Spring activities begin! The Growing Washington team is turning cover crops and planting almost five acres on the Back 18. The new greenhouses are filled with flats of the more fragile vegetable starts.  Community Gardeners arrive daily with tools, compost & enthusiasm as they begin another season. Weather cooperated when Woodinville Montessori Junior High students came to 21 Acres for two school days with a focus on sustainable systems.  Volunteer groups continue to pitch in on various projects.  Greg Guillani, Washington Tree Fruit Society, shared his extensive knowledge about orchards and fruit trees in a recent class held in our Garden Shed.

We anticipate finishing the permitting process for the Agricultural Center in June, giving us additional time to fund-raise until groundbreaking in July.  Along the way, committees have been working hard to finalize the strategic plan, budgets and the business plan, while continuing to help raise awareness within the community as we fund-raise to building this amazing structure to house the market, classrooms and kitchens. 

Meanwhile, the Woodinville Farmers Market (WFM) needed to move from their location of 14 years at the
Carol Edwards Center as the city begins long awaited renovations this spring.  Timelines continued to shift for 21 Acres during the months of pre-construction planning. With new project management consultants, the Robinson Company, and the county's permitting process time extensions, it became evident last fall that 21 Acres would not be ready this summer to lease space to the WFM in the new facilities.  The WFM Board has thus leased space from Woodinville Village, a  multi-use construction project underway in the Sammamish Valley across from the Hollywood Hill Schoolhouse.  For those of you who missed them  at the All Fool's Arts & Crafts Show, they're opening day is Saturday, May 5th from 9-3. 

With a grant from King County, and the recent completion of a scorecard by Nancy Henderson of Archeology, the Agricultural Center at 21 Acres qualifies as Platinum, the highest rating available as prescribed under the new LEED certification requirements.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System ^TM is the nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction and operation of high performance green building. The Agricultural Center will be the first, not only in Washington State but in the entire country, to achieve Platinum status for new construction, under the newly raised bar of the US Green Building Council.

The building will further enable us to address the goal of working with our natural resources as farmers have taught us. It becomes even more clear what Al Dietemann, Seattle Public Utilities, and Deborah Rannfeldt, Woodinville Water District, said from the very beginning, “conservation is where we can make the biggest impact.” Once these new systems are in place to conserve water and produce energy in new ways, there will be further understanding that we all have choices. Every dollar we spend  has impact on the environment and the economy whether you're purchasing pesticide free lettuce at the farmers market or choosing Low-VOC paint. These are the kinds of informed daily choices that will grow a sustainable future for us.

 Photos from top: Monique Kenney, Community Gardener; pea starts in the greenhouse; Montessori students on the Farm; Agricultural Center sketch by Ron Baum; Vincent Felice in the All Fool's Day Parade.

Free Classes, Saturday, April 21

Growing Food in Your Backyard

At Last, Spring!

By Kassandra M. Powell, Community Gardener

The season of every gardener’s winter dreams has finally arrived.  Glorious, fresh, fragrant colorful spring is here.  We all have the pleasure of enjoying the beauty of another Pacific Northwest spring.  Cut a fresh bouquet of flowers for your home or office from your own yard.  Get out your camera and take a walk.  Snap a few photos.  Don’t forget to stop and smell the blossoming flowers.  Enjoy the pleasure of being awakened by serenading birds.  Know that the sound of insects droning when we step outside is a sure sign of warmer days ahead.      

Each spring brings gardeners new hope and opportunities for a more bountiful fall harvest.  We get to start over fresh.  The season for planting and puttering around in the garden is upon us.   If you are so inclined start prepping your soil.  Now is the time to plan your garden layout and come up with new strategies for your best garden ever.
      So, if you too are bursting with the exuberance and anticipation for spring take some time to peruse the seed catalogs and place an order, or make some time to visit your local nurseries and garden centers.  Dust off your gardening shoes and pull out your gloves and tools.  Earth Day and tilling day at the gardens will soon be here.  Plan on spending time finding out what your garden neighbors have been doing during the winter season.
     Remember bliss and contentment accompany any day spent in the garden. 

Comcast Foundation Presents Grant to 21 Acres

Full story here!

Montessori Students

More than two dozen junior high students from Woodinville Montessori-North Creek Campus worked long and hard at 21 Acres during their recent Immersion Week.
Read more!

Fruit Tree Grafting 101

Following are some highlights from our first Orchard Seminar – Beginning Fruit Tree Grafting held recently at 21 Acres. Click here for the full article and instructions. Thank you to Greg Giuliani, Seattle Tree Fruit Society, for this information and great class presentation!

When is the time to graft?

Most grafting is done in early spring before new growth begins. The best time is after the chance of severe cold has passed but well before warm weather arrives.

What materials are needed?

Knife, Grafting sealant, Grafting tape, Budding strips, Nails, Grafting tool

What grafting technique?

Grafting techniques can be divided into two basic types, which are largely determined by the size of the understock.
1) In some cases, a graft may be made to join a scion and understock of nearly equal size.
2) The other type attaches a small scion to a much larger understock. In this case, several scions may be attached to the understock as in cleft or bark grafting.
More details on techniques in full article.

Caring for the graft

After the graft begins to grow, it must also be given attention. During the first season, don't prune branches that grow. Grafts that grow vigorously may need to have the tips pinched out to stimulate branching. Very long shoots may break loose during strong winds. Cleft grafts should grow
vigorously and need only light pruning to shape their development. Never prune heavily.

Grafting tips

Store the scion in moist sphagnum moss, sand or a plastic bag in a cool place (refrigerator). Do not allow scion to freeze. It must be kept moist and cool until used. After the cuts are made, scions must be inserted immediately, or cuts should be kept moist until used. Scion wood should be made of twig sections with two to three buds each. Discard the tip of scion wood and re-cut the base before grafting. After the graft has taken and growth has started, cut off any side shoots or
competing twigs that would shade or compete with the development of the new graft.