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Willow Baskets by Katherine Lewis

Dunbar Gardens in Mount Vernon, Washington

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Superb_owl Sunday

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Steve Lospalluto
Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl

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16586 Dunbar Road Mount Vernon, WA 98273
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growing willows #farmtobasket at #dunbargardens in the #skagitvalley with @willowbasketmaker Katherine Lewis
Happy Valentine’s Day. A heart made from fresh B Happy Valentine’s Day. A heart made from fresh Blue Streak willow stems. Second photo is one made a couple years ago. It has turned a bit white from the waxy bloom that often appears on this variety. (Well plus some household dust too. 🙄) Third photo is one of my favorites of a Barred Owl in front of a full size Blue Streak willow with loads of catkins in winter. Salix acutifolia Blue Streak is not much of a basketry variety but the catkins start to appear in December and continue to emerge through March. . #willowheart #salixacutifolia #dunbargardens #skagitvalley #ayearinflowers #valentinesday
Snow on the recently harvested willows and on the Snow on the recently harvested willows and on the living willow hut. It’s always pretty for a couple days but now it’s just cold. Looking forward to cutting many more willows this winter. . #basketrywillows #coppice #salix #dunbargardens #farmtobasket
Some recent birds on the farm photos. 1) Ruby-crow Some recent birds on the farm photos. 1) Ruby-crowned Kinglet perched for just a second on a willow rod. 2) Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco perched on the Melanostachys or Black Pussy Willow. You can see some of the catkins emerging. 3) Black-capped Chickadee. 4) Sharp-shinned Hawk in a chestnut tree overlooking the “bird feeders”. A regular visitor along with a Cooper’s Hawk. 5) Great Horned Owl on their usual perch behind the barn. 6) Barred Owl has been here all winter. 7) Bald Eagle flying over. . #birdsonthefarm #dunbargardens #skagitvalley
Katherine will be teaching at the Northwest Basket Katherine will be teaching at the Northwest Basket Weavers annual spring retreat May 14-18 and at the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network April 4-6. The NWBW brochure is up on their website today with registration starting Monday 1/27. Katherine is teaching an intro to fitching making a small basket purse as seen in photo 2. The second class is a willow gathering basket with willow bark for the side weaving. There are two examples in photo 3. Registration for the retreat is online this year with a protocol that isn’t ‘first come first served’ so it may allow people more opportunity to get their first choice. Info: https://www.nwbasketweavers.org/retreat-2025/ Katherine is teaching an oval arm basket like in photo 4 over at the BARN fiber studio. There is a description of the class and you can register on their website. Info: https://www.create.bainbridgebarn.org/assnfe/ev.asp?ID=5322183 . #willowbaskets #willowbasketmaker #katherinelewis #dunbargardens #basketryclasses #nwbasketweavers
I have been enjoying the winter colors of the will I have been enjoying the winter colors of the willows and getting started on the harvest. 1) Some fresh bundles of many varieties on the north side of the barn. 2) Two gallon ziplock bag of a typical cuttings order. Cuttings are 11+ inches in length with a slanted cut on the bottom. These are larger than I would use for my own planting but I try to set people up for success in a wide variety of conditions. I started using the large heavy ziplocks so that the packaging gets more than one use and they retain humidity really well. 3 &4) Some views of willows in the field. 5) A bundle of our Dunbar willow which is a found Salix purpurea seedling I am propagating. Anyone else cultivating new varieties? I don’t think it’s anything special but I’m always looking for varieties that will be free of stem galls. 6) Mount Aso willow with catkins. 7) Blue Streak willow tree which probably has catkins for the longest time. 8) Salix koriyanagi with lots of small pink catkins. . #basketrywillows #willowcuttings #dunbargardens #farmtobasket #skagitvalley #skagitgrown #salix #catkins
Happy new year! It’s quite pleasant now to admir Happy new year! It’s quite pleasant now to admire the beautiful winter colors of the willows, but I need to get up those rows and start cutting soon. By the way if you made an order for cuttings, I am starting to get the invoices out for the mail orders and the paper work organized. . #basketrywillows #salix #farmtobasket #dunbargardens #skagitvalley
Happy winter solstice! We were lucky to get some a Happy winter solstice! We were lucky to get some afternoon sun yesterday and even a rainbow. Great time to enjoy the colorful willow rods and the small birds foraging in them. Back to rain and wind today. Soon it will be time to harvest the willows. We don’t get much winter snow so there is no need to cut early. Which allows for shorter storage of cuttings orders that I will begin to send out later in the winter. . #wintersolstice #basketrywillows #dunbargardens #skagitvalley #rubycrownedkinglet
A dozen recent bird photos from the farm. 1) Black A dozen recent bird photos from the farm. 1) Black-capped Chickadee 2) Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3) Spotted Towhee 4) Northern Flicker 5) Steller’s Jay 6) Orange-crowned Warbler 7) Barred Owl 8) Great Horned Owl 9) Northern Saw-whet Owl 10) Cooper’s Hawk 11) Sharp-shinned Hawk 12) Red-tailed Hawk . #birdsonthefarm #dunbargardens #skagitvalley
Five large oval baskets with inset handles recentl Five large oval baskets with inset handles recently made. Katherine likes to make these and they are popular with customers. So far the bottom three in the first photo have gone to Kingston, New York, Albuquerque, NM and nearby Lopez Island. Three of these have English randing and two French randing for the side weave. Woven of course with willows we grew here. Top left is woven with Goldstones and Americana; top right is Whissender and Packing Twine; Bottom left is mostly Vermont Red; middle is Lancashire Dicks and Bear Creek Red; right is Goldstones and Bear Creek Red. . #willowbaskets #willowbasketmaker #katherinelewis #dunbargardens #farmtobasket #skagitgrown #skagitmade #skagitvalley #basketsmadetobeused #nbomember #nwdesignercraftartists
It was fun to have a visit from basket weaver Jill It was fun to have a visit from basket weaver Jilli Oyenque from New Mexico yesterday. Photo of Katherine and Jilli in front of the living willow hut on a foggy day. Jilli is a red willow basket weaver carrying on the tradition of her Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. Fun to talk about the “yan” which she wild harvests and the farmed willow that we grow. Here is a link to an article about Jilli with some nice photos and her own narrative. https://www.181makernm.com/post/from-heart-to-hands-jilli-oyenque-maker-of-red-willow-baskets
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