The Pie Garden: strawberries and rhubarb (and asparagus)

Finally, my lower garden - safely tucked in with a fence for deer, chickens, goats, and puppies - is ready for next season! In the corner, I've finished our "pie garden", filled in the block wall with good potato-tested composted soil, Mum planted it with plants rescued from abandoned corners of the the property, then I covered the whole thing with a thick layer of "beauty bark" mulch left over from the driveway circle.

Blocks in place, sod piled in the middle and brown paper grocery bags ready for deploying as weed suppressant.

Along the eastern wall of the garden, I've finished my long line of carefully leveled blocks - well over one hundred blocks, probably over two hundred... I'll count when the memory of buying and hauling and placing each one is a little less recent. To make the wall to this point level instead of having steps would take another hundred blocks, then there is still the corner where the potatoes are that has no wall... I think it looks great just the way it is! Each block carefully measured from the fence, the sod cut away, dirt dug level, compacted and filled as the block was placed...

More potatoes than dirt! At least in the first few inches...

Tim came out and dug potatoes while I spread the good rich soil he was pulling out of the bins onto a layer of brown grocery bags to keep the grass from growing (hopefully). Once all the dirt was filled in, I planted cover crops to hold the dirt from washing away, further add nitrogen and break down the soil, and to keep weeds out. 

Half way through dirt spreading!

On potatoes: the top few inches were thick with red/yellow-skinned potatoes (which were planted later... about at that level), and the bottom few inches were equally thick with the Russian purple potatoes we planted, but there was a notable lack of potatoes in the middle of our brilliant bins. I am thinking next year will go better:

1.  As plants grow, consistently "mound up" more dirt after every 6" of growth or so, then  water thoroughly. Do not wait until the plants are super overgrown, then add a ton of compost, then have it all compact down to nothing and the plants get even more overgrown, then are again stressed by being buried up to their necks... yeah, that probably could have been done better...
2. Water the plants regularly and thoroughly throughout the summer. Do not water minimally, telling the young potatoes they better toughen up if they want to survive in this harsh dry world. Do not let the potatoes get rather dead in dried out, shrunken soil then sprinkle a tiny bit of water on top that doesn't make it all the way through the dirt to the roots at the bottom but instead runs off the dry crusty surface. Do not leave for two months during the hottest, driest two months of an unusually hot and dry summer and tell anyone who offers to water the potatoes, "nah, they'll be fine!"

Following these two simple steps, I think next year will yield many more potatoes. 

Tim is happy with the potatoes.

The original instructions for potato bins.

Birthday Boy

Happy birthday Tim! Tim woke up to a warm fire going, and the smell of hot cinnamon rolls and bacon in the oven. I propped him up with a brand new hypo-allergenic pillow and he put on his new fleece robe from Alice-Mom. With a lunchbox full of goodies, he headed off to work while I cleaned the bus and house for our guests. 

Uncle Joel, Brother Daniel and Amanda joined us to celebrate Joel and Tim's birthdays. Amanda made a stunning cake and Daniel ran down the hill with it to catch the ferry in time to make it for halibut and shrimp dinner. 

After indulging in outstandingly decident cake, Tim and Joel opened presents, Amanda tried on her wedding dress for Mom and I, and Tim led tours of the bus. Those over 26 reflected on what they were doing in life when they were 26 and Tim and I reflected on all the wonderful things that have happened in the last year and all the things we are looking forward to in the coming year. 

The Bluebird Bus

So, we're doing it. Homesteading that is. My ultimate dream since at least 4th grade, though probably long before, was to build a cabin in the woods and have my animals and gardens and all of that. When Tim and I started dating, I told him that was non-negotiable and it turns out he was also excited by the idea of making life hard on himself by camping while trying to build a house in the woods and producing our own food rather than taking the more normal choice and living in an apartment in the city with all utilities included and every fast food chain within walking distance. Tim is on board, but much more keen on having things like electricity and plumbing than I would opt for on my own. Who can blame an electrician for wanting power? It does make projects much faster and easier and doable to use power tools and I do like my dishwasher and laundry machine. I suppose a little power is okay.

We've got a good start on the farm here on Honeymoon Bay Point, but we're still lacking that experience of turning woods and brush into home. Across the street is about 10 acres for sale which we've put an offer on. With any luck, it will close by mid December, just in time to put the bus up there before going on our Christmas vacation.

1992 BlueBird Handy-Bus

Oh yeah, the bus. So we've moved into a bus, or more of we are in the process of moving into a bus. We're sleeping in a bus and occasionally cooking a pizza in our wood stove and have 5 gallons of water on board and some of our clothes. We're working on getting it set up to be The Ultimate Homesteading Machine. Our good friend from Alaska, Fritz Funk, used it as his moving van when he moved to Whidbey. He also used it as his camper traveling back and forth to Wisconsin and hosting music festivals on Whidbey. He converted it into a pretty comfortable living space with a table, kitchen, bed, and wood stove. He also converted it to run on bio-diesel.

In the back of the bus is an 800-lb lift for wheelchairs, barrels of used fry oil, tools, and all those other homestead-like necessities. The wood stove has an oven space that we got up to 400f to bake our pizza in. The clearance under the bus is enough for me to sit fully upright on the ground beneath her. Everything runs and works great.

Running water! It runs out of the jug, through the tubes, and out to the ground.

We've been trying to do something every day to get ready for When We Move (there's been a lot of talk about "when we move", it seems like it should be a proper title); we installed a drain in the sink with a trap and everything leading to under the bus where we can put a 5-gallon bucket or eventually dig a french drain (gravel-filled hole). On the property across the street we've been going on long walks in the woods; by which I mean crawling for an hour through thick brush and blackberry brambles and nettles with GPS in hand.

Tim wired up a home-made deep-cycle house-battery for the bus for When We Move (currently the bus is parked right outside our front door).

Putting wood on end inside an old tire to hold the wood while chopping into small kindling.

Chopping wood is one of those continual tasks for the rest of our lives if we're running on wood heat.

Well... That was an adventure. Introducing Mineral City!

Our first camping trip after moving to Washington was about a year ago. We set off for Monte Cristo and Silver Tip Peak. The trip was overall a success. Monte Cristo is a long-since abandoned mining town turned historical site which still hosts a rather well-maintained road-width trail all the way to the old town site, then beyond there is a trail to Silver Tip Peak but more of a "create your own adventure" style than the wide, flat road/trail to the town-site.

For our second trip, we thought we would head for the same approximate destination from the other direction - hiking from Index to Galena, then on to "Mineral City". That trip turned out to be far from what we expected with many river crossings through rapids in the dark, only to find a paved road and traffic in the middle of what we expected to be uninhabited wilderness on the other side.

After several trips to Troublesome Creek Campground in the small town of Galena by way of the trail around the washed-out section of the road, we finally took the long drive around through forest service roads to start our hike in Galena and aim again for Mineral City. We weren't sure what to expect in Mineral City but the allure of mystery had been calling to us for the last year. Would it be a historic site like Monte Cristo with an easy trail along the old road to it? Would it be like Galena - not abandoned, just harder to get to and still occupied as a rural cabin community? Would it be like our first trip down the Index-Galena highway with more adventures, challenges, and twists than we could expect? Yes.

Ready for adventure, we parked the car as far up the old Galena-Mineral City mining road as we dared and set off on foot with lighter-than-usual packs. (We aren't quite at the "ultra-light" camper status, but we are trying to at least stop being "ultra-heavy" campers. No canned food this time! ...well, maybe just one can of sardines and one of oysters, but we'll make up for it with ultra-light astronaut ice cream.) Even Tilly is pulling her weight and carries her own dog-supplies like her food and leash.

Me heading back for Tilly's pack (NOT Tilly. No carrying puppies this trip!)

We didn't go far before reaching the first major obstetrical and reason the road is no longer drive-able. A large rock slide took out a considerable length of road. We made our way down to the scree field by rope and picked our way across. Tilly didn't think it was such a good idea so I put my pack down on the far side and headed back for hers. With her pack off, she scampered merrily across until Tim caught her on the far side to get that pack back on.

Tim crossing the large slide area on our way back. A short ways had a foot bridge which has also collapsed.

Before heading across the slide, we looked long and hard for another way. By "long and hard" I mean climbing about a mile or more up another old, overgrown road of steep switchbacks up the mountain. When we finally decided there was one more switchback than we were willing to take and this was definitely not our road to the allusive Mineral City, we took the path of least resistance back: we checked the GPS and made a b-line for where we had forked off on that route, scrambling through the woods with no trail and no other footprints. 

There were a couple more hazards to cross to keep the casual day-hikers out. Parts of the trail had caved off into the steep ravine. One small spot eroded a bit too much and ropes had been strung up to hang on to while crossing the tricky bit. A few more small, less steep rock slides had taken out other sections of trail, and a few places bridges were missing, replaced by steep deer-trails down the hill to cross and climb back up the other side. Someone had kindly flagged these side routes over the years.

Contemplating crossing

Coming home after camping

One of the old bridges was still largely intact, while another only had one log still remaining and some very, very slanted, rotting boards to walk across. It was amazing to see five logs in a row, four feet in diameter, meant to span forty feet across a ravine completely rotted out and gone. Next to some of these tricky crossings were little memorial plaques or pictures... We assume because they loved hiking here so much and nothing to do with the missing trail.

Once across the hazards, much of the trail was more like we expected - an overgrown old logging road, barely distinguishable by the break in the trees and the dense underbrush, but with a bit of a foot path down one of the old tire ruts. We made some stops along the way to admire old mining adits (openings) lining the trail. 

Most of the adits we came across only extended a few feet into the rock or earth before stopping. We marveled at how much work went in to putting in the road and each prospector digging those test adits only to be disappointed with mediocre or no return.

An old bottle grown into the base of a tree - showing how long people have been in the area

Tim is very interested in mining history and looking for artifacts. I am more drawn to that piece of chocolate Tim hid in the bottom of his pack to give me once we get to our camp site. I think there was a promise of chocolate if I build the fire? 

The trail was beautiful, following Silver Creek all the way up. In the woods, we found many great camp sites but only one old cabin along the way. The cabin had a forewarning and fresh-looking sign saying "Caution: Wounded Bear" which was an effective deterrent to keep us a safe distance from their cabin until our way home when, feeling braver, we ventured up for a closer look. There was a note on the door with the families name and contact information and a spot for passers-by to leave notes. Only a few people a year passed by, with the last this summer being from July. We added our name and date to the list. Driving home we stopped at our favorite burger spot near Index and realized the same family owned the cabin and restaurant. 

After many miles, mostly up hill and through thick brush with quite a few detours in the name of exploration, we eventually reached the famed "Mineral City" town site - notable by the flat area just before crossing the river and birch trees showing newer growth. There wasn't much else of interest there to allude to any ideas of a mining "city". I wonder what it looked like at it's peak and if there was ever much more here.

Tim finally comfortable, curled up and taking up the entire tent once Tilly and I were out.

We pitched our incredibly tiny children's tent, had a lovely and filling dinner around the camp fire, then cuddled up with bent legs and wet heads and feet pressed up against either end, trying not to kick Tilly who took up a precious three square feet of our fifteen... Our next camping trip will be two pounds heavier as we will be bringing the real tent again from now on. 

It's hard to capture how incredibly tiny that tent is...

For the first time ever while camping, Tilly settled in at camp. While we sat around the fire roasting hot dogs and eating soup, Tilly curled up and went to sleep on our coats next to us. At bed time, we moved into the tent and she stepped over my inflatable mat and strait into her corner to lay down again (pressed up against the sides like the rest of us). In the morning, as we finished packing up, Tilly settled down with her pack by the fire, ready to go but patiently waiting. Perhaps she is finally getting older and more mature, or perhaps this is by far the warmest, driest, most comfortable camping spot we've ever taken her to and she finally could relax.

Overall... I don't think we will be heading back to Mineral City. The mystery is solved - there is no coffee shop hidden away in Mineral City unless you count the instant coffee with astronaut ice cream Tim made me for breakfast, and the trail leaves something to be desired. The area is still beautiful, but next time maybe we'll go for one of those nice retired fire towers only a couple miles down a kept up trail. 

Garden Mentor

At the Calyx outdoor school's garden where I am now the "Roots" (age 5-7) garden and math teacher.

At the South Whidbey School Garden, before our transformation efforts to create a special Kindergarten-garden space.

After a day of work, each kindergarten class has their own garden bed to work on with it's own color.

Teaching about "magic beans" (scarlet runner beans) in the bean tepee of "the big garden" at the South Whidbey School District.

The kids saw the transformation from young, white bean to plump pink bean to mature black and purple bean.

Mom and Dad have come down for a visit and brought Rowdy with them. He is a toy hog and took over the whole basket.

The barn got a new roof! The old roof leaked badly and had no tar paper under the shingles.

Tilly met another Airedale at the dog park while we were waiting to pick up a second chest freezer for our 100lbs of salmon. We should start charging for cold storage.