Send your preschooler on a week-long adventure, outside!

Shovels, picks and hammers will be brought out this month to forge the final section of the Yesler Swamp trail, a much-anticipated finale to years of planning and fundraising.
Yesler Swamp, the 6-acre wooded wetland along the eastern border of the Center for Urban Horticulture has captivated local citizens, restoration ecologists and leaders at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens for close to a decade. 

As the idea of outdoor early childhood programs gains ground, Fiddleheads Forest School has been the recipient of increased media attention from across the country. We are so glad that, from our small school in the University of Washington Botanic Garden, we are able to contribute to a wider conversation about learning in nature, and the nature of learning. However, the media’s perspective is inevitably limited; a reporter visits for a day or two at most, which may allow them to describe the general gestalt of our program and the excitement around this trend, but misses the meaning and impact of this kind of experience over time. 

1)  Pinus greggii

This three-needle pine from northeastern Mexico is closely akin to P. patula but less ornamental.  Its oval-conical cone clusters stay closed on the branch for several years.  This specimen and the others described here can be found within Crabapple Meadow, along the east side of Arboretum Drive.

2)  Pinus jeffreyi

Native mainly of California in the Sierra Nevada and Siskiyous, this lofty tree is said to grow to 200 feet in the wild.  

The University of Washington Farm 2016 UW Student Farm Staff Positions
The University of Washington Farm (UW Farm) is a student-run farm on the UW-Seattle campus. The mission of the UW Farm is to be the campus center for the practice and study of urban agriculture and sustainability, and an educational, community-oriented resource for people who want to learn about building productive and sustainable urban landscapes. 

The Fiddleheads Forest School, recently featured in a New York Times article, is a nature pre-school that focuses on giving children the opportunity to learn and grow through outdoor exploration. The program is located at the Washington Park Arboretum, which is co-managed by UW and the Seattle Department of Parks. Part of the space used by the forest school includes a raised bed garden that is planted with annual vegetables. 

Announcement of Temporary, Part-time Position Opening: Assistant Agricultural Compost Outreach and Education Coordinator, WSU Extension Snohomish County, Everett Office
Description:
The Assistant Agricultural Compost Outreach and Education Coordinator is responsible for assisting in reaching out to local farmers to sustain conversation about how commercial compost can be utilized as a part of a holistic land management program. The Assistant Coordinator will visualize and explain the local and global importance of re-designating our ‘waste stream’ as a vital resource for agricultural land. 

by John A. Wott, Director Emeritus
Last month we discussed how rapidly trees grow and change the landscape.  It is interesting how physical landscapes also change and often actually shift and move due to changes in temperatures. Visitors to the Pacific Connection Gardens, specifically the New Zealand Forest, have seen the renovation of the Lookout which restored its former shape and size. 

Sleeping Beauties
1)  Oemleria cerasiformis                Indian Plum

The Indian Plum adheres to Benjamin Franklin’s advice in Poor Richards Almanac: “Early to bed, early to rise. . . .”  This shrub goes to sleep early, beginning to slowly defoliate in late summer.  However, it is one of the first to leaf out, and flowers early in the spring.  It can be found throughout the Arboretum, and is just beginning to awaken. 

One of the best conifers and most unusual for foliar effects in February is Taiwania cryptomerioides, the Coffin tree.