We took a tour in Seattle of the Beacon Food Forest to get more ideas and implement some of them into our own. They had a several acre plot that was well designed with a beautifully crafted common space. It must use thousands of volunteers to maintain this garden without any weeds. It looked like they used strawberries as a cover crop. 

On Friday I worked several hours at the Farmer's market and brought back some local organic food from Bautista Farms in Yakima.

We are implementing more permaculture design curriculum in our garden work. On Saturday Katie gave the piglets a tour of the food forest at Songaia. I was surprised to see how much fruit it is producing. For the first time, I saw ladybugs mating.  Katie is a fountain of knowledge, and I appreciate her way of working the land with little impact. 

We then saw a Seattle Earthship, a housing structure made of recycled materials like tires and dirt. It was mainly used as a teaching resource than a habitable resource. 

We moved the goats again to remove blackberries and it seems like we will be doing this all over the property. I just finished school and on my last day, I went hiking on Mt. Rainier for the first time with Steven. 

We inspected and learned about Mason Bees, a solitary bee that is an effective pollinator, through a look at the mud and bee larva in Brent's bee hives and through a permaculture video.

I was called the next day to help Brent neutralize a wasp threat under a neighbor's porch. We collected it like with the bees, shoveling it into a bucket, and then suffocating the bees with alcohol. I felt morally unjust about killing all of them, but feel that it was probably more natural than using a chemical wasp spray.  

I supplied rebar for the interns to setup the bean trellises to contain them as the beans as they grow. They are a pain to carry because they will slip off carts but are long to carry by hand. It was a good workout for the back and arms though, to what a community member calls the “Garden Gym”.

Perhaps wasps don't have any use for me, but maybe they serve an important ecological role for being a predator or prey of a certain species. As Emerson said, “'What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.'  However, I was wearing a bee suit because if I was not, the wasps would do the opposite to me, and that's a question I face. If only I could conduct photosynthesis, getting energy from the sun and eliminating the moral dilemma.

The seed is about as small as a round sprinkle you might find on a birthday cake- yet the brassicas we find in the garden can be taller than the gardeners, and have trunks that make them look like miniature palm trees.  The other funny thing is that the seeds of the brassicas all look the same - hence the abundance of signage surrounding our new starts. 

One of my interests in this internship was to learn more about permaculture- a food production design philosophy that relies heavily on observation.  With six weeks of hands on experience in the garden, and plenty of reading and studying on the side, I feel like I'm starting to look at systems differently- focusing on more in depth observations. 

Now a trip into the garden isn't just about going and harvesting a basket of something, or weeding here or there- it's about doing what needs to be done. Sometimes there is a very clear goal in mind, other times it's about just making an area better- whatever that may entail.
 
Outside of working in the garden itself, there is plenty to do to get plants in the ground.  I had the chance to work with Helen on planting seeds and making little starter pots.  We also did some direct seeding of beets.  With the abundance of garden centers, one might think that plants come pre-potted, or that natural soil contains those little white pellets.  It was a side of gardening that I hadn't experienced- and it is truly impressive how such a small seed can make such a huge plant.  We started some brassicas- the family that includes kales, broccolis, and plenty of other greens.  

For example, the defining thing about this week has been the heat - not too hot by less temperate standards, but enough to make this Seattleite start cooking.  I feel more in tune with the pattern of sun and shade throughout the garden and find myself thinking more and more about how the plants are feeling- not in any metaphysical way, but in terms of their tolerance for exposure in the heat and cold.  There is a truly drastic difference between full shade and full sun- especially during the summer months when we don't receive much precipitation. Placing your hand among the wet leaves of a well shaded plant is quite striking when compared to the dusty dry base of something growing in full sun.

I look forward to learning more in the garden and the community as the summer progresses! I also hope that we all don't get to sunburnt in the coming months!

Evan

My first impressions of Songaia after my first week's stay would have to be overwhelming. I choose the word overwhelming because of all the new people in this community and the vast space for potential upcoming projects. After searching for months on how to expand my passions for growing food and sustaining healthy communities I arrived at applying here. 

My first workday was filled with moving temporary fences around some of our Hugelkultur beds so the goats could eradicate the invasive blackberry bushes. It took the goats a week and they did a great job and have since been moved to another area to continue feasting on their favorite blackberry dish. 

The other interns and I have had the great pleasure of working with Brent as he showed us the beehives and explained the ins and outs of bee keeping. 

Their focus is not so much on feeding the world but the message is much stronger; it’s to lead by example an inspirational path for those in pursuit to change the world. What I’ve learned most importantly in my first week is the importance of community and friendship and how inspiring and being inspired by those closest to us is the only way we’re going to keep motivated and succeed. 

We have spent many wonderful hours in the garden pulling weeds, sowing seeds and absorbing the contagious passion for permaculture in a classroom like educational environment from Helen and Patricia. 

All in all it’s been a great week and I’ve already grown so much since arriving. I look forward to the rest of the summer watching myself and those around me grow and create together. 

The interns have also been starting a weekly inspection of the bees with the assistance of Brent. Having been stung many times before, I put on a suit that had less protection which makes the monitoring of the bees all the more interesting.

After almost 2 months of my stay here at Songaia, it finally rained. It was unusual to be so dry and I was getting worried about the garden getting dry and the plants getting sunburnt. Accompanying the lack of rain is the powerful heat from the sun that has slowed our work day. 

I'm looking forward to the Summer Saturday Soires where we can feast from the garden under shade and good conversations and to new adventures in the garden.
Peace,
Kai