Sustainable Samish Garden Tour
Where local economy and conservation meet

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Hosted by:
Chuckanut Transition
Friday Creek Habitat Stewards
Skagit Conservation District

Meet, network, and gain tips from Samish watershed residents who are working to cultivate a healthy, resilient, and vibrant community...one garden at a time.

If interested in being a part of the garden tour organizing committee please contact us at chuckanuttransiton@gmail.com

"Like" our Sustainable Samish Garden Tour Page on Facebook
Here is our
​4th Annual 2015 
​Sustainable Samish Garden Tour
Thanks to all who share their gardens, lives, and experiences!



​Carla and Dave Glassman's Garden

This beautiful 7 acre farm is nestled at the edge of a large beaver pond that is the beginning of the Samish River’s winding descent to Samish Bay.  There are many highlights at this home garden!  A new feature includes over 600 gallons and over 100 square feet of vegetable growing area of aquaponics.  Aquaponics combines raising fish and growing plants in a way that is truly sustainable - water from the fish tank is cycled through inert media grow beds (both vertical and horizontal) where the fish waste is naturally converted to plant usable material which is taken up by the plants, both feeding the plants and cleaning the water which then cycles back into the fish tank until the next cycle of the pump.  Happy fish!  Happy plants!  Happy people!  Don’t miss Carla’s home crafted insect house for attracting a variety of bugs and pollinator friends, the native plantings and riparian restoration, as well as flourishing fruit and organic vegetable growing areas.


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Jim and Kara Kintzele's "Southern Exposure Family Farm"

Fallow since the 1990’s, this beautiful hillside 11 acre farm overlooks hundreds of acres of scenic Skagit farmlands and foothills.  Since the Kintzele’s purchased this property in 2011, they have been breaking the land and methodically improving it using sustainable practices and organic farming methods.  In 2014, the couple installed a 2 acre juvenile salmon restoration project on their farm along Thomas Creek, a priority tributary of the Samish River.  Come and see how the entire ecosystem is benefiting from this amazing addition to the watershed!  The Kintzele’s garden has also flourished - they put the excavated soils from the restoration project to great use to create 5 terraces on the hillside, allowing them to maximize the warmth of the natural southern exposure of the hillside.  Their farm produces warm loving crops like melons and cantaloupe, a variety of specialty crops like purple cauliflowers, broccoli, artichoke, asparagus, and hops, and basics like chard, corn, kale, squash and potatoes.  A new 20’ x 70’ greenhouse hosts tomatoes and peppers.  “We are always learning, and love to share what we know about our growing methods and varieties, or our salmon restoration project.  Please stop by our farm for a short tour or for an overlook of the salmon restoration project.” ~ Jim & Kara Kintzele - 7662 F &S Grade Rd.



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Sue Mitchell and Dave Saxton's Garden

“Eight years ago, my husband and I found our dream acreage - nearly 3.5 wooded acres along a salmon spawning stream.  Like and “dream” it provided challenges.  How do we become good stewards of our beautiful little ecosystem?  After taking the Skagit Conservation District’s Backyard Conservation Stewardship Short Course, we certified our yard as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat” with the National Wildlife Federation.  Next came the questions of replacing our aging trailer.  We found a low-impact development (LID) process called Diamond Pier Foundation System that allowed us to build our new home without tearing up the land for the foundation.  Removing a few aging alders, creating raised beds and installing a drip irrigation system, our vegetable garden came to fruition.  Projects continue, as always, but we can now relax a bit in our beautiful native plant garden, planted along the banks of Friday Creek.  We really enjoy our little place in the woods.” ~ Sue Mitchell




John and Lindsay Boettcher's "Knotleavin Farm"

This beautiful and flourishing 30 acre small working farm nestled in the foothills of the Butler Creek Conservation Area showcases harmony between the built and natural environment.  The Boettcher’s share their 40 year life lessons in animal husbandry, forest and garden applications, dealing with clay soils and rain water, and having recently dealt with the financial and landscaping issues of septic compliance.  Witness a greenhouse, raised beds and traditional gardening methods.  According to John, the “focus continues to be winter gardening in the maritime Northwest, having been inspired by Binda Colebrook’s book of the same name.”  John will also share his expertise in farm and garden tool repair and will have a wide variety of restored tools that will be offered for sale.  Don’t miss the opportunity to stroll through the “Raymer Conservation Reserve” with Skagit Land Stewards, Jim Owens), a ten acre jewel which adjoins the farm and extends to a cathedral like grove of Cedars by Butler Creek.  




​Alger Community Naturescape Garden

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Pollinator Garden with community paid and built outdoor BBQ area in back.
It is amazing what can happen when you combine a great idea, commitment to community, fresh air, and a group of energized and hard working neighbors and volunteers!  This beautiful naturescape garden was established in 2013 to showcase pairings of native, drought tolerant, and pollinator plants and a variety of naturescaping techniques that Skagit residents can adapt to their own home garden to be more environmentally and wildlife friendly…one plant at a time.  Phase I of the project included that removal of invasive blackberries along the creek and restoring the riparian vegetation and salmon habitat on Silver Creek.  The project was made possible by the inspiration and support of many community neighbors and volunteers, including the Alger Improvement Club, Friday Creek Habitat Stewards, Skagit Conservation District, Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group, and numerous neighbors and volunteers.  Exactly what community is all about!  Garden located at Alger Community Hall - 18735 Parkview Lane
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The Garden is not the end, it is the beginning, the place where you preserve the wild spirit that will save the world. - John Hanson Mitchell, from the "The Wildest Place on Earth."


​Here is our 
3rd Annual 2014 Sustainable Samish Garden Tour
Thanks to all who shared their gardens, lives, and experiences!
Dennis and Maria Whitcom's Prairie Farm - Enjoy a behind the scenes tour of this scenic and sustainable small family farm nestled on 20 acres at the base of Bow Hill, which features free range pastured chickens for eggs, grass fed sheep for meat, and a bountiful 1/5 acre vegetable and herb garden, including a 2,000 square foot season- extending high tunnel . Check out how they produce the old fashioned way - without synthetic chemicals or GMO feed or seeds. “We believe in keep- ing our farm small to serve our local community and ensure sustainability and environmental well-being. For example, 1/4 of our property is enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) to improve the ecology of Friday Creek and provide habitat for fish and wildlife. We also use drip-tape irrigation in an effort to conserve water.” - Dennis and Maria Whitcom Farm fresh veggies and eggs will be available for purchase!

Paque's Solar Panel System - Interested in learning how you can produce your own solar energy, save money, and make a difference? Nestled in the beautiful Park Ridge Lane neighborhood, Nancy and Joe Paque will feature their recently installed ground mount solar panel system. Learn how they made the most of the available space and sunlight on their property for optimal sun harvesting while also allowing adequate space to expand the system in the future. Since being installed in December 2013, their system has produced 3113 kW and sending over 2000kW back to the grid with an approximate savings of $83.00 per month. Banner Power Solutions is the local company that installed the project.  They are proud community sponsors of the Bow Little Market.  Thank you Banner!
Rancho Mira Sol (Jill Weber and Ted Martinez) - This beautiful small working farm will delight kids of all ages. Mallard and Hooded merganser ducks, heron, and eagles frequent the property, which has been certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. Garden elements include organic vegetables, herbs, berries, raised beds, a greenhouse, and an orchard. Visitors will see heritage Scottish Highland cattle and free range poultry breeds including Americauna, Buckeye, Dominique, Freedom Ranger, Iowa Blue, Jersey Giant and Welsummer chickens; as well as Chocolate, Bourbon Red and Narragansett turkeys. Livestock enjoy an organic, soy free, non GMO diet. A recently completed Skagit Conservation District farm plan with applied Best Management Practices to protect the Samish watershed will also be featured. The turkeys are curious but harmless creatures who neighbors consider the official ‘Welcome Committee’ at the community mail box. Please use caution entering and exiting the driveway - turkeys at play!

Jacobs' Bow Hill Bounty - Jeff and Marguerite purchased a 9 acre cow field and forested hillside in 2005 and lived there in a fifth wheel trailer for 2 1/2 years with 2 small children. Jeff, a self-taught ‘Jeff of all Trades’, designed and built their house. Marguerite is a Landscaper and Designer and used most of her free time to establish the yard. “After we moved onto the property, we immediately mowed sections of the field and planted fruit trees, various berries and carved out a vegetable garden using only hand tools, a mower and weed eater. We began raising hens for eggs and then added cows, turkeys, meat chickens and a pig; who’ s manure we use to fertilize our garden! Our main source of heat is alder and maple, harvested from our hillside by Jeff and split and stacked by our son and daughter. Even our dog has a job - keeping hawks away and occasionally herding chickens and cows. Natives and ornamentals are in bloom all year to attract pollinators and birds, and an adjacent DOT retention pond is home to ducks and herons. Our family farm is a constant project, but we are now more self-sufficient than we ever could have dreamed, and we marvel at how delicious life on a farm is!” - Marguerite Jacobs



Hodgson and Ruiz's Garden in "downtown" Bow - Visitors to this beautiful flourishing garden will see many examples of permaculture in action. See first-hand how to create an ecosystem in your back or front yard and apply permaculture principals. The garden features a bounty of vegetables, fruit trees, berries, and blooms, and a variety of raised beds and trellises. Chickens, edibles and pollinators make a productive land- scape for people, kids, and wildlife. Don’t miss “Olivia’s Garden,” which features drought resistant plants that help conserve water use.

Kate Bower's Garden in "downtown" Bow - This delightful “new” small suburban garden features a raucous assortment of raddiccio, red romaine, arugula, green romaine, water cress, tarragon, rose- mary, kale, chard and a pair of scissors hanging close by. “ My front yard little bed of greens is an open invitation to share my winsome bounty with friends and neighbors. Friends come by and I snip a bit of this and that, stick it into a handmade recycled paper cone, plop a rose bud on top for inspira- tion and voila, an edible bouquet! “ New to gardening, Kate will share her trials and tribulations and her first feckless attempts which have blossomed into cherry trees, two baby paw paw trees, filberts, Italian and green gage plums, Spartan apples ,and fruit trees of “unknown fruit” salvaged from a neighbor. Meet Kate’s “new love” and her new composting system, which is just right for a small urban or suburban backyard.