Blog
June 26, 2025 Mulch Madness It’s my goal to cover bare soil at FECO, both in the garden beds and in the tree guilds. You can see a variety of living and non-living mulches at FECO. See photos of of various plants and other materials: Hazelnut shells, early-flowering borage (Trachystemon orientalis), straw, leaves, prunings and […]
An extra minute can mean a lot
July 3, 2014 Many thanks to Greg Meyer who spotted a shed for sale (see photo). Greg took an extra minute to write down the pertinent details and forward them to us. When the owner, Andy Farr, found out that it was for a community orchard, he donated the shed! With the generous services and […]
Persistence Pays
May 16, 2014 The photo shows new sprouting on this oak log that was cut last fall. It was a reject from the mushroom inoculation event because it was too small. It’s still alive! That’s persistent. Scientists please add to the conversation, but one explanation is that the cut wood forms a new meristem, which […]
The Bees Begin
April 2, 2014 Draping over the corner of the orchard is a giant weeping willow. It was in full bloom during the March 16 work party, with innumerable sparkling yellow catkins. The willow is an important source of pollen for bees because it blooms early in the year. The Temperate Climate Permaculture website has all […]
Fruit Tree Pruning – Short-term Losses for Long-term Gains
Februrary, 26, 2014 On the cool Saturday morning of February 15, nine of us huddled around the multi-varietal pear tree. We listened closely, moving from tree to tree, absorbing as much information as we could during the comprehensive pruning class taught by Ingela Wanerstrand. Since the fruit trees are just coming into their fourth year, […]
2014 – A Pivotal Year For The Orchard
02/07/2014 We are off to a good start, already we have one well attended and extremely productive work party under our belt (see photo). The City of Seattle funded community design process is behind us. We can now focus on implementing the resulting final design (see Library page) that the neighbors are excited about. This […]
The Orchard Year In Review
December 27, 2013 Congratulations to all of you for pulling off some terrific accomplishments this year. We hosted three parties, with more than 100 people attending each, showcased our trees during a pruning education class, and we are nearly complete with our City funded Community Orchard Design Process. Hats off to those of you who […]
I Have My Mushroom Log. Now What?
November 19, 2013 I am walking the neighborhood today, prying off flyers from telephone poles, recalling Sunday’s crazed mushroom event at the orchard. There was generosity. Mark came and inoculated two logs that were each about six inches long! Might not work. Then he way overpaid, but refused the change. Thank you, Mark. There was […]
Curtains, please!
November 13, 2013 Freeway Estates Community Orchard Final Public Design Review Event Friday, November 15 7:00 -9:00pm at the Hearthstone Retirement Facility 6720 E Green Lake Way N (E Green Lake Way N and 1st Ave NE, just west of Spud Fish n Chips) It’s been a busy year! This final design event is the […]
Bob for Apples
November 5, 2013 It’s election day and we are voting for Bob (click on photo at right). On the day of our recent Cider Fest, the ‘political office’ of apples included pears. Pears have a higher water content than apples, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/7501420.stm). As such, during the Bob for Apples event, the pears were sitting at the […]
Third Annual Cider Fest
October 17, 2013 The weather forecast predicts perfect weather for Saturday afternoon. Please invite your friends to join us for cider, popcorn and friendship. We will also unveil the most recent architectural design drawing for our orchard space. In November of 2010, the orchard became a 1/4th owner of an old fashioned cider press. Ingela […]