You probably know by now that Ballard is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seattle. It used to be a neighborhood known for senior citizens and Scandinavian families. Many families from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland settled in this area in the early 1900's to work at boatyards or as fishermen. The neighborhood has changed dramatically the past 5-10 years. Many young families and professionals have moved into the area because of its close proximity to downtown. The main street- Market Street- is now lined with modern apartments.

The Ballard Farmers Market is one of the year round farmers markets in Seattle. March is still a bit early for produce but the market always has an interesting mixture of farmers, food vendors, cheese and other stands to make for an entertaining day. It happens on Sundays.

The day was bright but windy. The stalls were mostly filled with greens (kale, mustards) but I found a few things of interest - bunches of lovely spring leeks for $2, a crotin of goat cheese, and lots of tempting sweets.

We also checked out the restaurants. Bastille is always popular for breakfast but the menu at Volterra has us planning a return trip soon.

Next stop was the Ballard Locks. We wanted to check out the gardens and the birds. The gardens were not as impressive as in the past. We wondered if the federal cutbacks were always affecting the upkeep. One of the locks was closed and we watched them cleaning and painting the interior. Along the side were an entertaining flock of goldeneye ducks. They were swimming in formation and diving down to eat the algae along the sides. We walked to the south side to see the nesting herons and watched the cormorants perch on the tops of the branches.

We headed off for a walk at Greenlake stopping first at Sunset Hill overlook. Gorgeous views of Shilshole Marina and the shipping lanes of Puget Sound.

Ballard Market


Ballard Locks

The Gardens















View from Sunset Hill

I was in junior high school during the summer of love. I was just young enough to be intrigued by the events but yet old enough to know what was happening. My mother used to drive my school friends and I to San Francisco. We loved to shop around Union Square, have lunch at Ghirardelli Square and enjoy the times. We also did a drive up Haight Avenue to see the ‘hippies’.

I remember being wide-eyed at the long haired boys and women in long flowing dresses. People were coming up to our car and giving us newspapers; you could hear the drums from the park and probably smell the MJ as the car drove slowly through the traffic. We were not the only ones out to see the hippies.

We did not have hippies at my school since it was primarily a minority school. I listened to Motown and Philly soul instead of the psychedelic music of the time. It wasn’t until later in high school that I secretly started listening to folk sounds of the early ‘70s.

But an aspect of the hippy life style always had an appeal to me. It was the idea of going out and living off the land. A commune did not really appeal to me but the idea of moving out of the city, growing your own vegetables, canning, going without power – basically what is called now – living off the grid. Our family had several friends who had moved out into the country and had farms. G and I also visited a friend of a friend who had moved up into the mountains in Oregon to work an abandoned gold mine. We visited in the summer when all was great but they told us about how they basically were cut off from the world for 6 months when the snow came. They only had generators for power and had to put up supplies since they couldn’t go to a store nearby for several months.

Living off the grid has always appealed to me. I am to afraid to do it but the desire and old dreams still live on. I think that is why the hunting cabins on Big Ditch along the Skagit Delta have always intrigued me.

We made our first trip to Big Ditch ages ago. It is located between Stanwood and Conway where the Skagit river delta meets the Puget Sound. The ditch is a long levee which protects a couple of low farms. It is a popular area for bird hunting in the winter. There is a path along the top of the levee - one side are the reed marshes bordering on the sound, the other side is a water filled slough that runs for about a mile almost to the Skagit River.
We have visited the area the past couple of years but never really walked out about a mile along the dike to the cabins as we did on our first visit. We had a sunny day in February and decided to visit the Ditch for a hike.

The parking lot was empty. That was not surprising. It was Friday and hunting season had closed. The gray skies were just starting to break up. But there were no birds. The field east of the ditch was devoid of birds. No raptors in the trees along the bank. We could hear one or two marsh wrens in the reeds and berry bushes but nothing else.

The sun was out and starting to warm when we reached the cabins about a mile from the parking lot. They are mostly built on stilts out over the marsh. There is no electricity to the area so one or two had solar panels and one had a wind mill. But of course – they were not without TV – one cabin had a Dish satellite dish. Each one is hodge-podge of different building materials. There were a few boats moored up on the river side and a dog barked his warning from one of the cabins. No other signs other than the dog.

I could feel the stirrings and remembering of the hippie life viewing them in the faint winter sun. What would it be like to spend a week there with little power? Would there be a wood stove to cook on? Or would it just be regular modern propane BBQ? Probably a couple of decades ago – there would be no phones – no power – no heat other than wood. Now cell phones connect you to family and the internet. Gas generators provide power for a satellite TV. And McDonald’s is just a 20 minute drive away in Stanwood. Oh well… I can still dream.

Every year we try to make one or two trips in the winter up to the Skagit Delta. It is an excellent area to bird in the winter. Fir Island is the prime spot for viewing Snow Geese while the Samish Flats are great for raptors and owls. You never know for certain what you will see. Some days it will be a bust with no bird. Other times it can be an amazing experience.

We headed up Sunday with our friend. We got a late start. It was cold and rain was threatening. The wind was biting no matter how well we bundled up. Our first stop was at the Hayden reserve just outside of Conway. We had only saw a group of herons and a juvenile eagle.

We decided to head on up to Samish Flats to see what else we could find when we saw a flock of snow geese off in the distance. We turned and headed towards the field. They were on both sides of Maupin road. We stopped and got out off the car. It was so amazing. More and more flocks were flying over head to join with the others feeding. There is something just magical hearing the honk and whosh of the wings over head.

Something spooked them and the whole flock took off in cacophony of sound. The initial rush of all the wings in motion was like the sound of gas lighting.

We headed back to the car to warm up and traveled north. I had heard that there were some rough legged hawks spotted on Sullivan Road and we found them. They were gorgeous to view on the fence posts. We even saw a meadow lark.

We headed for our final stop - West 90. The fields were too muddy and we could see now owls flying over the fields. We decided to call it a day and headed for a beer at Porterhouse in Mount Vernon.

Great Blue Heron on Fir Island

Snow Geese

Rough legged Hawk

Previous Posts

February 2012
January 2010
January 2008

It is time to start a vegetable garden. G wanted to take last year off so we only planted a few peas and tomatoes. But after a year off, he is back enthusiastic about the vegetables.

He started some seeds yesterday. First up are Super Sugar Snap Peas, a couple of plants of Lettuce and a couple of plants of Swiss Chard. For lettuce, we are doing our old reliable varieties; Nevada - a green leaf variety that is slow to bolt with huge heads and Sunset, a red left variety that is also a good producer. For Swiss Chard, it is Bright Lights.

The pea trellises went up today also. We usually do not put the tomatoes out until after Memorial Day so we'll start those later. I'm not certain what varieties are on tap for this year. There will also be the usual selection of bush and poll green beans, zucchini, a pepper, beets and carrots.

I'm hoping for a good spring although the forecast is for another cool gray long spring.

If you are wondering what is in the background - they are lithops also known as living stones

Another garden designed specifically to highlight the Winter season is the Macadam Winter Garden in Tukwila. It is a relatively new garden planted in 2007. We have been visiting the past couple of years and it has really started to come of age. It is not large. The highlights are the shrubs and trees along with a small stream lined with large grasses. Don't miss the beautiful Amelanchier. witch hazels, the birches and grasses. It can be a little hard to find but don't miss it.