About Jefferson County, WA

Port Townsend's FROGGY BOTTOMS

A beautiful wetland area is in the heart of a small Port Townsend neighborhood between San Juan Ave and the non-motorized trail. It is much prettier in the winter when there is a pond, but yesterday as I passed on my morning walk it was full of beautiful singing birds.

A small urban oasis, Froggy Bottoms is a work in progress, done by volunteers with the co-operation and assistance of the Puget Sound Water Quality Team. Animals, plants and environmental conditions all interact to create a diverse ecosystem. Strategically placed snags, stumps, and rock piles provide homes for wildlife to thrive and multiply.

Froggy Bottoms will remain a public open space where people can enjoy nature and such things as birdwatching.

Artists Rendering of Froggy Bottoms

Froggy Bottoms June 29, 2009

Some of these old looking photographs were taken from a kiosk at the entrance to Froggy Bottoms. The rest are all my photos taken yesterday.

Device to measure depth of pond

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There is a wonderful farm in the very center of town called Collingwood Farm, complete with fields of vegetables and flowers, portable greenhouses, old farmhouse and farm stand. I find this absolutely amazing because in the hot market of 2007 this land of approximately 4-6 acres could have been sold off for any number of residences, or mixed use projects. This is one block from my home and a wonderful walk for me and my dogs. There is a large parcel on the corner for sale for $1,000,000 plus zoned for retail, mixed use of condos and stores.

Sign on F Street in Port Townsend View of fields from Non motorized trail

Portable greenhouses Farmstand on F Street open 24 hours

Street signs on F Street.

The vegetables from Collingwood are fresh, organic and sold at the Saturday and Wednesday Port Townsend Farmers market, as well as the vegetable stand. Many times late at night I have stopped in at the farm stand which leaves its doors open 24 hours a day and has a payment jar using the honor system. There are fresh vegetables, flowers, jars of honey, sauces and organic coffee.

This weekend the Washington Association of Realtors is sponsoring a statewide open house tour. It will be held on Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 1 pm and again from 2 pm to 4 pm on both days. This will give agents an opportunity to hold 4 listings open and the public will have a large inventory of of homes to preview. Our local board is supplying us with special signs, balloons and print-outs of the tour and there is a full page ad in our local paper.

I think we are all pretty excited about this idea and hope it will bring out some buyers. Open houses are not the norm in our real estate area and there is not always a good turn out. I think it is just not what people are used to here. I always found in So. California the people at open houses either were not serious enough to hire a Realtor or just not ready to buy. But, this is a different time and a different market, so I am going to go now and print more fliers for tomorrow.

I will be in Uptown from 11-1 at 1234 Franklin Street, a wonderful historic Victorian on a R-3 lot with a seperate studio.

From 2-4 I will be in the Bell neighborhood at 4760 Bell Street, a beautiful and spacious NW style home with a one bedroom apt. and a 12,000 + sq. ft. lot.

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Happening today in Port Townsend! We have sunshine, ocean breezes and a lot of people in town for this annual event. There are nine private gardens on display, all located within walking distance in the Uptown area. Featured gardens will demonstrate things such as drought tolerant and deer resistant plants, shade solutions, and a shared vegetable patch. There will be composting techniques and lots of ideas on landscaping your own backyard.

This event is sponsored by the Jefferson County Master Gardners, a group connected with Washington State University Extension. A Master Gardner is trained under the auspices of WSU to provide information to home gardners about practices for sustainable gardening, pest management, efficient watering systems, soil improvement and choosing proper plants.

In addition, the Master Gardners group does plant clinics, speaker series, youth education, and advanced training. These incredible gardners have their plants and flowers on display at the Jefferson County fair every year and they are truly beautiful and amazing.

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This This private non-profit organization is all about preserving our land, open spaces, and habitat. So far this group is stewarding 7865 acres in this area.

The office is located in Port Townsend, but projects are county wide and donations of land and money from citizens along with the plans and ideas of members make it happen.

My first recollection of this organization is from the time one of our local realtors started a drive to collect $75,000 to retain trees that line the entrance to our city, as they were in danger of being cut down. This realtor came to our office meeting with a flyer and pledge cards, and did make it happen.

Examples of Recent Projects:

Chimacum's Glendale Farm

An easement was created to provide a buffer zone for salmon and wildlife habitat. This farm is 187 acres and is one of the largest farms in the county dating back to the 1850's. By creating this buffer the land will remain in agricultural zoning.

Winona Wetlands

There is a new campaign designed to raise matching funds from the county of $100,000 to protect a 5 acre parcel that home to one of the most important habitat located in the Quimper Wildlife Corridor

Chimacum Creek

Heron Pond

This is a beautiful area of 60+ acres of non-commercial open space shared with 11 residential homesites on the perimeter. This is a wonderful community of lovely NW style homes on 5 acre parcels with pasture and wetlands in the center all protected by a conservation easement.

Today, June 13th there is a tour of Tarboo Farms, a resoration and protection project which has been aided by the Jefferson Land Trust. Tour is 11 am to 4 pm. Bring your lunch.

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