Author: EEC Forest Stewardship

It’s that time again- cutting and hauling wood to heat the house with next winter. Each spring I take several trips into the local tree farm to harvest firewood. I have a pass with legal right to 7 chords from already cut and stacked logs in specific sites set up for us in advance. I’m not going into a forest and cutting trees- you can’t do that without proper permitting, unless you own the land and know it’s legal. Even on private land, there are often minimum standing tree regulations on the books, so consult with your local governing bodies before you cut. I’ve been harvesting in the local tree farm for a decade now, and it’s hard work, but very rewarding. These trees are commercially cut, and the stacks left for us to harvest from are usually manageable diameters- though there are sometimes huge logs that I usually try to avoid because of the time and strength it takes to get them cut and loaded into my truck bed. Know your limits and don’t take stupid risks. Chainsaws are no joke, and to throw out my back trying to lift a log to big for me would be at great cost to my own body, and my livelihood back at the farm. Work safe!

I love hitting up the wood piles in early spring, scouting the maps and also future hunting spots next fall. Fresh logged areas are usually active habitat for deer once the understory starts to grow back in. For now I’ll be hunting good log piles that are easy to access right next to the road and safe to cut. Some stacks are too precarious for me to risk climbing into. The worst thing would be to have a log roll onto me while cutting. That’s also why I stick to the smaller wood. I’m usually out cutting alone, and though that is not ideal, the laws of the tree farm are strict, you can’t bring friends in under your pass. So I roll solo and always let someone know when I go and return.

These landscapes are often quite bleak after a recent cutting. I think it’s important to see what our modern timber industry does in the surrounding hills to appease our consumption of wood products. Everything from your commercial lumber to the paper towles in your kitchen came from trees. I certainly still use toilet paper- which is more likely to come from imported wood products these days- from forests where there is less oversight and often much more degradation. Please know, IKEA is a huge player in the abuse of wood cutting in Europe, so stop buying cheap things from green washing companies. Know where your forest products really come from and at what cost. My firewood comes from an active timber forest that is cut and replanted in what is called sustainable forestry, but if most of the biomass is leaving, there is not much left for the soil to rebuild for the next batch- except King County is fixing that by introducing human treated sewage into the forest as a nitrogen fix for the landscape. That’s a kettle of fish already covered in other writing on this blog.

The map above shows available sights I can go to harvest the logs set aside for personal use. If you cut in the wrong place, you can loose your permit, so it’s important to know where the sites are and how to get there. It can be a maze of roads that all look the same, and clear cuts certainly look the same, so know the area and what’s legal before you go. This year, one of my chose sites overlooked a burn area from a few years ago. There was still a lot of snow on the ground when I was harvesting wood, so I was unable to get over to the next ridge until later in the spring to have my first look at the burn of 2021. I’ll have a separate blog post about that experience later this summer. Below is a picture from where I could see the burn from across the ridge.

I burn about 5 chords in a winter, and any extra is always rolled over to the following year so I always have wood at home to keep things dry and warm. Sometimes I have a fire as late as June if the temps are down and it’s still wet. Keeping the house dry is just as important as warmth here in the temperate rainforest. Each truckload I haul home is about half a cord, so it takes about 10 trips to get enough for one year, and that’s some work. It’s my gym membership, and the chainsaw work keeps me sharp on my cutting skills and safety routine. I wear Kevlar chaps, hard hat, safety glasses, and ear protection. Heavy gloves are a must, because most of this wood is Douglas fir, which is full of slivers that can even go through my jeans, so I appreciate the chaps for more than just protection from the saw. There are strict harvesting times of year too. By the end of May, the cutting is shut down so we don’t cause an accidental fire. Chains can catch in stones and throw sparks, so summer drought is not a time to be running the saw. I got 4 loads this Spring, and will get another 4-6 in the fall. I had some roll over wood, but I try to get as much as I can during the open windows of harvest to keep a stockpile.

When cutting in the field, I measure out 6′ lengths for the bed of the truck that I can lift. About 8 logs get into the bed before weight limits top out. My bed can hold about 900 lbs safely. That’s about what I can lift in one session anyway, so it’s a good limitation. Why do I not buck the wood into splitting rounds in the field? Safety. The less time my saw is running out there where I am alone and far from any help, the better. I’ll have plenty of time to buck at home, where I have a cradle to hold the wood for me to make cutting more ergonomic. I’ll also borrow a splitter from friends to make light work of all those rounds. I’d say there are about 20 hours of work involved, from harvesting to staking the split wood. It’s a great series of workouts, and worth it to have a low cost heat source for the year. I burn from late October through May consistently- a little over 6 months of the year. Electric heat costs keep going up, so the wood keeps living here affordable. Since we are in a forested environment, wood is a good choice- in a modern, efficient stove. Older stoves throw out more pollution and waste a lot of heat, so make sure you have the best setup possible to burn efficiently.

Being out in the wilds cutting wood is a great feeling. I love my trips to the tree farm because I get to see what’s going on where the active cutting happens and know what kind of clear cutting still goes on in our commercial forests. It’s telling to see the trucks hauling out smaller and smaller trees, because we’re now making so many wood products from particle and pressed molds. Large beams are layered together using veneer. Very little timber wood in produced in Washington today- it’s mostly imported from Canada, where the cutting of old growth continues. Please be aware of our forests’ depletion all over the world, and use your buying power responsibly when buying forest products. I can also tell you now, any “tree planting” rewards with your buying power is replanting these commercial timber sights- not virgin forest in The Amazon. Those trees will be cut when they reach 20-30 years; chipped up to make particle board or pulp for paper. That’s the carbon credit system corporations are using now to cover up bad ecological practices. Don’t fall for the green wall of wash.

Taking time to return to a landscape and watching the changes is an important way to stay connected to place. I come to the tree farm many times seasonally, fishing, hiking, hunting, harvesting wood, mushrooming, and more. I’ve seen incredible wildlife, tracked cougar in the snow, had bobcats pop out of wood piles nearby, had eagles fishing with me in the lakes, and coyotes darting past while driving. It’s the edge of the wilds, connecting up into The Cascades I call home. Even with all the cutting, there are pockets of protected wilderness around streams, rivers, and lakes. These are the beautiful places I access when I need to refresh and revive my senses. Thankfully, most of these sensitive places are protected and will be there for generations to come.

Hello and Happy Summer Solstice as we celebrate this longest day in the light’s great arch across the sky. As the summer comes into full swing, EEC Forest Stewardship takes a look at how things are growing. Reflecting on some of the permaculture principals used in living closer to space and place, we take a visual tour of the area right around the main dwelling areas to see how a decade of cultivation and regeneration are coming into their own. Below is an outline of the area I consider Zone 1. It’s a lot more vast than a typical plan, but the circles within are sub zones of focus outlined in more detail as we delve in. The circles would open out more concentrically from the tenant kitchen center point if property lines did not create boundaries of limitation.

The red circle surrounds a building in daily use. People will walk by and see the area, easily stepping in to tend. These areas are more easily maintained and utilized, so food and medicine plants, as well as the more sensitive species you need to keep an eye on for success, thrive. At the center of this circle is access to potable water, both in the building and outside in a spigot.

Water is life, and our well house is not far below right on this initial overview. The well fills that blue water pillow in upper right, and offers irrigation throughout this landscape as needed, supporting survival of all. This south facing area with a brilliant sun catch off the wall of the structure, provides a heated microclimate where the most successful frost peach has really come into it’s own. As a self pollinating variety, it puts on fruit beautifully, with enough water and room to espalier across a hot surface, which helps prevent peach leaf curl. Some good mulching in the bed below has encouraged kitchen sage and oregano to burst with enthusiasm, making this corner of the garden a bustling pollination station throughout the growing season and feed us with fruit and herbs. Native flowing red currant flank the other corner of the building, offering shade, which dramatically reduces the interior temperatures in summer. In fact, before these plants took root in the kitchen garden, the fridge within died during a particularly hot summer of 90s in the farm’s second season, 2015. Now the microclimate gains a summer coat of shade leaves, which drop in winter to let in the light, helping to heat the structure with passive solar. If we as a species could think more like this with our design, there would be abundance and resiliency all around.

This lush space is now shading the building and soaking up southern exposure to maximize health and production. In the adjacent bed further south, aronia, lemon balm, mug-wort, chervil, and tansy are taking root. I’ve been trying to establish blue elderberry for a few years, with no success. It takes a certain soil and setup which I have dialed in with luck in some parts of the land but not others. The aronia is thriving anywhere I plant it- which is a nice consolation, as it too is a great anti-viral immune support medicinal plant to have. This plant is often used as a cash crop, and in future, could be a smart revenue source for the farm. Propagation from our mother plants will ensure the spread and growth of this crop for years to come.

Taking a step back from the tenant kitchen garden, we see other projects which have been put on the back burner until more space is needed for cultivation. These raised beds have never been fully realized, both because of a lack of need- I’ve got more than enough growing on here, but also the amount of fill needed to fully realize these beds is far from ready for cultivation. It’s not a bother, but does make for a strange sight on the landscape, with the pillars holding back the metal walls starting to bow forward without the dead-men bent t-post tie downs planned in the original design. This project was always more work than I liked, to bury the dead men tones of earth would have to be moved and set, which was partially completed when we had large machines on sight moving fill, but other than a few trips of barn clean out in the truck, the beds remain incomplete. But they do offer grazing space fot the sheep, and pollination for the bees- even if the flowers are blackberry. The terraces also help hold the bank below the building, slowing erosion and offering rooted stability when plants establish. In future, a shrub step will most likely be the plan, to help set the hillside and offer shade and good mixed browsing for the animals. Every plan on this landscape evolves as needs change. It’s good to be flexible and not get too caught up in original hopes. When the plans were initially laid out, there was a thought that eight people would be living here and cultivating the land together. Until there is true need for such cooperation and work together in this area to survive. For now, the prep work is there, and when many hands make light work, we’ll pick up where we left off and continue the agricultural expansion. A passive drip system with well established mulch and compost won’t take long when the space is needed.

Learning to work within my own limitations is a journey in progress. Passive systems are key, even in zone one areas that are tended frequently by one person. It’s not a chore as long as the watering is passive and mulch keeps weeding to a minimum. The raised bed area is still great grazing space, nothing goes to waste, and I have less to maintain. It’s not typical for our current society to think less is more, but we should be embracing this concept to help reduce consumption. The land can expand to embrace our need for more food when it is asked for. I’ll plant medicine and fruit there when there’s an opportunity, and plan to let go of the veggie gardens in that space for now. Sometimes plans on paper look great, but the physical work to implement them on the landscape becomes impractical. Looking at the space as a whole, the main beds are in use next to the building, and that is manageable tending for that space. Tenants could expand and plant more if they wish, and in the past some tenants have used the upper bed for personal growing, so it’s there when needed.

Taking another step back into the next circle (green) from the overhead map, the main house and kitchen gardens come into view, along with firewood storage, pastures, and the towering wild hedge which lines our north boarder on the property. This area is the furthest irrigation watering I do from the house, in 30-45 min cycles, the sprinkler moves around the garden while I weed in the wake of watering. It’s a fun summer cycle that takes a couple of days a week to fully maintain, but that’s minimal to keep a growing patch near the house alive and well. Since I’m not a real gardener- preferring the livestock cycles and hedge setting edges of the land to row cropping or perpetuating high need cultivars. Much of the early plantings when I first moved here ten years ago are beginning to set and survive on their own, and that’s the kind of gardening I like to set myself up for. Less watering, more mulch, chop and drop, and graze down rotation. Zone one areas are usually where all the veggie patches and daily tasks are piled so you don’t have to go far to check up on things. It’s smart planning, as i’ve seen so many people choose to put gardens far from the house and then never end up flourishing because going out there is a task, and the back and forth becomes a chore, not a joy. Step out your front door and make the garden right there so you spend time in it. From the covered front porch I can see all the important gorwings on and tend without much thought. Compost, watering, weeding, and seeding happen within 20 feet of the front door and kitchen. It makes an afternoon of porch time with friends while watering possible, and encourages use of the growing space for in use plants like salad greens, peas, asparagus, garlic, camas, grapes, currents, crab apple, and much more thrive in the richest soil and best kept beds. By late summer, the ring of rich, dark green around the house is much easier to see.

I’ve had a greenhouse setup in this outer ring in the past, and it was ok, but more work than I wanted with opening and closing, watering even more, and the winter snow threatening to collapse the whole build. I’m not really craving the hot weather crops you use a greenhouse for in most cases. I’ve found organic grower connections on the east side of the state where the heat welcomes tomatoes, okra, and eggplant- to name a few. The green house did extend the growing season, but I’ve not missed the work, and continue to shift towards less work and more native species implementation to enhance the environment we’re in. None of my natives have been lost to predation yet, as they tend to be acclimated and able to handle browsing predators better than any of the cultivars. The slug problem is actually a lack of ducks problem, but those birds were so messy and a real threat to the pond, so they are not present at this time. I do think the design for a pair of garden protector ducks could be rigged up in future, and it’s on my list of things to try, as slugs are really the worst challenge facing the gardens today.

Stepping back on more ring, into that purple area of the map, we can see almost all the zone one space around the house, and the second and third zones coming away from the main structures. Though I make this walk twice daily to feed animals down at the barn, I do way less tending in these spaces, and little to no watering. In this Spring picture, things are green and lush with cool weather and recent rain, but by the end of the summer, it will brown and yellow out like California, as we are on a south facing slope with great sun catch. That sun does also bake the ground- killing most of the grass in the gravel driveway and parching the grazed down pastures. Established tree islands offer shade and less evaporation, so planting more shade is key to keeping this area a lush paradise in times of drought. In this outer ring of growth, pines, willow, and crabapple take center stage, nurturing twin berry, Nootka rose, and Saskatoon. These plants and trees don’t require irrigation or a lot of tending, just occasional trimming and understory reseeding to create diversity in layers of vegetation which work together to form small forest ecosystems. Sheep graze this zone, and the plants have to survive a good munching, which they do now. It took a few years to get things growing over head height- which is the average tallness your plants need to be to fend off ungulate browsing. Caging them when they are young will help fend off attacking chewers. There are also several species of less than appetizing plants and shrubs you can select to keep deer and other foragers from eating your hard work, but the best practice is fencing and keeping important plantings close to the house in sight.

Zone one should be a place where you have the most fun with your time cultivating. I walk outside and see so many yummy things to eat, enjoy smelling, touching, and standing in. Form flowers to garlic scapes, grapevines and apples, it’s a delightful paradise that just keeps getting more diverse and abundant with age. It’s been such a great learning journey too. Some growing years are certainly better than others, but with some smart work and a lot of observing, I’ve come to a balance in gardening and weeding, watering and planting, which feeds both the stomach and soul, with much more to come. Thanks for taking a tour with me and seeing what’s growing on here at EEC Forest Stewardship.

Yes, we have geese at EEC Forest Stewardship! These heritage animals have been settling in since early Fall 2023, and are happily acclimated to their new digs. After hunting turkey last year, and loving the larger bird productivity, I began looking into larger avian options to host at the farm. Turkey were not my first choice of bird, as they are better suited to dry environments- hence living on the east side of the state- not here on the wet west slope of The Cascades. Geese are great in wet weather, but water fowl have not been successful in the past, leaving a wake of mess in our pond, which we could not keep them out of. The Cotton Patch is a terrestrial breed, meaning they don’t need a lot of water for swimming. They were developed to weed cotton patches in the south, adaptable to hot and cold weather, which suits them to Western Washington.

What else makes these geese awesome? They are docile and quiet, which is really not typical for geese- but this breed is so epic for being cultivated as an easy to handle, smaller goose in the bird world. Cotton Patch are also hardy and smart, self directed grazers, and parasite resistant. We’ve been hosting them for a few seasons, and are falling fast for this versatile and (mostly) easy going animal. I say mostly because it’s nesting season for many birds in late spring, and our geese are on the eggs. The female sits almost continuously for around 32 days. Her gander stands guard and really puts on a show of force to any who dare disrupt his lady’s brooding. I’ve got the grain and water right by the door to make the least encroachment; it’s a very sensitive time for an already sensitive animal. The learning journey has been profound, how wonderful to see our breeding pair settled in enough to build a nest and begin incubation.

Water birds are notoriously “bad” parents during the egg stage. Wetness and mug threaten even the most well placed nests. Eggs laid early in the brood period are usually buried during the early stages of nesting and not sat upon consistently enough to ensure viability. To help with the success rate of this rare breed, I gathered the first few eggs, and brought them into the house to keep in a cool, dark place. When the goose took to her nest full time, I put the 4 gathered eggs into the incubator here in the house to hopefully time the hatch with hers so the new chicks can be reintroduced to the nest before the gander can reject them. If this sounds like a lot of work, it could be, but so far, gathering eggs, timing the incubation, and monitoring the incubator is manageable. If I miss the timing on hatched goslings, it might be a long summer.

Geese imprint, and so do most birds. Chickens have the knowledge built in, so you can raise the chicks passively. Goslings need parents to teach them most things, so geese raised by other geese are ideal. If the goslings imprint to you, get ready to be a goose for several months, and watch how hard it is to introduce your human raised geese to other geese. Stay tuned, as there will be updates following the hatch at the end of May 2024. For now, cotton patch geese are nesting here at Leafhopper Farm.

In Spring, varied thrush, robin, and song sparrow all chorus up the dawn light, thus waking me at roughly 5am, sometimes 7-but that’s a good sleep if I can get it. There’s sometimes a 2-3am wake-up for chicks that are hatching, or lambs being born, so 6-8 hours of sleep on average. Usually animals get an initial check once I’m dressed. If the sheep are grazing nearby, I can have a look from the porch. Sometimes, I take a walk down to the chicken coop and take in the dew soaked grass, fresh cool morning air, and the bird song.

Back at the house I read news and steep a warm beverage, get the fire going again to keep things warm enough for incubator in the living room, then check email. I have always been an early riser, and appreciate a well rested mind when reading correspondence. Val gets her kibble and that signals me to get dressed and get out in the morning coolness to feed the rest of our humming creatures. By now it’s around 9, and chores begin.

Ewes move onto fresh pasture, and when I move fence, it’s a meditative exercise in fitting shapes, stretching lines, and holding boundaries. In the past 10 years, a few of our natural hedge fences have begun to hold on their own, but to keep those young hedges growing, at this crucial stage, I’m still using electric mesh to keep stock off the establishing vegetation. It’s great to make pasture spaces to custom fit the growing season. Sometimes I do forget young plantings and the sheep make short work of a year’s growth or more on some smaller shrubs.

Today, I was fencing the orchard, and also took time to bend a few branches on young fruit trees. I had just finished ting off a pear branch when the local jays started a ruckus aerial predator alarm, compelling my gaze to the north just in time to watch a bald eagle soaring up into the bright azure sky. A male robin came coasting down through the red alders, alighting on the newly tied branch, chirping his own warning. These are the moments I treasure being part of on the land.

By 11, sheep moved, chickens set to work in worm city, Val on the watch for any mischief, Gill fed and set loose on his rounds with sturdy orthotic in place, geese are watered (still waiting for any sign of nest building), and with all the animal care attended to, I can set the garden watering and head back in for one more warm beverage, a quick check of any calendar specific tasks and texts, and then I’m off to set a new fence line, plant some trees, move a wood pile, stage the next dump run, add to our burn pile, plan the new geese habitat, or any other number of fun “to dos” around the land.

Afternoon siesta if it’s hot enough- and usually I’ll take lunch, write a blog, make a few phone calls, check lists (shopping, farm supplies, mending) and run errands if I can. Other days, I’m back into a project for the rest of the afternoon, with occasional livestock checks- water, fencing, general demeanor. Today the youngest lamb learned about electric mesh and steered clear- good progress! The wind has been up, so I’ve watered a second time to keep seedlings wet and happy, then made sure recent cardboard mulch stays down. It’s a diverse life full of many light tasks, and some not so light, but minimal to ensure my physical self is not overworked. The balance of hard labor and passive watering or internet researching allows for resting the body between harder tasks, and not overdoing it in screen time either.

4ish I take another break and eat something akin to dinner. This evening, I harvested some asparagus, rhubarb, garlic, spinach, plantain, dandelion, and currant blossoms to make egg rolls. The evening Pacific breezes carry salty cent of ocean onto the porch where I sit eating home grown, watching the lambs frolicking in lush pasture between blossoming fruit trees. It’s a magical place, with so much to work and learn from in real time. The red shafted flicker family is out to dine in our driveway, taking a moment to gather in cackling chorus on a blue spruce snag near the house. Valentine does not like the birds’ loud activity, and gives a low “woof” of protest, but the avian antics rule the roost, and I enjoy another bite of warm, fresh egg-roll while watching the living system of nature all around.

Evening chores are a routine of winding down- hopefully, as sometimes, especially on warm summer evenings, the sheep do not want to go back to the barn, and hay is not an exciting prospect, compared to fresh greens. Usually, I wander down to the barn, looking over plantings like the rain garden below out well house, or the raspberry canes near the pond. If I happen to have clippers with me, I work for a few minutes on clearing out stray weeds and bramble, or trim up the established natives, like willow and dogwood, to keep the drives clear. Other evenings, chores can be a rush, with quick feed and water check, and other projects or off farm obligations rule the evening. It’s great flexibility when needed- so long as the animals are well cared for.

Speaking of- there are these two dogs that are my co-workers, and are not only great support, but also life long learners like myself, so we spend time each day training, and what that looks like ranges from walks to socializing with friends and other dogs that visit, to daily work like moving sheep, waiting at the gate, or standing while getting a good brush and nail trim. Gill’s more on auto pilot, but he still receives daily handling and care. We have more leash time together since his injury, he’s been working on ground manners, which are already pretty stellar, but practice and consistency offer this great training. There are days when a walk doesn’t happen for Valley, and that comes out in over-exuberance and difficult handling later. That’s on me, not the dogs. Daily work with these two is paramount to the farm’s success and my sanity.

They run the night shift and let me sleep. Sometimes I’m to bed by 9 and sometimes 11. On some nights, I wake to an alert bark, listen for a bit to see what level it might escalate to, and then, if it does continue to elevate in alarm, I’m up and throwing on proper layers to go out into the night with a flashlight to make sure all is well. Lambing season is the most nocturnal time, around New Years. Later in April, there could be a late batch, and I’ll have about a week of nightly checks. It can mean a few months of less than ideal sleep, but siestas are available when needed. On rare occasions, when there is a more determined night predator starting to hang around, I’ll be up for a few evenings prepared to step up the patrol and back Gill in the field. But most nights are calm, and as the great horned owl calls a low hooting lullaby, sleep comes before the turn of another day.

Hopefully this helps those who wonder what it’s about- I didn’t get into too much detail about admin- the website, organizing and teaching classes, helping clients, off sight work with other local organizations, personal time with friends- I do get out to walk Valentine, dinners with good friends and neighbors, occasional evenings in Seattle for a range of events and fun adventure, and now that warm weather is returning, a few overnight camping adventures in the greater wilderness all around. I’ve already had a trip to Olympic National Park this Spring, 2024. On rare occasions, with the help of kind neighbors who exchange farm sitting time, I can get away for a little longer to see family and take a break from work. Those are special times, and not usually on holidays, because it’s when everyone wants to travel. Life here at Leafhopper Farm is a chosen lifestyle, with some great benefits, and a few hard demands- mainly small lives that rely totally on humans for survival. But the lifestyle is what makes me the most happy and well fed- and it’s a pleasure to share this energy and food with others. Gratitude for each day of this grand adventure in learning and growth, and the opportunity to be with land and deeply rooted to place and the enrichment of space.

Slow=conserve

Fast=burn

These two simple factors will measure anything you’re in wonder about regarding ecological consumption and what actions are pure wash of greening. Take the bus, bicycle, footpath, when you leave home- or how far do you drive? How often? Flying is in it’s own category-obscene consumption. What about transport of all your acquisitions? They have taken- multiple boats, planes, trains, and trucks to get to your front door (convenience). This is step one of the great flawed techno-solution scramble we’re all missing in our daily intake. Understand that much of this problem is orchestrated on purpose to perpetuate need. If it’s all right around us, we don’t have to reach far. Local vs. global, but we went global with extraction and pulled all the supply chains together into a huge, heavy net; choking the planet with billions of shipping containers. Convenience is killing us.

Why are we not thinking about how to reduce driving? It would mean redesigning whole city layouts, developing rural public transit, and actually cultivating thoughtful action in our communities to plan group travel and ride share. Instead, we’re spending billions on driver-less cars. What a waste of energy to perpetuate individual use- which makes us all buy more. That’s the key challenge to any change for the better in our transit- greed. Corporations don’t make money on public transit, but what if we prioritized transportation for our economy as a whole? What if developments had to plan foot access to major food, medical, and greater transportation needs? All this can be done, and paid for- if we shifted priority away from selfish to flourish, and held corporate development and personal greed (in all ourselves) responsible. Get ready to embrace some real vision shift.

Could mining take the last of these finite resources and use them to develop great public transport to shift our cities away from self driving cars? What if a bus came every half hour to a stop less that 10 min walk from your house- would you take it? What if gas cost 10x the price of a bus ticket- you would then, and gladly- but you’re right- there’s not a bus every half hour- at least not here in Duvall- yet! But we do have a local bus rout you can reserve a seat on, and the shuttle will come by your house to pick you up with a reservation. Seattle Light Rail is coming to the next town over from us, which will make it possible to get a direct ride to the city, and major international airport too. Just for the record- flying is tons (literally CO2 tons) more footprint than driving, and would be the largest annual saving of carbon emissions after not having children, which is #1. But back in Duvall, I know bus routs will grow here in our small town as more housing developments grow, and Light Rail expands, so we’ll have access in the next few years. Right now, it would take me 3 hours and 4 buses to get to Seattle from home. That’s not viable for a job in the city, but I work from home. If more of us did that, we’d also help decongest roads.

Smart urban development will also assist us in building a better world to live in together. But we have to support the change we want to see. This is where local planning meetings in your town are crucial to partake in. Here in Duvall, we have a 60 year plan of development mapped and activated. It’s frightening, but in hand with larger county planning, which has asked smaller towns to spread out and make room, while in Seattle, high-rise apartment complexes grow. It does forever change the feel of Seattle, but allows for the population growth without urban sprawl in an already constrained urban footprint- surrounded by water on two sides. While Seattle grows up, Duvall grows out- to a point, but rural unincorporated lands like EEC Forest Stewardship will remain undeveloped- if properly set up to prevent building in future. A land owner can do that here in Washington, by selling their development rights to the county, which then uses them to develop in highly urban density locations. Click HERE to learn more.

Stop building new infrastructure until we can afford to maintain what we already have. I watch oil extraction open new wells without cleaning up the old ones they abandon- that should be illegal. New roads are paved as old ones rot away and cost billions to repair. The new roads only add to a city’s cost woes in the long run, but bad development like this is perpetuated by poor planning and short term greed. When we can mend and make do- we should! The real “green” revolution is led by up and coming generations who don’t have cars, live with their parents- because housing is unaffordable and multi-family homes are a real green deal. If we can address housing, transportation, and basic necessities for pedestrians, we could save so much in resources, we might be able to address some other outstanding consumption addictions, like highly processed foods, and people having no time to cook for themselves. I’ll save natural gas stoves for another talk another time, but think about what you plug in and do not think that plug is a green out for your consumer troubles. That electric grid is still coal, oil, and diesel run- and all the rare earth minerals which go into our technologies is killing us and our planet.

So when you can- share a ride, ask for better access on foot, plan your shopping in a localized way, ask for smart urban development, and ask what you can cut from your consumption addiction. Take the train, bus, or carpool when you can. Don’t get more plug-in things to fill your wall sockets. Don’t buy into green wash. Call it out when someone is trying to sell you such crock. Move towards a lifestyle which uses less driving, more home grown, and local economy whenever possible. Remember your life before Amazon? Get off the addictive buying screen and get out in the world on foot to discover what you really need- then discover your food desert neighborhood, or a mile down and back up a nice ridge to acquire trucked in groceries, and some local farm products when available. There would be a heck of a lot of walking- but also a hauling challenge, hence the car- I know, but what if wagons returned electric (locally cycling off our river’s current) public transport up and down the main hill? Maybe bicycles? Back to all this walking, realize modern foot wear sucks and start designing a wearable shoe not made from industrial extraction materials- hmm… Food for thought. Thanks as always for reading this and reflecting.

Big Dog is working and playing- with a little help from PawOpedic out of Issiquah, WA. Above, out Kangal moves with his sheep back to the barn- on leash here because we’re between fenced pastures in the wildlife corridor along our creek. Livestock can move through, but not be left to wander into the forest grazing. They catch a quick bite of grass along the road as we transhumance. What a world it would be indeed if there were no gates or fencing- we could walk like this for miles- but no need with enough well managed space within our bounds for now. Gill does not mind, as long as he gets to patrol, which, once back inside the fence, he can. The guardian of our farm is physically fit, though requiring a brace and over-site in his rounds. The routine now involves more leash time to make sure his weaker leg has enough warmup time before Mr. large and in charge prances off to check the fence lines.

While the ewes and lambs rest in lush pasture, Gill keeps up the pace to make sure all the perimeter markings are up to date with scent communication. Fresh lines keep visiting predators aware that this territory is well maintained by a resident farm friend, who will happily give a bark reminder that the animals within are not available for consumption at this time. Our only predation last year happened when I was away, and a helpful farm sitter was taking Gill in the barn during the day, and away from his post with the geese. There is sometimes a great misconception that LGDs (Livestock Guardian Dogs) are like pet dogs. They are not. LGDs have extremely thick winter coats to keep them very comfortable outside in most temperatures. Gill’s Kangal roots are from the Anatolian Mountains of Central Turkey. If I brought him inside my winter heated home (68F), he would be miserably hot and uncomfortable. Also, he would be away from his favorite, and most helpful job- night watchman.

Kangals love night watch- that’s why you’ll see them sleeping a lot during the day, they guard best in the dark, when predators are much more active. This does not mean they are unaware during the day- Gill alerts at anything out of the ordinary- not the deer who come through by the creek a few times a day, but at the bear lumbering through, who produces a distinct sound, smell, and energy that Gill’s 5,000 year development as a guardian animal protecting flocks against wolf and bear. He is not phased by construction work going on next door, or people walking past in daylight having a conversation. But he would bark if people walk by at night. These dogs know intent, and nothing gets past them. Once in a while I have to check myself with, what I perceive as a normal action- walking into Gills area with a shovel to clean- which he sees as me coming at him with a weapon. It only happened once, and his reaction was to tuck his head and tail and turn away from me, slinking off behind his chalet. I froze in that moment, horrified at my own naivete.

Gill came to Leafhopper as a rescue 3 years after being born in Turkey, and found on the streets of Istanbul. He was well socialized and good on leash, with the obedience expected of his breed- aloof, but well aware, and patient. He warmed to the sheep immediately, and took on the job as flock guardian willingly. His appreciation of daily rhythms- including guarding, making the rounds, scent marking, and smelling the news, Gill settles into a bone chew, nap, or lazy lean against his chalet. He’s tethered there a bit, but it’s nearest the barn and at his favorite watch spot in that pasture. The Chalet offers full shelter and luxury comfort both inside and out, and Gill has put in a few custom holes to lay in to keep his core warm or cool, depending on the time of year. His other big asset for outdoor life is his wardrobe, which is more well stocked than any manufacturer could supply.

Right now, Gill is shedding his second coat. His first came out in March, before it was even above freezing- and he was so relived when I brushed him out. The second coat takes more time, and drops a lot more hair. I’ll keep brushing through the next few weeks, and thankfully, the weather has stayed below 80, so he’s not uncomfortable. Mind you it’s May, and because of climate change, we’ve had more and more April/May 80s days, but this year, cooler temps prevail. I brush Gill out in places I like his scent to be strong- like the gates of pastures, and around the barn. I’ll even take gathered hair to the chicken coop, and spread it around. That’s a scent guard. A lot of his shed will end up in bird nests too, and what stays on the ground will add calcium to the soil as it breaks down.

Gill is also very devoted to his flock. Taking him away from his job and his pack stresses the guy a bit, and since his whole world is security, he will take on said task with gusto where ever he’s established, so the truck is his when he’s riding in it to the vet- his only trip off site. Now, he was well socialized as a puppy to take in and accept change and newness with guided support, but Gill is at his most relaxed and happy near the barn with his flock. That job and stable surroundings, with good training; creates the dog’s best life and role on the farm. He’s a working breed through and through, and has the great temperament with people that Kangal’s are celebrated for. This dog remains a crucial part of our operations, as a respected co-worker and friend. With his loyal support and kind nature, both the animals he protects, and the wildlife he warns off, remain safe. Thank you Gilly-Bean!

Leafhopper Farm is all about insect helpers, and know how important they are to the environment. But only recently, has it begun to become apparent how much more is going on in an insect’s mind, that’s right folks, insects have brains, and they think- a lot, and learn, and can be trained. Check it out!