Farm Life

Encounter with a Wild Elk in Suburbia Jean and I live with our daughter’s family on a small 35-acre farm in the suburban/rural area just south of Seattle.  The family named the farm, “Soggy Bottom Farm” (SGBF), in recognition of the fact that it sits in a hollow with an abundance of meadows and wetlands.  The farm is only 5 miles away from brother George’s (and his wife, Audrey) 40-acre home and property.  Both SGBF and George’s property are surrounded by smaller parcels with

21 July 2025.   A Vulture’s Visit and the Elk Returns

18 July 2025.   Maintaining Sight Lines in a Place that wants to be Forest

4 July 2025.   Fence-Jumping Wild Animals Travel Through SGBF Without Regard to Livestock Fence Constraints

A perch is an observation place in a high position that is occupied only temporarily.  A view from the perch provides an expansive...

I Find an Object that carries an Identifying Signature Journal Notes: 14 May 2018 At the River Place last week, I found a shed deer...

The dogs at Soggy Bottom farm lead an idyllic life.  They have free run of 35 acres inside a fenced pasture.  Prime wildlife habitat...

11 Nov 2024 I just returned from a three-day trip to the Tri-Cities and the house where we used to live on the banks of the Columbia...

With a wonderfully mild end to summer, the King Conservation District staff gathered for our annual Farm Field Day at Soggy Bottom Farm...

A description of three kinds of cats that live on a North American farm

Spring at Soggy Bottom Farm is generally a place full of life and vitality.  The lambs bouncing with joy in the fresh grass of the spring...

August 3 – 9, 2016 “Grandpa, if we don’t go now, we are never going to go.” With these words, 13-year-old Leo admonished me to plan the...

29 July 2023 It was late afternoon and I was on my hands and knees pulling weeds by reaching under the bird netting that covered the...

I see three kinds of black birds out of my SoggyBottom office window at the feeder and on the pasture fence: Red-winged blackbirds;...

Observations at Four Trail Camera locations: Trail cameras are used at Soggy Bottom Farm to capture images of wildlife that normally go...

Whereas much of what happens in life is routine and unremarkable, there are times when the happening is so bizarre that you could not...

March is an interesting time of year. Sometimes it is cold and feels like winter. Sometimes it warm and feels like spring. Days are...

The age-old question has always been when and if you should cut down a tree. That is the dilemma that I am facing this fall. At Soggy...

We see many birds at SoggyBottom farm. I have been noting all the different species sighted over the 1.5 years that we have been in...

The crisp September air welcomed the staff of the King Conservation District to Soggy Bottom Farm. We opened the farm for a Staff field...