March 29, 2015

les ocean.

Clam Digging, Family, Life, Pacific Northwest, Seabrook, Washington Coast

Another epic weekend at the Washington Coast! We were spoiled with a hizzle in the Seabrook community. It was a little TOO nice with TOO many kids running around. I prefer my visits to the coast to have a bit of grit to ’em. But, having a hot tub to soak in post dig wasn’t so bad 🙂

We had two days of early morning digs, which many of us weren’t super happy about. But once we were up and on the beach, it wasn’t so bad. Plus, there was plenty of time for naps and such in the afternoon. The sun even made an appearance on Saturday and we lounged on the deck with snacks and drinks in hand. It sure was nice.

The season is coming to a close in May so it’s time to put the waders and guns away until the fall. Sigh. Onto camping season!

The gang.

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March 26, 2015

bait.

Chicken, Garden, Homegrown, Organic, Pacific Northwest, Pests

UGH. F’ing slugs! They are the bane of my existence right now. I bought all of these lovely little starters from the edible plant sale the other week and they are being violently attacked by these slimy suckers. Every morning I walk out onto our patio to find even more clinging to my traps OR even worse, on my poor plants! I’ve heard they can eat their own body weight in a day. Cool, real cool.

So far, I’ve tried:

salting them
crushed up egg shells
crushed up clam shells
grapefruit slices THEN salting them
beer in a shallow dish

If you have the time, nothing is more satisfying than salting them. Not sure if I’m sold on the egg/clam shell route, which is suppose to give them too sharp of a surface to slim around on. Grapefruit works well, but a dish of beer is my new go-to method. Stupid things just drown themselves. I also read that it’s better to not change the dish too much as they actually are attracted to their dead comrades. That’s twisted.

This is making me really reconsider ducks and chickens for our yard……. 🙂

March 11, 2015

bale’d up.

Garden, Homegrown, Organic, Pacific Northwest, Straw Bale Gardening

Row cover, Burien, straw bale gardening - cultivatedrambler.com

We’re getting a little cray cray up in here! Officially planted round no. 1 in the main garden over the weekend with the help of my sis, Liz. Stuff that went in the ground: snap peas, snow peas, sweet peas, two kinds of carrots, romaine lettuce, butter lettuce and arugula. Phew.She also joined me in my trek out to Burien to pick up three straw bales for my attempt at straw bale gardening. I’ve got about two weeks of conditioning with these bad boys then they’ll also be ready to plant. For those of you who think I’m nuts…..straw bale gardening is a way to garden if you have crappy or no soil. My plan was to build a nice stone walled bed in this location, but other things took precedent this year. My plan is to build that bed next year then transplant my raspberries there so they’ll be nice and contained.

In the meantime, I’m doing my own little garden experiment with these. From what I’ve read you 1) need straw NOT hay bales 2) they need to be “conditioned” ie. hit with lots of water and fertilizer to get them to start composting 3) sprinkled with some good soil 4) and then planted directly into. Seems easy enough. Stay tuned to see how this works out for me!

March 1, 2015

yard werk.

Garden, Homegrown, Pacific Northwest, Straw Bale Gardening

Pacific Northwest Gardening, Organic, Springtime prep - cultivatedrambler.com

Top: A work in progress. Bottom (left to right): Every gardener needs a machete!, Stella checking out our new pear tree, I have a seed hording problem.

Well it’s that time again! Though this time seems to be earlier than most years – hello warmest February ever. Sheesh. This sunny weather has been putting me into yard/garden overdrive these days. Every weekend has had at least one full day of yard work. I even got sun burned the other day – WTF Seattle? I thought I would have a few more weeks of hibernation, guess not. So in preparation of growing season 2015, here’s what I’ve been up to lately.

Here’s what’s been done:

Pruned fig tree and grape vines
Pruned and re-strung raspberries
Pruned camellia, hydrangeas, pine tree and rhodies (thanks Aunt Susan!
Cleaned up peony bed and added two more bushes (yay!)
Added strawberries to the herb bed
Planted 3 apple trees along fence line
Planted 1 three-in-one pear tree on east side of house (how genius is that! self-pollinating.)
Planted round 1 of seeds near herb bed
Made a bad ass hippie stick art thing
Added landscape rocks to end of herb bed to make it look more finished
Picked up 10 bags of moo doo for veggies – highly recommend Sayers Fuel on Rainier

Here’s what’s left to do:

Buy blueberries for the blueberry patch – getting these bad boys at the Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sale on March 14!
Straw bale garden alongside the shed – too lazy to make a real garden bed this year, so this will do
Figure out where to plant my 3 new dahlias
Prune plum tree
Finish veggie garden layout
Plant more seeds!
Make more fun hippie stick art!

Phew! That’s it for now. What have you been up to in your yard these days?

February 24, 2015

wallace falls.

Dog Friendly, Friends, Hiking, Pacific Northwest, Wallace Falls

Yes, my friends. More hiking pictures! We tackled Wallace Falls the other weekend with our pal Kiki and his main pooch Dudley. That lil pup had a grand time AND made it to the top of the falls with little assistance needed. Poor guy was brown by the time we were done – he was a trail favorite though and EVERYONE stopped to compliment him! The trail was pretty packed that day, more so than I like, but what can you do? With all of the rain we had, the falls were pretty epic. Overall, a solid little hike with a wet ‘n wild ending at the top!