I liked having a garden even when we lived in town on a clay filled lot. It was a lot of work getting the conditions right. In 2006, the place where I worked shut down and I was out of a job. Sold our in town house and bought this 1 1/2 acres further out of the city. Was able to pay cash with equity and all. It's got decent soil and conditions, although the growing season is a bit shorter. Chance of frost until June 1st or so. I have an inground plot of about 40x50 ft. This year, I am building some raised beds etc for near the house. I am retired now, so am able to put a bit more effort and time into gardening.
Wow Harrylee! Great piece of land you have there, I love the way the gazebo sits in the fence line too
I was born in the nearest community, about an hour and a half drive away. My family used to come and camp at the provincial park here, and I always loved it. When I met my husband, it was amazing to find that he lived here. His family had a boat access only fishing resort during his childhood, and he came every summer with new owners to guide the rivers and lake. He bought our 86 acres when he was 21. He moved up permanently 10 years later. He put in the roads, power, built the home, barn and outbuildings. It's a very special place to me. I've lived here about 25 years. He about 42.
Melody, I more than like where you live. I LOVE the area. I have always longed to visit Vancouver British Columbia. If I live long enough, maybe. Your barn is beautiful. The mountain, OH MY !
I'm originally from Milpitas, CA...That's where I learned to grow plants and veggies. I now live in Minnesota. Totally different from CA but the love of my life lives here, so I stayed here since 2016.
Born in Los Angeles, then moved to San Diego. From there I lived in Dallas/Fort Worth area for a few years, then moved to Missouri. I have been here for about 13 years, and I love it!
I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. I love Washington State, but I got married and moved to Georgia, then Texas. A few years ago (2017), I moved back to Washington State with my granddaughter. We lived there for a year and a half, but Washington was too expensive for a teacher's salary. So my son, who is a professor at UW Milwaukee told me there were a lot of jobs here and cost of living is crazy cheap compared to the Pacific NW. My granddaughter and I packed up and came here to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We flew in, in December, a couple months later I found a place called Victory Gardens. Once a year they have what they call the blitz and go around building and filling raised beds. I have what's called a double lot so I bought two, one in 2019 and the other in 2021. (2020 they didn't do it). It's nice living here and I have expanded to a raspberry patch out back by the alley and have been growing potatoes in grow bags by my garage. With the two raised beds I grow the usual; carrots, lettuce, beans, tomatoes, etc. I just moved my strawberries closer to the raised beds because the raspberries have taken over and enroached on the strawberry bed. Maybe next year I'll get strawberries again.
I moved to this itty bitty city after my good husband passed away. We had a farm, his family farm, in the next town south of here in florida. I always liked this town and found a little folk victorian house for sale. The price was right so here I am !!
I was raised in Minnesota and took off when I was 17 for California. I was in the Bay Area for 26 years, then just got priced out of the rental market. Now I've been in the PNW for 25 years and I own an acre of land. It's pretty here, but I miss all the things I used to do in the Bay Area. I used to raise fancy mice for show and pet, collect Breyer model horses and show those, I trained and showed dogs for years, helped my friend work her endurance horses, built and decorated dollhouses, joined an astronomy club and attended star parties, and attended community college at night for years. Here in the PNW, there doesn't seem to be that much to do. If you're interested in something, it's always over in Seattle and going to Seattle is expensive and a big pain the butt. All I really do these days is still build dollhouses and garden. If I were rich, the first thing I'd do is move back to California.
Fancy mice are great pets for children my kids had them and had so much fun with their little furry friends. There are a lot of creative craft people here too, as well as dog and horse trainers and of course gardeners . I think your in the right place as many of us are known for doing many different projects in winters to fill in for the many other neglected projects that seem to add up over the summer season. I’ve lived in LA ,California. I would never go back, it’s to spendy living there , not to mention the traffic jams and so much more crime and negativity than ever before. Life has changed there over the years. Actually after surviving the big earthquake in southern california , I’d rather be here in the PNW were we have 4 seasons and a great deal of activities to celebrate as well as the beautiful leaf fall colors blazing throughout the landscape. Fishing luv that and Riding endurance thru the mountains , & open ranches for miles and horse camp outs and riding horses along the beaches during summer. Skiing during winters and a huge volume of plants more so than I ever could grow in Calif . That’s my story and I’m sticken to it.
I'm not saying there's nothing to do here, but I am saying what there is, is too far away. For instance, before Ghost Hunters was a show, someone was looking for members for a ghost hunting group. Naturally, in Seattle. That group turned out to become a TAPS family group. I wouldn't mind joining a Doberman club. But they meet in Seattle. When I used to train my dog, you could go to a fun match practically every weekend of the year in the Bay Area. Here - nada. There's not even really any group dog training. It's all individual training. I don't want someone else to train my dog. I can do that. I want classes to get the dog used to chaos and confusion. And the AKC sanctioned shows were all over the place, from Sacramento and Vallejo, the Cow Palace, to the Santa Clara Fairgrounds to Santa Cruz. I think so far I've seen just the one show in Seattle and there was one here at the Kitsap fairgrounds that I finally got to attend recently. Two when I was used to at least 30 or more a year. It's changed now, but I used to be able to go up one side of the Bay and down the other and hit at least 7 to 10 miniature shops. Most of them are closed now, but I know there's still a couple. Here - nada. Even astronomy is difficult here. Way too many mosquitoes. Interesting you mention endurance riding. One of my best friends just died in February and I miss riding all over the Santa Cruz Mts with her. I got to tame - not train (don't know how to do that) - some of her horses. Both she and her husband worked and they'd get their endurance yearlings from Montana and places like that. Sometime the horses weren't even halter broke! And my friends didn't always have the time to work with them, what with them working full time and campaigning their older horses. My friend would turn to me and say something like, "I just advertised Tyler as started under saddle. So maybe we better get a saddle on him." I got to work with two 5 year old mares that weren't broke and I had no clue what to do. I trained them like dogs, saying "Good girl!" and stuff like that. Beck would say horse people would roll over and die if they saw how I was working the horses but she added, "It seems to work!" Good times. I learned a lot from her but unfortunately, I got hooked on equestrian show jumping, something I know I will never be able to afford to do. But I can at least be an armchair athlete. LOL My dream is to go to Calgary for Spruce Meadows, just to watch obviously, and that definitely is a possibility living here. I have to say, I'm not too happy with four seasons. I like spring and summer. I'm depressed in autumn and I hate the winters up here. I hear you about LA though. I couldn't live there. Honestly, I think I'd like to live in Santa Ynez or Santa Barbara. I'm laughing about the earthquakes. I rode out Loma Prieta and then came up here just a month before the Nisqually quake. I said one more and I'll have a T-shirt made. I enjoy earthquakes, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy them in LA. Speaking of fancy mice I knew someone who went to England and brought back a few mice of a variety no one else had yet. Customs stopped her in the US and the guy asked, "We don't already have enough of those here?"
