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 […]
Pruners Without Borders
March 15, 2021 FECO volunteers, Reid and Jacob, both well over six feet tall, used their height last summer to glean a few figs from a tree in Green Lake Park. They agreed that the tree needed care. This spring, Reid asked me if I might be interested in helping them prune the tree. I […]
Is Anything Happening in the Winter? Don’t yawn yet!
February 16, 2021 “Do ya need any help in the winter?” Visitors stop us from our work and ask this question, with some frequency. My response is, “Yes! But the winter tasks are not very sexy.” How lucky are we. During these winter months, an energetic group of volunteers kept their shoulder to the plow. […]
Find a Stone that Speaks to You: The Magic of Nature in Times of Crisis
January 12, 2021 I thought to blog about Horticulture Therapy, but the topic is sizeable. Instead, I chose to highlight two well-known authors who wrote about the therapeutic benefit of stones. Psychiatrist Harold Searles was troubled by the extent to which technology was interfering with people’s ability to relate to nature. “Over recent decades we […]
The Legacies of Five Pioneer Volunteers
December 1, 2020 One speaker, from a recent soil-related Conference of Hawaii Farmers Union (HFUU), declared that he wanted to leave a legacy. He aspired, during his tenure as a farmer, to create as much great soil as he could. Volunteers are needed! Please see our Calendar Page or email freewayestatescommunityorchard@gmail.com Our early volunteers shaped […]
Retirement Planning – Plants in the Spotlight
November 5, 2020 We are excited to introduce Karin Baer, our new intern. Karin is working toward a Urban Agriculture Production Certificate within the Horticulture Program at Edmonds College. She began helping in September and will be with us until the end of the term. Karin worked many years as a nurse practitioner, until 2019, […]
FECO’s 10th Annual Cider Fest – en vivo! A COVID-unfriendly event
October 8, 2020 Friends! This year’s Fest will be the best ever. Bring your raincoat, join us Saturday from 2-4pm, and enjoy the lineup: Saturday, Oct. 10, 2-4pm 6th Ave NE, just south of NE 63rd St rain or shine freewayestatescommunityorchard@gmail.com check calendar for details Three fabulous young musicians The best assortment of homemade pie […]
World Premiere Video – about FECO!
September 21, 2020 FECO World Premiere! Welcome to Freeway Estates Community Orchard Here it is friends – a video about us! We commissioned a very talented and patient producer/videographer, Carter Raaen, and we were privileged to catch the following interview with him. FECO: Did you watch movies/videos when you were younger? Carter: Yeah. I have […]
The Tyranny of the Harvest – Looking for Honeycrisp Lovers
August 29, 2020 You can watch summer squash grow. Just have a seat. The plant explodes with six at once. You are hurriedly trying to remember who likes squash, before the fruits look like footballs. “Would you like to take a yellow squash?”, I asked a volunteer at the end of his shift. “Oh no, […]
Figgly Wiggly – ficus carica, a plant in the Mulberry family
August 17, 2020 Here in the Northwest only certain fig varieties will produce a large quantity of ripe fruit in our short, relatively cool summers. At Freeway Estates we have two of the most appropriate varieties: Desert King and Brown Turkey. This year, the three mature Desert Kings produced a large crop. The two Brown […]
Global Gardening With KCD
July 3, 2020 Thank you King Conservation District for helping us learn about sustainably grown vegetables from around the globe! Last November, Clyzzel (Cly) Samson, the new Community Agriculture Program Coordinator for the King Conservation District (KCD), was eager to know more about the local gardens. She contacted us about a visit to Freeway Estates […]