Although hard to
believe, it is already May (and I'm still playing desperate catch-up
on my blog, which isn't so hard to believe). Although the weather
has been sunny and beautiful recently, as I write this post it is
raining and has been for much of the day. Not that it's a problem;
after all rain is the fuel that drives the much of the beauty here in
the Pacific Northwest. The bright green maple leafs that have gone
from non-existent to nearly fully formed leaves five inches across,
the bracken ferns popping out of the ground
everywhere you look and the fresh growth on the tips of the doug firs
that cover most of the island are a testament to that fact. That,
and the fact the original farm garden is not only totally full but
has expanded to double the size, and even that
is filling up fast! Spring is an exciting time to watch when
surrounded in nature and growing plants and
I'm still sometimes blown away at how wonderful my new home is.
In
less than a week my friend Stefan is
flying out to Seattle. Stefan is someone I met while in the Okavango
Delta of Botswana, while I was riding my single speed bicycle across
the country and he was on his trans-Africa drive in his VW Bus. Our
time together in Africa was truly unforgettable, and if you haven't
already seen it I highly recommend you check out my blog post from
that period: An Old Volkswagen, A New Country and a House Full of Kids Anyways, on the second day of
our time together in Africa I told him he ought to come visit me in
America and we would do The Great American Roadtrip, and do it in MY
VW Bug. It was a bit of a joke at the time, but now it is becoming a
reality and I can't wait!
So
back to this post. It's so old it starts way back in December and
goes through the end of March. Because I want to actually get caught
up soon, I'll try to let the photos do most of the talking. Just
looking back on these photos reminds me both how far I have come in a
few months, but how far the farm and properties have developed as
well. It's a very satisfying feeling and I hope I can share a little
of that with you here.
A
while back my mother had ran into one of my middle school teachers in
the grocery store and found out they were currently studding Africa.
Given that I'd recently returned from my journey across the continent
myself she asked if I'd give a presentation to the students.
Naturally I said “Yes” and ended up giving a talk to most of the
7th and 8th graders in the school. I had a lot
of fun doing it, and because the students and teachers alike were so
interested, they actually cut the next class period so I could talk
longer!
I
grew up cross country skiing and racing with my family but because of
my trip I had been gone so long I'd missed two winters! Having spent
much of my life skiing two and three days a week this was obviously a
situation that needed to be corrected, so on Christmas morning my
dad and I drove up to Snoqualmie Pass , hiked
up a logging road carrying our skies and found some good snow up on
the top of the ridge. It was fantastic.
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Great conditions up top.
Christmas
day continued, which meant going to my aunt Kathrine and uncle
Steve's place for the family dinner, then onto the Blue Moon Tavern
that night to meet up with friends. This is an annual event where we
do a 'white elephant' give exchange and have a wonderful time.
I
returned to Shaw in the late evening, and got to watch the sunset
behind the island from the ferry boat.
As
I write this my cabin is fully built and moved into, but back then it
was just an empty, raw wood box. Time to get to work!
The
annual New Years Auction is one of the islands biggest social events,
with all the money going to support the library.
A
little New Years Day archery.
After
finishing all the painting and installing the flooring, the cabin was
ready to start moving into. I didn't have a final design for the
whole thing, instead I decided to just try out and live with
different elements slowly, then sort of let it happen naturally.
After living in a tent for over six months (which wasn't bad
actually), I finally had a nice place to call home.
Dinner
on Orcas island with our friends Kelty and Sophie, more of the old
Seattle crew who live up here in the San Juans now.
My
place from the outside, with an unmistakable 'someone lives here'
glow. At the moment the outside is only tar-paper with batons over
it, but once the saw mill is up here we will make fir siding from
trees on the property, which will look fantastic.
Squaw
Bay, Shaw Island.
Nick
and Ellen's place has a lot of firs around the house and one in
particular had long branches reaching out far over the house. As I
was up there pruning the tree, I took a few pictures looking down and
thought they offer a pretty cool perspective on the property.
Cutting
firewood. A few of us spent a few days just cutting and hauling
firewood from a friends property. It was a ton of work but it's the
kind of work I enjoy, plus it will keep us warm all winter in our
wood stoves.
This
is another of the firs around the house at Copper and it was covered
in ivy. It had ivy up to three inches in diameter, which started at
the base of the tree and reached around 60 feet to the top. It took
me three days to remove it all, at times using a crowbar, but
anyways, I made a super dangerous but fun rope swing in the tree!
The
pond at Copper was so overgrown you could barely see it when I got up
to Shaw. Slowly but surely, we have been clearing trees and exposing
it, so it can be repaired, used and enjoyed again.
Dinner
with friends.
A
burn pile from the pond clearing project makes for a great late night
campfire.
One
of our friends on Orcas lives on a 400 acre (if I remember correctly)
property and we came over to get the tour. One of it's many features
is a cool old saw mill.
It
also has a blacksmith!
And
it was also muddy. We spent most of the day walking around in the
rain seeing the huge property and loved it.
Back
at my place.
One
of the many rotten, overgrown buildings on the Copper property, haha.
This was the farm house next to the old orchard, it was time to do
some brush clearing so we could see the entire building and make an
assessment of it's condition.
It
was at this time Jon brought up a boat he'd just bought for $800 on
craigslist, a little Rinel that has been great to have.
Taking
a walk at the Cedar Rock Preserve on the south side of the island, it
has some truly beautiful little beaches to explore and because it's
Shaw, there is no one else around.
A
marina on another island had a few dinghy’s they were giving away,
so in Toad (one of Jon’s boats), Nick and I set out on a picture
perfect day at about 4 knots to check them out.
Checking
out some little marine life.
And
towing home two free dinghys.
Washing
pots so as not to risk contaminating the new seasons starts.
Hanging
out at a friends place.
Oh
yah, I'd forgotten about this. Jon went to get compost on the
mainland, then the truck broke down with a full load in the back. I
went over and towed the thing through the backstreets of Anacortes in
the F-350 while he steered the dump truck up the hill to the shop.
The
Mighty Hiyu! So the normal, and MUCH larger inter-island ferry boat
broke down and they pulled out the Hiyu to take it's place until
repairs were made. The small size was a challenge at times but it
was great to see the little boat scooting around the islands and it
was a ton of fun to ride, it felt so much different than the other
boats of the fleet.
With
Jon at the wheel, Jenn, Nick, Ellen and I headed to the mainland for
a little farm field trip to an agricultural summit.
We
all took a variety of classes at the event and while some were better
than others, we learned a lot and had a good time.
Here
we are taking measurements for the planned garden expansion. One of
the many projects I'm happy to report has gone very well.
What
can I say? I like picking up creatures. A little nature right down
at the Shaw ferry dock.
One
of my big winter projects was widening the road into the property so
it was easier for cars and trucks to make it in; here Nick is
standing in a cedar I just dropped to the ground.
I'll
never get tired of the scenery up here.
Taking
Jon’s boat out for a spin, and yes I cut my beard like that to
intentionally look sketchy! Though I cut it shortly after...
Returning
home in the sunset.
I
can't even begin to explain how good this burger was. We may be
cooking in a trailer, but we eat like kings!
This
was certainly an exciting day on the farm, with the help from our
friend Lincoln, there was finally a tractor on the farm. It's a
1960s Case Construction King 530, and while it looks a big rough and
has a few leaks, is a pretty awesome piece of equipment to have.
Walking through one of the UW land preserves on the island that makes up much of the center of Ben Nevis Loop road.
Watching
the Seahawks crush Denver in the Superbowl at our neighbor Shaun’s
place.
Nick,
Jon and I taking compost into the garlic area.
The
tractor has a full sized and easily removable backhoe, so we spent a
little time learning how to use it. Let me tell you, it's a lot of
fun!
The
inter-island ferry boats have puzzles at some of the tables to pass
the time on the ride.
Hit
by another cold snap in the beginning of February, it's been a cold
winter. For the second time it got cold enough (a series of days in
the teens and twenty’s) for the pond to freeze enough to ice skate
on. Polly tested the ice before we got on though and seemed to have
a lot of fun playing on it.
More
tractor play.
Still
below freezing outside, Polly came to my place to warm up.
Another big fire next to the pond, which also involved sliding around on the ice under the stars.
By
the beginning of February it was also time to start plants for the
spring, so Ellen and Nicks entry way was turned into a greenhouse of
sorts.
Jon
diving headfirst into the dump truck to fix something.
I'd
been slowly working on my place, and I finally got the folding bed
designed and built, which was a huge improvement over having a
mattress on the floor I had to move every morning just to walk
around.
Back
at the old farm house for more clearing. This days task was to
remove the maple growing over the house and shading out the new fruit
orchard.
New
life in the hoop house, spring is right around the corner.
Working
with the tractor again and loving it. Jon moved these rocks and I
rolled them down the hill to place as landscape stones on the path to
my place.
On
a visit to Friday Harbor I was the last car to fit on the ferry, had
I missed it I would have had to wait nearly 5 hours! This was back
when the little Hiyu was running, so space was tight. Haha, every
time I see my car I smile.
More
progress on the cabin, this time installing wrap-around shelving so I
actually had some storage space inside and was another tremendous
improvement.
After
storm warnings across the islands we hurriedly moved cars and trucks
into the middle of the field and spent some of the night listening to
branches and trees breaking, hoping for the best. Luckily we had no
damage on either property, but a large pine was blown over at the
Sisters of Mercy, one of the two groups of nuns on the island. Had
the tree been another five feet taller it would have touched the
house, but there was no damage luckily and I had the tree cut and
cleaned up in half a day.
At
this point I had not been back on the mainland in nearly two months
but I suddenly had a reason to return. Jon was going to bring
Scheherazade the 34' sailboat he used to live on back in Seattle from
the city all the way to Blind Bay up here on Shaw, a two day mission.
It sounded like a trip I didn't want to miss. That night as I was
packing my bags and looking forward to a leisurely motor/sail up
Puget Sound it began to snow and I knew the boat journey was probably
going to turn into an adventure... and it sure did.
Well,
that's it for now. Stick around though because the next post will be
a good one, covering the sailboat journey back to Shaw as well as a
few other crazy boat adventures, the garden expansion, major work on
my cabin, the true start of spring and so much more!
Thanks
for reading!
