10.13.21

Around The Farm

Farm to Table Dinner will introduce new UW Botanic Gardens Director
In two weeks, October 27th, the UW Farm will host its ever popular Farm to Table Dinner. The 7th annual event will introduce the new Director of the UW Botanic Gardens, Christina Owen. As is the tradition, the dinner will feature a menu crafted from produce grown at the campus farm. 

Happy October! As Halloween and spooky season approaches, the best way to celebrate is to visit the Washington Park Arboretum and check out our sassafras. These trees are quite festive as they display leaves shaped like little ghosts (or mittens depending on your viewing angle)! Leaves can have a different number of lobes ranging from 1-3 on the same plant.
This deciduous tree displays vivid colors of fall foliage in yellow, orange, red, and pink. 

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The UW Botanic Gardens celebrate and honor the original stewards of this land.

10.6.21

Around The Farm

Preserve Your Summer 

By Dannette Lombert, UW Farm Food Security Lead/AmeriCorps Volunteer
 

 
Summer may be over but you can still enjoy your favorite summer fruits and vegetables while being mindful of the seasons. Preserving food has been in practice across cultures for thousands of years, whether due to seasonal changes in the region or long journeys with limited food supply. 

9.29.21

Around The Farm

New Student Staff at the Farm 
In August the UW Farm saw a change in staff. UW Environmental Sciences and Resource Management student Sarah Elgin transferred to WWU and AmeriCorps Volunteer Griffin Cronk moved to Washington DC. The farm welcomes new AmeriCorps Volunteer Dannette Lombert (see profile in Weekly Dirt) and undergraduate Russell Botulinski. Next month, Kove Janeski, a first year Masters of Landscape Architecture student joins the team. 

1)         Cotinus obovatus                                                           American Smoketree

One of the earliest and most stunning of fall color plants, the leaves of Cotinus obovatus become a palette of orange, purple and crimson.
One specimen can be seen along Arboretum Drive, just south of the Graham Visitor Center.  Another specimen that is already in full glory is located on Azalea Way near the southern intersection of the Arboretum Loop Trail. 

This summer as Rare Care Interns we worked on an alpine plant monitoring project for the National Park Service. On the surface, our job was simple: go to a site in Olympic, North Cascades, or Mt. Rainier National Parks, find the plant, map the edges of the population in the area, and usually set up a permanent plot to be monitored by the National Park Service in the future. 

By Maya Kahn-Abrams
Over the past five months I have been immensely privileged to work on several of Rare Care’s projects restoring our beloved native rare plants all over Washington state. From hot July afternoons helping map shimmering meadows of pink Wenatchee Mountains checkermallow (Sidalcea oregana var calva) and purple Wenatchee larkspur (Delphinium viridenscens), to epic early mornings counting baby seedlings of White Bluffs bladderpod (Physaria douglasii ssp. 

By Jaileen Merced
It is hard to believe that summer is over, and Allie and I have gone on 7 backpacking trips and 2 camping trips. Each of them very unique and special. From beautiful forest walks to steep crumbling slopes. We have covered so much ground and been to places I never thought I could reach. Working for Rare Care this year has been a privilege and a challenge. 

2021 was a jam-packed and prolific year of rare plant conservation for both Rare Care volunteers and staff. Safety remained a top concern, with care given to evolving COVID-19 protocols, and the wildfire season affecting access to many east side locations. Despite the extra challenges, we successfully completed research fieldwork and rare plant monitoring assignments, and added new collections to the seed vault.