2018 Spring Nexus

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Volume 29: Issue 1

Cover of The Nexus, showing a collage photo of Terry Williams (lifetime achievement award winner at the 2018 Better Ground Showcase).

Articles in This Issue

Featured
Food Bank Farm’s greenhouse packed full with starts waiting to be planted.
From Farm to Food Bank
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Putting Manure to Work in Local Gardens
Read More →
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Community Harvest
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Scott Chase, Lifetime Achievement
The Changemakers
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A Closer Look at Working Buffers
Read More →
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The Power of Partnership
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February 2014 - Photo from the first site visit to the property.
Saving Salmon on Tributary 64
Read More →

2017 Fall Nexus

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Volume 28: Issue 2

Happy Fall!

By the time this issue reaches your hands the days might be feeling a little shorter and the nights a bit colder, but there’s a hint of something else in the air. And no it’s not the smell of pumpkin spice or crisp fall leaves, it’s something more. It’s that feeling of togetherness and coziness—for wrapping up in your favorite knit blanket on the couch after picking manure or drinking a cup of coffee before watching the big game. It’s a time for reflection and thankfulness, gathering with friends and family, and pie (lots of pie).

Whether we’ve met in person or only through the pages of the Nexus, all of us at Snohomish Conservation District are grateful for your support and the District could not exist without your willingness to partner with us year in and year out. If we’ve only been introduced through the pages of this publication, we welcome you to get in touch for assistance with your property concerns. Let’s jump into 2018 together.

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Articles in This Issue

Featured
The Gallons Add Up
The Gallons Add Up

The newly installed stormwater projects at these six schools will help divert and filter an estimated 436,700 gallons of stormwater each year! This number is based on an estimated 10 refills of the rain barrels and cisterns, which is the average usage rate. All of this adds up to cleaner, colder, and clearer streams and untold numbers of happy salmon. 

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Puget Sound Starts at My School
Puget Sound Starts at My School

Several schools recently finished up their participation in a National Fish and Wildlife funded grant, Puget Sound Starts at My School. This program involved 658 students in the planning, design, and installation of stormwater projects on school campuses. In total, the projects completed through this grant will divert and filter an estimated 435,769 gallons of stormwater every year!

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Businesses Create Better Ground
Businesses Create Better Ground

At the end of August, Snohomish Conservation District gathered dozens of local volunteers together behind the Stanwood Camano Village to help restore a bare and degraded landscape right in their own backyard. Our Community Conservation team has been working hard to reach businesses and community members within project areas. 

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The Benefits of Native Meadows
The Benefits of Native Meadows

Native bees and other pollinators pollinate approximately 85% of the flowering plants on the planet that produce one-third of the food we consume. With land-use changes causing the decline of native habitat, native pollinator populations are declining with some species at risk of extinction. 

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Agriculture Resilience & the Photovoice Story
Agriculture Resilience & the Photovoice Story

Traveling the back roads of Snohomish County, you’ll pass a variety of scenic farms. Farms have been a crucial component of the landscape, history, and economy of this county and most of Puget Sound, and will hopefully remain so. The types of farms and the products grown vary and farm stability relies on resilience to adapt to changing markets, climatic variations, consumer preferences and rising land and equipment costs. 

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Doing the Right Thing(s)
Doing the Right Thing(s)

Back in August, we went back to visit one of our cooperators, Bill Cayford, who is the type of guy who just wants to do the right thing with his land.

Bill has 20 acres total, half of which is pasture and open space

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2017 Spring Nexus

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Volume 28: Issue 1

Welcome to the new Nexus!

All of us at Snohomish Conservation District are excited to bring you this edition of The Nexus; we're not calling it new and improved, just re-imagined. Inside you'll find the same stories and helpful tips you've come to appreciate over the last 27 years. There are noticeable differences, of course, but we hope you enjoy the larger, more vibrant photos and the smaller, compact size. The Nexus has been designed to match our increasingly on the go lifestyles, designed to slip into a bag, be read while waiting for the kids to finish baseball practice, or simply, enjoyed on your porch with a warm cup of coffee.

Whether you've been with us all of these years, or this is the first time you've picked up a copy of The Nexus, welcome. These stories are for you, they feature your friends, your neighbors, and the land and water that connect us all. We hope you enjoy this issue, and many more to come. We love to hear from our readers so feel free to send us your thoughts. You can also sign up for our monthly Nexus Digest email, peruse our website, or follow us on Facebook to stay up-to-date.

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Articles in This Issue

Featured
Is Your Home Firewise?
Is Your Home Firewise?

As Westsiders here in Washington, it’s difficult to imagine the threat of a wildfire as we tromp through the rain and mud for close to eight months of the year. But due to our beautiful dry summers, the landscape can dry out quickly, presenting a window of time where a grass or forest fire can pose a serious threat to property and lives.

Creating An Edible Oasis
Creating An Edible Oasis

Terry Myer, one of our 2016 Conservation Leaders of the Year, transformed her backyard into an edible, sustainable paradise where she welcomes neighbors and community members to learn first hand how to do the same in their yards. Even the neighborhood cats flock to her yard, as she has a tire planter dedicated to growing catnip.

Make the Transition from Lawns to Lettuce
Make the Transition from Lawns to Lettuce

Are you tired of mowing all that grass? Interested in growing your own food, starting a community garden, or providing food to those in need? If you answered yes to any of these questions, our Lawn’s to Lettuce program is here to help.

Recycling on a Dairy Farm
Recycling on a Dairy Farm

1. Feed Production: They grow the food that feeds the cows on 1,200 acres of their own cropland and they purchase crops from farmers with another 1,000 acres.

4 Easy Steps to Help Pollinators
4 Easy Steps to Help Pollinators

Step 1: Grow the Right Flowers

Flowers provide the nectar and pollen resources that pollinators feed on. Growing the right flowers, shrubs, and trees with overlapping bloom times will support pollinators from spring through fall.

Mason bees gather pollen on almond flowers.
On Becoming a Bee Farmer
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A Dairy with All the (Cow)bells and Whistles

“You take care of the girls and they’ll take care of you.”

2016 Fall Nexus

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Download as PDF

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Articles in this Issue

Featured
Conservationists in our Mist
Conservationists in our Mist
Strike While the Fire’s Hot – Get Help with Your Farm Projects Now
Strike While the Fire’s Hot – Get Help with Your Farm Projects Now
Fall is Perfect Time to Get Your Cover Crop In
Fall is Perfect Time to Get Your Cover Crop In
Fall Task List for All Types of Properties
Fall Task List for All Types of Properties
Moga Project Promises Years of Benefits
Moga Project Promises Years of Benefits

2016 Summer Nexus

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Download as PDF

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Articles in this issue

Featured
Focus on Hemlock ~ Dwarf Mistletoe
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Commercial Compost Application on Western Washington Farms
Read More →
Weeds: If You Can’t Beat them - Eat Them!
Read More →
A Closer Look at Wetlands
Read More →
Keeping Your Soil Resilient in a Changing Climate
Keeping Your Soil Resilient in a Changing Climate
Read More →
Reforesting the Arney Farm in Oso
Read More →
Eight Tips to Prevent Weeds in Pastures
Read More →

2016 Spring Nexus

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Download as PDF

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Articles in this issue

Featured
The Wonder of Wetlands
The Wonder of Wetlands

Kids say the darnedest things sometimes, especially when they’re traipsing through a smelly wetland teaming with life and fun new experiences.

This past October, fourth grade students from Discovery Elementary joined the  Conservation District’s Sound Education staff (Jessica Kinney and Laura Goff) at the North Creek Park wetlands for an outdoor field trip.

Read More →
The How and When of Pasture Renovation
The How and When of Pasture Renovation

Western Washington and more specifically, Snohomish County, has an ideal climate for growing grass. One of the reasons for this is due to our temperate climate with plenty of rainfall. For example, the city of Snohomish averages 50 degrees Fahrenheit and has about 275 frost-free days per year. This is accompanied with about 35 inches of annual precipitation.

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Making Progress on Church Creek
Making Progress on Church Creek

Improving watershed health takes everyone. It takes landowners of all types – urban, rural, farmers – coming together and figuring out how they can do their part to keep the watershed healthy for the near- and long-term. Since 2013, the Snohomish Conservation District has been working to accomplish exactly that in the Church Creek sub-basin, thanks to a grant.

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GoodBye Lawn - Hello Veggies, Eco-yards and Pollinators
GoodBye Lawn - Hello Veggies, Eco-yards and Pollinators

But, is tearing up the lawn and planting vegetables the only way to reduce your environmental impact and provide for your family? Maybe you don’t even have a lawn to tear up. Many condo and apartment dwellers are taking classes on growing food in small spaces, in pots, on vertical supports or in neighborhood pea patches. Pea patches, or ‘recession gardens’, are so popular that in Long Beach, California, the waiting list for garden space has quadrupled for a 312-plot community garden.

Read More →
Yoga, Nature and Community at Ananda Farm
Yoga, Nature and Community at Ananda Farm

Ananda* Farm is a 14-acre, community-owned yoga and permaculture farm on the south end of Camano Island. Their mission is to live simply and harmoniously with nature, and to provide basic needs for themselves and a growing community of friends. Yoga and meditation are the foundation of life at the farm. Ananda Farm represents a positive change for the Camano-Stanwood community, and reflects the diversity of clients the conservation district now serves. 

Read More →

2016 Winter Nexus

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Articles in this Issue

Featured
Capturing Rainwater, Curbing Soil Creep
Capturing Rainwater, Curbing Soil Creep

It can’t be any fun to sit at your kitchen table and watch the soil on the hillside above your backyard slowly slide down and envelope your house and garage. Not only is it not fun, it can be stressful knowing the foundation of your house and garage are surely rotting from wet soil and the constant pressure of soil creeping downslope. 

Read More →
Protecting Young Conifer Seedlings
Protecting Young Conifer Seedlings

What can you learn from an experienced forester about keeping young trees safe from hungry wildlife? Plenty! Duane Weston shares two simple approaches to keep new seedlings safe, one of which he developed.

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Life on a Tree Farm Never Slows Down…. or So It Seems
Life on a Tree Farm Never Slows Down…. or So It Seems

One thing you hear a lot when you take a walk in the woods with local forester Duane Weston is his to-do list. He frequently mentions where he needs to fill in with new trees, clear a fallen log, clean up one of many trails, add more wildlife habitat, or thin an older stand of trees. There seems to be a never-ending list of work on a 40-plus acre tree farm, but you can tell Duane relishes the opportunity to work on it and make on-going improvements.

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State Tax Option Can Help Private Forests Survive
State Tax Option Can Help Private Forests Survive

If you own five acres or more of forested property in Washington, you might want to know about something called “designated forest land”. This is a property tax assessment option for forest landowners in our state that can lower your taxes. 

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Searching for Salamanders Makes Winter Fun!
Searching for Salamanders Makes Winter Fun!

So, leave those fuzzy slippers by the door, put on a pair of mud boots or waders if you got ‘em, and let’s go ‘herping’. The word ‘herp’ comes from Herpetology, the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, turtles).

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Is Your Horse Property a Winter Wonderland or a Muddy Mess?
Is Your Horse Property a Winter Wonderland or a Muddy Mess?

If you haven’t already prepared for more rain and cold here in Western Washington, it’s not too late. Here are a few tips and tricks to beat the winter weather this year and establish more permanent solutions for next year. 

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What's New with Sound Horsekeeping
What's New with Sound Horsekeeping

As with all things, change is inevitable. Such is the case with Snohomish Conservation District’s Sound Horsekeeping program. Read on to hear a message from Jessica Paige, the former program manager for Sound Horsekeeping, and meet our new program manager, Cayley Allen from Stanwood. 

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2015 Fall Nexus

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2015 Fall Nexus

The Fall Nexus is out and has a great cover story on attracting pollinators to your property and news of an upcoming Xerces Society workshop called 'Bring on the Bugs'. You can also learn how to reduce the risk of fire damage to your property, learn about the big rocks scattered around our area called 'glacial erratics', see why liming in the fall is best, and learn the benefits of working buffers. Check out all of our upcoming events and farm tours and see some of the projects we've been working on this summer. 

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2015 Winter Nexus

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2015 Winter Nexus

Learn about compost trials that have been conducted on local farms, an Arlington farmer sending her sheep to the Philippines, picking out the perfect Christmas tree and a new guide available for families planning for the transition of a farm to the next generation. There are also articles on: organic beans being grown here, livestock handling expert Temple Grandin and the Country Living Expo, the 30th Annual Plant Sale and soil testing.

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2014 Fall Nexus

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2014 Fall Nexus

Learn about urban farming, community gardens, 'P' patches and new farming models being used in our area to combat 'food deserts'! There is a great article on pollinators and selecting plants that help them as well as why adding mud puddles helps them acquire nutrients. There are also articles on: Giant Pond Blobs, Forestry Pizza Seminars, Focus on Farming, Septic Workshops and the new Port Susan Owner's Manual.

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