A Rambling Writer Guest Post: Thor’s Meadow Madness
In which Thor discusses the evolution of our land and flowers, from damaged to flourishing.
I’ve been dealing with more “life” lately, so my hero-husband Thor Hansen jumps in to help once more:
We live near a 450-acre tract of undeveloped land that is used by the locals mainly for haying and dog-walking. It has meadows that flower beautifully in the spring and summer, and I love to walk our dog Reo there and try to learn the names of the flowers. Some of the names I can even remember from year to year. Top photo is one of the big open meadows with Mt. Baker in the background.
Here is a sweet little pocket meadow.
Late spring and early summer bring out Ox-Eye Daisy, Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Eye Bright, Fox Glove, Yellow Glandweed, and many others.
Three years ago, we built a house on a Salish Seaside bluff north of Birch Bay, right across the road from these meadows. When we moved into the house, it was surrounded by bare ground, rocks, and sticks, all left over from the construction process. (And the former lot owner had illegally clear-cut, leaving a mess.) What in God’s Name were we going to do with all this ugly dirt? We were not enthusiastic about a typical grass yard, we wanted something more natural. We loved the meadows and their flowers. Why not plant a meadow? It will be pretty. It will be natural. There will be less mowing. I also wanted to build a wood-fired sauna in the soon-to-be meadow. I ordered some meadow and flower seeds from American Meadows. In early spring, I spread the meadow and flower seed over the whole property and the septic mound, but we left the sauna berm for special plantings. Then we waited breathlessly for our magical meadow. Well, it is a good thing we can hold our breath for a long time, because the growing process is very slow, especially on the poor quality of dirt we had (it was mostly clayey subsoil from the foundation excavation of our house). But eventually the grasses and flowers burst forth, and we were very pleased with the result. We got a wonderful profusion of flowers and clover grass.
Backyard during construction.
Backyard after planting.
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and an International Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). It’s also a love letter to the stunning beauty of her native Pacific Northwest wild places. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
