Summer at last!

The temperature finally got more summery in Washington and the tomatoes and I are thankful. I got so inspired about the warmer temperatures and the opportunity for things to grow that I had to make more room to plant things! At first it started as tilling up more lawn in the front yard. Then the thought shifted to making a lasagna garden in the back yard in a newly observed sunshiny spot near the house. Lasagna gardening is the method of layering compost and peat moss on top of the soil then planing in the layers instead of digging down into the soil- works great on lawns (start with wet cardboard or a heavy layer of newspapers to act as weed cloth) After some consideration about the chickens and the dogs and the fence building that would need to be done in addition to the major scoring of some free 6'x8' lumber from a restaurant who had just redone their front stair entrance, Russ and I decided we could install a few more raised beds in the front yard while still using the lasagna methods. Russ came up with a unique design of triangles to complement the original square foot garden. I got the basic run down of the tools I'd need and where to find them then it was handed over as my project. Weee! Power tools, air wrench, dirt and hot sun! By Saturday afternoon I had 3 new boxes.



Sunday I shuffled compost and horse manure around while Russ mowed down the ever growing and too much shade providing shrub by the driveway. By Sunday afternoon I had a garden spot for strawberries, cantaloupe (I know it is tough to grow here but I am giving it a shot!) broccoli, more tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, dill, parsley, lettuce, spinach and carrots.

The Sleeping Lady

Clark Conservation District is one of 40 something conservation districts in Washington. There is pretty much one district for every county in the state. Every year, district employees from across the state get together for a conference at a little resort in Leavenworth, Washington. Leavenworth is an interesting town in itself, it is very close to Lake Wenatchee, where I was not too long ago for Envirothon, at the east side base of the Cascade mountains. So in the rain shadow and dryer climate and near the mountains that get pretty snowy. Perfect combination for becoming a tourist town if you have the right charm.... well... Leavenworth went for the small town Bavarian theme very similar to another mountain Georgia town that I know about. However, if you pass through Leavenworth and turn down a road that goes along Icicle Creek, tucked in at the base of a steep mountain range, amongst a shady canopy of ponderosa pine and hidden by native shrubs, you will find a beautiful little resort that exists as close to harmony with nature as it can while still providing the most peaceful and soothing accommodations to its guests. The resort was built with environmentally sensitive construction methods, and incorporates environmental conservation into its daily operations. It has been recognized for setting standards of excellence in ecotourism and ecobuilding industries. With its central location and its environmentally conscious setting, this resort and conference center is the perfect place to hold the annual Washington Association of District Employees conference. So looking at the mountain known as the Sleeping Lady, that towers over the resort with the same name, can you see how she got the name?

WADE is a wonderful occasion for districts to connect with each other and share experiences, ideas and changes. The conference also provides learning opportunities for all the diverse jobs of district employees. From financial administrators to resource planners, there are a number of classes and discussion sessions to learn about the latest and greatest techniques in the conservation district world. I spent the 3 days following the livestock information sessions since most of my job entails farm planning and technical assistance for livestock owners. I had a few refresher courses on pasture management and joined in on a discussion about farm plan formats. Wednesday night Becky (the financial manger for Clark CD) and I competed in the first ever WADE Rain Gutter Regatta. The boats we built we quickly discovered were no where near the engineered for speed marvels that some of the other competitors had created so we did not stay in the running very long, but we had a great time racing our boats! The 3 days Becky and I spent at WADE were a great experience, a beautiful setting, wonderful food (all you can eat buffet 3 times a day with local and seasonal foods and prepared beautifully by the resorts own chef), and beautiful sunshiney warm weather!

It is about time!

It is sunny!! The high pressures and low pressures moved around out off the coast and the northwest got some long overdue sunshine and warm(er) temperatures starting yesterday. Russ and I reveled in the afternoon sunshine; we took our bikes down to Fort Vancouver for a ride. There is a new land bridge that connects the Fort to the river front, providing a walkway over Hwy 14. It was a rather expensive project but it sure did turn out nice. There are lots of native plants started along the edges of the bridge and many informational signs and places to stop for views of Mt. Hood, the water and the plane traffic at PDX. We were happy to utilize it's gentle incline of a pathway to get us over the highway and to the river. There is a nice wide walkway known as the Waterfront Renaissance Trail that runs through Old Apple Tree park and then along the river, providing beautiful views of the water and a nice paved surface to walk or bike. The old Apple tree was planted in 1826 and has survived quite a bit of history so Vancouver deiced to make a little park around the ancient fruit barer. It is a pretty neat little park. There were a family a rabbits playing in the grass near the tree when we rode by. It always amazes me how adaptable life can be. Amongst two very busy highway overpasses and a concrete jungle, wildlife is able to survive and thrive in a little bit of green space. We had a lovely peddle all the way down the walkway until the pavement ended at a large interesting stainless steel metal sculpture. It reminded me of a woman worker from the World War II era artwork, there was a whimsical house and boat sculpture at her feet along with a welding mask and various other tools. After a bit of research, it turns out this is Wendy the Welder. Built by a group called "Women who Weld" to commemorate and celebrate women’s contribution to the war effort and also honor all the workers in the neighboring Kaiser Shipyards. It is quite an impressive and fun piece of artwork. After admiring the craftsmanship and detail, we decided it was probably time to start heading back before it got any darker. It was a lovely evening spent cruising along the river and exploring new parts of Vancouver but especially soaking up some late afternoon sunshine!

It is June already!! How does your garden grow?

So how 'bout some warm June temperatures!? Oh wait, I am not in Georgia anymore! It doesn't get warm (in my opinion) until August, if we are lucky. The grass seems to think it is warm enough though. It has needed mowing every weekend, pretty much. When we had a few consecutive days of warm sunshiny weather I got all inspired. I put tomato, pepper and squash starts in the ground. But now they are just hanging out; waiting for some more above 65ish degree sunny days. The peas I planted back in February and then again 2 weeks later are now going crazy, they are a good 4 feet tall and climbing and there are tons of flowers. I have had one pod venture out and mature so far but I think they are just waiting for that sun to peak through for a little longer before they really start fruiting.

I am trying something new this year. I have heard quite a bit of success stories with black plastic around the base of warm loving plants. I have a raised bed with 2 tomato plants in them; I figured the raised bed would help the soil warm up faster and have ripe fruit before the end of the short northwest summer. Last year I ended up with LOTS of green tomatoes. So this year I am comparing raised bed to no bed with black plastic. We'll see how it goes. So far the tomatoes in the black plastic are looking pretty stout compared to my raised bed plants. We'll see what happens once my cosmos starts coming up around my tomatoes! I am running out for room for all the things I want to grow, I am seriously contemplating digging up some more of the lawn so we can have more things to eat.

We have been enjoying cilantro and some spinach so far from the garden so far. Actually, I have gotten more adventuresome with cooking and created some yummy pasta-tomato-spinach-bean creations as well as a little bit of this little bit of that southwestern inspired bean salad. (I am still learning how to use the right amount of onion!) I love going in the front yard and picking things when I am making dinner and figuring out how to use them in a meal. I had some lettuce that was doing quite well until I just noticed today has been mowed down by slugs. I think I need to bring the ladies to the front yard for some slug hunting. I have a hunch that the resident crow family picked out my beans, only one came up. I have a hard time getting annoyed with them, though. I feel like they are family. I have been watching them the last few weeks break twigs from a Red Bud tree and fly them up to the nearby Doug-fir where they must be building their nest. I will plant some more beans soon and hopefully they will be too busy with their youngsters to visit my garden. Maybe the squawking chickens will help with crows too?

When I was rooting around in the garden, I discovered some un harvested potatoes from last year that are now sprouting so we will have potatoes again this year, hooray!