Fall is here and we couldn't be more excited about our recent addition to the Stone Soup Family: The Starlight Hideout. Aptly named by our client's kids who are super stoked to have this little gem all to themselves. Earlier this year we built the fence in this backyard, along with a couple of raingardens in the front yard. For a look back on the project, click here. But first, I introduce you to our new treehouse: Isn't it wonderful! So much fun to design and build, and a great tree to build it in. This hideout comes with a selection of fairies, a fairy nest, and loads of little charms to keep the parental spirits away. The raingardens in the front of the property are also looking pretty great with all of the recent rain we've received. Our clients opted for a nice mix of wildflowers, ground cover, and sedge to provide lots of colorful layers. Interested in having a treehouse build in your yard? Whether its for cats, chickens, children, or perhaps just for you - give us a call and we can get the ideas flowing.
NW Permaculture Convergence
Clark County Fairgrounds 17402 NE Delfel Rd Ridgefield, WA 98642 September 22 - 24th "Greywater: 101" with Patrick Loderhose Saturday, Sept 30th, 10:45 am Greywater, water from sinks, showers, and washing machines, is a great source of irrigation and can greatly reduce your outdoor water use. Greywater systems are especially important in times of drought. Come learn about popular greywater systems, design considerations, water saving potential, costs, regulations, health and safety, soaps and products, and how to choose a system that is a good match for your home and landscape. "Building Bridges With City Infrastructure" with Jake Harris Saturday, Sept 30th, 2 pm Stone Soup Gardens is a whole systems permaculture-based design and build company in Seattle. We work with community and city collaborators creating awesome Urban Farms, and Stormwater Management systems. Join us as we share our experiences working with Alley Cat Acres and the Department of Transportation on turning a city designated street into a food bank farm, collaborating with World Relief and the City of Kent on turning 2 acres of parking lot into a community farm for refugees that will filter rain runoff, and our ongoing work with Seattle Public Utilities Rain Wise Program installing edible rain gardens and cisterns aiding in cleaning our watershed. Owner Jake Harris is looking forward to sharing a conversation about our successes and challenges in creating public permaculture connections. For more information, or to register for the day: http://northwestpermaculture.org/ The Nature Conservancy recently did a piece on our design work at Paradise Parking Plots at Kent Hillside Church in Kent, WA. We couldn't be happier! It is such an amazing project, and so many amazing people are involved in making it happen.
"The day to day uncertainty of being a refugee and immigrant can feel more manageable through the visceral feeling of smelling and tasting familiar food. By creating this community garden, Hillside Church and World Relief Seattle are giving refugees and immigrants a renewed sense of belonging." Read all about it here: http://www.washingtonnature.org/fieldnotes/kent-community-garden-immigrants-refugees To find out more about Paradise Parking Plots, follow their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HillsideParadiseParkingPlots/ Our own Stone Soup Crew went to help with the depave project - check out our recap of the events of the day here: www.stonesoupgardens.com/blog/depave-party Thank you to all of our friends, our clients, our families, and everyone else who showed up this weekend to partake in our awesome pizza party. We had such a great time seeing everyone, connecting, and watching all of our friends, our neighbors, and all of their kids, ducks, and dogs have a fantastic time as well. It can't get any better than that.
We also had a pretty great reunion for our Stone Soup Gardens crew, too. Thanks for being our clients, working on our crew, and being great supportive friends. We couldn't do it without you! A simple herring-bone pattern on this backyard patio makes a wonderful addition to the space, and adds color and character to what used to be a plot of grass. As with many northwest home owners, dealing with water most of the year can create a bit of a mucky situation, particularly when you add kids to the mix!
This client wanted to create an additional space for the family to hang out, extending from their existing deck to the back of the yard. They also wanted a better solution for the stairway leading up to the backyard, so that it wasn't simply a cascading waterfall into their foundation during the winter months. The brick paver patio provides a nice surface, while allowing water to naturally drain into the gravel channels along the sides. The bricks will also be a lush color in the winter when wet, which is nice for those rainy grey days. We installed a permeable set of stairs which will allow the water to drain naturally through gravel, rather than running down or around the stairs. This design provides support and stability for the stairs, as well helping keep the water from the foundation on the shady side of the house. All in all, a lovely project that will last and last. GRiP: Raindrops and Roof Crops - Roof Top Urban Farms and GSI
Thursday, Sept 21st, 2 - 4 pm On top of the Mercer Street Parking Garage Tour the Up Garden with Designer Nicole Kistler. The Up Garden is Seattle’s Premier rooftop P-Patch, and this is a great chance to hear about its design, implementation and benefits to rain water management. Attendees are invited to come with questions and ideas to share about expanding the adoption of roof cropping as a tool for green infrastructure development. PLEASE NOTE: This GrIP meeting will be taking place outside, rain, shine or ashen snowstorm. GrIP steering committee members will provide canopies and some seating for the initial networking time and presentation prior to touring the garden, but please come dressed for the weather and ready to walk the roof top garden. About our speaker: NICOLE KISTLER creates works that reimagine place and bring people together in community. She has 14 years of experience managing large-scale public arts, arts planning, public involvement and landscape design projects with work shown nationally. She has a passion for creative collaboration and leadership on projects like the award-winning UpGarden, the nation’s first community rooftop garden, and 2015 arts festival Duwamish Revealed that featured nearly 100 artists. As the City of Seattle’s first Urban Agriculture Artist-in-Residence, she recently installed a series of story-based cast iron sculptures for the Beacon Food Forest. By creating frameworks through which individual stories and perspectives can be shared she hopes to build a larger narrative about love and life. As summer ends, we are moving into our busy winter season and we need a few extra hands to keep us on task. Do you know someone who might be a good fit? Are YOU a good fit? We'd love to hear from you! See our job descriptions below. Please email cover letter and resume to Jake Harris at gardenergnome@gmail.com. No phone calls, please. MASONRY LEAD
LANDSCAPE CULTIVATOR
GROUND SUPPORT
For five years our client was unable to reach the backyard from the deck without having to circumnavigate the house. Due to this, the backyard didn't see much action, or much love. In cases like this, it is great to be able to reunite people with the landscapes that they intimately live with. We designed and built steps from the second floor deck that would enable to owners, their kids, and their dog, the ability to use the backyard as a gathering space. We built a small flagstone patio, and will eventually plant out the garden to create a bit more privacy and greenery to cozy up the area and make it a destination, rather than just an inaccessible eyesore. We also installed tiered greenbeds in the front yard, and a cistern along the side of the house that they can use to water the vegetables with. All in all, a lovely project, and so great to see the yard become a favorite spot for the family to enjoy. Stage One: Stage 2: Stage 3: Next up... plants!
A veritable tangle of things existed in this backyard space before we started on it, including a beat up old shed that was removed, and a whole lot of weeds. We decided to create an oasis for the family, including the kids, who needed some fun spaces and places for hiding, jumping on, and gathering. Complete with two hugelkultur log beds, a new fence, gate, and bike wheel arbor repurposing an existing arbor structure, an inlaid flagstone patio, stone steps, log steps, and of course, a greywater sink to top it all off. This project was messy! We had piles upon piles of things, trash, materials, tools, and logs. The client, ever patient and excited, was thrilled with the result. We'll be back in the fall to put in some plants and we look forward to seeing how the space develops over the years! Take a look below for some featured elements in this newly awesome garden space. A work in progress for sure. We added a small retaining wall at the back that will support the new fence and gate while creating one parking spot in the back alleyway. We put in two hugelkultur raised beds complete with plumbing for a greywater sink that allow the owner to wash veggies and water veggies all at the same time! We added steps into the yard and a sweet under deck flagstone patio. Paradise Parking Plots is hosted at Hillside Church in Kent and is a project with World Relief Seattle. The goal is to transform 2 acres of parking lot into a community farm for the surrounding refugee population which will become a hub for community building through food. Designed by Stone Soup Gardens, Paradise Parking Plots will be a powerful demonstration home to the first raingardens in Kent, will capture part of a 30,000 square foot roof into large cisterns, and will help to turn a natural spring into a habitat pond. (The stream currently runs across the pavement and into a storm drain.) On June 23rd, Stone Soup Gardens employees went to the first Depave project to help create a garden paradise! Marco, our designer, Patrick, our crew lead, Susan, our Office Manager, and Jake - our esteemed leader headed off to pick up a shovel and lend a few hands. Here is a look at the overall property before the depave. (The parking lot we were working to remove is the rectangular lot below the church building. ) Thanks to Turner Construction, their fabulous employees, their awesome heavy equipment, tools, and safety gear, along with other volunteers from World Relief Seattle, King County Conservation District, and Hillside Church, we were able to remove most of the asphalt from the parking areas, and put it into large dumpsters to be hauled away. Great job everyone! We are looking forward to seeing this as it progresses. Check out this article from King 5 about the project.
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