More Than A Square Foot Garden

Last season, all the space I could afford was a for a square foot garden, which, all things considered, was remarkably productive and beautiful.

Since moving to Blaine, I have been busy creating a moderate garden and landscaping around the house. I am almost finished with phase one. Here are some photos:

Here is an overview of the vegetable garden. It was designed with inspiration from both the French Biointensive school of thought and the Permaculture school of thought. Permaculture has certainly been the primary inspiration for my overall sight design.

Leeks

Swiss Chard

Radishes in need of thinning.

The pea harvest is just beginning.

This mini-greenhouse has allowed me to get some peppers (already!) and should help with some of my Basil and Tomato harvest.

A Jalapeno!

An experimental Tomatillo.


At the edge of the garden is an herb spiral. It is a beautiful permaculture design element that provides a large variety of soil moisture and microclimite conditions in a very compact area. At the top it is hot and dry, at the back left it is cool and wet, and at the front it is warm and wet. It is planted with Sage, Oregano, Rosemary, Tyme, Lemon Verbena, Fennel, Chives, Garlic Chives, Parsley, Peppermint & Spearmint.

The larger landscape has been designed to maximize food production and wildlife value. A pond, hummingbird feeder, nestboxes (unfortunately unoccupied), and bird feeders are elements that the local wildlife enjoy. As a side note, the gentle gravel beach at the top right portion of the pond is critical for birds to enjoy it. There is almost always a bird bathing or drinking there. Before I constructed it there was nearly no bird activity.

An overview of the front yard, where much of the smaller fruits are planted.

A Fig (desert king).

Red Currents forming.

Grapes.

Other fruit producing plants in the yard include a Peach tree (frost), Cherry tree, Apple trees, Plum trees, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Saskatoon Berries, Honeyberries, Lingonberries, Lowbush Blueberries, Cranberries, Huckleberries, Black Currents, and Maypop Passionflowers. Most of these were purchased from Cloud Mountain Farm and Raintree Nursery, and Territorial Seed Co. I have been very pleased with the products I received from all of these operations -especially Cloud Mountain Farm in Sumas.

Ski to Sea Fun

I (Andrew) just got to do the Kayak leg of the Ski to Sea relay race for team RYD Knights of Bellingham. The Ski to Sea is a 90 mile relay that starts at the Mount Baker Ski Area and cascades across the county via XC Ski, Downhill Ski, Running, Road Cycling, Canoeing on the Nooksack River, Mountain Biking, and finally, Sea Kayaking.

Kayak Staging Grounds

Waiting for the hand off from the Mountain Bike Leg

Approaching the Beach. You can see the bow of a Kayak that paralelled me for the entire race. I barely met my goal of holding the team's place, passing 14 boats and being passed by 12. I also maintained the rule set for me by teammate (Road Bike, Gaining us 50 places!) and buddy Brian Russel: don't let anyone in a Sit on Top Ocean Kayak pass you, no matter how burly s/he is!

Ringing the Celebratory Finish Bell. You can see our time. 8 hours, 58 minutes, 29 seconds! At nearly 3 hours behind the leader, that was good enough to put us into 204th place (out of 464 teams). Full results are here if you enter team no 150.

Celebrating after the finish with team Captain and Mountain Biker Ben Muller (Top) and Family (Below).

Now that you are all excited. I am recruiting a team for next year. There is a bit of a hitch, but if the race sounds fun to you, you'll love the plan. Let me know if you are interested!

A Foray on to Mount Baker

This last weekend Pete Day, Andrew Hamilton, and myself made an attempt on Mount Baker. We only climbed onto Heliotrope Ridge Just above the base of the Black Buttes due to a late start, really soft snow (should have been on skis!), and concern about avalanche danger.

Nonetheless, it is beautiful country! Thanks to Andrew Hamilton for bringing a camera and sharing these photos.

Colfax Peak and Mout Baker from the high? point on Heliotrope Ridge

Soundless woods in a snowstorm on the approach.

Our tracks and ski tracks onto the moraine at the edge of Coleman Glacier

Lunch overlooking the Black Buttes (Colfax an Lincoln)

A Storm Clearing in the Early Morning

A Cross-Chaped Science

Wow,

We have been lazy about updating our blog. We have had an early, beautiful spring (maybe the only one in the northern Hemisphere), and have enjoyed doing some home improvement work landscaping outside and painting inside our house. I hope to take and post some pictures soon.

But that is not what this post is about. A while back I preached a sermon at our Church in Blaine, about being a scientist and a Christian. You can find a MP3 of the sermon here. Sorry about the slightly poor audio at the beginning. I was having some microphone issues:). I would love to get feedback on both the presentation and content of the sermon. One big lesson: my public speaking would be a lot better if I slowed down a bit and replaced every "uum" with a pause.

While preparing for the sermon, I compiled some resources from orthodox Christian thinkers who do not preclude accepting the consensus scientific view of the age and history of the earth and its life. Some of these may be of interest.

The Vatican : John Paul I's Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, October 22, 1996 "Magisterium Is Concerned with the Question of Evolution for It Involves Conception of Man."

"In his Encyclical Humani generis (1950), my predecessor Pius XII had already stated that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith about man and his vocation, on condition that one did not lose sight of several indisputable points (cf. AAS 42 [1950], pp. 575-576).".....

"In order to delineate the field of their own study, the exegete and the theologian must keep informed about the results achieved by the natural sciences (cf. AAS 85 [1993] pp. 764-772; Address to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, 23 April 1993, announcing the document on The interpretation of the Bible in the Church: AAS 86 [1994] pp. 232-243)."...

"How do the conclusions reached by the various scientific disciplines coincide with those contained in the message of Revelation? And if, at first sight, there are apparent contradictions, in what direction do we look for their solution? We know, in fact, that truth cannot contradict truth (cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Providentissimus Deus)" "Today, almost half a century after the publication of the Encyclical, fresh knowledge has led to the recognition that evolution is more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory."

From Tim Keller's The Reason for God "Despite widespread impressions to the contrary, both inside and outside of the church,, modern Creation Science was not the traditional response of conservative and evangelical Protestants in the nineteenth century when Darwin's theory first became known. There was widespread acceptance of the fact that Genesis 1 may have been speaking of long ages rather than literal days. R.A. Torrey, the fundamentalist editor of The Fundamentals ... said that it was possible "to believe thoroughly in the infallibility of the Bible and still be an evolutionist of a certain type (quoted in Mark Nol, Evangelical American Christianity: An Introduction [Blackwells, 2001], p 171). The man who defined the doctrine on Biblical inerrancy, B.B. Warfield of Princeton (d. 1921) believed that God may have used something like evolution to bring about life-forms."

Frances Collins (from a scientific viewpoint). "This narrow interpretation is largely a creation of the last hundred years, arising in large consequence as a reaction to Darwinian evolution."

St. Augustine in Genesis 19:39"usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth... and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience.

How, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show a vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn.

The shame is... that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. It they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are the going to believe those books and matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learned from experience in the light of reason?"

The ACG Affiliation of Christian Geologists:

"Statement on the Physical Age of the Earth and Universe"

The Affiliation of Christian Geologists is committed to the historic Christian faith and to its meaningful integration with the best available science. This effort reflects our desire to serve God with all our minds. Data from science also help us to serve our neighbors and to care for God’s creation. Investigations of the Earth and the universe have been ongoing for hundreds of years using such scientific methodologies as:
-astronomical data from telescopes and satellites
-observation of the physical makeup and arrangement of earth and extraterrestrial materials
-chemical and physical analytical study of rocks, sediments, soils, water, air, ice, and meteorites found on Earth as well as lunar and Martian materials
-experimental synthesis to determine the origins of earth and extraterrestrial matter
-analytical determination of absolute ages of natural materials, and
-mathematical and computer modeling of the above observations and processes.

Beginning in the mid-1600’s, geologists and astronomers (including many Christians) have consistently found that the scientific evidence clearly favors a vast age for the earth and the universe. Current scientific calculations indicate that the universe began about 13 billion years ago and the earth about 4.6 billion years ago. These conclusions are based on cumulative evidence and are refined with each new study. All scientific knowledge is constrained by the limitations of the methods of inquiry and discovery. We are limited and sometimes mistaken in our understanding of both nature and Scripture, but ultimately the two must not conflict, both coming from the same Creator. Although Scripture contains essential information on origins that gives meaning and perspective, technical details of the method and timing of creation are not major concerns of the Biblical text, and many orthodox theologians do not see a conflict between the Bible and an old creation."

Gary B. Ferngren writing for The American Scientific Affiliation on CS Lewis "There is no evidence that Lewis Every read the Genesis account of creation Literally. Repeatedly and publicly he described it as a folk tale or myth."

The American Scientific Affiliation: on Science and Faith

Christmas program!

Well, after about 2 1/2 months of preparing, my students performed their Christmas program today. I've been a part of many, many Christmas (and other) programs over the course of my lifetime, but this is the first one I've been entirely responsible for (as in, I wrote it, arranged it, ran it, and every student involved was mine). After a somewhat-hectic dress rehearsal (they always are), everything fell together just about perfectly (it always does).

Have I mentioned how much I love my job, my students, and my school? Probably. But it doesn't hurt to mention it again. After the nightmare that was my student teaching, and a year of subbing, I am still so thrilled to have students that like me. Middle school students, at that!

I think the highlight of the program for me, really, was seeing how excited everyone was this morning, seeing my students coming in smiling and bouncing off the walls and asking if it was time to go backstage yet, and could they do anything to help me, and where were their costumes, and could I look at the new props they had found last night at the last minute. It makes me know I did a good thing this semester, knowing my students loved it and were excited.

I had a lot of parents, a ton of parents actually, come up and tell me how much their children liked music, and how wonderful the program was. I had several tell me it was the best program they had seen at the school. I suppose that's a pretty good compliment, for my first year.

The other highlight was walking past the middle school to return some props the kids had forgotten, telling them Merry Christmas, and having them give me a standing ovation. Middle schoolers! The age that scares me. They aren't like kindergarteners, who just like you because they like everyone.

Okay, so I'm bragging a little. But there are days when you have to overflow with happiness, and this was one of them for me. And as pleased as I might be about what I've done this year, I am really most proud of my kids. They are great kids, all of them, and they put in good work. I look forward to many more semesters with them.

Andrew took pictures, so if any of them turn out, I will post them when they come off his camera.

For all our fellow Liberal Arts students

Birds and other creatures

My birdfeeding station is officially the coolest hangout spot for the Blaine bird scene. Here are some of the birds we have been getting.

Last summer, we got a lot of Black-Headed Grosbeaks. They ate us out of house and home. Then they migrated on to warmer, more friendly climates.

We also got flocks of goldfinches. They also ate us out of house, home, and nyjer seed. They come back occasionally, now in their brown winter plumage. Usually they bring Pine Siskin with them, tiny little birds who are always cheery and remind me a little bit of Colorado's Lesser Goldfinches, whom I miss terribly.

House Finches and Purple Finches usually frequent our feeders when there is enough black oil seed. In Colorado, they were our most common birds. Here, we have about 10 who come and go.

A Female House Finch

By far, our most prolific visitors are our Black-Capped and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees. I think this is some sort of payback for all the chickadees I wasn't able to attract last year. They are constant here. Once we counted 12 on the feeders at once, which is pretty significant, seeing as how chickadees don't stay and eat at feeders like most other birds. Their primary mode of feeding is to sort through the seeds, throwing all the small ones onto the ground, finding the largest and most unwieldy seed there, and then carry it up into the trees and pound it into the bark to save for later, where it is promptly found and eaten by some other bird who was waiting for this moment. Occasionally, the chickadees' hunger gets the better of them and they have to eat at the feeders. But still, the larger the better. Chickadees refuse to eat small seeds on principle. They are the second-to-lowest on the universal wild bird pecking order and just about anyone can chase them off. This annoys them to no end, but it never keeps them from coming back.

A Couple of Chestnut Backed Chickadees

A Couple More Chickadees and a Dark Eyed Junco

Occasionally, chickadees have let us hand-feed them, when they are truly desperate (as in, all the seed is running out, they've been forced to humiliate themselves by eating seeds that can actually fit in their mouths, and they haven't had new food for 10 minutes). However, they are smart, and know that if they just wait long enough, we will refill the feeders for them. Andrew wants me to train them to hand-feed by not filling up the feeders right away. I can't resist the sad confusion in their little eyes.

Our suet has become a favorite in the winter. We have two pairs of Downy Woodpeckers, one normal pair, and one tiny, tiny pair. We also have a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers that come and go. They are bigger than the Downies by a lot. Mr. Hairy and the larger Mr. Downy got into a fight a couple of weeks ago, which Mr. Hairy won. Mr. Downy was crushed and left the feeders. I thought he was gone forever, even though his wife continued coming back. He came back for the first time today. I was relieved.

Ms. Downey

Tiny, Tiny Ms. Downey

We also get a couple of large Flickers, who are very clumsy and spill a lot of food. To see what happens to it, keep reading. They like to perch at the very top of the feeding system and eat and eat and eat. Their territory battles haven't begun yet.

A couple weeks ago, we got our first Pileated Woodpecker! She is enormous and looks a little bit like a dinosaur. For awhile, she ate from our tiny little suet feeder that we have mounted underneath the peanut feeder to keep larger birds away. She was undeterred. Now we have a suet feeder mounted up high for her benefit. She lands on our roof and walks around for awhile, then she goes to eat, and it sounds like she is drilling a hole in a tree. She sounds like a chicken when she calls. Considering Pileated Woodpeckers typically have a range of 200 acres (more if there is not constant forest cover) we can expect just to get her and a mate.

Ms. Pileated

Our peanuts are a favorite for our three local nuthatches. As you might recall, I can communicate with nuthatches. We had a hard time attracting them, but just recently realized that our lack of nuthatches coincided with our lack of peanuts. Now we have peanuts. And nuthatches. They are above the chickadees in the pecking order, and are not afraid to remind the chickadees of this.

What with the chickadees throwing out every seed that is beneath their dignity (which is most of them) and the flickers spitting out large mouthfuls of suet by accident, you might wonder how much we waste by birdfeeding. The answer is, nothing. Because of nature's trash can, the Dark Eyed Juncos. Juncos eat anything, as long as it is on a flat, level surface. They especially love flicker leftovers. Juncos are hard to notice at first, and then you look a bit closer, and realize the ground is crawling with them.

An inconspicuous Junco

Also on the ground, we attract Towhees (reading Annie Dillard's passage about them is highly worthwhile start on the second to last paragraph on the page), Fox Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and Golden-Crowned Sparrows from the woods. They hop around, eating scraps. Occasionally we get White-Crowned Sparrows, too. House Sparrows come and go. They tend to be by on the colder days.

A Towhee- or is it a Bear?

For awhile, we had only one Mourning Dove. She sat on the ground, all fluffed up and sad, and I was afraid the cold was going to do her in. Now she has two friends, and she is considerably happier. They are all very skittish, and tend to panic when they hear noises, but they like our seed, and they always come back.

The Loyal Mourning Dove

In the past few days, we've had a few new species. We've had two Stellar's Jays come by to claim our feeders for themselves. They are the second-to-top on the bird pecking order (right below the Pileated Woodpecker), but whereas Miss Pileated comes once a week or so, they want to be there all the time. Without any chickadees. This drives the chickadees crazy. So we are contemplating setting up a feeding station more suited to jays and large woodpeckers somewhere else, and leaving the chickadees in peace.

Also, we had our very first bushtit invasion! Bushtits are small birds, very small birds in fact, who look like gray cotton balls with tails. They come in droves of about 30, and crowd onto suet and peanuts, chattering and chirping away. They are below even the chickadees in the pecking order, and the chickadees are happy to remind them of this. Unfortunately for the chickadees, bushtits know that there is strength in numbers, and by swarming around a chickadee like a flock of fluffy insects, they can annoy the chickadee enough to make it back off. Then, for a few minutes, they have the feeders all to themselves, where they barely make a dent in them because they are so small. They swarm under, around, and--get this--INSIDE them. Yes, inside. Come and see our suet cage sometime, and wonder how on earth a bird fits inside there. But they do. I've seen them. Then the leader of the flock decides it's time to leave, and they all flitter off after him, except for one, which is always, inevitably, left behind, blissfully unaware, for probably a minute longer. Then it realizes its comrades have left, and hurries off.

Andrew has also created a pond, which attracts all our groundfeeding birds, chickadees, and American Robins! They are really cute when they bathe.

And today, we had a possum come to our feeders! Actually, it was yesterday that I saw it first. I was getting on my coat to go to work, and lo and behold, I looked outside, and a possum was walking across the yard! I shouted to Andrew to come see it. It ambled across and slipped under the fence, all nonchalant and unbothered by the fact that it's supposed to be nocturnal. Then today, I was watching my birdfeeders, and all of a sudden, a little possum face emerged from around the corner. It hopped around, eating leftover leftovers. A possum! Can you believe that? It was incredibly exciting.

Can you believe it?

Well, I have to go to dance, but I hope you've all enjoyed this incredibly lengthy description of our local creature life.

Text by Rachel, Photos by Andrew (I hope to get some better ones once we have a sunny day.)