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July 18 2026 Work Party
Curious ducks saying hello. Mediative reed canary grass pulling. Moving to the shade. A heron and geese. Everything in bloom.
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June 13 2026 Work Party
Field trip to ƛ̕ ax̌ʷadis (Tl’ awh-ah-dees) Park. KBA, Inc came back to see the park they helped through construction. Dear friends from Molina came to pitch in again. And as always, you were there. It was hot, there were mosquitos. We stayed in the shade, took breaks. Looked for Himalayan blackberry hiding in the salmonberry, learned bird’s-foot trefoil, avoided nettles. Talked about salmon, who are coming home very soon, talked about the relationship between plants and fish, talked about the degradation Euro-American settlement has brought to this land. Talked about healing, worked at healing. Sweaty, bitten, tired, we cooled with popsicles KBA generously shared, shared with each other, then…
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April 11 2026 Work Party
I remember you.
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March 14 2026 Work Party
Famous by Naomi Shihab Nye The river is famous to the fish. The loud voice is famous to silence, which knew it would inherit the earth before anybody said so. The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds watching him from the birdhouse. The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek. The idea you carry close to your bosom is famous to your bosom. The boot is famous to the earth, more famous than the dress shoe, which is famous only to floors. The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it and not at all famous to the one who is pictured. I want to be famous to shuffling men who smile…
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June 14 2025 Work Party
A duckling worked with us for a time, nibbling on plants while we weeded. A heron perched on a nearby log. Some of us dug into a thick stand of reed canary grass, others of us combed over an area we had worked before, clipping and pulling reed canary grass from among native rushes and sedges. We ferreted out thistle, blackberry, and mullein, lifted bags of plant clippings up to the bridge, pushed them across the boardwalk, drove them across the street to be composted. A perfect day of quiet resistance.
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April 5 2025 Work Party
We took an excursion to the west side of ƛ̕ax̌ʷadis Park. It was good.
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March 22 2025 Work Party
Mallards, American robins, Spotted Towhees. An otter, a salamander. Raptors, maybe red-tailed hawks? Willows staked along the south bank just weeks ago budding, osoberry, red elderberry, and snowberry becoming green. We reached the tree that a month ago seemed so far away, revealed a goat track hidden by brambles, pulled barbed wire out of the ground. A collapsing empire, cancer, hospice. These things cannot be left behind, but despite their presence, for a moment that stretches to hours, I feel ease.
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January 25 2025 Work Party
Crisp cold bright blue sky. Himalayan blackberry canes cut. Reed canary grass trimmed. Tree climbed. You hid. You were found.
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August 17 2024 Work Party
Field trip to ƛ̕ax̌ʷadis (Tl’ awh-ah-dees) Park.
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June 1 2024 Work Party
We took a field trip this week to the main entrance of ƛ̕ax̌ʷadis Park for a special restoration work party in partnership with the City of Kenmore, Confluence Environmental Company, and Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group. We worked in a wetland area on the peninsula between Swamp Creek and the Sammamish River to remove reed canary grass, yellow flag iris, and Himalayan blackberry so that native rushes, sedges, and willow can continue to establish themselves there. It was a treat to work in a different location and off the boardwalk and an honor to tend to a wetland. We’re looking forward to going back in three months!
