Hunter Pumpkin Patch at 7401 Yelm Highway is an extravaganza of family friendly Halloween fun. They have two corn mazes, plenty of animals to see, wagon rides, a hay maze, a pumpkin sling shot, a pillow jump (like a trampoline), a shop and a snack shop. Mostly it was fun to see the kids running around and having a blast. In December Hunters also has a Christmas Tree Farm with assorted Christmas activities. There website is here and their Facebook page is here.
This salamander at the Gallucci Learning Garden (South 14th & ‘G’ Street) was featured in several gardens when the Community Garden Tour occurred. It is really a sweet garden with a large wagon, a lovely round courtyard, shoes filled with plants and, of course, plenty of plants. The garden, which was named in honor of local activist Bob Gallucci, was dedicated in August 2011. Their extensive website is here.
The Yashiro Japanese Garden at 1010 Plum Street SE, Olympia is a small, well proportioned public garden. It is a a joint effort of the Olympia-Yashiro Sister City Association and the City of Olympia.There are a few art pieces and a waterfall and some colorful fall foliage. More information can be found here.
The Stewart Garden is situated on the grounds of Stewart Middle School in Tacoma. At first I thought it was a community garden, but now that I have read their blog, it is clear that it is a student researched, designed, created and maintained garden. The blog shows just how meaningful this is to the students.
Point Defiance Ruston Senior Center at 4716 N. Baltimore St., Tacoma has a community garden that I went to visit today as part of the 2013 Community Garden Harvest Tour. Actually I got a late start, so it was the only garden I got to. Guess that makes it the best! Really it was a very nice smaller garden. I was looking at it through the fence and somebody who works at the center came out to open up the gate for me. The garden, which had both vegetables and flowers, is part of the Master Gardener Program sponsored by Washington State University, Pierce County Extension.
Driving around Tacoma I found The Farm by Hug, which I of course read as the Hug Farm. I loved the idea of growing hugs! And the actuality of the garden was almost as good. It is a community garden sponsored by the Hilltop Urban Gardens. Their mission is “to develop systems for food sovereignty and create racial and economic justice”. To learn more, go to their website.
So, I went to the Proctor Farmer’s Market to buy so delicious strawberries from the Spooner Farm booth and they were sold out. Fine. I understand. So, I swung by the house and grabbed dear daughter to go visit Spooner Farm at 9622 State Route 162 East, Puyallup, WA 98374-1812. It was worth the trip. They have a gift store with all kinds of quality farm related items. Dear daughter fell in love with a darling apron (which we’ll get next time) and we purchased a 1/2 flat of strawberries, a jar of raspberry jam, scone mix, some fudge and some cold drinks. Dear daughter went home and made fair scones and strawberry shortcake. Dear husband declared the strawberries the best he had eaten since his childhood.
Spooner Farms has a variety of crops and is sounds like they have a great harvest festival. When we drove away from the store, I noticed this really big chair with a view of the fields and Mt. Rainier.
The Bellevue Botanical Garden (1200 Main Street, Bellevue) is really lovely and has the added bonus of being free. I explored some of the gardens today and it was tranquil and smelled good. I strolled through various gardens with my favorites being the kitchen garden and the border garden. I also wanted to see the ravine and suspension bridge, but I turned right instead of left. Oh well, next time! There is some significant construction going on and new delights are promised for next year. I’m already looking forward to visiting again! There website is here.
A quick shot today of the privately owned Puyallup farmland next to Watson’s Nursery. It’s nice to see these family farms and I look forward to dining on their crops!
The sun was shining, it was relatively warm and dear daughter and I escaped to the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection in Federal Way. There were very few rhododendrons in bloom, as was to be expected, but that was good because it let us really focus on the bonsai. We left with a little fern, a lovely scarf and two cute magnets.
