It’s happening! And as it turns out, everything’s a miracle… #thanksgiving #cucumber 🌿

Friction loss and surface tension play a much greater role than you might think in moving water from point A to point B! This stuff may not be intuitive, so do the math to get your tubing diameter right! You also need to factor in the flow rate and the kind of tubing material #irrigation #friction 🌿

A milestone day with all of the tubing and valves installed to operate the newly refurbished cistern! Let’s go! 7000 gallons of the liquid of life #farmlife #cistern #irrigation 🌿

Sometimes you just need to stop and soak up how beautiful this crazy, cruel world can be #naturalbeauty #rabbitbrush #nativeplants 🌿

Red osier dogwood: a native plant for all seasons. Someone was asking for an update on my red osier dogwood propagation from cuttings video — here is one that I decided to plant in the ground. #dogwood #propagation #cuttings

Irrigating a farm can be a giant set of puzzles, and one key piece is about to fall into place here. This cistern will solve our winter watering conundrum, will allow us to water more efficiently, and on top of that, will serve as an emergency water supply. 🌿🌰 #cistern #wintergrowing #agwest

Many streams across the West of North America are not functioning well because they don’t have enough structure for key processes like water storage to occur. #streamrestoration #ltpbr #streams 🌿🌰

Deep in the reeds: Australian scientists put dollar figure on floating wetlands’ global water quality savings www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

How about natural floating wetlands in the pools formed by woody structure in streams? #processbasedrestoration #floatingwetlands

In delivering a low-tech process-based restoration training in British Columbia this week, it’s been a welcome opportunity to revisit the principles that this work is founded on. #ltpbr #riverscape #restoration

The creek formed the most enticing patterns when the weather dipped this week, and I can’t say that I’ve ever seen patterns just like this before! Have you ever seen ice form in these shapes? What do you think causes it? #frozenwater 🌿

I love asparagus to eat in the spring and to see in the fall! #autumn #asparagus 🌿

My goal is usually to have fall greens and cilantro mature by the end of October, and then they can coast into winter, staying alive but not exactly growing, ready to be picked whenever… This year I didn’t get the lettuce seeded but I did get the cilantro in!#fallgardening 🌿

The greenhouse I’ve always wanted was already on this farm when we got here. Big gratitude for all the effort that went into constructing it — and for the common sense to build one with an insulated, reflective north wall and insulated corners and lower walls. 🌿#greenhouse #design

Life is full of these little snipets of “how did that happen,” and “how can this be this beautiful?” They’re easy to miss. Keep your eye out for them and it might just transform your day. #beauty #peaceful #moments 🌿

Whatever is happening, every day I try to stop when the amber light of pre-sunset comes across my part of the world. How do you want to bring peace into your day, or what are you already doing? #farmlife #goldenhour #mindfulnesspractice

Sudden hard freezes are a sure way to learn what’s hardy and what’s not. I haven’t grown fava beans before and I would have thought they couldn’t tolerate fully freezing temperatures! #hardyplants #frost #farmlife 🌿

It may have ended abruptly, but it was quite a growing season! Does anyone have favorite birdhouse gourd curing methods to suggest? How do you like to cure them, and what do you like about your method(s)? #birdhousegourd #gourd #floatingwetlands #gardening 🌿

Feeling grateful for the opportunity to grow in this space, sad that it ended so abruptly, and curious and excited for what might be next year. It feels like a metaphor for life lately, to have tried to anticipate and be ready for the loss but to feel slammed by it anyway #farmlife #autumn #metaphor

Classic autumn: The race to blow the water out of the irrigation lines, harvest things before they freeze, and prepare for snow — and so much beauty in between the craziness #autumn

Now’s the time to clear your irrigation lines for winter! At our farm, we had roughly 90 valves to open at once (to drain), then close at once (to be ready), then open and close one by one (to clear with compressed air), and now — it’s done!#gettingreadyforwinter #irrigation #farmlife 🌿

I have always been enamored with the low angle golden light of autumn. It captivates and soothes me. I’m walking with a reverent air. I hope it can do the same for you! I’d love to see what you’re noticing these days… #autumn #goldenhour

My most consistent vegetable goal has been to grow cucumbers during as many months of the year as possible. My daughter loves cucumbers and even though she’s grown up and too far away to share often, I still want to grow them for her! #cucumber #greenhouse 🌿

Plant people! These plants are so lush and robust, I decided I’d be better off just enjoying them instead of thinking about how quickly winter may or may not be coming. I invite you to walk through the nursery with me, and this time we just soak up the beauty 🌿🌰 #nativeplants #autumnbeauty #peatfree

Feeling wistful during the last few days before the irrigation gets turned off for the season. So much has been accomplished, and so much remains to be done… #fourseasons #farmlife #nativeplants 🌿🌰

Classic #farmlife moment #blackwidow 🌿

We’ve completed a botany survey for a very special peat fen in Washington State. I filled my day pack with specimens that included a chunk of wet soil with the roots, making my backpack so heavy that I almost couldn’t make it back to the car. I put water in the bottom of each bag… now potting up! 🌿🌰

We had a very late bloom and fruit set on the elderberries as they recovered from extreme stress caused by a hard winter and subsequent lack of water — similar to a post-wildfire response. It was so exciting to see them recover! I watched the fruit develop and then… disappear 🌿 🌰 #elderberry #birds

A moment of appreciation for red clover (Trifolium pratense) 🌿 #redclover #nitrogen #medicinalplants

Compost therapy #grief #gardening #farmlife 🌿

We can shape our own change — why not lean into it? The start of a new season feels a little bit like a blank journal. It’s an opportunity to reflect back, to think about what lies ahead, and to be thoughtful and intentional about the journey. #seasons #autumn #reflection 🌿

The joy of Armenian cucumbers, in the midst of everything. It’s important to give ourselves permission to bounce between grief and joy. (Note: they are burpless!) #armeniancucumber 🌿

The world is a different place now from my point of view

In the first paradigm, we took mineral soil, steam-sterilized it, and put it into containers for potted plants. In the second paradigm, we mixed peat with vermiculite, fertilizers, and other extraction-based materials. Welcome to the new paradigm. #peatfree #pittmoss #woolpellets #biochar

Let me know if you want me to post the recipe we used for these sedges! It has exceeded expectations #peatfree #nativeplants

Is the old adage true that grasshoppers avoid irrigation? Now I know for sure! #grasshopper #gardening #farming 🌿

It doesn’t seem like long ago I accidentally discovered a mess-free way to start sweet potato slips indoors in the winter. Now the plants are growing like mad! 🌿🌰#sweetpotatoes #gardening #propagation

The difference between sphagnum moss and peat “moss” is consequential. They are not even close to interchangeable 🌿🌰 #sphagnum #peat #moss

It’s hard to wrap our minds around just how much carbon and water can be stored in a peat bog or a peat fen, if the peat is left in place instead of being extracted and bagged up for sale 🌿🌰 #peat #wetlands

This is your sign to stop, drop, and soak up the beauty. Even one minute will make a difference in your day. This moment won’t last, and winter is coming, but it’s not here yet! #farmlife #nature

Managing the space around these baby blueberry plants has been a real challenge, despite sheet mulching in large circles. The discovery of white clover replacing bindweed (morning glory) as the dominant species has been one of the most exciting developments of the summer!🌿 #farmlife #invasivespecies

Here’s a hack for when you need a bucket and you don’t have one. Let me know if this works for you! Necessity is the mother of invention. As time goes by, we will likely need to be more and more resourceful. 🌿#resourceful #gardening #farmhack

Amazing to watch middle school students create a floating wetland out of willow cuttings. The weaving starts off orderly and then gets beautifully chaotic! Nature at her finest is messy #floatingwetlands #outdooreducation

What’s in the name? Side note: We also grow plants commonly found in beaver habitat, as well as people food like cucumbers, tomatoes, and superfood berries. 🌿🌰 #farming #ecologicalrestoration

Using the streambank soil bioengineering concept of clump plantings as a springboard, we’re growing large plants that can establish mature vegetation overnight. 🌿🌰 #nativeplants #restoration

There is something really special about bumble bees! Not only are they excellent generalist pollinators and able to buzz pollinate, but since they can fly in cooler temperatures, they keep the pollinating going in cool weather. On top of that, they are adorable #bumblebee

Shout out to our Farm and Nursery Intern, Mackenzie Maxwell, who rescued willows this summer that had been suffering after we moved the nursery. We are growing much more lush and vibrant future beaver food because of her! Thank you Mackenzie! (Shown here: Pacific willow, Salix lucida) 🌿🌰

Aronia berries are native to the Eastern US and Canada, and can also be grown across North America. They are tart, astringent and very good for you! #aronia #superfood. 🌿

You hear this advice echoing all over the internet, in classrooms, in community and backyard gardens… but is it based on experience and science? Or is it something people hear, and it makes intuitive sense, so they repeat it? 🌿 🌰 #mulch #carbon #nitrogen

(Sound up) Just a silly way it struck me when I saw this floating wetland closed up in the truck on its way to the pond 😂 #myprecious