Singing in the Car: Marina's Favorite Song

VIDEO

Revisiting Coupeville's "Town Park": playground, concerts, cookhouse, bbq, tennis, and more

Left: Luc holding Stella on the slide with Marina behind them Right: the Pavilion

This is the best slide around. It is tall, metal, and steep. Great for a adventurous four-year old and a one-year old who thinks she is invincible (with a parent of course). Yesterday I revisited a park form my past: Town Park in Coupeville (at NW Coveland and Colburn Streets). The park is located on 3.8 acres above (to the north-west) of downtown Coupeville. When I visited it was an idyllic sunny day with fluffy clouds gently sailing overhead. My husband and I brought our take-out lunch to the park with our two kids and enjoyed the water view through the trees, the little daisies covering the field and the slide. Mostly, the slide. Marina loved it. She climbed up the stairs and slid down the slide over and over. Then she began, as kids always do, to climb up the slide and slide back down, forget the stairs.

The park has an open grassy field, an outdoor pavilion for concerts and other social events, a large cookhouse, BBQ, picnic tables, tennis courts, bathrooms, and a playground with a climbing dome, slide, and big kids swings (sorry no baby swings). Much of the park overlooks Penn Cove and there is a trail that goes to the beach.

I remember this park when I was a kid, visiting it with my parents to see the "Concerts on the Cove" series. We would play hard and walk down to town and get ice cream at the local ice cream parlor, Kapaw's Iskreme, which by the way is wonderful! Try it out sometime: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3T7D

L: Picnic and BBQ with a view L: Primitive Trail to the beach

L: the slide R: Tennis & bathrooms

L: Stella picks daisies for daddy R: NW Coveland Street & Coupeville Town Park

L: More playing R: great big fun field= endless possibilities

L: Very big tree slice on display R: Pavilion for concerts and social events

L: Swings aren't just for kids R: little daisy flowers, daisy chain anyone?

Map for Coupeville Town Park

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Who did it? The mysterious disemboweling of the chair cushion

Want to make a guess what happened here? There seems to be a strange disemboweling of a chair cushion. . .

A new puppy? A bad dog? Monster, bear, raccoon, rat . . . ??? No . . .

Answer: A 4 year old with an imagination and a chair cushion with a hole in it. Yep. But it's okay because it took her a good hour and meanwhile I got some chores done. It is these kind of weird trade-offs we parents do in order to sit back and relax, do the dishes, and make dinner.

Is there a ferry line? Travelling on the Whidbey Island Ferry Route and Island-Speak

photo courtesy http://www.whidbeycamanoislands.com/

In the summer the Whidbey Island Ferry, aka Clinton-Mukilteo Ferry Route, becomes quite popular and the ferry lines grow longer, and longer. This is a bit troublesome for the "islanders". That's what we call ourselves. And on a side note, if you are an islander and you are travelling off Whidbey Island, you would probably say one of two things: "I am going to the other side" or "I am going over town." It sounds pretty funny when you hear that phrase with non-islander ears.

So in sticking with my original topic of Whidbey Island Ferry, I wanted to share a link for the Washington State Ferries: a live camera of the loading dock and road to the ferry so that you can checkout what kind of ferry wait you will have, ahead of time. Go to: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/cameras/index.cfm?terminal_id=14

You can also find a ferry schedule for Clinton Mukilteo Route at: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/schedules/current/index.cfm?route=muk-cl

Helping the Hurt Chicken Heal: Some advice for treating injured animals

We currently have a hurt chicken on the farm. The hen has an eye damaged by I-don't know-what. Her eye is swollen and she is lethargic. She had stopped eating and drinking by herself so I placed her in a box in a private part of the barn with a heat lamp. I soaked her food in water and milk and fed her by sticking her beak into the water/food just enough to get her to respond. Check out the video to see how she is eating by herself now. The wound has a long way to go to heal though.

Growing up on a farm as a child I saw a lot of animals die. I began to try to help every one of them get better, as much as I could. I fed a mangled rooster and dressed his wounds everyday until he recovered from a gruesome cock fight. Little bunnies, birds, and mice rescued from the cats were released into the field, or buried under picked flowers and handmade crosses. To name just a few . . . I have learned a lot over the years and there are some must-dos in dealing with hurt animals (always check with your vet).

What do you do with a hurt animal? Here are some important things:

1. LOCATION: place the animal in a safe, quiet, and warm spot; a box works well. We often put chickens and other farm animals in the barn.

2. HEAT: keep the animal warm, as it may not be able to regulate it's temperature adequately. This is especially true if the animal isn't eating much or at all. Bring the animal into your home in a quiet, warm place. Or use a heat lamp in an outbuilding or barn. With a heat lamp err on the side of caution: you do not want to over-heat the animal.

3. WATER: must have! If animal doesn't drink on its own, use a bottle, syringe, or other implement to get water down the animal's throat. If the animal is in urgent need for sustenance (starvation/lack of food or water for prolonged time) feed the animal milk, honey-water, or soaked food/grain/feed, depending on the animal. Feed water to animal that is not drinking on its own as frequently as every hour during the day until you see improvement.

4. FOOD: See #3, you may need to soak the animals food in water and/or puree it to get it in the animal. Sometimes simplifying the food in the beginning is important. A starving kitten had kitten formula with extra water until she recovered. So no solids until the animal can eat them by itself.

5. WOUND TREATMENT: you may need a veterinarian for deep and/or large wounds, broken bones, internal injuries, and more. You can use raw honey to treat superficial wounds, it is antibiotic and very healing. Check with your veterinarian for more options.




VIDEO: Rose the Hen drinks her food while healing from a hurt eye

Bur Oak Acres: bringing the soil to life to offer fresh, naturally grown produce

A beautiful view of the Greenhouses during a big snow, Whidbey Island (photo courtesy Bill McInvaille)

Bayview Farmer's market 2008 (photo courtesy Bill McInvaille)

Bill McInvaille is a self-taught gardener with a passion for the process. He sat down with me last Sunday to tell me about his farm on Andreason Road, "I have high standards for my produce," McInvaille tells me. McInvaille has a quiet, confident passion for his farm, Bur Oak Acres, named after a commercial farm he had in New Hampshire. He has planted several Bur Oak trees since he moved here, to keep with the tradition. In just 3 years, McInvaille's 2 1/2 acre farm has grown to 3 greenhouses (built by Bill himself), and several large tilled plots of land for growing vegetables. All fueled by the dedicated family team of Bill and his sister Kristine.

Over the past year, the McInvailles' hard work has paid off: the community has embraced their produce and they have made ambitious plans for the future. Bill attributes their success to a combination of high standards for growing, a keen interest in the farming process, and word-of-mouth advertising. The farm is a major provider of vegetables for the Mukilteo Coffee Roasters (restaurant and coffee supply, Crawford Road, Langley), and they are designing several juices to sell at the restaurant, their roadside stand, and the farmer's market. Bill, also a carpenter, is refurbishing a building on the property to make into a commercial kitchen. The kitchen will be where the juice and other food items from the garden are made.

When I arrived at the farm, McInvaille, like a proud father, showed me his thousands of plant starts in a greenhouse attached to his home. The starts will be moved to one of the larger greenhouses in the coming weeks, to be planted in the ground or sold at the market. By April 10th, the roadside produce stand will open to the public. "I am providing this produce and hopefully people will come. My produce is fresh, high quality, and grown using organic methods. We guarantee our produce, if you don't like it we will exchange it." It is McInvaille's commitment to the customer and confidence in his produce that endears him and Bur Oak Acres to the public.

For philosophical and practical reasons, McInvaille grows his vegetables free from chemicals. He opted for the "certified naturally grown" (CNG) label so that customers can be assured that his produce is grown based on the highest principles and ideals of organic farming, "the certified organic label by the federal government is a big business dominated by large food corporations who are in it for the money, not for health reasons," he said. The CNG is an affordable option for small-scale farmers who sell at local markets and show sustainable agricultural practices. To be certified, his farm is inspected by other farmers and follows standards that are more strict than the federal standards. McInvaille explained that, "for farm efficiency I don't need to put chemicals on the soil. I have had very few problems with insects here on Whidbey, and all can be solved with simple organic methods."

McInvaille has been growing vegetables for 20 years, and has always had an interest in gardening. He received a Wildlife Ecology degree from University of Wisconsin and taught at several private boarding schools after that. He moved to Maine and worked as a carpenter and had a 1-acre garden, but was unable to spend much time in it as he was working full time and taking care of his two boys. When he moved to New Hampshire, he started a 3-acre commercial garden with 3 greenhouses. With his 8- and 9-year old sons' help, he sold the produce at a farmer's market. For 3 years McInvaille lived in Portland with his family and without a garden, while his wife (now ex-wife), Krissy, pursued further schooling. When he moved to Whidbey Island, he was able to pursue his love of farming: In the span of one month they sold their house in Portland and bought the farm that is now Bur Oak Acres. It took another year to prepare the soil and remove blackberries for planting.

As I walk around the farm I am intrigued by the unique landscaping and artistic touches. McInvaille explains that the previous owner was an avid landscaper, and that the home was once on the garden tour. Several weeping evergreen trees ("they are negative geototropic," Kristine explains) frame a path around the farmhouse. A metal rod spirals out of a garden bed next to an ancient wheelbarrow. Spring flowers are pushing through the ground and blooming on otherwise dead-looking foliage: primroses, heather, and crocuses. A large fresh air gazebo looks out at the brown tilled soil of the vegetable plots. From its empty window frames, hanging by chains, glass windows with frames painted a faded purple, red, green, and blue. A statue of a little pig, peeking out from behind its own ears, sits by a tree. Rims and hubcaps hang on a red wall of an outbuilding. An indoor staircase is supported by a seasoned tree. Little artistic touches are all around, and no where more so than in the greenhouses and fields where the plants are growing.

Everywhere on the farm there are signs of spring and the promise of abundant garden bounty. The McInvailles' fields are being prepped for planting and the starts in the greenhouses are glowing with life. Bur Oak Acres' colorful roadside produce stand will offer naturally grown produce, eggs, and (eventually) fresh juice, as well as other creations from the kitchen. The farm has signs on the roadside at the corner of Bayview and Andreason Road. You can find the McInvailles at the Bayview Farmer's market and the Oak Harbor Farmer's market this year, as well as in their gardens and greenhouses. Checkout the farm stand on Andreason Road: it opens April 10th!

Vegetables growing on the farm, Whidbey Island, with view of Bayview road in the background (photo courtesy Bill McInvaille)

Thriving tomatoes strung up in the greenhouse (photo courtesy Bill McInvaille)

New Hampshire: Early Bur Oak Acres, Bill with family (photo courtesy Bill McInvaille)

Bill's kids, selling produce at the produce stand in New Hampshire (photo courtesy Bill McInvaille)

Kristine with the farm dogs

picture perfect pooch

string on the farm

seedlings in the greenhouse

Kristine walks the fields

One of 3 greenhouses, built by Bill, pictured with vegetable starts on the left

Above & below: Bill shows me his seedlings just sprouting in the attached-to-the-house greenhouse


Some of the quirky, fun, beautiful things on the farm, besides the vegetable gardens:

Buy eggs this year from Bur Oak acres at their roadside farm stand

Above and below: fresh air gazebo: windows hanging

Hen on the fence

"Think Summer" at the produce stand

Old Douglas Fir Trees along Andreason Road at Bur Oak Acres Farm

Colorful roadside Produce stand

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Want to help at the farm? Checkout this blogger's experience:
http://whidbeyharrisons.blogspot.com/2008/04/headin-down-to-farm.html

A review of the produce stand:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bur-oak-acres-langley

Hello Everybody, so glad to see you!

(Kat Fritz plays guitar with Stella in attendance)

So starts our Music Together class for kids birth to 4 years old. This class has been a wonderful experience for my two girls who have been taking the class for the past 3 years (no way has it been 3 years?!?). Little 1-year old Stella has been in the class since she was a newborn and she really likes to take it all in. She plays with the instruments, sings along with her baby noises, and walks-dances-runs around the room interacting with other kids, babies, and adults: smiling and eliciting smiles.

Kat Fritz is the teacher for the class you can visit her website at: http://www.musictogetherwhidbey.com/classes.htm
On the website, Kat describes a regular Music Together^® session as:

Ten weekly, 45-minute classes include songs, rhythmic rhymes, movement, and instrument play. These activities are presented as non formal, non-performance-oriented musical experiences--developmentally appropriate for children and easy for parents and caregivers--regardless of their own musical ability. Two CDs, and Songbook are included!

New Class Session Starting! Here is the class schedule:

birth to 4 years There will be no classes during the week of May 25th & 27th in observance of Memorial Day. Monday 10:15 AM Apr 13, 2009 Jun 22, 2009 Kat Fritz birth to 4 years There will be no classes during the week of May 25th & 27th in observance of Memorial Day. Wednesday 10:15 AM Apr 15, 2009 Jun 24, 2009 Kat Fritz birth to 4 years Wednesday 11:15 AM Apr 15, 2009 Jun 24, 2009 Kat Fritz birth to 4 years Wednesday 5:30 PM Apr 15, 2009 Jun 24, 2009 Kat Fritz

If you are going to honk . . .

(click on picture on the right to get the full size and print for a coloring page for the kids)

do it after you have passed me! I had 2 startles from honkers on my run this morning. C'mon people, haven't you heard of slowing down and waving? Fine, I get it, you like to see me jump from the road like a wild deer. Or maybe you like the shock on my face at being bombarded at 50 mph with a loud honk as I am daydreaming about lunch.

OK, so if it was one of my friends, take the slow down and wave advice next time. Or honk and watch me break my stride and dive into the ditch. The latter might be more fun anyway, and that way I will be doing some cross training. Who knows what I might find in that dark, wet ditch? Something to bring home to the kids (after I wash it off, anyway). Well, perhaps my 9-mile run has taken the nutrients for my brain and deposited it in my burning calves and I cannot quite think-write straight.

Due to my time spent on the road lately I have come up with some "Rules of the Road" for you drivers, bicyclists, and other runners:

1. Bicyclists and Runners: it is nice to say hi to other runners or give a nod, especially if done to you. Drivers: this does not apply to you, just pass on your merry way please, unless I know you.

2. Yes, you can ask me for directions and I'll likely give you good advice as I know South Whidbey like the, oh, forget the cliche. I seem to be an "I'm lost and need directions" magnet.

3. Drivers: slow down (at least a little) and move over (at least a little) for runners, walkers, and bicyclists.

4. Passing a runner full-speed-ahead in a car is not cool. It is not impressive either if that is what you were aiming for. It is impressively scary though and may illicit a jump in the ditch by me!

5. Drivers: if you, a runner or bicyclist, and another car all happen to be converging upon each other at the same time you really outta slow down and pass slowly, as chances are you will not be giving the runner/bicyclist any extra room on the road.

6. Runners and bicyclists: you do not own the road, if someone is driving do your best to give them some space too, especially if it's a busy road.

Any other rules you want to add? I'd love to hear from you!