So it's October now
and I'm only now posting about... June. It's fair to say I'm a long
ways behind. As such, I'm going to do a few 'quick and dirty' posts
to play catch-up. I'll have the same photos, but will be writing
much less about what is going on up here, making observations and
telling stories. Once I am caught up. I'll return to my usual style.
Anyways, this post
is about the start of June to the start of July. Like all seasons of
life here it has a certain magic to it and it's own unique character.
The primary characteristic of this time of year in the islands is
how much the pace of life picks up. With the sun comes more people,
more work, more socializing and more usable hours in the day. It's a
time to push hard, to be productive and to have fun.
A very short while
ago this was still grassy meadow and here we are planting tomatoes.
I love seeing progress like that.
My boss on a small tree removal. I've said it many times, but my work sure takes me beautiful places.
At this time, two baby bard owls were born and hanging around the property. It was a ton of fun watching them grow up and fly away.
Looking down from a tree I was working in.
Wednesday fire drill. Here we are experimenting with a portable dump tank, an important piece of equipment in rural areas like ours due to a lack of fire hydrants.
Watching the garden
grow and everything is looking wonderful.
Scenery on the Shaw
– San Juan ferry route.
The open space on
San Juan Island is very different from Shaw, but is a beautiful
change in scenery.
Lighthouse Point.
And here is an
overview of the lower part of the garden as everything is just
getting started. In this area are pumpkins, squash (summer and
winter), zucchini, eggplant, peppers, basil, tomatoes, sun flowers
and much more.
Blind Bay as I drive
to work.
The summer boat
schedule has two boats arriving at Shaw very close to each other.
Here I'm looking at the inter-island boat as I'm on the boat from the
mainland which stops at Shaw before bringing me to Orcas for work.
The Jones clan all
working on projects in the woodshop area.
The new batch of
chickens has grown up fast, and is starting to look like mature birds
now.
And here is a deer
actually getting it's front half INSIDE the chickens mobile coop to
eat veggies we had given to the chickens. The deer here are
shameless!
Ah yes, when working
on a building project, this is where all your money goes....
In the last post I
showed the barn swallow eggs in the pump house, here they are all
hatched!
Weeding the garlic.
Our biggest problem weeds in this area have been Canadian thistle,
clover, and grass, but it hasn't been that bad really.
An explosion of
growth in the lower garden.
The evening sunshine
through the peas, the first thing planted in the garden months ago.
Nick mowing the back
meadow with the PTO driven mower.
A little tree
pruning on a shore tree.
This time of year
has such beautiful lighting, this is the setting sun shining over
Blind Bay as we refill the fire trucks after drill.
Mount Baker and the
Washington State Ferries, what a view we have from our little island.
Hanging out on the
beach at the Preserve, some of the most stunning nights of the year.
A ferry headed to
Friday Harbor with the Olympic Mountains in the background.
And for something a
little different, my current chainsaw collection, ranging from 14”
bars up to 36”, 35cc to 88cc! Left to right: Husky 335 XPT, Sthih
201T, Stihl 017, Stihl 361, Stihl 046 and a Husky 288XP. A good
little collection that allows me to tackle just about aything we have
in the area.
Doing some layout
visualizing on the tree silhouette I'll be making in m y cabin. The
blue line on the left is the stairs from the main level to the
sleeping loft.
Time to harvest the
garlic!
The growing corn,
our first year doing this crop and curious to see how it turns out.
The swallows are now
old enough to fly! It's been great fun to watch, and it's wonderful
being in the garden as the parents encourage their babies to leave
the nest.
Curing the garlic in
the hoop house.
I just thought this
looked cool, I was hanging out at North Beach on Orcas and watching
planes land at the air field. Talk about a scenic take off and
landing!
And a work photo,
using a tow-behind lift for some tree pruning. Talk about a sweet
tool!
Preparing for the
woodstove, here I am attaching cement board to the wall where the
chimney will be running.
It's now the start
of July and with that comes the biggest event of the year on Shaw,
Independence Day. Liks usual, a ton of our friends from Seattle (and
elsewhere) came up to enjoy the festivities, here they are headed out
for a bike tour.
At the beach.
This was a big
moment: getting the farms new rooster. Our friends in Seattle had a
rooster they couldn't keep (city noise laws) and brought it up for us
to have take over our flock. This was the official hand-off, from
Megan to Ellen.
Night time bean-bag
toss.
It may have been a
holiday weekend, but there was still work to do! Here are some beets
I pulled to sell at the farm stand that same day.
Lining up for the
parade. Being on the fire department, I was driving one of the
trucks and like the year before, I had the 1958 Chevy.
We led the parade,
so after parking at the community center got to see the rest of it go
by. That said, it's a small island and the parade only lasts a few
minutes, haha.
Inside the community
center.
The farm stand.
The weather couldn't
have been any better that weekend, so returning to the beach after
the parade was the obvious choice.
Once we had all
gotten our share of sun for the day, it was off to the 4th
of July softball game.
A feast was had.
As it got dark,
everyone climbed in my van and we drove to Cedar Rock Preserve. This
is where many islanders go to watch fireworks and for obvious
reasons; as you look west you get to watch the show from Friday
Harbor, and as soon as that is done you turn southeast and watch the
fireworks show from Lopez Island, which this year was very good.
After fireworks, it
was home for a quiet campfire.
The next day it was
time for most people to return to their respective homes, so again my
friends climbed in the back of my van and I shuttled them to the
ferry dock. The 4th is a truly wonderful time here on
Shaw, and it was wonderful to have so many friends come up to share
it with.
Well, I think that
qualifies as 'quick and dirty'. I am currently watching the fall
color blow from the trees and onto the lush green meadow out my
window, so I'll probably make another quick post or two like this,
then be caught back up to the current season. Check back soon for
the next installment!
