ALYSSA HAGEN
  • Welcome
  • Consulting
  • Academic
  • Personal
  • Contact

Weeds Shall be Referred to as "Cover Crop" in the Off-Season

10/16/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
0 Comments

Pumpkin Harvest 2014

10/15/2014

0 Comments

 
Harvesting pumpkins is always bittersweet. I love seeing them decorate my garden, but when it's time, they decorate my front porch and I get to give them away to my friends.

Picture
0 Comments

Seattle's Indian Summer

10/5/2014

0 Comments

 
So, now it's October 5th and summer has passed.

Here in Seattle we are basking under incredible, brilliantly blue sky days in the mid-70s. The deciduous trees are all on fire.

I was so busy outside all summer long, I failed to post updates on my progress building the duck house.

My three runner docs are all grown up, healthy and safe from predators. They have a cast iron bathtub, which I refill daily.

The chickens are comfortable, but their laying is much less frequent. They stay busy churning the compost pile and liberating weeds.

Fall 2015, I'm considering getting a couple Nubian weather goats to keep the blackberries down and have a couple more farm friends. 

While pheasants are gorgeous and territorial (they freak out when predators are near,) they have a very loud call (and freak out when a leaf drops, a fly buzzes by or someone drives up the driveway,) so I'm looking into one of my favorite birds, quail. Quail are cute, quiet and lay beautiful eggs. 

Acquiring rabbits has not worked out yet, but I'm not in a rush. I'm still interested in French Lops and Flemish Giants; both are awesome, big bunnies. 

Fall means that it's clean up time on my farmette. I've pulled up the expired tomatoes and pumpkin vines from the raised beds and this year, we have over 40 pumpkins, of varying sizes and types. Our front porch looks like a pumpkin patch!

It's almost time to break out the Carhartt overalls.
0 Comments

Joy, a long term investment

10/5/2014

0 Comments

 
When I was little, being joyful was displayed by an exuberant dance or belly laugh. Today, being joyful is a quiet happiness, that is usually a long time coming. When I sit down to a lunch that came directly from my backyard, I'm joyful, giddy almost.
When my seven-year-old is genuinely disappointed that the chickens won't be laying as many eggs during the winter and we serve store-bought eggs, I'm quietly joyful. She has learned something! She is developing her own set of values!

When a visiting friend of my daughter's asks about why the corn in her Peapatch didn't grow, I'm joyful and excited to see genuine interest in knowing where our food comes from and how to make it grow.
Picture
Many of my friends have watched me on this journey of gardening and owning chickens and ducks. It's a full operation in my backyard and it's something I'm excited to share with people who, like me had a black thumb at one point or another. (I still can't be trusted with indoor plants.)

Gardening has allowed me to expand my experience growing things, learn patience and planning. I never wanted to have to learn patience, but now that I have, I'm less anxious and I'm a better parent to my kids.

Overall, gardening and sharing my hobbies with my kids teaches me to be grateful every day. On most days, I can go outside, kick up some dirt, build a fence, grab warm chicken eggs from the coop, dig a pond, build a bridge and be creative in the yard.

And it feels great to stop by friends' homes and see a little pot of half dead (half alive!) herbs that I gave them last year.

Joy.
0 Comments

    Avant-Garde(n)

    Quick updates charting my novice and experimental, gardening adventures at home.

    Archives

    September 2019
    August 2019
    October 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    August 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All
    Almanac Seattle 2012
    American Potager
    Back To Eden Film
    Backyard Chickens
    Basil
    Bunny-Proof Herb Garden
    Chamomile
    Chicken Coops
    Chicken Resources
    Cilantro
    Croc Planter
    Dill
    Don W. Marshall~ LWIT
    Douglas Walker~ Garden Sculpture
    Driveway Landscaping
    Earthwise Salvage
    Environmental Horticulture Degree~ LWIT
    Flagstone Path
    "Free-Range Chicken Gardens" By Jessi Bloom Book Review
    Frost-damage
    Garden Blogs
    Gardening Projects For Kids
    Gardening Resources
    Garden Shed
    God & Wood Chips
    Growing Herbs
    Grow Lights For Herbs
    Herb Garden
    Herb Garden~ Mature
    Homesteading
    Horse Tails
    Hydraulic-Lift Envy
    Indoor Germination
    Japanese Garden
    Kitchen Garden
    Lavender
    Lawn Mower With Hydraulic Lift
    Moss Milkshake
    Northwest Flower And Garden Show
    Northwest Flower & Garden Show
    Northwest Flower & Garden Show Photos
    Olive Oil Tin ~> Basil Planter
    Parsley
    Potager
    Potato Box
    Potatoes In A Container- Research
    Pumpkins
    Residential Gardens
    Romanticizing "Yard Work"
    Rose Garden
    Sage
    Seedballz
    Shoe Planter
    Slugs
    Spring Fever
    Spring Flowers
    Spring Gardening
    Succulents
    Sunset Western Garden Book
    Thyme
    Up-Cycle
    Why Garden?
    Wisteria
    Woodinville Garden Tour 2011
    Zone 5 Herbs

    RSS Feed

    Click here for a link to other garden bloggers 
    Pin It
  • Welcome
  • Consulting
  • Academic
  • Personal
  • Contact