Retaining Wall In!

Well, actually the wall was poured a week ago, but we let it cure until today. Grumpy neighbors notwithstanding, it looks great. Bill, the earth mover guy was here today with a small bulldozer and a little hydraulic "steam shovel" like thing. "Little" should be in quotes too. I shudder to think what the statement for this project is going to turn out to be, but we've basically quadrupled our level, landscapable, gardenable yard space!

We also have a 10' wide roadway that runs along the south side of our property. This will allow us to bring soil amendments, stackable retaining wall blocks, and so on, right to the spot where they're needed.

It looks great (did I say that already? Who cares? It does!) and having that navigable path will make other projects a huge pleasure instead of backbreaking. It is so cool.

Also, Dan-the-builder (assistant & long-time buddy of Ray-the-contractor) mentioned to the Amigo today that he has another buddy who rebuilds old water pumping windmills. Now having small rain catchment tanks whose contents are pumped to a larger tank at the highest point on the property just might be too hip of a project to pass up. We'll see. Talk about $$ (I'd rather not).

Driest Summer on Record

Last week, the local NPR affiliate mentioned that this is the driest summer on record for this part of the country. That's sobering by itself, but then the report went on to say that "el nino" conditions in the Pacific are ramping up to push us in the direction of a dry winter as well.

Clearly, we need to get serious about a rain catchment system. We don't know if we can afford it, but at very least we need to see what it would cost!

Happily, last night brought with it a modest amount of thunderstorm activity. It rained off and on through much of the evening. Today has been overcast with brief periods of gentle rain. The garden has received a decent drink. Angel & I transplanted a couple of things.

Tomorrow, hopefully, we'll have a small amount of earth moving in prep for a little retaining wall just below the south wall of the main vegetable garden. More on this as it unfolds, but basically I consider this the first step in the (urban ag) development of the east side of our property.

We're also trying to make a rent vs. buy decision on a rototiller. It costs $70 to rent one for 24 hours. A new, fairly heavy duty model runs about $700. The big question is of course how many times are we likely to need to till the soil. Also, once the soil has been broken up and amended, subsequent rototilling could be accomplished either by hand or with a smaller, less brutish model.

Food for thought.

Summer Continues!

We have booked our calendar full of summer visitors this year, and our dear friends and relatives have begun their journeys to the edge of the continent to share food, wine, music, and sights with us.

While each season has its charms, summer in the Olympic National Forest can be pretty amazing. Angel took these shots on a recent day trip. Wow!

It is hard to post when so much else is going on, but the venerable Friendly One will try...



At long last, the garden seems to be perking up. Yesterday we ate some kohlrabi. Zucchini are getting ready and we'll probably have some tonight. Salad greens have been flowing -- some doing better than others. Even the broccoli is producing.

We have met more long-time residents. The story is largely the same: the glacial til has few nutrients. "Compost, compost, compost" is the spell that seems best suited to the invocation of successful gardens. So we are getting as serious as we can with composting. I turned a big pile just this AM in fact. We try to enliven the soil by adding nutrients.

A friend's wife keeps rabbits as pets. They graze in the yard or are fed chemical-free "rabbit chow". We collect the manure and it goes, together with some straw from the hutches, into the compost bins. Kitchen and garden waste are added to the stew. Eventually, the right proportions of wet and dry, green and brown, hot and cold are approached. We turn the mix to add air.

It is but a matter of time, I suppose, but patience is not an easy lesson to learn.

Monday (weather and contractors willing) we will move a bit of soil around near the driveway. We will add a small concrete retaining wall to the south of the main vegetable garden. The result will be a minimum of nine feet of clearance between the bank and the south property line.

This will allow us to bring small trucks and building materials to the undeveloped parts of the property. The Old Amigo wants an even larger fenced garden area outside his office. This will feature raised beds and, if it all works out, rain-catchment-centric irrigation. Right now it is a massively scraggly weed patch, albeit a sunny one.

Step-by-step, we journey.