March 29-30 – Not every adventure needs to take you overseas. And while my next epic hike is just a few weeks away, I wanted to share a delightful trip I’m on with my girlfriend, Pam, to the San Juan Islands and British Columbia.
Last year, Pam sold her place on Orcas Island and moved to the Oregon Coast. She wanted to visit to the Island so I can meet her friends.
Sunday, we got an early start and drove up from Portland to Anacortes to catch the ferry. We stopped at a farmer’s co-op in Mount Vernon and picked up a whole bunch of vegetable starts for her friend, Ellen, who is hosting us during our visit.
We caught the afternoon ferry to Orcas and arrived at Ellen’s beautiful place near Deer Harbor. Her family has owned a huge expanse of land on this end of the island for nearly 50 years. Her father built several houses, a large shop, barn, greenhouse and saw mill. I should have listed the sawmill first, as all the buildings,, along with the fencing and other structures were built with wood milled on site. The property has numerous lakes and beautiful pastures for the horses they stable.
Pam and I are staying in a guest log cabin on a little bluff overlooking the gardens, barn and one of the lakes. We are going to earn our keep by helping Ellen get her garden going for the spring. But first, we had to enjoy our first sunset.
We got up Monday to a chilly, but bright and blue morning and enjoyed a hearty breakfast, thanks to the provisions Ellen left for us in the cabin. Then it was off to work. First order of business was to weed the 16 raised bed gardens and refill them with compost. Having a horse stable, sawdust, last years garden clippings and a peat bog on premise means there are all the needed ingredients on site to make the most delicious soil blend for veggies to thrive. A dozen or so wheelbarrow loads and all the beds were topped off and ready for planting. Hungry voles have been a big problem in prior years, so every bed was first planted with various members of the allium family (garlic, shallots, onions, etc.). Then, in went the colder weather starts: broccoli, kale, lettuce, peas and celery.
We took a break in the afternoon for a “forest goat hike,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Ellen’s next door neighbor, Mike, lead us on a hike through Ellen’s property along with his two border collies, Zoe and Cooper and seven of his ten goats. Ellen and her Bernese Mountain Dog, Oskar also came along.
We finished off the evening with dinner at a local Irish Pub and then sat around the wood burning stove in our cozy cabin.
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