Many strange things are happening during this very mild winter. Down here by Lake Roosevelt there is no snow. The grass is starting to grow. Sweet pea leaves have stayed green all winter. Some insects were flying even though I thought they held off until temperatures were in the 50s. One effect that caught my… (read more)
Harvesting grapes saddles you with responsibilities to make wine, put away your tools and clean up the vineyard. But in the midst of endless work there are surprises both pleasant and problematic. On the pleasant side, finding old bird nests is one of my favorites. It is a good reminder that not all birds are… (read more)
On a warm Sunday morning as I was travelling south along Lake Roosevelt on Hwy 25 the Watch Duty app on my phone kept sounding off as new wildfires popped up along the way. Nine of them would be active by the end of the day. The Wicked Drive fire grew to 700 acres. Three… (read more)
This Spring I had a big breakthrough in nourishing my grape plants. I sprayed a mix designed for foliar feeding on my vines just after the first few leaves emerged. The intent was to increase the vigor of the plants but just as much to reduce the number of leafhoppers on the vines. They have… (read more)
“When it all comes down you’ve got to go back to Mother Earth,” Memphis Slim, 1951. If you visit the Northeast Washington Farmer’s Market in downtown Colville on Wednesday mornings, you might buy vegetables or seeds from Chrys Ostrander of BZ Farm, officially named the BZ Permaculture Farm Collective based at the Bezaleel Israel Eco-Village. … (read more)
Thirty-seven years ago, down here along the river (Lake Roosevelt) we could get a frost in the first or second week of September. An extended warm season reaching into October would have been called “Indian Summer”. As I am writing this near the end of October 2023, we still have not had temperatures below 40º. … (read more)
On September 9th, the Stevens County Conservation District hosted a Soil Field Day at Vetter Demonstration Farm near Clayton. Craig Madsen, Agroecologist Coach, was the presenter for the workshop. Craig’s first question when we were gathered around a test hole in a just-tilled field was “What is the most important element for plants and animals?” … (read more)
Learning the hard way by making mistakes is a tried and true (though often painful) path to knowledge. Looking back on what I have learned, it seems more like a lifestyle. It starts by taking chances. You seldom do that unless you think there is something to gain. I get a lot of ideas from… (read more)
I was minding my own business reading email when a document came in from my brother-in-law, Roger, who as I do here, also makes and sells biochar on San Juan Island. It announced that a big company, Myno Carbon, won the 2023 Giuliani Clean Energy Entrepreneur Award and was going to build a carbon removal… (read more)
Compost bin at 20° Outside and 100° Inside November 20, 2022 “Egad” you are probably thinking, “He is writing about compost again. Surely his brain is starting to rot.” This article is not exactly about compost but close. In Stevens County we have a “Soil Health Stewards” group hosted by the Conservation Districts. You can… (read more)
