocks in all their glory, with shimmering, brightly colored
blue and green plumes, wandering out of the woods and crossing the road
into the adjacent field. Even as we drove through downtown Yuba City, a
rooster, cool as could be, caught my eye as he crossed a busy intersection.
And the landscape is different. I was intrigued by the beautiful almond
and walnut orchards that exist next to rice fields. I also was amazed at the
field of wild rice, growing high and majestic, at Kennan Corporation’s
breeding facility in Pleasant Grove.
At one point during the trip, Lia did laugh when I commented on the
majestic mountains in the distance, which actually were foothills, she said.
(In my defense, when you are from the flat land of Louisiana, the biggest
thing that we have to make a mountain out of is a molehill).
In flying back to Memphis a few days later, I suppose somewhere along
the way I stepped back through the looking glass into a world with which I
was familiar. However, I will always marvel at and fondly remember the
surreal sights and the gracious people I met in “Wonderland:” California
rice country.
Send your comments to: Editor, Rice Farming Magazine, 1010 June Road, Suite 102, Memphis, Tenn., 38119. Call (901) 767-4020 or e-mail csmith@onegrower.com. |
