Day Two of Arlene's Garden.

We live on the same farm that Brad's grandfather, B. J. Lyons, homesteaded in 1890. He was only 20 years old when he came to Washington, which had just been admitted into the Union. His older brother, Will Lyons, had homesteaded a few years before, also in the Crab Creek Valley. The Great Northern Railway hadn't made it's way to Odessa, in fact Odessa wasn't even here yet. There were no roads, no fences, no stores and no fresh water. Any travelling had to be done by horse. It was an all day ride just to get the mail from the nearest post office.

The Lyons acreage has increased since the original 160 homestead acres but we still live on the home place. Our house was build for B. J. and his wife Grace in 1907. Family have been born and some have died in this house. We are surrounded by history. Here are some of B. J.'s dairy's milk cans. I use the beat up rusty ones as plant stands.

There are metal tags on the cans that bear his name.

Here is a old horse shoe I dug up in the garden last week.

It's very heavy and and is made for good traction. B.J. had to wrap his horse's legs when riding through snow that had an icy crust on it to avoid his horse's legs getting ripped to shreds.

B.J. built a root cellar deep into the side of the bluff. In the early Spring the smell of the Chokecherry is wonderful and is one of my favourite fragrances. The chokecherry shown here in the background has always been here, it's a native plant and grows at the base of the bluff where there are natural springs or run off. I have planted more chokecherry in my native garden area.

The root cellar door is on the left.

Here Max guards some newly purchased plants waiting for a new home.

In the back ground is lilac, viburnum, and golden currant.

To the right of Blondie are three big pots that I am growing my tomatoes in this year. I have a some green ones already but I'm afraid they already have some chicken pecks in them!