Greetings from the rainy Pacific Northwest! I’m Noony, and I’ll be your host this month for the A to Z Blog Challenge here on my blog.

First, though, I want to share something of critical importance. Now, more than ever, it’s critical for creatives to stand together and support each other. To that end, those of you here in the States, we are rallying this coming Saturday, April 5th. On this single day, four groups have come together: 50501, Indivisible, Hands Off, and Women’s March. They are organizing on two websites: Hands Off and See you in the Streets.

NOTE: As of Saturday night, 885 protests have been logged. Protests are being added daily. These are *non-violent* protests. Hope to see you there! If you can’t come in person, please help spread the word, either on social media or with your local press. Let’s show these billionaire oligarchs that America is not for sale.

Second, on to my theme, which is,

The A to Z of Our Forest and Gardens!

If it’s your first time visiting me, my husband and I live on a homestead in rural Washington.  We are both transplanted urbanites, so we’re learning a whole new way of being that includes things like invasive species management and how to competently grow a tomato.

Now, I gardened in Chicago for twenty years, and even was part of several community gardens including the Peterson Garden Project and the Global Garden. The microclimate on our property here in Washington is completely different, AND is not in sync with the rest of Duvall since we’re at a higher elevation. It means that we’re about a month behind the gardens in town and this has completely messed with my tomato mojo!

Add to that the fact that we can get property tax credits for properly managing our forestland and it’s all become and amazing learning adventure.

Last fall, we took a forestry class through Washington State University in partnership with King County Conservation District and the Washington Department of Natural Resources. It was twelve weeks long and covered how to create a Forest Management Plan, a document that is the first step to those tax credits. Not only did they help with the writing of the plan, but also with the doing of the things IN the plan – invasive species management, wildlife conservation, forest product development, and water quality initiatives. They even had a segment on managing our wildlands for wildfire, which is a growing threat in our area due to human caused climate change and land management practices.

This past January, I saw an email talking about another class from the same group, this time called, “Grow Your Groceries.” What’s more, the class came with twenty seed packets! We signed up and are in class every Thursday through May.

This month, I’ll take you on a tour of our forest. We’ll see our trees, talk about snags and wildlife habitats, birds and beasts, gardening from bulbs and seeds to using the harvest, and I might even experiment with microgreens! It’s all raw and authentic, and there may even be video.

Come along with me and enjoy… the A to Z of Our Forest and Gardens!