Wild Homestead Living

Last week a mother deer stopped by with her fawn looking for a free portrait session. OK... she was actually looking to dine on our unkempt lawn, but what she got was both a good meal and me (Kevin) photographing her fawn as she dined. Apparently she spread the word (I would like to think it was about the free portrait session but it was probably about the fine dining) and the doe in our area that has twins appeared yesterday for her own family photo session/free meal.

I stayed as still and quiet as possible on the porch while photographing the fawns so I didn't end up with what looked like a bunch of photos of a deer in headlights. I even snapped a photo or two of mom as well as a group shot or two. Eventually the family heard or smelled something beyond my detection capabilities and headed back into the woods.

A few moments later I noticed some movement and looked through my porch railing to see a deer with some impressive, velvety antlers staring back at me. The expression on his face made me realize that he too had heard about the free photo session (and unkempt lawn) and he clearly wanted some new portraits to post on his Timber (deer version of Tinder) page for the upcoming rutting season. Now, I had only intended to offer the free portrait sessions for does and fawns, but I went ahead and took photos of him anyway even though all he had to offer me was one buck.😉

This week's wildlife photos start at sea level, travel up to about 3,000 feet, and then back down to the elevation of Julie's and my (Kevin) homestead just under 500 feet. It starts at the spot I visited a couple weeks ago near a heron rookery on Puget Sound where seals and wild birds continue to feast on an abundance of fish. I returned to that spot on Saturday before work and had a hard time leaving when work time rolled around.

On Sunday morning we travelled up into the mountains and spent some time walking around a lake and exploring a nearby stream. It was a fairly high use area but we still had some memorable close encounters with wild neighbors.

On our way home from the mountains we stopped in an area our local elk herd is known to frequent. We did see some elk, but they were extremely wary due to a group of people that left the parking area and tried to approach them. I felt bad for the elk as they all got up and moved off to avoid the people. We sat tight at the parking area and were rewarded with the sight of at least 30 Turkey Vultures taking off from a field across the road. Many of them flew over our heads and we got excellent views of them.

I know the people that were approaching the elk were doing so because they were fascinated by them and wanted to see them up close, but they ended up disturbing the animals' rest and causing them to move even farther away. The best way to maximize your chances of viewing wildlife more closely is to respect the animal's personal space and to be as still and quiet as possible. In this way you might get to view fascinating natural behavior instead of simply seeing how the animal avoids you.

It's funny when you get up early, head out to a park to watch wildlife, and then have your closest wildlife encounter of the day in your own yard when you return home. That's exactly what happened on Sunday when Julie and I spent the morning watching wildlife at a nearby wildlife area, and drove home to find one of our wild neighbors had volunteered to mow our lawn. He was doing a pretty good job too considering he was doing it with his mouth.

The attached photos include several shots of the volunteer lawn mower as well as highlights from the park including an adult and nestling Bald Eagle, a mother Common Merganser and her fledglings (14 of them!), and Northern Rough-winged Swallows feeding their fledglings on the wing.

By the way, if you too want free lawn mowing services, get rid of your grass and replace it with plants wild animals like to eat. This buck and his friends will be happy to help you out!

Thank you and Christine Clarridge for featuring us in your recent article on the popularity of homesteading in the Seattle area!

We hope our story and the article help more people realize that everyone belongs in this movement, whether or not you want to call it homesteading.

And remember, there is no one right way to live sustainably, only the way that’s right for you!

A few months back I (Kevin) posted some photos of herons that were building their nests and getting ready for this year's young. Last week I returned to the heron rookery to see how they were doing. I found trees washed white with a season's worth of heron droppings and fledglings everywhere, now fully flighted and fending for themselves... albeit still a little clumsily. The adults were still hanging around as well, probably feeling relieved that they only had to feed themselves now.

Keeping the herons company were Belted Kingfishers, Caspian Terns, Harbor Seals, and a number of other fish eating species, and all were having a feast. The water was teeming with small anadromous fish heading into saltwater for the first time and much larger adults making the return journey. A Bald Eagle made a close flyby which sent everyone except the seals into a complete panic, but the eagle either wasn't hungry or didn't see anyone unaware enough to make a good target so she just continued on by.

All of this wildlife activity was taking place in the heart of the biggest city in our state, and it was a good reminder that wildlife doesn't make a distinction between "human" areas and "wild" areas. They go wherever resources exist that meet their biological and behavioral needs. If you want to be a good neighbor to wildlife, consider landscaping with native plants, adding water features to your property, or preserving wildlife habitat that already exists on the property. They will use it. Wildlife is generally far more tolerant of humans than humans are of wildlife. Along those line, also consider wildlife-proofing any areas or structures that you don't wish to share with wildlife to avoid conflicts before they happen as conflicts are usually stressful to the humans involved and often fatal to the wild animals.

Sunday morning Julie and I got the chance to check in on a few wild parents that we've been keeping an eye on near our homestead. Our first stop was a beaver pond at a county park where we were happy to see a Pied-billed Grebe family that we encountered a few weeks back was still present. Only three of the original five chicks remained, but the three survivors are now nearly as big as mom and looked very healthy. In fact, mom looked to be the most disheveled of the group and the babies appeared to be trying her patience at every turn. I try not to anthropomorphize too much, but sometimes her expression reminded me quite a bit of human parents I sometimes see with teenage kids in tow.

Moving on from the beaver ponds we headed to one of our favorite spots along the Snoqualmie River where we encountered a pair of Spotted Sandpipers who were frantically trying to get our attention. Knowing this meant they had babies nearby, and that they were trying to draw us away from them, we paused, and as we did so two people with an off-leash dog walked up behind us. To their credit, they leashed the dog and returned back up the trail when we informed them that the baby birds were nearby. Other people encountered that morning were far less receptive to requests that they follow the leash law to protect wild babies in the area.

We next drove downriver a mile or so to check on a local Osprey pair. When we arrived the female was on the nest vocalizing loudly and her mate was answering from a fir tree across the river. The female had her wings partially spread and the head of a single chick could be seen sitting in the shade she was creating. A second male Osprey appeared overhead and circled looking down at the nest. The mated pair continued to vocalize, getting louder as the bird came closer. The interloper got the hint and headed off without further incident.

If you want to both help out stressed, wild parents, and keep your pets safe from the protective parents of larger wild species, please follow the leash law, especially in parks and other natural areas. There are many naive, young animals out there right now that are extremely easy targets for dogs and wildlife has less space every year in which to raise their babies. Please consider giving them a break.

This time of year is a very busy and very dangerous time for wildlife. Wild parents are more visible than usual as they are doing their best to care for their young in a world that has less and less space for them, and young wildlife is everywhere right now, doing their best to learn the ropes and live to see the day when they can raise young of their own. Julie and I have seen evidence of the tragic ends to many young lives along our local roadways and have been doing our part to stay alert so as not to create any additional losses.

Both for the animals and for those of us who have empathy for them, late spring and early summer can be extremely stressful. So this week, I'd like to give everyone a break from all that stress and sit you in the middle of a flower patch surrounded by healthy, happy wild animals.

Late June and early July is when our local Fireweed comes into bloom, and if you find a large patch of it and wait patiently, you are almost guaranteed to have a close encounter with our smallest feathered neighbors. I did just that last Thursday morning and as you can see by the attached photos I was not disappointed. I saw more Rufous and Anna's Hummingbirds than I could count during the 90 minutes I sat among the flowers. They fought, they fed, and generally made spectacles of themselves. For a while I did forget about everything else going on outside that little patch of Fireweed. The energy of those little birds was infectious, and I carried a bit of it with me as I trudged through the remainder of my work week.

If you are feeling stressed about the plight of wildlife or anything else right now take a break and spend some time in a flower patch or other natural area. Even just a few minutes spent in nature can have a big impact on your state of mind.

Last week's Wild Wednesday post featured a pair of nesting Osprey that are highly visible from a well-traveled road. This week I (Kevin) decided to focus on some feathered wild neighbors who prefer to place their nests in more out of the way locations like the underside of bridge supports. The vertical concrete surfaces found under bridges are similar enough to naturally occurring rock faces that Cliff Swallows don't see any difference, and decent sized nesting colonies have formed under many of our local bridges.

Cliff Swallows build their nests out of clay-rich mud that they collect in their beak/mouth and deposit one glob at a time at the nest site. The finished nest is an amazing little pod-like structure with a small entrance/exit hole and the interior is lined with grass and feathers. Not unlike humans, the swallows may build nests as single, standalone units or build them in direct contact with multiple surrounding nests where population density is higher.

Both Cliff and Barn Swallows sometimes come into conflict with humans when they build their nests on the side of buildings. Some people dislike the untidy look of the nests and many people are upset by the droppings that build up directly below the nests. Those droppings consist of the digested remains of the thousands of mosquitoes and other flying insects these birds consume though, and I'd personally rather deal with cleaning up a few droppings than getting bitten by more mosquitoes and biting flies... but to each their own. :-)

If you are having conflict with swallows consider taking a look at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's Living with Wildlife page on Barn and Cliff Swallows. It has great information about their natural history and behavior as well as humane solutions for resolving conflicts. It can be accessed here:https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/00604/wdfw00604.pdf

A couple weeks ago I (Kevin) wrote that an Osprey nest near our homestead appeared unoccupied and that I feared the nesting pair had not returned this year. Happily, I was wrong, and last Thursday and Friday I spent a little time with the resident pair as they went about their morning business.

Within a minute of my arrival on Thursday morning the male Osprey flew in from the direction of the river and delivered a partially eaten fish to his mate on the nest. She grabbed the fish and took flight, passing directly over me and landing on a nearby power pole. There she made short work of the fish before flying to another power pole nearer the nest where she did her post-meal preening.

The top of the power pole on which the Osprey preened had been fitted with four, triangular PVC pieces that I assume were installed to make it difficult for Osprey to build a nest there. Osprey frequently build their nests on power poles, cell towers, and other electrified structures and this can both cause damage to the structures and create a hazardous situation for the birds. Fortunately, if provided with a suitable alternative the birds will readily take advantage of it. In this case a pallet was attached to the wood crossbeams of a nearby non-electrified pole creating a perfect nest platform for these Osprey.

Humane, long-term solutions to wildlife conflict can often be found through small alterations and accommodations on our part. In this case some bent PVC and an alternate nest platform protects both the birds and the local power grid. It's definitely a win-win situation.

Last night Julie and I responded to a request for help with assessing a deer fawn that had possibly injured itself after getting its hind leg stuck in a rock retaining wall. The fawn had no detectable breaks or dislocations, but was clearly struggling a bit. Since the mother deer was still around, we advised that the fawn be left in a safe place in the yard so mom could find it in the night, and to reassess in the morning if the fawn was still there. The update we received this morning was that mom and baby were still present and that the baby still seemed to be having mobility issues. The finder was consulting with a wildlife rehabilitation center to determine next steps.

The post requesting help was on a community page and there were a number of comments offering advice or input on the situation. The comments contained a mix of facts, myths, and strong opinions as any internet post will, and I was thankful to
the original poster for caring enough about her wild neighbor to put the question out there.

Many commenters rightly pointed out that the best thing to do if you find a deer fawn with no apparent injuries or illnesses is to leave it be. Does leave their fawns unattended for hours at a time. The babies are very hard for predators to detect when they are laying low in the grass and keeping completely still. Mom swings by periodically to feed them but mostly keeps her distance so as not to draw attention to them. However, In the case of this fawn, there was a real cause for concern due to the leg entanglement, so some investigation was warranted.

I saw a few comments claiming that if a fawn has curled ear tips it means it is dehydrated or otherwise in distress. There are a couple websites that make this claim that unfortunately rank very high in a Google search. It is a very widespread myth, even among some wildlife rehabilitators. I have worked with hundreds of deer fawns in a rehabilitation setting and encountered countless more in the wild. I have seen dehydrated, sick fawns with uncurled ears and perfectly healthy ones with curled ear tips. Ear curvature by itself is not diagnostic of anything. When assessing the animal you have to look at the whole picture, not just one physical trait.

So, I am suggesting, perhaps ironically considering the other content in this post, that you be wary of wildlife advice you find on the internet. As with all topics on the internet, there is some good information out there mixed in with a lot of bad, and it can be hard to tell the difference.

Wild kingdom in the front yard. Our garden fence is still keeping them out!

Julie and I drove past an Osprey nest a few miles from our house this weekend and it appeared unoccupied. We weren't sure if one or both members of that nesting pair didn't make it back from their wintering grounds, or if they've simply decided to nest at a new location this year, but we were disappointed to see that our most visible pair of local Seahawks were absent.

Driving past the nest reminded me of an Osprey encounter we had a few weeks back though. We were in a park along the Snohomish River and noticed an Osprey hovering over some trees and looking down in the same manner as if fishing. The bird then dove into the tree and for a moment we thought we might be witnessing an Osprey hunting a squirrel, which would be rare but not unheard of. The bird hit the trunk of the tree and came away with something in its talons that my eyes were trying to turn into a small furry creature. Instead, as the Osprey flew closer, we could see it was just strips of bark.

The Osprey hadn't been hunting a squirrel afterall. Instead, he had been hunting material to line the nest he and his mate were building on a nearby cell tower. The action happened pretty far away, but I documented it as best I could in the included photos.

Osprey, like many wild species, can thrive even in the most urban of settings as long as they have appropriate sites to raise their young and in which to hunt/forage. A cell tower may seem like a strange choice for a nest site but it is just another tree to an Osprey. Many of the towers have even been retrofitted with platforms to accommodate the birds and prevent them from damaging the functional parts of the tower. I'm always encouraged when I see people actively seeking ways to accommodate wildlife. A tiny bit of flexibility on our part can mean the difference between life and death for a wild animal.

On Sunday Julie and I spent some time with the Snoqualmie elk herd just outside of North Bend, WA. About 30 members of the herd were visible, mostly pregnant cows and 1 and 2-year-old bulls that had a good start on this year's antlers. As we watched the elk, a flash of yellow to my right drew my eyes back to the parking lot and an unexpected sight. A male Yellow-headed Blackbird had landed and was poking around in a nearby puddle. I had only ever seen this species in eastern Washington so it took a good 5 seconds before my brain accepted what I was seeing and stopped trying to make the bird into a female Western Tanager. Noticing my focus and confusing my enthusiasm for a threat, the blackbird flew off toward a nearby wetland.

I returned to watching the elk and noticed that they too were doing a little birdwatching as a cow inspected a Barn Swallow as it flew by and several other elk turned to watch some low flying Canada Geese. As this activity was happening near the ground Red-tailed Hawks and Turkey Vultures circled high overhead riding on thermals generated by the sun warming the fields below.

We left the edge of the meadow and took a short walk along a path to a regional trail and then continued along the trail and over several bridges through a mix of farm fields, wetlands, and riparian areas along streams and the river. An amazing diversity of birds was seen including some foraging Western Tanagers and a feisty little Rufous Hummingbird looking like a jewel on the end of a branch. Looking back on the hour or so we spent at the meadow and on the trail, it really is amazing how many individuals and how many different species we encountered. Looking at the plants that were present, the variety of habitat, and the animals themselves, the theme that morning was diversity which is both the key to a healthy ecosystem and something that is becoming increasingly rare in the human-dominated landscape.

If you want to help wildlife and at the same time improve the overall health of the ecosystem you inhabit, consider planting native plants, providing water features and nest boxes, and otherwise diversifying the habitat on your property. Even if you don't want to completely "re-wild" your yard, planting just one native tree or shrub will add something of value to the overall landscape, and if many people do this who knows how big of an impact we could have. I would love to find out. :-)

Want to start growing food but not sure where to begin? Salad greens are our very favorite crop!!!

Here’s why:
Quick and easy to grow
Do well in containers
Loads of options
Tastier than store bought
Higher nutrition when eaten quickly.

If you are new to food gardening, be sure to check out our free downloadable workbook!

And remember, there is no one right way to live sustainably, only the way that’s right for you.

If you watched the video about the injured eagle that we posted two weeks ago you might have noticed a glint of silver and/or a flash of color on the bird's legs as he exited his carrier and flew away during his release. If so, you were seeing the leg bands that the bird had been fitted with before he was loaded up for the drive to the release site.

The U.S. Bird Banding Laboratory was founded in 1920 and has been issuing banding permits and bands, and serving as a repository for band-generated data for over 100 years now. Every band report they receive can help them learn about wild bird longevity, movements, population size, causes of mortality, and other information that can help manage and preserve species.

The primary federal band is silver and has either an 8 or 9 digit number on it. Because the numbers are too small to read from a distance, most reports for this kind of band come from people who have found deceased or injured birds, or from researchers who have captured birds. However, birds are often fitted with secondary leg, wing, or even neck bands that are color coded and contain digits or letters that can be read from a distance making it possible to identify the birds through a spotting scope, camera lens, or occasionally with the naked eye.

The recently released eagle had color coded bands on his left leg and the silver numbered band on his right. The left leg bands are green with a white "7" over black with a white "K". If you spot him, or other banded birds, you can report it on the USGS band reporting site here:

https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/bblretrv/

So if you want to be a part of one of the longest running citizen science projects out there, be sure to report encounters with banded birds. When you make a report the lab will send you a certificate of appreciation with any information they have about where and when the bird involved was banded, and it can be fascinating what you can learn. Plus, your report is just one data point in the much larger pool that will help add to our overall understanding of our feathered, wild neighbors.

Some folks post their fashion hauls. Here is our farm haul from a lovely Sunday in our valley:

🍅 Tomato plants from
🌱 Medicinal perennials from
🥚 Eggs from

You don’t need us to tell you how much is going wrong in the world. While we don’t know how to fix it all, we know for sure that connecting with your food and the people who grow it (and maybe growing some of your own) are good for the mind, body, and spirit.

The healthier we are, the more we have to share with others and the world. That seems like a good place to start.

And remember, there is no one right way to live sustainably, only the way that’s right for you.

It’s ok for change to happen slowly. It takes time, money, and lots of patience to build up new ways of doing things. Especially when it goes against the main stream.

The story of our deep freezers is a great example.

When we returned to cooking from scratch, we lived in a small rental house. We had less income. And I (Julie) was in the midst of cancer treatment.

We knew that a chest freezer would allow us to preserve food better than the little box on our fridge. Both single ingredients and meals.

To get started we bought the smaller freezer you see in the photo with Kevin. We kept it in a basement closet.

Over time, we learned how to rotate food through it. And when we were finally able to buy our own property, it came with us.

In the last year I have come to think of this freezer like a savings account. When I cook I try to make extra servings, and put those in the deep freezer. Things like soup and enchiladas.

Then on bad days (or weeks) when my health doesn’t allow for much activity, we draw from the freezer.

As we build relationships with local farmers, there are times of year where we now need to buy in bulk and preserve the harvest.

These two ways of using food have made the little freezer near bursting at times in the last year.

So we started researching bigger freezers. At the same time, we started setting aside a bit of money every paycheck. And when this one went on sale for nearly 50% off, we were ready.

With more space will come new things to learn. This is part of the joy and challenge of homesteading/self-sufficiency/slow living.

The timeline of this story spans about 7 years from the first desire for a freezer to the upgrade. This is just one example of what sustainable living can look like. How slow progress can build.

Wherever you are in your journey, remember that there is no one right way, only the way that’s right for you (and even that changes).

Julie and I first connected when we released an eagle together 23 years ago. This past Monday we got to relieve that memory as we helped return another rehabilitated eagle to the wild.

Recovered from his Injuries, a Bald Eagle Flies Free In early April a male bald eagle was grounded after being injured in a territorial fight with another eagle. Julie and Kevin responded to an online request f...

After eating all the mint growing amid the grass, a neighbor deer tried to sniff Emmet through the window 😂

Don’t fall for the pretty seed packets at the super market!!!!

Early in my (Julie) home gardening adventures we used those picture-perfect seeds. The garden was a failure. I thought that meant I couldn’t grow vegetables.

It was only later I learned how the seed industry (like so many other aspects of industrial agriculture) is fraught with peril.

These days it’s easy to find reputable seed suppliers who also sell plants well suited your unique climate.

In the Pacific Northwest where we live, is one of those we have had consistent success with in a couple of different gardening zones.

What are some of your favorite seed suppliers? Share them below so we can all benefit!