Saturday, 24 March 2007 Volunteering in Rain Gear
Today we needed to acquire my new mobile phone (“Give me a bell on my mobile!” as they say in the UK) but first we had obligated ourselves to plant some sword ferns at the Chinook Sea Resources Fish Hatchery where a wonderful new nature trail is being made. Ray Millner of The Planter Box has been spearheading this project. Yesterday evening in a chill driving rain we dug the sword ferns from a private woods where we have permission to occasionally forage, so this morning on went the rain suits and off we drove to the hatchery. Ray met us at the greenhouse and introduced us to arborist Earl Miller….so delightful to meet a true arborist who is opposed to topping trees. I trimmed the old fern fronds in the relative comfort of the greenhouse while Allan planted them in the prepared bed near the stream. Does it sound like he does all the hard work?
The hatchery’s trail will be a good walk for birders and plant lovers, and I am especially interested in volunteering now that I know that not all the plants featured on the trail MUST be natives. A garden of horticultural diversity grips my imagination and my volunteer time.
Why is it that even in a rain suit, moisture wicks up the arms of one’s shirt? Somewhat damp but not disgruntled, we went on to Astoria on the mission to get my new phone (it flips! and takes photos!) and then to the two nurseries we bypassed yesterday, Lewis and Clark and Brim’s Farm and Garden. Lewis and Clark has a grand new concrete planter running along the front, but a serious sideways rain gale kept me out of the buying field. At Brim’s a sheltered area thrilled me with a great price on DOUBLE hellebores in pinks and white…and a dark almost black single one called ‘Blue Lady’. $8.50 for double hellebores? Unheard of but a joyous discovery.
And there were chicks! Chicks all soft and fluffy in the side room of the feed store. Why is it illegal to have chickens in Ilwaco when in Portland or Seattle, chickens are allowed, and Seattle even has tours of the choicest and prettiest chicken coops? Something must be done… I wanted chickens badly till I learned that after a few years they stop laying and then one supposedly eats them. Not MY pet chickens!!
After the plant shopping (and a hardware store stop for Allan) we dined at the new Peruvian restaurant, the Andes café. My goodness, what a feast….a dish of chicken (but not pet chicken) in milk gravy for Allan and for me spicy ceviche which gave me that intoxicating hot food rush. When we arrived home, I was so glad to be in the cozy indoors. Then while making a nice hot cuppa tea, I looked out the back window and there was Allan still gardening, planting some ferns under the Salix magnifica. Still in the torrential ceaseless cold rain. Has he gone mad? Perhaps not, but he has been struck hard by the passionate addiction of gardening.
[8 Feb 2012 note: Something changed at Sea Resources so we never got involved in further volunteering. I don’t remember the details. Lewis and Clark Nursery seems to be permanently closed now, but Brim’s is still there and still has excellent plants. Just yesterday I got a double file Viburnum and a Cox’s Orange Pippin apple tree there.]
Tangly Cottage Gardening 
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