EEC Forest Stewardship

On a humid Saturday night in August, 2024, EEC Forest Stewardship had a rare weather event. A thunderstorm rolled in just after dark, and stayed with bellowing force and flashing fierceness through much of the night. It was quite a show, and a welcome extravaganza. I sat up taking photos and video to capture some of the magnitude. Though there were no close by strikes, we experienced some wild weather that night.

The electricity lit up the sky many times, casting eerie colors across the landscape. The storm brought a deluge of rain, which hammered down on the metal roof of the porch, almost drowning out the low rumbles of thunder which accompanied the light show. Gusts of wind coaxed confusing notes from the wind chime, which remained agitated and disjointed throughout the vivacious weather.

To many, this event may not seem like anything too special. But here in Western Washington, thunderstorms are a rare treat. My parents happened to be visiting that weekend, and they commented on the alien sounds the storm produced. Thunder here is often muted by all the surrounding mountains. It comes in slowly, and usually lasts a while as it rolls. Sometimes you’ll not hear any thunder, as the storm is far enough away to be muted by the thick forest terrain. Other times the cracking sounds shake with such force, you begin to wonder if a volcano is not also going off nearby. This storm was quieter, but still carried thunder in the clouds. The videos I took do not give full audio well, but the cacophony was a welcome, though brief visit from the storm.

As the hour grew late, I took one more time laps of the excitement. I grew up in Oklahoma, with legendary extreme weather. Though I don’t miss the anxiety of running into the under stair closet during a tornado warning, I do miss the energetic storms of fireworks in the sky and the wind blowing a chorus of howling downdrafts at the windows and doors. It’s worth documenting here in Western Washington, and I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did.

One of the most anticipated harvest times at Leafhopper Farm is later summer fruit. From heritage apple trees to a frost peach I planted my first year on the land, a decade of slow, steady cultivation has begun to bare fruit. Even hiking in the mountains, there is an off the hook bounty of blueberries to be picked too. Back in The Puget Lowlands, we’re enjoying plumbs, our own berries, like the aronia and blackberry, as well as apples. This is the garden of paradise I’ve often pictured as I work towards the vision of abundance here. So much joy in picking fresh bounty, as well as processing it into stores for the larder for future enjoyment once the sun is gone and cold wet winter sets in.

Many harvests are still modest as the vegetation which supports the fruit matures. The Aroni bush that has survived gives a hand full of her fruits, which are highly medicinal. This year’s collection was good for a number of salads, as a few berries eaten fresh are more than enough of a single serving of this nutrient dense richness. I paired them with fresh peaches, feta, and balsamic over mixed greens and enjoyed. This fruiting shrub is on the list of future investment, as they are not a native plant to the area, but do thrive in this climate. They require some irrigation in dry summer to ensure survival and production. The fruit is not sweet, so predation of this berry has been limited. The soft leafy vegetation is prized by deer, so we have to plant them in fenced areas for added protection.

Another slow but steady fruit on the farm is grapes. The vines need irrigation, and when watered and regularly trimmed during growing season, this seedless table variety produces numerous clusters with abundant fruits. I picked the one below a little early, but the juicy tartness was still enjoyed, and they lasted on the plate for a week before showing any wilt. That’s the power of freshness. There are also some slow growing white wine grapes, but they will take many more years of development before we grow enough for bottling. Austrian varieties do seem to thrive here, and through grafting, I hope to produce more vines of this type in future.

Speaking of wine- the blackberry harvest has, like the mountain blueberries, been gang busters this year. I’ve already picked 5 gallons worth, enough for 10 gallons of wine, which have been boiled and sugared with a fine 5 Star red wine yeast. By December, we’ll be toasting the fermentation and celebrating with some tasty fruit wine. After years of experimenting, I’ve begun to dial in a farm recipe that tastes delightful. However, like with most fermentation projects, the outcome will be slightly different every time. This year, I’ve put down two different harvests in the pair of carboys. One is early onset fruit, the other is late. I think the late harvest will have more of a kick, as it was ripened to a higher sugar content with the sun. Still, both batches should be well appreciated in the depths of winter.

Looking ahead, there are more apples and pears to look forward to. I’ve picked one round of late summer apples, and keep a close watch on the fall verities, which are shedding the imature fruit right now to help the larger fruit reach maturity. Today (late Aug 2024) I dropped excess fruit off the Asian pear tree by the front gate. It’s a mature tree, and the fruit often overwhelms it’s branches, causing a lot of breakage. I’ve learned to encourage an initial shedding of fruit by gently shaking the branches when a few begin to fall. Some of those pears are big enough to process, but most go to the sheep. Lambs finished on organic fruit is no loss to the farm. All harvest is used for improvement on site, from fattening livestock to conditioning soil with added nutrients. What we do not do is leave the fruit on the ground where it falls. The scent of rotting fruit attracts unwanted scavengers, like bears, racoon, and opossums. Cleaning up fallen fruit is important in any orchard. This also prevents waste, or the overabundance of wasps and hornets, who also love to feat on the rotting fruit in late summer. Though I have deep respect for all the animals and insects, I try to keep them out of active areas of the farm- like orchards, where livestock grazes and people enjoy the summer days picking fruit and lazing under the canopy in cool shade.

May all the summer harvests continue in such bounty. Thanks to the sun for all her warmth and growing energy. Gratitude for the late summer cool down we’ve also had, with enough rain to suppress fire danger. May the bounty processed be shared by many friends, family, and neighbors when the cold winter returns, carrying us through the dark times until the warm light returns.

Exploring the local forests surrounding EEC Forest Stewardship is an important way to get a read on forest health and see some great water features and flora and fauna in our surrounding environment. In July 2024, a friend accompanied me into the nearby wilds for some summer fun in our local creeks and streams. The picture above is form an offshoot of The Rapid River in Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. These little streams are gems of summer retreat during hot days. The falling water creates natural air-conditioning, dropping temperatures by tens of degrees, especially in the shade of the taller trees that usually line these waterways. The water is either glacial melt or spring fed from the mountains above, offering clear, clean fresh water- the life force of our ecological survival.

When reading a landscape like this in a picture, look at the size of rocks in the water. If they are much larger boulders, like the ones pictured above, you are closer to the mountain source of the water. When the creek is wide and fill of smaller cobbles, you are in the lowlands, but not yet to the wide, slow moving rivers of the bottom valley land. Weiss Creek, the stream running through EEC, is a lowland creek, with many smaller cobbles, but still hosting some larger glacial erratics and stones too big to lift. Still, the rocks pictured above are much larger, and there is a lack of cobbles, showing a younger landscape of water erosion. These boulders will break down into cobbles over thousands of years, but won’t move down to the lowlands for millions more. Glaciers did all the initial wearing down of this landscape till about 12,000 years ago. Then, as the ice retreated, till was left behind in many places, but up in these higher elevations, the rock is still young and sizable. It makes for some dramatic falls.

I could sit all day watching this water cascading down the mountain, it’s a great meditation on a hot summer afternoon. This creek was warm enough to wade in, and I spent some time carefully stepping over the slick boulders and into different pools. There is not a lot of wildlife in these young waters, as the sediment and nutrients necessary to support flora and fauna is still getting mixed in further down stream. Geology in these young streams is impressive, and you’ll find all kinds of strata within these moving waters. There is a lot of granite higher up in the mountains. Where as the lowland rivers, post glaciers, has a broad range of rocks from mountains all over the west, brought down through millions of years of erosion in time. That’s part of what makes The Cascades so interesting. I’m still learning so much about the surrounding ecology that makes up our small acreage here in Duvall.

Taking time to explore the greater area gives me a larger view of my surroundings and what makes up the landscape. Mosses, rocks, trees, and streams all have an important role to play in the long term health of our lands. It’s so wonderful to trek up into the mountains and find wilderness that is accessible, and still relatively pristine. This landscape was still clearcut at least once a hundred years ago, and was probably cut again in the 70s. Now, the land seems to be protected, as many national forests are choosing to remain wilderness, while state lands are generally logged for the local taxes- usually for schools, which is heartbreaking when you think about it. Still, commercial timber is a part of our modern convenience to support construction, paper products like toilet paper and magazines- you have to cut trees somewhere to further the consumer needs of our nation, so logging will continue.

This unnamed stream shows us that nature can recover and remain beautiful and alive, even after brutal extraction. It’s a reminder that in time, restoration is possible, and wilderness can come into its own if left to do its work. Hopefully places like this will now remain undisturbed, except by occasional visitors like us, who take a few hours to explore, observe, and enjoy the wilds of our native lands. By going out to see these places in person, we can appreciate what is being protected, and better understand what makes other more impacted places degraded, and perhaps, help restore more local habitats to better protect all the living systems that rely on our ecology to survive- that would be every living thing. When we cement over creeks and streams, putting the wild waters out of sight, they are soon forgotten, and future generations don’t know what they are missing. Take some time following waters through your own city or town, you might be surprised at how many wild waters are now buried under the roads and channeled into the sewers near your home.

For the animals, summer is a great time to find a shady spot and enjoy the high life. From lush grazing to warm afternoon breezes, these gals are thriving, even with summer heat. Katahdins are highly adaptable to temperature, growing a wool coat in winter to protect them from snow and ice, to shedding the layer in late spring and spending time in the shade during the hottest part of the day. When there is a heat advisory, I do take extra time to check everyone and monitor condition. Extra water is on hand from the cisterns, and the sheep tend to stay under cover when they need to cool down. The flock has just come back up to the barn for some focus grazing around the orchard. It’s amazing how efficiently these grazers and browsers have trimmed the landscape and reset pastures to grow a fresh crop of new forbs and flowers, grasses and more. The second graze will be more sparing, to account for heat and no rain.

This is the crucial management of stock to keep the land productive. You’ll often see paddocks of unkempt animals standing in mud or a dust bowl. It’s a “sacrifice area” or overgrazed space that has no time to recover. Even my pasture by the barn has a compacted area, about 8×8′, by the gate, where compaction from heavy use has made a bare patch in the clover and plantain. But all pastures need amending from time to time, from minerals to reseeding, care of the land is crucial to having healthy place and animals. Keeping the numbers of livestock in balance with what the land can support is also important. In many poorly managed systems, too many animals is a usual cause.

In summer, our rams are pulled from the ewes to prevent a second wave of lambs in the fall. Most sheep come into estrus twice a year. Industrial farms will make sure their ewes are pregnant both cycles for optimal production. The inputs to keep these ewes in lamb are impossible for a small farm like Leafhopper to justify or afford. It would also put a stress on the land, and force us to keep the ewes in the barn too often, preventing them a healthy quality of life. Giving the ewes the summer to ween their lambs naturally, prevents undo stress, and then lets the gals graze, put on the needed weight for winter, and grow healthy lambs. Rams will be reintroduced in late fall to cover the ewes in time for spring babes. These seasonal cycles are important signals in land capacity and animal care. Industrial models ignore these rhythms, and exploit animals at the cost of quality of life. It is expensive to buy locally grown food, and most people cannot afford the luxury- but those who can and do are making a huge difference ecologically, and economically, by supporting local farms and work done by neighbors to bring healthy, mindful food to table.

While the sheep rest, I take a moment to check breathing, temperatures, and body condition in the flock, before refilling water troughs, and moving fence to create new browsing avenues. We just finished a massive 90F week, and the cooler 80s offers more outside work time. Orchard irrigation is also starting, and the hourly hose moves give me a chance to visit each tree and plan the logistics of a work party to re-mulch the fruit trees next weekend. Many hands make light work of the wheelbarrow loads of mulch and card-boarding, which will skirt the trunk and protect the roots. Fruit trees prefer a clear field to stretch their roots into. Grass hinders that growth and takes most of the water and nutrients the tree needs for good fruit production and growth. Establishing other plant companions is on the list of things to do, but orchard maintenance at EEC takes a back seat to my work with the animals. It will be good to get a team on site for a day of mulching, which will prep the beds for fall understory establishment- if I get to it this year.

Other trees that have been growing well on their own are the many planted as part of EEC’s CREP project. I’m standing with this western red cedar, now over 5′ high. It’s established, and by next fall, I’ll be removing most of the nets protecting these young trees from browsing and rub attacks by eager blacktail bucks looking to carve out territory for the fall rut. Most of the trees and shrubs are now well established and thriving in our most extensive riparian area at Leafhopper Farm. This conservation corridor is supported by USDA, and offers a great representation of how restoration farming works here at EEC Forest Stewardship. The sensitive wetland areas around our salmon stream were replanted and fenced to keep livestock out, including a setback well beyond State requirements of 25′. Federal water protection no longer extends to side streams and wetlands away from coast or river shoreline. Thankfully, Washington State still sees these smaller waterways as crucial to protecting our future on this planet, and see to minimum setbacks, though on this creek, there are countless infringements to the law with construction, water rerouting, grey water runoff, and much more. Summer is the time county inspectors take a walk up some of the creeks and small wetlands to check setbacks, and little is done to enforce anything- short of gross negligence, which I assume would be some kind of catastrophic spill or massive damming.

The creek is low, but still flowing. In August, I plan to take down some of the maple branches, as the tree is dying, and some of the wood would make good firewood and kindling for next winter. To be clear, the main trunks and most of the wood will stay in the creek as habitat, but some of the larger branched will need to be cleared off the bridge and out of the way of the road before the rains return. The picture above shows how the tangle of branches is also creating great shade on the water below. But as the wood begins to decay, it will create a large mesh block on the creeks flow, which might cause problems with flow during floods. Larger logs stay set in the gravel bank, but branches clog up under the bridge and could cause problems down stream if not removed. Keeping a balance between nature and human needs is not always easy, I’ll take less, rather than more, and try to time the cutting all on one day to prevent drawn out disruption of the sensitive space. Chainsaws and the truck bed will make light work of this project- with a few extra hands. It’s another group activity we’ll execute next month with help on hand.

As nature builds her green castles and wild landscapes around EEC, so much growth and abundance springs forth. Gratitude to all who support this small forest farm in The Central Cascades. Our production continues to flourish with the support of neighbors, friends, and family who share our vision of restorative action in our work for the land that gives all we need to thrive on this earth. May the lands inspire all to plant, water, and nurture better dreams, lives, and community. Cool shade and lazy days in the long summer light.

The first thing I noticed when I looked into the burn at the tree farm was a near total lack of regrowth across the landscape. Usually it only takes a year for new vegetation to come into a burn site, because of all the rich carbon from ash and charcoal. But in a hot burn, caused by too much undergrowth and not enough natural burning in the past, the soil is sterilized by heat, destroying all the living biomass in the ground that would invite restorative growth to return quickly. On top of not reseeding the ground, two years of total exposure to the elements, has drained the soil of any remaining top soil fertility, setting back recovery for years to come. Since this area is a commercial tree farm, replanting monoculture trees and the spreading of treated city sewage will fix the problem, as far as industrial planners are concerned. The landscape will not have long term capacity to regenerate, and perhaps that’s why nothing has been done in this two year old burn.

Red elderberry attempts to flower without leaves as some stunted fire weed breaks through on an edge next to the road. Dead replantings stand as testament to the failure of young trees to survive in this sterile soil. I wonder why there was no attempt to mulch with seed and straw as a way to help the land recover faster, especially on these steeper parts of the mountainside. There is one burned ridge that remains covered in standing dead forest, a good thing for long term restoration, if the forest company lets them remain. It’s a trend in forestry that is a step in the right direction- let things be and see. The timeline is much longer, letting the trees fall as they decompose, allowing mycological fungi to take over and replenish the complex underground systems of living microbiome, which in tern, transfer important minerals to the plants to encourage growth. When hot fires burn through, they kill these microbiomes and make restoration slow. The land will still restore its self in time, but we can help or hinder depending on patience.

Within the commercial timber world, standing dead wood is a disaster waiting to happen. Dead wood attracts wood eating insects and fungus, which can spread into living forests nearby. I’m going to keep a close eye on this standing grove of chard trees to see if they are allowed to stand. It could be a grand experiment for the timber growers, or a nightmare they are planning to rectify once summer heat makes the ground solid enough for the large machines to go in to cut down and remove the “bad” wood. These burn scapes are such important habitat, it would be a shame to remove them. As we walked around in the burned area, there were many subtle and not so subtle signs of life, including a rough grouse on her nest of eggs, and a sensitive bleeding heart established on a steep bank, which sheltered this face of hillside from the extreme heat.

Fire is an important part of ecological change across the living land. Forestry practices are starting to understand this complex relationship, and trying to accept burning as part of the life giving cycle necessary to keep soil and growth healthy. The challenges of seeing this action through in commercial forests is not yet embraced, and I’m not sure what the best answer is, but mono-plantings are certainly not fire resistant, and the management of timber lands remains anti-fire at all cost. Still, fire will find its way in, and this particular blaze was human caused. Though it was under control relatively quickly because of a lack of wind, location on the top of a hill, and fast acting fire prevention for land and sky; the smoke and licking flames sent a chill through the surrounding community as we watched our neighboring west side forest burn. This fire was less than 15 miles from EEC Forest Stewardship. That’s a first for us, and it won’t be the last.

What are ways to create better fire resistances in our local woods? Well, in a temperate rainforest, deep rooted trees in layers of debris create a sponge for water to stay in the soil. The trees here are partners of fire- with thick outer bark to protect against burn, and expansive wetlands that keep fires low burning as they move across the landscape. We humans prefer to drain wetlands and clear forest to open up the land for commercial agriculture. For generations we have pushed out water and planted stands of one type of forest with no understory sponge. Water tables drop, the soil gets parched, then weeds and bramble come in, creating a tinder nightmare excellent, which when burned, created an oven of heat to kill the living soil. Humans think we can simplify the land for our short sighted capitol gains, but while making a profit, we destroy what nature took millions of years to create. With the total erosion of the once rich sponge that held the water and protected against hot burns, we replaced it with bone dry clay and rock, with little retention capability. This makes it much easier for heavy equipment to work in the timber farms, but no protection against fire in the event of a burn. Sadly, this is the only way to perpetuate industrial extraction of our crucial ecological home.

Our EEC Forest Stewardship team is hard at work keeping rodents out of the farm with sharp teeth and claws at the ready. But these nighttime warriors are also very affectionate with people, giving a cuddle and a purr when resting during the day on a porch chair or tucked under the house in cool shade. Marrow and Lucia are the veterans of the farm, fully grown and bulked up as outside animals with a good coat of thick fur now blowing out for the summer heat to come. Our newest member of the pride is Mogs, who was introduced earlier this spring. The brown tabby is now roaming outside with her fellow felines, learning the ropes of nighttime hunting while keeping a kitty eye on the sky for owls and hawks. She still comes in to feed a few times a day, and Val is a fun playmate on the porch. The two of them enjoy batting around at each other and sniffing each other in circles.

Though cats are master predators, they sometimes eat the birds, so we continue to encourage daytime resting and nighttime roaming by feeding first thing in the morning and leaving them hungry and ready to hunt at night. There are no mice around, and the rats can only establish if we humans are not paying attention to the out buildings. A spring infestation under our pole barn was cause for some painful flock losses, followed by a massive extermination project led by one of our residents who has worked in pest control and knows how to set up great bait systems that will not harm our domestic friends. By summer, the rats were eradicated, and Lucia is now sleeping at the barn, on guard for nocturnal disturbances and ready to pounce. We’ll keep bait traps with dated lables to monitor any unwelcome visitors. Dating the bait and checking it helps us know if rodents come in, when, and when the bait stops being fed upon, when the rodents are gone. It’s an important monitor when you have birds and grain on site.

EEC is still invested in cats and will be for the foreseeable future. The relationship between cats and people in agriculture goes back centuries, and we’re still opting for this age old relationship as part of our holistic management. Our pup Val is also on the prowl, using her digging skills to identify active rat holes and excavate any entrances with her own set of claws. She caught one rat in an early morning raid, and remains amped and alert when we go to the pole barn to check bait traps. In future, we might invest in a terrier type pup to roam as a night watch around the out buildings. For now, out cat team is on the hunt, and backed by some human ingenuity and K9 muscle. Gratitude for feline friends and all the work they lend, as well as companionship. We’ll keep investing in kitty power by introducing new friends to the farm about every 5-7 years. Lucia is still in her prime, and Marrow is only a few years behind. Mogs is the start of a new generation, and we’ll keep the count at 3 for now. When Lucia gets older, she’ll retire for her final years in the house, and another new cat will be introduced into the pride to keep our grain and birds safe for years to come.

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.