Tule Lake Basin Agriculture


Working with strong spirited people always trying to improve.
Dr. Harry Carlson is the retired director of the Intermountain Research Extension Station, University of California, in Tulelake. Anders filmed Harry over the course of eight years. Here are some of Harry’s thoughts about the Tulelake farmer and the world that they deal with.

tule lake basin farm directory icon.

potato icon - tulelake california.  photo by anders tomlinson
Tulelake Potatoes
Tule Lake Basin potatoes are famous around the world. An acquaintance of Anders emailed, in the late 2000’s, that a Chilean potato shed office computer’s screen-saver displayed a anderstomlinson.com/tule-lake/ Tulelake potato harvest image. It is indeed a small world and potatoes have become an integral part of the global food supply. It is the world’s fourth-largest food crop, following maize, wheat and rice.

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grain icon.  tulelake california.  photo anders tomlinson
Tulelake Grain
Grain is cut by the header and kernels are separated and up to 5 tons stored in the combine. Chaff is sent flying out the back. These harvest photos are from the 2005. On average a grain crop may take four months from planting to harvest.
Tulelake wheat and barley have the best yield per acre in the western United States.

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mint icon tulelake california.  photo by anders tomlinson
Tulelake Mint
The Tule Lake Basin is one of two places in California where peppermint is grown. Tulelake Peppermint is well known for its consistent flavor and excellent quality. Warm days, cool nights, rich volcanic soil and talented farmers all factor into the production quality.

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alfalfa icon, tulelake california.  photo by anders tomlinson
Tulelake Alfalfa
Tule Lake Basin alfalfa is known for its excellent nutritional value. There are over 60,000 acres of hay, alfalfa and grass varieties, in the Upper Klamath Basin. Haying, on average, takes place from June 1 through Oct. 15. Of course, harvest timing is is related to weather conditions throughout the season.

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onion icon, tulelake california.  photo by anders tomlinson
Tulelake Onions
The last crop to be harvested in the Tule Lake Basin is usually onions. As late as mid-November trucks with Tulelake onions can be a daily parade down Hwy. 97 to Hwy. 5 south. Drivers take their trailers to Sacramento. There, drivers coming from Gilroy trade trailers and take the onions south for processing.

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horseradish icon, tulelake california, photo by anders tomlinson
Tulelake Horseradish
Tulelake is known as the “Horseradish Capital of the World” and accounts for a third or more of the nation’s production. Some local fields have been in continuous horseradish production for 25 years. Horseradish has been cultivated for at least 3,000 years.

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Music and Song are one of many Farmland traditions.
Robert Ganey wrote and sings a delightful ditty about living on America’s fields and productive soil. Video was shot in farm land and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge surrounding Tulelake, California.
©2013 Robert Ganey and Anders Tomlinson, all rights reserved.

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Tule Lake Basin Has Some of the Richest Soil on Earth
The Dig Brothers and SonicAtomics are pleased to present “TopSoil”. This is another Sonic Succulent cultivated and harvested by Denver Clay and Anders Tomlinson, aka the Dig Brothers. The visuals represent a year, filmed between 2001 and 2008, in the life of the Tule Lake Basin, which includes Merrill and Malin, Oregon and Tulelake and Newell, California.

Topsoil is the extreme upper part of the Earth’s surface, extending downward only 2 – 12 inches ). It contains the necessary minerals and nutrients that living things — including the plants that directly or indirectly support thousands of species — require. The Tule Lake Basin is an exception to the rule: it is filled with organic material hundreds of feet deep thanks to waterfowl migrations and volcanic eruptions over the course of time.
We are all dancing on a thin crust of life.
Photography and editing is by Anders Tomlinson. Produced by Anders Tomlinson and Denver Clay. ©2015 Anders Tomlinson and Denver Clay, all rights reserved.

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©2014 Anders Tomlinson, all rights reserved.