Me, Izzy, and Julia at Mount Rainer. It was a challenging hike, but the viewpoint was so worth it! The mountains were surreal, and you could see strips of bare rock from the collapse of previous evergreens. Mt. Rainier National Park Zucchini, green beans, potatoes, and tomatoes Me and the interns usually start our mornings in the Garden harvesting. It has been so cool to be able to see all the changes in the garden. These are most of the main vegetables we harvest every morning! I really enjoy digging for potatoes, it feels like I’m digging for gold. I’m amazed by how many beans the rows ..read more

Isabel, West, Julia, and Joanna make Kombucha On this day me and the interns learned how to make kombucha from West and Brian. To make kombucha you need sugar, black tea, and a SCOBY to start the fermentation process. SCOBY is a thick, slimy cellulose disk, that houses the bacteria and yeast. The SCOBY feeds on three things tea, sugar, and water. It is sometimes called the ‘mother’ because it can continuously replicate itself and create ‘babies. These babies become the layers that grow on top of the SCOBY and can be used to brew a new batch of kombucha. The yeast’ living on the SCOBY are nee ..read more

During the garden tour I looked down to see to a small bee had landed on my jacket. I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by this tiny creature, as it used its appendages to gently wipe off the pollen encasing its furry body. The garden tour continued, and I carefully walked to the next row Anita was showing me and the other interns. I was cautious not to make abrupt movements with my arm. To my surprise the small animal did not fly away, but instead seemed to burrow in the crease of my jacket, almost as if it were content. I remember being in awe of its glossy see-through wings, and vibrant yell ..read more

The adorable Daisy Daily harvest goes wild! In the months leading up to this internship I never really pictured what my time here at Songaia would look like. I don’t know if I had any expectations either, I just knew that I would be doing some gardening and learning about permaculture. I also knew that because this is the first thing I am doing out of college I wanted to use this internship as a period to work on myself and prepare for the “real world.” Reflecting on these past four weeks my time here at Songaia has already been more than I could have imagined. Not only have I learned so m ..read more

​Like many an intern before me, I’m up in a tree. 2022 Intern Byrd (me!) in a pear tree by the Forest Garden 2017/18 Intern Mistydawn in a cherry tree 2019 intern Matt Jernigan restoring an old apple (?) tree. 2017 Intern Joey pruning the Weeping beech tree 2016 Intern Jacob picking cherry blossoms for tea 2021 Intern Reuben...not in a tree...but close enough. Picking grapes with Piglet Laura and volunteer Amina. I can hear Mary–friend of the fruit trees–down below; I can almost feel her cringing as I step on a branch that creaks beneath my clunky boots. But the cluster of appl ..read more

These past few weeks the (green) beans have been coming in nonstop. Their vines are so tall they climb all the way up their trellises that tower above our heads and then reach out to the sky seeking to go ever higher but instead with nothing else to grab onto fall down and curl back onto themselves. Spiders have built webs up there amongst the beans that are hidden in the tangled masses of tendrils.  Beans hang high and low on the vines. They are pale yellow, green, and deep purple in color. The judión beans that cover the arbor near the entrance of the bean quadrant conceal a little ..read more

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This feeling of being in the midst of change is still present: in myself, in Songaia, and in the world. I’m going to bring in some chemistry again and use an energy diagram to illustrate how I visualize the energy required to achieve a change. For every chemical reaction, energy is needed to move from the initial reactant compounds to the final products. Even if the products are lower in energy—at a more stable, comfortable state—reaching that state requires energy to do things like break chemical bonds. As we move through transition, energy is also required of us. Energy to leave the things ..read more

Songaia has been abuzz with talk of the changes taking place: many community members have been undertaking the exhausting task of moving, and the uncertainty of coming out of the pandemic looms. Yet these shifts have seemed almost invisible to me, not yet acclimated with the long-term rhythm of the community and myself in the midst of quite a few changes as well. But as some things change, others remain the same. At times this can be reassuring, and at other times frustrating. Or it may simply take us by surprise! In coming to Songaia I anticipated--well, maybe not leaving my chemistry traini ..read more

Brian recites "Be Cool, Little Seed" at the July Strawberry Social. Be Cool, Little Seedby "Mulch Carruthers"  ​ As an intern, half of my days are spent in the Songaia garden, which really is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It is a hectic, chaotic garden, a riot of flowers and vegetables, both eaten, growing into one another’s territories and getting all quantum entangled. Most things in it I can’t identify and never will. I think this might be a dahlia, but I’m not for sure. This might be a carrot, but who’s to say? Not me, certainly. There are vivid, royal purples and ..read more