Our Place

Long ago we needed a place to live because the house we were renting had been sold; I believe this place was God's answer to that need! Here we have encountered some challenges, but we have also been the recipient of many blessings --

 

This land looked quite different when we bought it. Much of the landscaping had been removed and given away. Although that could have been seen as a negative thing, we found it to be more like a blessing over the years as we were able to design the garden areas we wanted to!

 

It has been over 2 decades now that we have lived here; I am still designing, and we are still modifying the land we were given all those years ago.

 Current Garden Areas:

• a PNW Japanese-style garden with two ponds--koi, native toads and other visitors (this garden honors my youngest son who loves Japanese things---actually all my kids do, especially sushi).
• a transitional garden area with a mixture of ornamental and edible plants, including a miniature rose garden (the first -- the blueberry garden is in honor of my oldest son, who coincidently LOVES blueberries; the latter is in honor of my daughter).
• a mini orchard  ( with 5 apples--3 are an heirloom type, 1 peach plum, 2 plums, 2 pears, 2 cherry--1 is a 4 way sweet cherry tree, 1 Asian pear and 1 fig). Also in this area are 2 raised beds made of pressure treated wood. Since I was never really comfortable with using this kind of wood, I turned them into a wildflower/perennial garden!
• a main garden area that has a long row of caneberries (mainly marionberries but I think there still might be a Waldo in there somewhere) and two kinds of grapes. This used to be where our veggie garden was but it was too hard to maintain without a tiller--I am thinking of putting in raised beds now at the southern end of it and then redoing this area, while keeping the grapes and berries. We also have a patch of spearmint here which is a delight when we mow--mmm, yummy smell:) Oh our compost areas are here too.
• a small woodland garden in the making (this is my mom's memorial garden). Mostly native plants here--ferns, salal, kinnikinnick, etc. but some other plants too, including a beautiful climbing rose. I still plan to add more bulbs and other things to this area--mostly to attract more birds as I love them!
• barrel gardens: a yellow raspberry, lots of strawberries and lavender, other herbs and vegetables. I really enjoy these small gardens.

One thing we don't have, that I wish we did, is an area for a clothesline. There really is no good area for one now so I use a folding rack. It works...but a clothesline would work better. I keep a separate page for laundry data as it fascinates me how the different variables make such a difference when it comes to getting your clothes and such dry.

I love our land and the gardens. However, with me--no garden is ever done. My tastes change over time, I see new plants I want to include (or my best friend does) and needs change. Even now, I have new plans...(Shhh! Don't tell my DH).
Finally,  I believe a garden should be very wildlife friendly and also be interesting year round. Therefore we have lots of evergreen plants and even some plants (two camellias) that bloom in winter:) I also believe in mixing edible and ornamental plants (edible landscaping) -- who said that a plant can't be pretty AND provide food for the kitchen? :)

Here is a list of the wildlife we have seen since moving here: 

• Deer--love them:)
• Raccoons--ornery little varmints! 
• Skunk--you don't want them! One was more than enough for me...
• Squirrels + chipmunks--love them!
• Various Birds-including Blue Herons- very BIG and beautiful but they are here for our koi, which means we hope they visit but don't dine here. A quail (in one of our pine trees). Update 2012: have noticed an increase in the number of hummingbirds we have this year--yippee! We now have a hummingbird feeder in mom's garden. We've had a couple of duck visitors too--it is quite a thrill to see them enjoying our koi pond:)
• Rabbit--yea! I grew up on a certain cartoon starring a certain rabbit, who wouldn't want one or more of them?
• Toads, frogs...
• Gophers, mice, slithery creatures--all in the BAD, scary or pest category. Some could go in all three!
• Dragonflies, bees, butterflies, etc.
• We've also found escaped livestock on our land (a herd of cattle)...we never know what we'll find next:)
• Coyotes--actually we've never seen them (thank goodness) but neighbors have and we've seen the result of there being here-ick.

Well, that is our place....tell me about yours!

Blessings,

Aimee

Update (late 2012): we are working on the house repair/remodel now. So far my hubby and I have installed laminate floors in all the main living areas with the hallway to follow. We've (OK he has) also installed a programmable thermostat, a peephole and new door trim on two of our doors. I HATE remodeling, but I LOVE the results :)