Blog
December 12, 2024 Our Medlar tree exploded with plump fruit this year, enough to share and also cook up a delectable paste. Squish out the seeds (roll them around in your mouth for a tasty bonus) and cook the fruit with a little water and a tiny bit of brown sugar. The fruit is about […]
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 […]
That would not have happened to a white girl.
June 4, 2020 Earlier this week I called a friend in to check on another friend. She and I had a conversation about the protests and about race. She told me a this story. (Names are changed): … I always told my boys, if the cops stop you, don’t run, or anything like that, just […]
Adiós Allison!
May 19, 2020 Allison got a radish. After a year and a half of hard labor, she walked away with a radish. Now it’s a nice radish, for a very nice person. Notice that grin. As if I had given her a new pole-pruner or something. Her smile is natural and so is her sense […]
And This Little Piggy Stayed Home … to sip Nettle tea
April 16, 2020 Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) is a perennial plant of the nettle family, Urticaceae. It makes a wonderful tea and, stir fried with cabbage and onion, is stunning (not stinging). This month, Nancy and I have been stalking the grounds near our house where we find chickweed, shotweed (or Hairy bittercress), dandelion and […]
The Microbes Version of the Thermal Compost
March 13, 2020 The Essence of A Thermal Compost as told by the microbes, in community Material Variety Amy Amoeba begins the compost story, “Wow. I just got thrown onto a big pile with critters I have never seen before.” “Yes indeed”, echos Belinda Bacteria ecstatically, “Look at all the nitrogen choices: one bucket beer […]
Ten Years at Freeway Estates
February 18, 2020 Volunteers who put in 20+ hours last year gathered recently to sip Chestnut soup and brainstorm. Good ideas flowed, including a suggestion to add a sign to the kiosk, summarizing our efforts during the past ten years. Below is the content created by the 20-hour club. Freeway Estates Community Orchard (FECO) is […]
Pathogen-Reducing Compost
January 14, 2020 © 2020 Benefits of compost are widely known: 1) enhances water holding capacity, soil structure, organic matter, drainage, and nutrient holding capacity of soil, 2) provides a source of beneficial microbes, 3) decreases both inputs (to your garden) and outputs (from your garden), a plus for sustainability, and, 4) reduces fertilizer and […]