On A Breezy Day

A few weeks ago, on Saturday (November 22nd according to the human calendar), it was quite breezy. Alright, because I'm made from stone it was, but to the humans, the wind was strong enough to make one lose balance. Despite all this, there were still 6 young humans from that place called Reynolds High School, two of which were complete newcomers. It was a different day, for they worked passed their usual time and even brought coffee here.

Work wise, the humans planted some dwarf rhododendrons near the middle of the garden. They also planted some grass-like plants near Kame and I. (He's been sneezing nonstop since then, complaining about his allergies. Do turtles really have allergies to grass though?) I don't mind, at least it's going to keep me a bit warmer when the weather turns cold.

The azalea cuttings that were in the garden were taken care of well and transferred into larger plastic pots when they weren't sufficient enough to support the plants. Some of those were planted into the island itself. The plants in the garden, especially the pines, have also been pruned and shaped for winter. (Again, Kame has been making a fuss about how much it smells around here. Personally, I like that piney scent hovering lightly over the garden. He's such a pest sometimes.)

Talking about pests, the resident beavers have been downing more trees from the garden for their dam. Luckily, the trees are growing well. One of the trees is big enough that two weeks hasn't been enough time for them to down it and drag it away.

The humans have also moved some of the specimen trees from the barn house area behind the garden into the island. I hear that the trees will be here permanently (provided that those beavers don't take those as well).

That's all for my report, the last couple weeks have been quite cold and frosty. I think it's in my best interest to hibernate for a little while more. (No, I'm not a bear Kame!)

The Past Couple Weeks

The weather has been quite chilly the last couple of weeks. Just today, a cold rain fell upon our island, covering everything in a moist layer. On one of the better days, the red maples on the island sang with the brilliance of fire.

The replicated stream that the humans were working on a few weeks ago underwent some reconstruction. A few of the boulders in the presentation area were re-positioned to make more flat area. Some timbers were also brought onto the island. These will be used to create the foundations to the two small bridges that will go over the stream.
The humans also cultivated the soil by mixing in compost with the soil already on the island to create amended texture. Kame was slightly amused as the humans mixed it in by hand and not by the tools they usually use.
I overheard the leader of the humans saying that three younger humans will be building the new bridge. These young humans were representing Ace Academy. According to their conversation, they were from Reynolds and Springwater High Schools. Kame is chuckling in his corner by the stream about my obsession with these humans. I ought to give him a piece of my wing.

Saturday October 26, 2013

This morning found Kame and I surrounded in cold mist. A small replication of a stream was constructed by the humans. It was amusing to watch as they carefully stack each large stone on the side and gradually add smaller stones into the stream. Some of the humans even joked around, laughing at themselves. One mentioned the fact that they were mere humans trying to imitate what Mother Nature takes eons to create.

Though the day was gray, with a few drops of rain occasionally sprinkling, the humans were merry as the worked in small teams at different parts of the artificial stream.

After partially completing the streambed, the humans decided to call it a day and packed up, heading home. Kame was silently laughing as the wind blew across our small island, remarking that Mother Nature never took a break from her work. Though these humans try, they can only do so much in so little. We'll both continue to watch their work each time the unlock that poor excuse of a barrier (which only prevents other humans from entering the island) and come to make more wonderful changes to this once bleak landscape.

Saturday October 5th

Kame and I woke up to the sound of more metal claws and wet earth. The entire island is now covered in dark earth and there is a small stream running through. A few small boulders line the stream's edge, with a few bunches of horsetails too.

More work, of course, has been done. A few of the humans were moving more boulders and creating more holes on the grounds. On the borders and side of the island, some removal of weeds and unwanted plants were done as well.

                                                     

Outside of the island, there was much work completed. Some of the workers were repotting iris rhizomes into 1 gallon pots. At least, that was what I heard in their conversation, as the wind was blowing pleasantly towards me on that warm sunny day.

The Crane Wakes Up

How long has it been since I've slept? The island has changed so much. Kame (pronounced like "ka-may", Japanese for Turtle) and I have been woken by the sound of earth moving.

The island, which has been our home for many years, have completely been stripped. New plants (pines, maples, evergreens and azaleas) were standing firmly at the edge of the small island. I flex my wings, craning my head to stare at a bunch of humans hustling around, spreading moist, black earth onto the dry flaking ground. Weeks earlier, a huge metal machine came through, gouging out the hard, clay-like soil here. How different it looks, with the warm damp smell of rich earth in the steadily falling rain. It feels as if this island itself is slowly coming back to life after years of sleeping silently. It will be good to see smiling faces of adults and children here again; good to see our rocky island become a place for relaxation.

Blog Under Construction

Due to many changes and progress on the garden, we will also be giving updates online. Because of that, this site will undergo many changes in the near future with formatting.

We apologize beforehand for all the inconvenience that this is causing. Thank you for supporting us as we work on the garden and blog.

Thinking about the garden #4

Once the park closed in the late fall of 2012 it would not re-open again until the end of February 2013.  In the early fall we had begun our efforts to establish a “master plan” of the garden and outer island area, which would entail dozens hours of detail that would accumulate onto drawing paper.   The project would become a project within a project as would eventually happen many of the things that we would undertake.

Ron Ture and I began the process by establishing specific measurements of the island and all of the existing features, existing plants and boulders.  Prior to this time we had established true north, south, east and west and placed pins in the ground and established a grid.   Once the grid was established we also set a stone that would become a reference point from that day on and would be left there until the end of the project.

Ron took on the measurement of all of the existing detail this lead to the placement of all of those things being measured onto drawing paper to a specific scale, which we decided would be ¼ inch to 1 foot.  Not only did he position the materials in the proper place but actually showed the items in its true shape as well.  Now everything would appear as a true bird’s eye view of the Island.

Now that the drawing was established to this point we agreed that we needed a common area to work on the rest of the detail since we would be working together on the rest of the plan.  We were invited to use office space at Gresham City Hall which meant that we could come and go at different times without having to go to one or the others homes.  Our goal was to complete the final draft of the plan by the end of December 2012.  We were able to deliver the design package to Parks and Recreation for review on January 2^nd 2013.  The package that we presented included the design drawing, irrigation layout, in-ground drainage layout, view area details, covered area detail, bridge detail showing a new railing design.

Thinking about the garden #3

The park was going to close as the result of construction for the Springwater Trail “Spur” however the date seemed to become a moving target and many times it became hurry up and wait. We knew that once the park did close that it would not re-open for several months. With that our volunteers would not have access to the garden to bring equipment and material. Whatever we wanted to work with needed to be put on the island before the park closed and the longer that it took the project to start the more materials that we were going to need to last us. Until the re-opening.

The first effort we made was to select boulders that would eventually become the foundation for the garden and the stream bed and that turned out to be between 25 and 30 boulders that weighed 500 to 2000 pounds. All of these boulders had been in the park and along the Springwater Trail and needed to be moved to make way for the construction. The best thing about them was the type of boulders that they were, old, rounded and smooth, matching the existing boulders that where in the park and those used when the garden was first built. Campbell Crane was asked to provide a cost to move them onto the island, which would entail their using a massive crane to pick up the boulder and move them 80 feet in the air and place them onto the island. Campbell gave Todd Jones and myself the cost and when asked if they could provide a discount because of our non-profit status, they decided to do it pro bono.

The day that was chosen to do the project it had snowed overnight, about an inch or a bit more and I was the first to arrive on site, it was beautiful, especially the bridge and the garden view from the parking lot. Several people showed up to view the project and Gene and Sue were there along with Todd to move and stage the boulders to be ready for the crane. Also there for the project was Denny Chappell to take pictures and video and KATU News was on site. The project took 2-3 hours of move time which included the movement of a Japanese lace leaf maple that our volunteers had dug from the yard of a person that donated it. The root ball was huge and must have weighed 1000 pounds or more and it was everything the tractor could do to drag it to the staging area. To see this tree move through the air attach to the crane cable and be placed at our feet.

Thinking about the garden #2

Once the garden started to be under control some of the volunteers started to get the feeling that they wanted to see some progress forward by adding ground covers to the sides of the island that sloped to the creek. These ground covers were purchased with funds received from a grant that was awarded by the East Multnomah Soil and Water District, along with soils that were going to be used to replace those that had been eroded away over those past 30 years.

Planting began using materials purchased from local sources and were being stored in an area provided by the Gresham Parks and Recreation. Now began the feeling of accomplishment when a volunteer could stand back and see the results of that labor put forth over several weeks in the late fall. About the same time that the planting efforts were in force volunteers were also involved with the installation of the irrigation system. Irrigation products were donated by Rainbird and included the controller, rain sensors, 10 valve sets, valve boxes, 1-inch PVC pipe and all the drip irrigation accessories that we could ever need. After renting a trencher we installed the system underground and added the control wires for the system to function electronically. After several days of cleaning trenches that were 15-inches deep and laying out valves and pipe as the design called for, we were ready to cover everything up with the soil that came out of the trenches.

The system will be powered by electricity that will be provided from the mainland. During the construction of the new trail system in the park, a conduit was installed from an area near the “COHO’ shelter to the entrance at the bridge. The wires to support our electrical needs will be provided in the early spring.

The island and adjoining areas will have drip irrigation available by using an above and below ground tubing. The system will be very efficient and will only be used when materials are first planted and during the months of July, August and early September. If it begins to rain the system function will be terminated with the use of a wireless sensor positioned near the bridge. The sensor will record the accumulated amount of rain and will interrupt the controller function by causing the neutral wire in the controller to disconnect. Once the sensor detects the absence of rain and a period of dryness the controller function will be restored.

The launch of "Thinking about the Garden" news letter

We are excited to launch our Thinking About the Garden series. Enjoy continuous updates on the progress of Tsuru Island, and we welcome your feedback and appreciate your ongoing support. Enjoy!

Every day I think about the garden and that may involve something that we recently accomplished, something that we are planning on doing or what it will be like when we are done. I am just fooling myself on the last example, because we will never be done. I say that because the type of garden that is planned includes the ongoing maintenance of the garden as part of the garden building process. This garden will evolve over time and it will require pruning, moving plants, the re-setting of boulders, placement of new features and the removal of ones that become out of touch with the visitor.

When we first started the garden project it was hard to figure out what that blank page was going to be like let alone what it might look like in the projected 5 years before significant completion. To get to the blank page state we had to remove truck load after truck load of debris from the interior and the areas surrounding the island. We no more got some of the unwanted vegetation under control and a new growing season began and here it came again. Week after week and hundreds of volunteer hours later it is now clean and under control, for the most part.

Issues that we have addressed include the erosion of the east end of the island which has lost an estimated 100 cubic yards of soils from the end and sides. This issue has not be helped by the added erosion that has taken place from water running off of the top, down the sides and into the creek, that water coming from rain accumulations during the 30-35 winters since the first garden was constructed. The effects of the erosion included tree roots being exposed, flattened areas being created and then being used by visitors for access which caused compaction of the soil in that area.

To alleviate the run off we have installed a curtain or wick drain that is placed in a trench that we have put around the outer edge of the island. The drain material takes the place of what is known as a French drain. This drain material is 1-inch wide by 6-inches tall and is placed 2-inches below grade. The outer shell of the drain product is a fabric that will allow water to pass but will not clog with sediment or clay while the water passes through the cloth to the sub soil and is absorbed with the extra amounts of water going to a rain garden created in another area of the garden.

We are very proud of our new logo

National Cherry Blossom Festival

In April the National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 3,000 cherry trees that were sent from Japan to Washington, D.C. Tsuru Island was selected as a recipient to receive young trees and seeds as part of the event. Unfortunately, with the tsunami and economic difficulties in Japan, we won't get our gift this year. Hope is that we will get them next year.