It’s time again to start planting veggies and herbs in Vancouver. The compost turned out very nice and Vince spread it down on the beds today for excellent nutrition for the plants.

On Friday October 30 we were pleased to have two of Charles Brown’s great-granddaughter’s stop by the house for a visit and tour. Nancy Brunquist and her sister Deb Ries had been to the house three years ago during an open house but just happened to be in the area Friday and stopped by. Vince presented them with a few stories he has been working on regarding their family. He also gave them a tour of the house and showed them the historical garden. They even clipped branches from the lilac bush to transplant to their own yard. We love it when family members stop by and have interest in their roots.

Yesterday morning the students workers were in Vancouver helping out with yard work. They pulled and sprayed weeds, raked, cleaned the barbecue and chopped down grass. Their hard work is much appreciated and the yard looks great. Can’t wait to have them back again!

Wow, you wouldn’t believe how fast our garden is growing. Lettuce is huge. Tomatoes are starting to bloom flowers. Snap peas are very tall. Everything else just looks amazing. We have already begun to harvest such crops like lettuce and of course the herbs. Here are a few recent pictures from outside.

The employees here at Stahancyk, Kent, Johnson and Hook are always looking for creative ways to get our names into the community. Our very own Vince Roman had an article recently published in the Finnish American Reporter. The article concerns his ancestor and is quite interesting. Click on link to read. Enjoy. john-eskola-story

We recently planted six more small tomato plants to fill in an area in the garden that was empty. These tomatoes will grow quite well due to the sunlight they are exposed to on the west side of the house. Photos also include an updated version of the garden which nicely displays carrot and radish sprouts; as well as green onions, snap peas, chives, eggplant and of course tomatoes. Also shown in the photo is out brand new rotating compost machine which will allow us to create organic material to be used in fertilization of our vegetables.

Recently, I was presented with a flat of sweet woodruff to plant around the arbor vida trees. I evenly spaced the 20 small plants between and in front of the trees. Ideally, the sweet woodruff will will grow and expand to create a lush ground cover in the newly created soil bed surrounding the trees.

There was also a stack of old historic bricks lying next to the shed and we used them to build a new flower garden. In this garden we planted carrots, radishes, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes. The outside is starting to come together and look sharp.

We have now planted herbs in the different quadrants between the marigolds. Some of the herbs include; cilantro, basil, oregano, peppers, rosemary and sage.

We have also planted snap peas in the vegetable garden. We created small teepees with bamboo for the peas to grow upon. Also planted in the garden is two rows of carrots and radishes.

So far we have planted a variety of lettuce in the garden and several types of herbs including basil, oregano, cilantro and sage. They seem to be coming along just fine. The herbs are planted in their original location where Mrs. Brown would have put them back in the 1800s, on the east side of the house, but in slightly more shade than the lettuce.