Virtual Homestead & Garden Tour
Recently I went on a garden tour extravaganza and was totally inspired! Stay tuned for several blog posts on that event… But one thing that I kept thinking is that I could never have my home on an actual tour- think of all the stress of making things just right so complete strangers can take pictures of it! I mean, really..would you not judge me for leaving weeds that stand taller than you? or letting my greens bolt (hey its for the bees and seeds), would you step in chicken shit? Probably! So, when I saw that NW Edible Life was doing a Nosy Neighbor Virtual Homestead & Garden Tour – I thought how brilliant! We can share pictures and be inspired by what everyone else is doing, without the stress of making everything perfect! So why not include my little homestead?
For some background and for specific details on my place check out the article written by Valerie Easton earlier this spring in the Seattle Times A sustainable Northwest garden of Eatin’ and Eden. Older photos are here & you can meet the animals here. I’ve incorporated edibles (mostly perennial) into all of the landscaping but grow specific annual edibles in a rabbit-proof area. We harvest rain water, use solar power for hot water, and just recently I started driving an electric car all in an effort to live more sustainably. My dream would be that someday we live self sufficiently, but for now we are a lo0nng way off and have a lot of work ahead.
One advantage about our location is that we have a lot of space, but on the other hand it takes time to develop and manage. In ten years we’ve barely cultivated half of the space that we want to. One disadvantage is that we work in the green industry which means during the growing season our work week can be 60+hours and our garden can get a bit neglected.
Goals for the future: build a root cellar, a PV solar system, get dairy goats and have time to milk them, then move to a farm in the San Juans and live completely off the grid. Ha! I can dream right?
Now for some photos:
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This photo was taken in mid-June when things were *finally* starting warm up.
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One side of my vegetable garden – I’m trying red “plastic mulch” under my 1/2 of my tomatoes.. we’ll see iwhat happens!
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My squashes have had a late start this year.. and here is a peek at the bunny proof gabion wall that surrounds the large vegetable beds
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and oddly, our corn and tomatoes are thriving. Here beans are climbing the corn and adding nitrogen to the soil!
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One of the newer beds at the entry of the food forest garden. Plants in this area are a fig tree, a mulberry tree, daylilies, blueberries, borage, peppers, oregano….
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This is the south border of the backyard- another “food forest garden” with a mature walnut, several apples, a new almond and persimmon, a bunch of horseradish, sorrel, rhubarb, strawberries, potatoes, and even a trail lined with garlic.
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This is the other half of that new area – it was sheet mulched in spring and we planted a Chinese Chestnut, plums, a medlar, and misc shrubs like evergreen huckleberry.
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The newest addition to the garden – raised beds made with salvaged stone and the lawn was sheet mulched with burlap and woodchips to make paths..
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Our neverending crop – and a volunteer nasturtium
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Our newly painted barn and some chickens – I’m still deciding if I like the color of the doors…
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The backside of the barn – the 300 gallon cistern collects rainwater from the metal roof, and the over flow goes into a trough for the animals
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Beans slowly making their way up the trellis made out of hogfencing and birch branches made to look like colored pencils
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The backyard rain garden
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On the gate post… the arbor overhead climbs a delicious grape… when it ripens!
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Part of the rain garden near the deck
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Our baby ducks enjoying the pond on a rainy July day
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Our lovely little lady insects live here
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This is one crop we are going to be cautious about not overharvesting. We want to leave as much as possible for the bees.
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This comes in handy… but needs replacing. I’m hoping for something a little fancier someday;)
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another angle of my new raised beds
jessi, why wasn’t YOUR garden on the #seattlefling tour?! so many fun details. love the colored pencil birch posts, the glass block & stone gabion wall (stay away peter rabbit), and all that fowl roaming about!
Thanks Andrea! Someday… I might open up my garden to a tour, but it is a lot of stress I don’t think I need right now.
Your garden is amazing! These pictures are great but don’t do your garden justice! Retiring on the Islands is also a dream of mine.