Blog
November 6, 2024 To say “deciduous plant” implies seasonal leaf senescence (leaf shedding), a process that helps the plant optimize photosynthesis and nutrient efficiency. Senescence is a good survival strategy for plants in that the abundant nutrients within the leaves are not lost, they are transferred to shoots and roots, readying the plant to spring […]
Apple and Pear Physiology
November 29, 2015 Apple and Pear Physiology WSU Extension offers a bounty of pertinent information about orchard management on their website . They also host continuing education and I recently attended a two-day workshop focusing on Apple and Pear Physiology. The following information hit me as either useful or interesting or both. Note that different tree […]
The Harvest Is Early And Long
October 14, 2015 Much of the fruit we grow matured about three weeks early this year. We enjoyed honeyberry, blueberry, raspberry, pears, apples, figs, chestnuts. Yes, chestnuts! This is out first year of fully pollinated chestnuts. (When the female flower was receptive, our Maraval was hand pollinated from a tree about a half mile away.) […]
5th Annual Cider Fest This Sunday
October 2, 2015 You are all invited to our fifth annual Cider Fest this Sunday, noon to 3:00pm. Our event coincides with a tour of public orchards put on by CityFruit. We are one of 16 public orchard sites on the CityFruit tour. We will see orchard tour visitors between noon and 4:00pm, all trying […]
Path Project Complete
August 27, 2015 Building our crushed rock path was a sizeable effort with a sizeable payback: an improvement in both the appearance and functionality of the orchard. Path construction was the biggest volunteer effort for FECO to date. Seventeen hard-working volunteers donated a total of 117 hours moving 40 cubic yards of gravel last Saturday […]
State Of The Onion Address
July 18, 2015 On June 15, after four years of lugging water, we turned on a spigot. Wow! The sound of water rushing into a bucket; it actually took some getting used to! What a wonderful resource, especially with this record hot and dry summer. Our cisterns were installed just after the big February storms […]
Control Freaks Wanted
June 14, 2015 Choose your battles. Focus on the invasive plants that damage the environment! That was the advice given us by Karen Peterson, King County Noxious Weed Specialist, who awed us with her excellent presentation on invasive plants last Saturday. Karen explained that some plants are a problem statewide but others are a problem […]
Cisterns Are Doin’ It For Themselves
April 18, 2015 Our two new Premier 1,535 gallon cisterns are installed and ready for a rain dance. The 200 square foot shed roof will channel enough water into those tanks to sustain three times the vegetation that we currently water. Once we chose the cistern size, the design of the shed rebuild followed. The […]
Too Busy To Blog
February 21, 2015 The shed remodel, designed and built by FECO volunteers, is 99 percent finished. This is the first of four infrastructure projects slated to be completed in 2105. We will tell the shed story with a few photos. Suffice it to say, it took more hours than we expected. However, we learned a […]
A Nail For All Seasons
December 18, 2014 “NUMBER 73!” That’s me. I plop down on a swivel stool at , across the counter from Byron, one of Dunn’s helpful project managers. This is the third time we meet to make changes to the material’s quote for the shed remodel. How patient he is. We are nearing the end of […]
Ready To Plow Ahead
November 14, 2014 Jump on the sled and slide down an exciting path of learning, sharing, building and beautifying. We have entered our construction phase! (View the final project design on the Library Page to see what’s coming your way.) We now have everything we need: A lease from WSDOT, giving us a lot of […]