KINGSTON FARM AND GARDEN COMMUNITY CO-OP
PHOTO ALBUM
Please send your photos of interest
(With photographer credits & descriptive information, please!)
to: curry.kathy@centurytel.net
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Farrago Farm & Vineyard hosts the Giving Garden, and has many other things going on.
Here's a collage that Kathy put together for October 2014.
Clockwise from upper left: Andy brings in the Muller Thurgau grapes; three kinds of grapes fermenting in carboys;
cider apples on the tree; acorn squash; onions waiting to go to ShareNet;
rose hips developing; kale sprouting in a raised bed for the winter.
HOOP HOUSE CONSTRUCTION AT THE GIVING GARDEN, September 2013
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31 August, Day 1:
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7 September, Day 2:
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End of Day 2.
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14 September, Day 3 |
14 September, Day 3 |
14 September, Day 3 |
NATIVE PLANTS COLLECTED FROM UELAND TREE FARM
On 26 February 2012, Co-op members Julia, Maia and Kathy spent their morning "brush-crashing" up and down the ridges of Ueland Tree Farm, lugging shovels, pots and plants, during the annual Native Plant Salvage. The plants are being collected for the Kingston Village Green P-Patch, and are being stored near the Giving Garden until the P-Patch is ready to plant them. They scored 27 plants for the P-Patch, including rhododendrons, sword ferns, red and evergreen huckleberries, foxglove, sedge, Oregon Grape, salal, pussy willow (unbelievable tap roots!), cedar, pine, and more.
We didn't catch Julia in the act, but here are Paul & Maia unloading the "take" for storage at the Giving Garden.
Thanks to Maia for the loan of Juggernaut, her 1989 Silverado.
LLAMA LIPS FARM
On 17 September 2011, we packed up our shovels and wheelbarrows and headed to Melodee's place, Llama Lips Farm. She had a couple of years' llama and alpaca manure stacked up & composted, and sitting under tarps. She volunteered as much as we cared to take, for the Giving Garden, and some for the personal gardens of volunteers.
What we found was not really manure, but near-pure worm castings, the best soil ammendment I know of, ready for immediate use!
We filled three trucks and several bins from the one pile!
Then we washed up & enjoyed coffee and some yummy apple streudel in Melodee's barn, while she explained
fleece-processing to folks who had not been there before.
Then back to getting dirty again, as we unloaded at the Giving Garden!
What we found was not really manure, but near-pure worm castings, the best soil ammendment I know of, ready for immediate use!
We filled three trucks and several bins from the one pile!
Then we washed up & enjoyed coffee and some yummy apple streudel in Melodee's barn, while she explained
fleece-processing to folks who had not been there before.
Then back to getting dirty again, as we unloaded at the Giving Garden!
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Many hands making light work - especially when pulling that big two-wheeled barrow uphill! Melodee, Patti, Paul, Laura and Pete work thru the pile. |
Laura and Aline make short work of getting one barrow-full into a truck. |
Our trucks are REAL farm trucks! Aline and Kinley hard at work. |
AT PETE'S PLACE
On 20 August 2011, we all volunteered to "Crop Mob" Pete's place to help weed his substantial garden. But when we arrived, the gardens were pristine, and a feast awaited! We had a wonderful time touring Pete's property, filled with plantings and arbors and an impressive grove of over a dozen varieties of bamboo, many of which he started more than 15 years ago. Pete harvested walking sticks for us from a stand of naturally-curving bamboo! I didn't quite sleep with mine, but the temptation was there...
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The whole crew poses with their new staffs
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Pete cuts LaJoie's walking stick
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HAY ARRIVES.
The Co-op brought in a load of organically-managed, certified weed-free, grass mix hay, for resale to Co-op members.
Lacking a storage area of our own, the hay went into the shed at Farrago Farm and Vineyard.
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The Giving Garden in August
At the time this photo was taken, the Garden had just topped 120 lbs of produce delivered to Sharenet Food Bank.
Potatoes are dying back, ready for harvest, in the foreground.
At the other end, the buckwheat summer cover crop is in bloom, and bees are in attendance!
Here's Paul Lundy explaining about mason bees, hive bees and other pollinators in June
Here are Kinley and his daughters assembling the Worm Box for the Garden.
You have to love a seven-year-old who can truly and effectively use a screwdriver!
First Delivery
This first delivery to Sharenet Food Bank on 22 July 2011 was decidedly modest,
totalling 3 lbs of zucchini, radishes, and snap peas, but they had to be picked!
Paul Hughes holds the bag.
Giving Garden Volunteers at Work
These photos were taken back in June, as the Garden began to take shape.
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Pete has a personal arsenal of manual and motorized garden implements.
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Here's Pete using Laura's broadfork to good effect. |
Here's Kinley putting in fence posts around the garden perimeter. |
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LaJoie often lands the job of showing younger gardeners how things are done.
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Here LaJoie shows one of her brothers how to water. |
Jack's efforts in removing rocks from the walkways greatly improved worker comfort & safety! |
THE NEWEST CO-OP MEMBERS!
Melodee says: "I should never go to the Blacksheep Gathering. This year I came home with two 3 month old Cashgora goats."
The Cashgora breed is an Angora - Cashmere cross. Melodee says that their hair is extremely soft. She intends to shear them as adults, and use the fleeces for spinning.
GETTING the GIVING GARDEN GOING -- SPRING 2011
(More details on the Giving Garden are on the Giving Garden page.)
On 14 May 2011, we all met at the Giving Garden and got to work.
Kinley & Patti tilled, then Laura and Julia organized the group (with some helpful suggestions from Marty, and some serious muscle from Pete and his great tools from Japan) to put in the first four rows: one of pea pod peas, two of potatoes, one (really wide row) of bush beans. Kathy and Aline seeded some trays with broccoli, and LaJoie, besides helping with everything else, was the official stake pounder. And thanks, Sonja, for the goodies! They hit the spot.
WORKING TOGETHER
These are some of the folks who came on 14 May 2011 to start planting. L to R: Patti, Ameena, Pete, Laura, Aline, LaJoie, Julia and Kinley. Kathy took the photo with her phone.
IN GO THE BEANS!
LaJoie gets right down & dirty to get the seeds into the holes created by Laura's clever spacer. Aline and Julia sacrifice their backs to keep their knees dry. Kneeling pads next week...
Next planting day is scheduled for
Saturday 21 May 2011.
THE MIGRATING BLACK PLASTIC...
The east end of the Giving Garden may not get planted this year, so until we are ready to put in a summer cover crop, Julia, Pete & Kathy pulled the plastic down to the other end, to keep discouraging weeds. Here Julia is shown weighting down the edges,
GETTING AHEAD OF THE WEEDS.
On 1 May 2011, Paul & Kathy pulled out a much-recycled 24 x 75 ft piece of black plastic, used on many previous occasions to "cook" weeds and old roots. Because planting season is upon us, it may not have time to help very much, but it should provide some short-term discouragement for weeds.
ACCUMULATING SOME MATERIALS
The round cardboard roll seen in these pictures contains green weed barrier. The square-ended package contains red weed barrier. Donated tomato cages help hold down the edges of the black plastic temporary cover.
TURNING THE SOIL
On 23 April 2011, Paul of Farrago Farm & Vineyard took a rental tractor and plowed under the ground, which had lain fallow (and covered in grass) for several years.
A SENSE OF PROPORTION ---
The initial area is about 40 feet wide by about 200 feet long. That's Kathy standing down at the end of the field.
West Sound Small Farms Expo, 5 March 2011
Kinley, Julia, Kathy & Paul took turns at the Co-op display, between attending sessions on a wide variety of interests.
Here's a shot of Kinley and the display (Julia snapped the shot)
HAY, THERE !!!
TIMOTHY ARRIVES.
On 21 August 2010, James McDaniel brought in a load of horse-quality timothy hay
from a Port Orchard grower.
(See the DEALS page for info on purchasing hay.)
TIMOTHY FLIES.
All right, James, okay for you!
Won't catch me doing that!
GETTING THE WORD OUT
TAKING IT TO MARKET
Roxann, Melodee and Sonja were the co-op representatives at the Kingston Farmers' Market
on 24 July 2010. They reported great interest, and they used up virtually all their hand-out materials.
Check out Melodee's Co-op T-shirt! I want one!
The OTHER banner.
Roxann says she will never, never, ever make a cloth banner using hand-made stencils again!
But it did the trick, and identified us very nicely during the 4th of July parade.
KINGSTON 4TH OF JULY PARADE, 2010
THE WHOLE GANG
Actually, there were 220+ folks who had signed up
as interested in membership at this time,
but these were some of the folks in the parade.
JAMES STRUTS HIS STUFF
How many roosters do YOU know who can keep a leash on the family dog?
WHAT DOES "COUNTRY" LOOK LIKE?
Interpretations ranged from authentic 1800's garb
to the ultra-mod.
On 14 May 2011, we all met at the Giving Garden and got to work. Kinley & Patti tilled, then Laura and Julia organized the group (with some helpful suggestions from Marty, and some serious muscle from Pete and his great tools from Japan) to put in the first four rows: one of pea pod peas, two of potatoes, one (really wide row) of bush beans. Kathy and Aline seeded some trays with broccoli, and LaJoie, besides helping with everything else, was the official stake pounder. And thanks, Sonja, for the goodies! They hit the spot.
WORKING TOGETHER
These are some of the folks who came on 14 May 2011 to start planting. L to R: Patti, Ameena, Pete, Laura, Aline, LaJoie, Julia and Kinley. Kathy took the photo with her phone.
IN GO THE BEANS!
LaJoie gets right down & dirty to get the seeds into the holes created by Laura's clever spacer. Aline and Julia sacrifice their backs to keep their knees dry. Kneeling pads next week...
Next planting day is scheduled for
Saturday 21 May 2011.
THE MIGRATING BLACK PLASTIC...
The east end of the Giving Garden may not get planted this year, so until we are ready to put in a summer cover crop, Julia, Pete & Kathy pulled the plastic down to the other end, to keep discouraging weeds. Here Julia is shown weighting down the edges,
GETTING AHEAD OF THE WEEDS.
On 1 May 2011, Paul & Kathy pulled out a much-recycled 24 x 75 ft piece of black plastic, used on many previous occasions to "cook" weeds and old roots. Because planting season is upon us, it may not have time to help very much, but it should provide some short-term discouragement for weeds.
ACCUMULATING SOME MATERIALS
The round cardboard roll seen in these pictures contains green weed barrier. The square-ended package contains red weed barrier. Donated tomato cages help hold down the edges of the black plastic temporary cover.
TURNING THE SOIL
On 23 April 2011, Paul of Farrago Farm & Vineyard took a rental tractor and plowed under the ground, which had lain fallow (and covered in grass) for several years.
A SENSE OF PROPORTION ---
The initial area is about 40 feet wide by about 200 feet long. That's Kathy standing down at the end of the field.
Here's a shot of Kinley and the display (Julia snapped the shot)
HAY, THERE !!!
TIMOTHY ARRIVES.
On 21 August 2010, James McDaniel brought in a load of horse-quality timothy hay
from a Port Orchard grower.
(See the DEALS page for info on purchasing hay.)
TIMOTHY FLIES.
All right, James, okay for you!
Won't catch me doing that!
TAKING IT TO MARKET
Roxann, Melodee and Sonja were the co-op representatives at the Kingston Farmers' Market
on 24 July 2010. They reported great interest, and they used up virtually all their hand-out materials.
Check out Melodee's Co-op T-shirt! I want one!
The OTHER banner.
Roxann says she will never, never, ever make a cloth banner using hand-made stencils again! But it did the trick, and identified us very nicely during the 4th of July parade.