So Much to be Grateful For

As I untie the last knot on the plastic yellow rope, the bean tree trellis falls to the ground and is no more. It is November in the garden, and, yes, Tim and I are still working on creating paradise in our own little corner of the world. It is a rare sunny day, warm for this time of year. As we work together outside, I think about how working in the garden with him is on my list of Top Five Things I Like To Do With Tim.

How did the garden come out? I can't say it was huge success, but I can't say it was a huge failure either. This is a picture of it in late August/early September from the upstairs window in my house. No matter what, it was all quite lovely to look at throughout the growing season.

Regular Joe's Remarkable Garden

I love to visit other people's gardens, and no one I know has a more idyllic backyard than my cousin Joe. He lives in Eastern Washington in Wenatchee where I went for a family reunion last weekend, and while that is a little far afield from the Olympic Peninsula, he grew up in Shelton, so I'm including him on my blog because it's...well...my blog, and I can do whatever I want.

Washington State, for what it's worth, ranks first in the U.S. in apple production, and a majority of those apples come from the Wenatchee Valley which is the state's largest producer and exporter of this fruit grown on over 170,000 acres of orchard there.

As a matter of fact, Joe, who was recently unemployed like myself, just took a job at a fruit processing plant. Me, I just got a part-time job at the local food co-op, too.

I'd never been to Joe and Pat's house before, so I had no idea what to expect. All I heard was "they have a pool." I'm not much of a swimmer, so the pool itself wasn't much of a draw, but by the time the weekend was over all of us cousins who used their place as command central were ready to move in for the summer.

So here's some serious garden porn to gaze upon. This first picture is an arbor that leads into a circular hideaway enclosed by greenery. My cousin Victoria said it was the perfect place to take a book and read.

The Best Things in Life Are Free

Starting a garden doesn't have to be a big investment. All you need is some dirt, seeds or plants, and water. And one of the best places to find free plants and garden implements is on Freecycle, a web site where people post stuff they are willing to give away and also things that they'd like some generous soul to give them. All free. Seriously!

Jefferson County's Freecycle is found here, and Clallam County's is here, but Freecycle is worldwide, so just go here, and you can find your own local posting board. You'll have to "join" the group and follow the posting guidelines, but it's all pretty painless. While I wrote this, there was a push lawn mower and a chicken coop being offered at the Jefferson County site. There are almost always plant starts on the board, so when I went looking there the other day, a 60s-something, Marrowstone Island resident named Rita Kepner was giving away kale starts.

I took the bait, called her, and went out to Marrowstone on Friday morning. It turned out to be one of the highlights of my week.