Summer Abundance

With summer, comes abundance - especially of squash! This past weekend, Mark and I tried to make a dent in all the summer squash we have accumulated from our garden and from our CSA. We made Chocolate Zucchini Cake, Zucchini Bread, and a Crookneck Orzo Pasta Salad. The recipe for this dish was inspired by the Polka Dot Pasta Salad in Pure Flavor, a cookbook from the Pacific Northwest. Of course, being me, I tweaked it to work with what we had and it came out wonderfully and was pretty to boot.
Here's the recipe as I made it:

1 package orzo
6 T olive oil (I used an herb infused oil from some marinated mozzarella balls I had.)
1 1/2 t grated lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 small garlic cloves (from our garden)
kosher salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste
ground cayenne pepper to taste
2 plum tomatoes, diced (CSA)
3 small yellow crookneck squash, seeded and diced (CSA)
3 red scallions, sliced (CSA)
1/2 cup chopped parsley (from our garden)
2 T chopped fresh basil (from my bedroom window herb garden)

Cook the orzo and rinse with cool water, let drain.
Combine all the other ingredients, add orzo, and toss well.

Cascade Farmer's Market

It was a 1.25 mile bike ride from our Belltown apartment to the new Cascade Farmer's Market in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Not to bad of a commute to a Farmer's Market even if the route could use more consistent bike lanes and the location more bike racks. Once I did find a place to lock up my bike my first purchase was a container of raspberries that I munched as I browsed the various vendors.

There were a few produce farmers set up and several fruit sellers. I saw my first market zucchini of the year and managed to keep myself from buying any, knowing I had an over abundance of other vegetables from our CSA and our p-patch. But it was hard. I really wanted that zucchini. For fruit there were flats of strawberries, raspberries, cherries and even a few apricots. I didn't see any favas and I know I couldn't have past them up if I had. Fresh favas have such a short season you just have to grab them when you find them. I hope I still have a chance. There were plenty of greens and carrots and other beautiful earth bounty.

What I was happiest to see was the Samish Bay Cheese people were there because I was all out of cheese at home. I had been hoping that a local cheese maker would be at this market. Next came the tough job of deciding which cheeses to get. I tasted a few and finally went with two very different varieties, the raw milk Port Madison and a fresh farm cheese that I can't recall the name of at the moment. I wonder if anyone has ever thought to create a cheese and dairy CSA - I'd be all over it! The same farm also sells humanely raised organic meats and they had their meat stand set up right next to the cheese.

A little ways down I came across a local pasta maker, La Pasta. They had a good selection of pastas including several different raviolis. Ravioli is something I have been craving for a while now and just haven't been able to take the time to make, so I couldn't resist. I got a package of the mixed mushroom ravioli. I think I will be making that for dinner soon with the mushrooms and garlic scapes from the latest Full Circle CSA box we got.

There were flower vendors, a roasted nut vendor and few others to round out the market. I don't know if there are plans to bring more vendors in as the summer progresses or if this will be the main group, but for the most part you can get most of what you need for a good meal among those already there.

The Cascade Farmer's Market will be every Thursday from 3-7pm through September 24th.

Low Tide Program at Discovery Park

Today was the first time I lead a program on my own at the park and the Sea Slugs showed up to help me celebrate! We came across at least 20 Opalescent Nudibranchs and many patches of their eggs. I have never seen that many of those at once before and it was a wonderful treat. They're one of my very favorite sea creatures.

Another surprise was one decent sized orange Sea Pen. That was a first for me at the park, if I recall correctly, and I know I had never seen them on the north beach. These had all but disappeared from the park for quite a while according to long time staff members, so the fact that they are starting to show up again is great news. Hopefully that is a sign of increasing health for the Discovery Park beaches.

Squirting clams were a thrill for everyone. "Talking" barnicles were worth listening to. The quarter sized sunflower star was amazing to see - several of the kids had seen the full sized ones at the aquarium and it was fun to compare. The Sunflower Sea Stars can get well over a foot across.

We had a Great Blue Heron stick around on the beach even with the groups of people milling around. Normally, they take off squawking the moment you get even slightly near them. And one of the big highlights for several people was the galloping River Otter that crossed the beach and took off into the water.

I had a fun group of five kids between kindergarten and fourth grade, two moms, and two college age girls visiting from different parts of the country. This group had great beach etiquette and lots of enthusiasm - which made being out there that much more of a pleasure.

Cascade Farmer's Market Opens Tomorrow

Seattle has a new Farmer's Market in the South Lake Union Neighborhood. Starting tomorrow from 3-7 pm every Thursday the Cascade Farmer's Market will be happening across from the Cascade Playground. Here is their website.

I can't wait to check it out!

Center City Parks

Seattle Parks and Recreation recently sent out a brochure titled Center City Parks and I'm really glad they did. It is loaded with information on local parks and events in the greater downtown area. From live music and dancing, outdoor movies, drop-in Tai Chi and Bocce, various festivals, concerts, farmer's markets, art in the park, and urban gardening classes put on by Seattle Tilth. There are so many things happening in and around my neighborhood it is nearly overwhelming to chose what to check out. Here is the link to the Center City Parks website where much of the information is available.

Centennial's Urban Agriculture Project Goes Live

The planters were set up, filled and planted today. Here are a few pictures to start with.

Fremont Solstice Festival

This event is definitely a Seattle Classic, this being its 38th consecutive year and it is always worth showing up for at least the parade! So much creativity and let's not forget all the body painted nude cyclists - this year there were more than ever! We hadn't been to the festival in several years and were looking forward to attending again ever sense we moved back to Seattle. We got there an hour before the parade and had second row seats. It was nice to just chill with our new neighbors and wait in anticipation for the entertainment to begin. And entertaining it was...

Here is a video, all be it a wobbly one, of the famous Fremont Solstice Cyclists. And yes, I realize it was polo not cricket - can you blame me for being distracted?!



After the parade we wandered through all the booths and found some really talented artists scattered among them. One woman made the most beautiful and colorful feather masks I have ever seen. There were a couple jewelry makers that Mark picked up cards from after seeing me admire their work - just in case we ever have spending money again? There were also several amazing potters showing their wares. There were a good number of informational booths including a healthy living area that was holding free yoga "classes" on the spot.

Eventually we had our fill of looking through the booths and headed for Gasworks Park where there was supposed to be music and dancing. Unfortunately there was only one band and only a few people moving to the music. This was disappointing to us. In years past we always enjoyed the huge drumming and dancing circles that went into the night and were sad to see not a one or anything that lead us to believe it would be happening at all. Without a good beat to revive us, we took our aching feet back to the bus stop and headed home. Which is probably for the best since tomorrow is going to be a long day of Beach Naturalist duty and family gathering for Father's Day. Still, I'm sad that I'm not out there right now, moving my hips to a good drum beat with a bunch of fun-loving fellow dancers...

P-Patch Update

The other evening we picked over 2 pounds of peas in one picking, as well as four large heads of lettuce! There is so much lettuce we can't possibly eat it all before it bolts and I am hoping to get some of it to a local food bank before that happens. The zucchini's and tomatoes are blossoming and the parsley is going crazy. The beans are up and the cucumber transplants are settling in. Which reminds me - I need to plant dill! The potatoes are flowering and looking incredibly healthy and we nibble on a few strawberries each time we're there, of course the slugs are nibbling on them when we aren't there. Sadly we seem to have an infestation of club root disease and the brassicas have done very poorly. I am hoping it won't effect the mustards, because I can't imagine my winter without fresh mizuna trimmed from under a cold frame. The peppers are the saddest little things I have ever seen. Even in the cruddiest of summers I have managed to get a few peppers of my pepper plants - but these ones seem to have never recovered form mid-Mays cold nastiness. I don't know if they will ever turn around. I gave them a little organic fertilizer and I talk to them nicely each time I see them - but I think they would rather have a mini sauna to live in - unfortunately I don't have the resources to give them what they want. I only hope they turn around eventually.

The garden really is doing very well over all and I am looking forward to that first zucchini like you wouldn't believe!

Urban Agriculture Pilot Project

Of several buildings in the Belltown area, my apartment building was chosen for the initial stage of a roof-top gardening pilot project. The project will study the feasibility of roof-top gardening as part of an urban agriculture policy for Seattle. Four large planters will be set up in various locations in the complex and are scheduled to be installed next week. I and another tenant will be tending the plantings and keeping track of data, with the hope of getting more tenants involved in the future. I'm especially happy that we have arranged for the food from the plantings to be donated to a local food bank. It's exciting to be a part of this team and I look forward to seeing Seattle move ahead in coming up with a policy that increases our local food security. Perhaps someday we'll see food growing on every roof around the city and every free space in between!

Snapshots Around the City

A woman dressed from head to toe in elegant bright purple evening-wear complete with a streak of matching purple dye along one side of her perfectly coiffed white hair.

A retail shop devoted entirely to the umbrella.

A homeless woman living out of a shopping cart had made a small flower bed in the upper section of the cart and filled it with bright yellow primroses.

My Neighbor

I see a homeless woman setting up her night's camp in an only somewhat sheltered doorway. It's two blocks from my apartment building and I think - that could be me. What if it was me? What if it was you? She's intentionally keeping her back to those passing by, perhaps a way to protect herself. Her back like a wall similar to the one she's had to build around her heart to survive out there without breaking down completely, without giving up. She must want privacy. I would. I wouldn't want to sleep there, my bed open to all who might pass by through the night. My husband sees her in the mornngs as he walks to his bus stop. She's just stirring then. I wonder where she goes from there. Did she get any decent sleep? Will she get a decent breakfast? Are her days all the same? How did she get there? Can she see her way out? What if she can't? What if it was me? What if I couldn't? What if it was you?

The Tidepool Sculpin or Will I Survive as a "Cutesy Theme" Innept Naturalist

In class last night we were each handed a small note card. On the front of mine was a drawing of a Tidepool Sculpin and on the back was a variety of information about the Sculpin. Our assignment was to take our topical card - in my case the Tidepool Sculpin and create a theme based on some part of the information provided. Oh - did I mention your theme should be catchy? And there in was my problem. How would I ever come up with a catchy theme? I am not a catchy theme kind of person - trying to become one is like trying to climb a mountain on only my hands. All I could come up with was something to do with the Sculpin's place in the food chain - how it was both predator and pray. But that isn't catchy or the least bit creative. When I got home I shared my dilemma with my husband and immediately he tossed out a catchy, and yes, punny theme. "Tidepool dinners and diners" or something to that effect. I started to cry. Honestly, I did. I felt even more inadequate now. But there is a difference between my husband and I. He is always full of off hand silly puns which I spend a good deal of time rolling my eyes at or groaning over. For him - it comes naturally, for me…

However, I have had an experience concerning the Tidepool Sculpin that left a lasting impression on me. It was the summer of my sixth year and we were living in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast. We had spent a day down on the beach, and I had been knee deep in the tide pools or leaning over reaching in as far as I could. This was the day I first recall really discovering the Tidepool Sculpin. (This is also the day I lost my purple jacket to the tide - but that's a different story.) At the time I didn't know that was what it was called. To me it was this incredibly interesting little fish that one moment wasn't there and then was revealed suddenly by its quick darting across the tide pools sandy bottom with the passing of a shadow over the pool or the sudden appearance of a six year olds foot in its home. As quickly as it appeared it again disappeared. And now it was a puzzle, a game. I was determined to find it again and even more determined to be able to see it even when it wasn't darting from one spot to the other. I wanted to uncover its secret. I am sure I spent any number of hours doing just that - completely unfazed by the freezing cold northern pacific ocean waters I was standing in. Towards the end of the day, I had become so fond of my new friend that I didn't care to part company. Since I was not likely to be allowed to live indefinitely in a tide pool on the beach, I got a cup from our picnic basket and somehow managed to catch my own little Tidepool Sculpin. It went home with me, and although I understood that it needed salt water - beyond that I had no knowledge of what this critter needed to survive. The result is probably obvious by now. My sculpin died. Somehow, even then, I knew that it had died because of me. That stuck with me. I no longer took tide pool creatures out of their homes, because I didn't want anymore to go the way of that sculpin.

Years later I learned much more about the Tidepool Sculpin's habitat. It needed the constant changing of waters that were provided by tide pools and with that change of water, a new supply of food. It would then be able to produce more sculpins, but only under the circumstances provided in the unique tide pool habitat. A cup - even of salt water - was no home for a sculpin or any other wild creature either. To live and thrive they needed to stay where they were or be provided a place of equal quality by those who had the means and training to do so - such as a well ran Aquarium.

I learned to just appreciate these and other creatures in their proper habitat. It is far more pleasant than having a new found friend die at your own hands. So, all though, I may not be able to come up with some cutesy theme to lead a program about the Tidepool Sculpin, I hope somehow I will still be an effective interpreter, to be able to communicate what I learned in a way that will successfully help others discover the wonders of the varied habitats around them and those creatures that call those habitats home. And to leave them there for others to enjoy in the future.

The Swans of the Union Bay Natural Area

I first spotted the 11 swans on Lake Washington back in late January. I had been birding in the Washington Park Arboretum and was making my way across the Foster Island boardwalk when I noticed several large white birds across the water towards the Union Bay Natural Area, commonly known as "The Fill" among local birders. I was stopped in my tracks - never had I seen Trumpeter Swans on Lake Washington. This was a rare treat, or I thought it was. But this group of birds decided to stick around and I saw them again only a few days later. Whenever I was walking in the area over the next couple weeks, people would see my binoculars and ask me if I had seen the swans - even non-birders were taking notice - but how could they not? Trumpeter Swans are graceful, elegant, and huge. They are hard to ignore, even for people who don't usually take a second look at birds. Now people were pausing in their jogs and walks to stop and appreciate the new Lake Washington residents.

Some time passed, and I didn't get out towards the Fill for a few weeks or at least not long enough to bird. So when I treated myself to a walk there last week I was pleased to find that rare visitors had stuck around - and they weren't being camera shy! All 11 were up close to shore last Friday afternoon and many a photographer was taking advantage of the fact. I, unfortunately (or fortunately if I consider I would have to carry it), don't have a fancy digiscope or huge SLR to take pictures of birds. However, I have learned to take shots with my little digital camera through my binoculars. They don't always turn out that great, but every once in a while I get something that will pass. Here are a few of those.

Discovery Park Docent Naturalist Program - Class of 2009

This past week brought the start of the Docent Naturalist Training at Discovery Park. I am among the dozen plus members of the class of 2009. We are an interesting bunch, with much in common, yet with very diverse backgrounds. Getting to know my classmates proves as interesting as the Docent training. This last Saturday we spent a gloriously sunny day exploring Discovery Park - first by van and then later on a fast paced hike with points of interest stops along the way. Of course I think every place in Discovery Park is a "point of interest" and worthy of a stop. Yet some are used more regularly by the park during its various education programs of which I and my classmates will eventually be leading. We had some exciting moments during our tours, including the meeting of Otto or maybe it is spelled "Auto". Either way, this bird would be the same by any other name. He's a handsome pheasant who seems to think he's a Border Collie or other breed of herding canine. He boldly rushed our passenger van and then after being shooed out of the way by the brave Ginger, a current park docent, chased the van and the car our fearless leader, Kit, was driving ahead of us. The story is that Otto is well known among park staff and volunteers, as well as those who live in the historical Officer Housing within the park. Kit was once cornered by the bold bird while driving through the park and was eventually rescued by a local resident who shooed the pheasant out of the road. I guess Otto takes his job seriously. If ever there is need for a road closure within the park I would think he would be a good enforcer.
We learned much about the history of the park as well as the lay out. I have been frequenting this park for many years now and am amazed at the little corners I have yet to explore or the bits of history I have yet to learn. I am looking forward to more adventures to come.

Signs of Spring

We had our first picnic of the year (and since we moved back) at Parson's Gardens this last Friday. It was a sunny day, although the breeze from the west was chilly. We plopped down on a picnic blanket and had our picnic fare while listening to Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Flickers and Anna's Hummingbirds all voice their springtime thoughts. It does seem like spring is finally moving into our area. Later that same day, I stuck my nose in the first Daphne bloom of the season outside the Elizabeth C. Miller library at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Glorious. The following few days lent more signs of spring. Like the first blooming daffodil showing its sunny face amongst the gardens at Interbay P-Patch. There was the blooming and odoriferous skunk cabbage along the Wolf Tree Trail in Discovery Park. It was along that same trail that I spotted a single open salmon berry blossom - a sure sign of the coming spring and the coming Rufous Hummingbirds, now I'll be keeping my eyes out more closely. The stinging nettles are popping up along side the trails out at Discovery Park as well and the Osoberry or Indian Plum is bursting with green. I love this time of year. There is so much new growth, new hope, new energy. The birds begin to carry nest material and do their little dances to impress potential mates. The Anna's Hummingbirds sit at the top of the trees and chatter and skritch and if another male comes into the area you'll hear just how loud such a little bird can be as it goes diving after its rival. Ducks are paired up for the most part. I see the crows hanging out more in twos and threes lately. Gardeners are preparing their soil for potatoes and radishes and other early spring plantings. And I am eagerly awaiting the full blown spring, enjoying these little signs of winter's end while the rain pours once again outside my window.