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ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Eco Trekkie (he/him)
@ecotrekkie.bsky.social
1.1K followers 990 following 1.1K posts
Star Trek, Restoration, Nature, Autistic/Neurodivergent Rights, and Opposing Fascism -- Make it so!
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ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Busy weekend out getting logs and wood chips for my restoration work. This is the third load of logs and I got about 3 cubic yards of wood chips. I also salvaged 3 native hazelnuts and 2 native red osier dogwoods and planted them today. Fall and winter are always busy doing this type of work here. 🌱
Wood chips in the bed of a pick up truck. The bed is completely full and a silver tarp is covering them. The tarp was pulled back a bit for the picture. A bunch of logs and some other wood pieces in the back of a pick up truck. The back of the truck is completely full.
December 2, 2025 at 5:05 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
I ordered some native edible plants today! 15 cattails, 3 woodland strawberries (for my in-laws place), 6 yampah, and 6 California compassplants. All edible plants native to the west coast of the United States. Yampah and California compassplants are new to me, but hopefully they will work out. 🌱
A screen grab of a portion of the authors order confirmation showing the plants that were ordered. Top to bottom: 5 x Cattail ~ Bundle of 3 Bare-root, 1 x Woodland Strawberry ~ Bundle of 3 Bare-root, 2 x Yampah - Bundle of 3 Bare Root, 2 x California Compassplant ~ Bundle of 3 Bare-root.
November 28, 2025 at 4:09 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Got a whole bunch of logs and other wood pieces today. Two full truck loads that I loaded myself but got for free. All from a local golf course. Going to use them to create habitat for frogs and other critters in my wetlands. 🌱
Pick up truck bed filled with logs of various sizes. Some the size of large branches and others roughly a foot across The second full pick up truck bed of logs. Most of these are more the size of large branches around 4 to 6 inches across and various lengths from 4 to 8 feet.
November 24, 2025 at 4:38 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Planted 20 native great camas bulbs today! Really excited to have these in the ground. Hopefully they do well and multiply over time. I would love to have thousands of these growing on my property one day. 🌱
3 great camas bulbs being held in one hand. The hand is covered by a blue gardening glove. The bulbs are white / cream color with some dirt on them. Each bulb is around the size of a tennis ball.
November 16, 2025 at 4:36 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Yay! My order of bulbs just arrived. Some daffodils but I'm most excited about the great camas bulbs! Got a bunch of them and I'm planning on planting them in clumps between some of our fruit trees. Great camas (Camassia leichtlinii) is a native flower here in western WA. The bulbs are edible too! 🌱
A great camas in bloom. I took this picture last May on my property. This one came up from seed from a native meadow mix. Since it's doing well, I wanted to add more. The flowers are star shaped with 6 purple petals and a light green center. Very beautiful - the flowers are on a tall stalk with multiple flowers opening on alternating sides of the stem. In this picture, there is one open vibrant flower, 2 older spent flowers lower on the stem, and multiple un-opened flower buds further up the stalk. Some native checkermallows are growing in the background next to a log pile.
November 13, 2025 at 8:27 PM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Did some more work today in this area. Working on getting rid of a bunch of grass and creating habitat for wildlife. Plus just more beauty from native trees, shrubs and flowers. 🌱
A large area of brown wood chips. On the right is a small growing bed with a native evergreen huckleberry, a native blue elderberry and some native yarrow. The growing area is defined by small logs. A worm bin is next to a chain link fence. The site before the wood chips were placed. I dug out the grass along the house and fence. The remaining grass was mowed very short. Mulch was placed over it all fairly thick to get rid of the grass.
November 12, 2025 at 2:33 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
I salvaged this gate along with 3 others from a barn years ago. The barn was falling apart and was being torn down. I got these gates and enough wood to build a small shed. I like looking for material to salvage.
Close up of the wood gate. It has 6 vertical wood pieces, 2 horizontal wood pieces at the top and bottom and one diagonal one between the horizontal ones. The wood is mostly a light grey with some darker parts. There are gaps of about 2 inches between the vertical pieces. The same gate but from further back showing it connected to a chain link fence.
November 11, 2025 at 4:35 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Did some clean up and improvement around our small metal shed today. Had to fix the gate, remove some grass, mulch, and add some wood. More to do but a good start!🌱
The finished area. All exposed dirt is mulched with wood chips. Wood was added around an area with native plants to keep them safe. All dirt - first I dug out the grass and made a low area under the gate for the chain link fence.
November 9, 2025 at 4:21 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Had some kayak training today for work. Weather ended up being good. It was beautiful on the water with lots of fall colors, eagles, herons, and geese.
The front end of two inflatable kayaks. One red and one blue. Out on a decent size river with fall colors on the trees along the river and hills in the distance. A blue inflatable kayak on the boat launch right before going into the water. Some small rapids just downstream. Lots of fall colors, hills in the background and blue sky.
November 7, 2025 at 4:37 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
I did some work today to improve a secondary stream channel. The old one was too small and water wasn't flowing anymore. I expanded it, cleaned it out, and added some wood and rocks to create more diversity of habitat. This channel will help manage high flows when heavy storms come. 🌱
A new stream channel roughly 3 feet wide with a small amount of water flowing through it. A bunch of native wetland plants are in the background around a pond just upstream of the new channel. There are some logs and small rocks at the top of the channel. A close up of the logs and rocks and the native vegetation just upstream. The biggest log that I used barely fit in my wheelbarrow. I could barely get the log up into the wheelbarrow. Very heavy!
November 2, 2025 at 4:27 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Found some Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) on my run today. Just left them where I found them. But very cool looking mushrooms! 🍄 🌱
The mushroom has a red orange cap with lots of small white bumps/spots on the top. The gills are barely showing and the stem is white with a brown bottom. It is a bit past its prime colors but still cool to find. Fairly large across. Growing in grass along a road next to a conifer forest.
October 30, 2025 at 1:44 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Loving the fall colors in our wetland area. The native Red osier dogwoods (Cornus sericea) have lovely red leaves mixed in with the yellow, browns, and greens of the other plants. Each year the plants get a little bigger and fuller and we get more and more fall colors. 🌱 🍂 🍁
A native wetland at the bottom of two small hills. Taken in the fall, there are red leaves with a mix of orange, brown, green and some yellow mixed in around the red. Some water is visible in lower parts and dark green conifers are in the background.
October 28, 2025 at 1:07 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Salvaged this big nest. I got stung by them earlier in the summer. But now the nest is drying in my green house so I can show my kids it up close. 🌱
Fairly good size hornet nest. Roughly volleyball size, maybe a little smaller. The author's hand is covering part of it to help show the size. The nest is grey with some strip patterns and the entrance hole is at the bottom. The top is much larger and rounder than the bottom of the nest. Same nest, but being held out in a field with some wetlands in the background. Taken right after being salvaged.
October 26, 2025 at 11:17 PM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
All full of water now! Got a little sun this morning before the clouds came back. More rain is on the way. But so great to see it all full! I just finished a little tweaking of a couple streambed heights to even the flows out between them, but otherwise it all seems to be working great! 🌱 🌎
A full pond in a little sunlight. A lot of the banks are mulched with cut grass. There are native willows and other native shrubs and trees growing around it. The plants and clouds are reflected in the water. Another image of the same pond but from a different spot. A lot of the fall colors are visible in the trees and shrubs around the pond. The pond from another spot close to where a lot of work happened near one of the stream channels that flow out of it. Just a closer look at the clouds reflecting in the surface of the pond.
October 25, 2025 at 6:19 PM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
It just filled up! I will get a better picture tomorrow. 🌱
Night time picture of the pond just filled up. The mulched areas are around the edges and the water is filling it all.
October 25, 2025 at 2:59 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
The middle pond is now full! And the stream is flowing down towards the lowest one that we just finished expanding over the summer. There are a bunch of small ponds between the middle and lower one so it might take a couple hours until the lower one starts filling up. Maybe more. 🌱
The middle pond is all full now. There are lots of native plants growing around the edges. Including willows, some trees, sedges and other native shrubs. Still some non-native grasses in one area.
October 25, 2025 at 12:16 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
This shows part of our property from the air. The left side is winter 2009 and the right is winter 2024-2025. All the dark areas are water. This shows the new wetland areas that I have been working on since 2017. There are no fish in this area but lots of amphibians and other critters now! 🌱 🌎
Two side by side images showing changes to the land since 2009. I'm the 2009 image, a small seasonal stream is flowing through the middle of the property. Mostly straight with no meanders. The 2024-2025 winter image shows a series of ponds, multiple stream channels, some small islands and native plants and woody debris. The changes resulted in a lot of diverse habitats with a lot more water on the land.
October 24, 2025 at 11:19 PM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
This pond is now full and the lower ones are starting to fill up. We are getting about an inch of rain today and more tomorrow. I'm excited to see the whole wetland system filled with water! 🌱 🌎
Looking north over a large filled pond with some cotton woods on the left side and grass around the other areas. Another angle looking at the same pond. This one matches the earlier picture. The next good size lower pond is starting to fill up. A good stream of water entering it. Lots of willows and other native plants around it. Less grass since this pond is more established with more native plants.
October 24, 2025 at 11:11 PM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
You can still take a virtual tour of the east wing using Google maps street view. That's where I got most of these images.
A formal room within the east wing with a lot of people taking a tour through it. Circular room with a large chandelier in the middle and various artwork and other items on the walls and around the room. A part of the east wing with a security desk and a large hallway with wood accents and various doors going to different parts of the east wing. A screen capture from AP News showing the area that has been destroyed. This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows demolition of the East Wing of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP). https://apnews.com/article/satellite-images-white-house-east-wing-fdceec4fcc5b7cb605f176bf7dd10d6a
October 24, 2025 at 8:16 PM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Here's what Trump destroyed at the White House up close. Starting with these large trees that are now gone. I wonder when they were planted...
Google street view showing large trees next to the east wing of the White House. Now destroyed as part of Trump's ballroom project. The hallway connecting the east wing to the rest of the White House. There is a lot of vegetation visible on the right side out of the windows. A nice garden that is now gone. The hallway is mostly white with a brick walkway. Looking out the windows of the hallway connecting the east wing to the rest of the White House. All gone now, including the garden seen out the windows. A google 3D view looking down at the White House and the east wing specifically. Focused on the area that has been destroyed. Lots of removed vegetation and green space in addition to the building.
October 24, 2025 at 8:16 PM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
The rains are here and we finished mulching the exposed dirt slopes around our expanded pond last night. Finished just in time for a week of hard rain 🌧️ Now I'm just waiting for it to fill up with water. If not today, it should be full soon. Can't wait! 🌱
A finished expanded pond with all the exposed dirt slopes mulched with cut grass. Another view of the same pond. Taken for later comparison when the pond is full of water.
October 24, 2025 at 4:25 PM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
I think there might be a gorilla gardener in my area! Found these little tree spinach (Chenopodium giganteum) plants growing in a Safeway grocery store parking lot. 🌱
Two tree spinach plants growing in a parking lot planting area under some trees. The center of each tree spinach is bright magenta and the rest of the leaves are a fairly bright green. There are lots of little seedlings of some sort around them. Each tree spinach is only a few inches high.
October 24, 2025 at 3:40 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Share someone who looks stylish wearing the colour brown 🤎
Michael and Book from Star Trek Discovery wearing dark brown clothes and walking down a hallway on I think Book's ship.
October 23, 2025 at 4:27 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
Our first big rain storm comes this Friday and goes through the weekend. I just finished digging to expand our lowest and largest pond in our wetland restoration area. The wetland didn't exist before the restoration work. By Saturday it will be full of water. Just need to mulch the exposed dirt. 🌱
Showing the exposed dirt of the area I have been digging. Fresh dark dirt is visible on some new side areas. This picture is actually from a couple days ago. More dirt has been removed since. Some rocks can be seen leading up to the stream channel that exits the pond. One of two stream channels. The pond has a rough ameba shape to create more edges and diversity. The digging made a large part of it significantly deeper and expanded outward a bit in a couple areas. Added about 2000 gallons of capacity.
October 22, 2025 at 2:41 AM
ecotrekkie.bsky.social
The ponds are starting to fill back up! Just our most upstream one so far. But more rain is on the way later this week and it should be enough to fill up our entire third of an acre of restored wetlands. I'm just wrapping up expanding the lowest pond. Can't wait to see it all full again! 🌱
A partially filled pond with native sedges growing around a large part of it and a mix of grasses, western dock and other plants mixed in. This pond is only about a third of the way full in this picture. All the sedges will be underwater when it's full.
October 21, 2025 at 4:28 AM