Here at Stone Soup Gardens, we’ve had a busy and very exciting start to this new year. With many new residential and community projects on the horizon, our team has dove into educational opportunities to better serve our community.  

Leading the Year with Learning RainWise
Although Jake got to facilitate the inaugural Rainwise Academy last year, 2020 was dry for rain gardens at Stone Soup. So we were grateful to kick off 2021 with an edible rain garden installation! We had a wonderful opportunity for the whole team to share knowledge on the installation of rain gardens on a residential site. Guided by RainWise contractor resources, we went over the why and the how of rain garden construction including plumbing material standards, how to plan a rain garden’s depth and size, how to choose plants, and how to create the best drainage and overflow systems. It was a fun collaborative session co-facilitated by our three experienced installers. This impromptu training has ensured that every single one of our team members has intricate knowledge of the design and installation process for RainWise rain gardens.

Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
We love getting to care for trees, and we love to further our knowledge of how to do so. As part of our team’s monthly education, we had the awesome opportunity to chat with Barb Burrill, an active orchardist involved in the Tilth Alliance, the Seattle Tree Fruit Society, and other groups that look after our city’s plentiful fruit trees. We had an extensive conversation about specific care regimens for all different kinds of fruits, what time of year is best for different kinds of maintenance, and how best to talk to owners of fruit trees about taking care of them. Some of our team has continued to engage and collaborate with Barb and the Tilth Alliance through consistent pruning sessions.

​Water Brings Life
We are excited to share our ongoing collaboration with Highline United Methodist Church in Burien. In 2018, we began work with Highline UMC to design the Hazel Valley Community Garden, which aims to improve stormwater mitigation, increase food access, bring neighbors together, and build healthy soil. In 2019, we returned to collaborate with the Nature Stewards to design and install two edible roadside rain gardens, with Tilth Alliance Soil and Water Stewards to build 30 raised vegetable beds in the community garden, and with King Conservation District to fill those raised beds with Hugelkultur fill. You can learn about our involvement at Hazel Valley Community Farm on our portfolio, as well as in KCD’s blog. 
This year, we are returning to this site to dive into the next phase of their community installation, a rain-harvesting irrigation system! We will be installing a 6,000 gallon system that will help irrigate the community farm and the growing food forest. ​
See below for photos of our past installation work at this site, or see our portfolio for more. 

Bioremediation:
How to Clean Saturated Soils using Plants and Fungus 
​
Thursday November 19th 2pm - 4pm 
Antioch University, Room 200, 2326 6th Ave, Seattle 

Join the Green Infrastructure Partnership for an introduction to Mycoremediation and Phytoremediation. We will discuss applications of bio remediation for treating oil and street runoff,  roof runoff, biosolids and other pollutants.  We will be joined by Howard Sprouse of The Remediators (www.theremediators.com) and David Roman of Clear Water Gardens (www.seattleclearwatergardens.com) who will both share their knowledge and be available for a panel discussion of how best to use bioremediation to clean our soils and watershed.

2:00-2:20 Arrival and introductions:
2:20-2:35 David Roman Into to Phytoremeditioan,  and application to home gardens
2:35-3:05 Howard Sprouse Intro to Myco Remediation and application to large scale clean ups of soil and stormwater
3:05-3:40 Conversation and Panel Discussion
3:40-4:00 upcoming announcements and project report backs.

HOWARD SPROUSE
Howard Sprouse is the founder and CEO of The Remediators Inc. and co developer of Intracep LLC's Permeable Reactive Weir, stormwater treatment technology.  "The Remediators is full service environmental company that is internationally recognized for commercializing 'Mycoremediation' which uses fungi to clean contaminated soils and water.  The Remediators offers a full suite of bioremediation technologies with their 'Integrated Biological Approach', combining natural cleanup methods in a synergistic system tailored to site needs. The Remediators works closely with local universities and other companies representing the state of the art in the field of bioremediation.

DAVID ROMAN: 
David Roman moved to Seattle in 1999 to be amongst the eternal green. After a 15 year career in the construction industry he went back to school and in 2012 graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Environmental Science and Resource Management. Most of the following year was spent traveling across the country installing phytoremediation caps of retired land fills and toxic chemical sites. In 2014 the research he participated in while at the UW was published by the American Chemistry Society, "Degradation, Phytoprotection and Phytoremediation of Phenanthrene by Endophyte Psuedomonas putida, PD1".  He is the owner of Clear Water Gardens LLC, a landscaping firm specializing in water management, cistern and rain garden installation.

Stone Soup Gardens is happy to announce our recent relocation!  It is an exciting transition for us, and one that will bring a host of new opportunities.  Living in the Central District was a great start for our business, but we have moved south to Columbia City in order to expand as our business grows.  We now have a proper office, an organized tool shed, a much bigger chicken coop for our ladies, and a big yard to develop!

First, before we even moved in, we laid the foundation for our new tool shed, outdoor storage, and plant staging area. 

Gradually we moved into the basement and prepped our new office and indoor tool storage area.  I can't tell you how exciting it is to have a space and a place for everything.  

We built a lovely new coop and run for our little ladies in the front yard.  It has great access, shelter from the trees, views of the sidewalk, and a lot more room.  

We look forward to many happy years at our new location.  Stay tuned for more information about upcoming workshops, classes, and photos as we continue to develop and change our new yard into an urban retreat.