Year 1 to Year 16, change in perspective

Snapshots in time allow us to see how much things change.  Rarely do we have enough of those snapshots to look at how much things change.  I found  some photos from when Fall of 2000  giving me a place in time to see how much things have matured and changed.  In March of this year, we recreated each of those photos to compare moments in time.

It's easy to forget about how large trees and have become and how the field of vision changes.

First Tee then...
The Clubhouse was under construction.

Now....

 

Fifth tee then...

Now...

The 7th Tee then... 
This picture is before the Fall of 2000, no seed had been planted.  You might remember the large tree right of the Championship tee, that has since been removed to make room for a new Aldarra Tee.

Now...

Eleventh tee then...

Now... Years of Alder removal.

The 12th tee then...

Now.... What an improvement without the Alders.

The 16th tee then....

 
Now...
The tree in the foreground on the right has been removed since taking this picture.  The growth left of the fairway is remarkable.

The 18th tee then...

 

Now...

GOATS

In June of this year we rented a few furry friends (nearly 250 goats) to help control vegetation near the 7th tee in an effort to improve the aesthetics of this area.

 



The pictures from then and now span a time of 16 years.  The goats stayed for one week and how quickly we forget what it looked like before.

Work still needs to be done to see the project to the end.  Goats removing blackberries makes for happy maintenance crew members and a head start heading into the Fall to complete this project. 

The goal moving forward is to use the herd from Healing Hooves each year for vegetation control purposes.

Mason Bees

You might have noticed black storage totes scattered around the property and wonder what they are for, they are homes to Mason Bees.  These bees are a solitary creature that usually makes a home in an existing vacant hole.  We have been working with a local company, Crown Bees to get this project up and running. 



 

The benefit to the golf course is minimal, but the benefit to agriculture across Washington is the goal.  The State of Washington has 1.5 million acres of land used for farming, nearly one billion (yes with a B!) bees are needed to pollinate various crops. 

Our contribution in this project is providing Crown Bees with habitat and space to replenish their stockpile of bees, helping farmers across Washington produce fruit, vegetables, and other food items that might end up on your table.  Issues plaguing honey bees are well documented, varroa mites, American foul brood, and colony collapse disorder.  Mason Bees could be used to help secure the future of our food supply.

Over 100,000 cocoons were placed around the property, this generation of cocoons could produce up to one million bees available for next years crop.
Mason Bees get their name for the habitat they create, filling their compartments with mud to shelter eggs they lay each Spring.  Research has shown one (1) Mason Bee is able to do the work of 100 Honey Bees in terms of how many plants it will pollinate.

After emerging from their cocoon in the Spring they began gathering pollen,  by traveling flower to flower which is stored in a hole, they find suitable, before laying an egg.  One female will lay eggs in as many as four holes per box.  A wall of mud is placed between each egg (that will grow into a cocoon) placed between each egg, a female will lay roughly 25 eggs each Spring.

 

Aside from their looks, there are many differences between Mason and Honey bees.  Unlike honey bees, Mason Bees are a solitary species which produce no honey or bees wax.  There are over 150 species of Mason bees native to the North America, while Honey bees only have only 9 different species and are a native species of Europe.  The fur of a Mason bee has is not sticky, like that of a honey bee, so more pollen is exchanged as it travels flower to flower.

I took this picture late in the afternoon, her face covered in Pollen after a long day of pollinating.  Males have an all black face and females have a white patch of fur on their face.

Get close and look around the boxes if you are so inclined.  They do not cause anaphylactic shock if you are stung and the chance of being stung is extremely low. 

You might even have one crawl across your hand after hatch.  Watching mother nature at this level is extraordinary, you'll think twice before squashing a pollinator.  For more information check out Crown Bees Website.   

Unfortunately we learned that the Bears are also interested in the Mason bees.  Last weekend a bear took a swipe at a few boxes located on 11 and 12.  You can see the detail of the Mason Bee providing a habit for the larvae to survive.  (Mother Nature is so cool!)  There is hope some larvae can be saved, the people at Crown Bees are looking for trays that are salvageable.

Cocoons will spend the Winter under refrigeration Crown Bees.  Once the eggs mature they will be harvested, stored over winter, and prepped to begin their work next Spring.

P.S.

We have honey bees too!  Two hives have been placed on property in hopes to produce honey that will be available in the Clubhouse this Fall.

Aerification, In Motion

In my last post I explained how aerification works in text, in this post you will see the team in action. This video goes behind the scenes of Aerification week.

 

Thank you to John Shearer for making this video happen. Our plan is to make videos throughout the year to talk about other elements of golf course management.

How did you do that?

Five-Eleven (5:11PM) April twentieth. That is the time I took this picture and greens aerification was complete.  Two days of team work, sweat, dust, and cooperation of Mother Nature produced a fantastic finished product.  Its a sense of accomplishment to watch your team work together to complete the task you set in front of them.  Its a week full of mixed feelings.  You know its necessary and beneficial, but you also can't wait for it to be over.  Frustrations can set in quickly if mother nature doesn't cooperate, but this year she has never been friendlier. 
Eight steps, of equal importance, form the process for greens aerificaiton. 
"Why is aerification necessary?"  The following diagram answers that question better than any explanation on paper.

Turf needs oxygen, water, nutrients, and sunshine to survive.  I rely on mother nature for sunshine.  Nutrients I supply, as needed, to the soil through fertilization.  Water and oxygen are needed in balance, I help get both into and out of the profile from aerification. 

Step 1. - Deep-tine

Deep-tine aerification is apart of my program for healthy turf.  Improved oxygen exchange and water infiltration deep into the profile provides a healthier environment for turf to grow.  If both of these necessary inputs moving further into the profile the hope is the root of the plant also has a better environment to exist in.  The depth achieved with these half-inch tines is 6+ inches.  

Step 2 - Roll
Rolling after deep throat (the nickname for our deep-tine machine) smooths out any bumps and firms the surface slightly before topdressing.

Step 3 - Topdress

Dilution is the solution.  Research has shown if sand is added to the profile (Profile is the medium in which the grass grows.  That medium in most cases is sand) at an equal rate to thatch production organic matter percentages can be held at desired levels and there is no need to remove organic matter (pull a core) during aerification.  Interesting to note I incorporate use sand doing aerification with this process.  I believe this is due to the integrity of the hole remains making it easier to incorporate topdressing.  (Topdressing is the same as sand.)  The included soil sample report from nine green shows an organic matter percentage of 2.06%.  The maintenance goal is a percentage of less than 2.3%  Nine green will be tested again this Summer, as with many others, to determine if the same practice can be used for Fall Aerification or if changes must be made to this process and other maintenance practices throughout the year.

Step 4- Aerify, Again.
Yes, each green gets aerified twice.  Before anything happens in this step the sand must be completely dry from step 4.  Cooperation from Mother Nature makes this step a lot easier.  The vibration of the machine and the small drag brush attached to the back, gets a majority of the topdressing incorporated into the holes.

Step 5 - Incorporation
As soon as a green is finished being aerified drag brushes are passed over the greens to incorporate topdressing that needs to cap off an open hole.   Two different brushes, or varying texture and rigidity are used to incorporate the sand.

Step 6 - Roll
This step begins to put things back to normal.  Each green will be rolled 3 times before we determine the process to be complete.  Direction is also important.  Each direction is different and also different to the direction of the aerifier.  If a green is aerified at a direction of 6 to 12, no final rolling can be performed in that direction.  Altering direction helps smooth humps and bumps created from the machinery that goes across the green to complete aerification.

Step 7 - Final Cleanup
A final visual inspection is performed to determine if more topdressing is necessary or extra needs to be removed.  Brooms, shovels, and blowers are used as necessary.
 
Step 8 - Give it a Drink

After being aerified twice, trampled by numerous machines, and rolled four times, the turf final gets a drink of water.

In addition to this process, other crew members are working on aerifying and topdressing fairways and approaches.  It is a great feeling leaving work today with all of our goals accomplished.  In the field of Golf Course Management that doesn't seem to happen very often.  I'm extremely proud of my crew this week.  Their teamwork and positives attitudes made the week a success.
A combination of rain and sun in the near future and the course will heal in as we desire and the benefits of aerification will be in the profile.

What do you do all winter?

"What do you do all winter?"  Is a question often asked of me when people find out what I do for a living.  Some are curious, others think the golf course is closed and I get the whole winter off. 
Winter is probably the hardest season to work through.  The weather is hard on crew moral and they dig dip to keep pushing forward.  You never know what the day is going to bring, we must be willing to change course at the mercy of Mother Nature.

So what did we do all winter?  As we make a push to complete all of our winter projects before the calendar turns to aerification, I want to reflect on what we accomplished.


Six additional mats were added to the turf strip at the driving range The popularity of these mats showed a need to add more space.  Limited space due to underground irrigation pipe, made six a perfect fit.  With 16 total mats available 4 groups can warm up before making their way to the first tee.

Before the mats can be added, the subgrade must be installed.  A four inch thick slab of concrete is poured on top of a 6 inch thick bed of gravel to provide a stable base. 

The mat system is very similar to a floating floor.  A plastic frame snaps together and is anchored to the concrete at proper dimensions to provide the border that the mats sit within.  Setting the first corner is the most important step in getting the border correct.

 

Once the border is set, the crew gets to work making it fit into the space.  The tedious task of setting and leveling every brick shows the crews attention to detail.

 

As always the staff did a great job working together to produce a great finished product.

 

 

Tree removal continued to be a point of emphasis this winter.  The picture below was posted to twitter last fall by a fellow Superintendent, showing the affect of trees on a plants inability to grow to its full potential in a less than ideal environment. 

If a tree can have this much affect on a corn plant that grows to over eight feet tall, imagine its affect on a plant maintained at less than one half of an inch?  (Greens are mowed at .140" and tees at .325") 

 

 

Trees do have their place in golf, but a balance has to be made between their necessity and impact on turf quality and expectations. 

 

 

This picture is beautiful in so many ways, the sun, the shadows, the clouds, and contrasting light and dark.  From a turf managers perspective those dark spots are troubling for the overall health of the sixth green.

 

Trees were removed to the right of the fifth green to increase the duration of morning sunlight.

 

The picture below is the fifth green from a different angle post tree removal.  (It has been hard to get a picture with the green under full sun this winter.)

 

 

Other tree removal and cleanup is aesthetic.  The area right of 17 green was cleaned out, opening a view to 16 fairway.

 

 

 

 

Safety is a reason to remove trees.  A big leaf maple behind 10 green was removed due to a large crack that had developed in the trunk.  Luckily this was discovered and before anyone or anything was damaged.

 

 

 

Wet areas throughout the course were identified and the issue were addressed when possible.  This area on the right side of the fourth fairway had an excessive thatch layer preventing proper water infiltration. 

 

The first step is removing the sod, opening up the layer of thatch that is causing the problem.  The layer is removed and replaced with sand to help water, nutrient, and oxygen exchange into the profile.

 

The soil below this layer is usually dry.  The small pores of the thatch layer limit water movement into the sand below resulting in excessive surface moisture. 

We have seen better results (almost instantly) from removing the thatch layer than by adding additional drainage to the existing subsurface drainage.

 

Improving cart drive-on areas has also been a point of emphasis with the same strategy.  Decreasing the time it takes these areas to dry down, increases the number of days cart can be on course and also improve the turves ability to withstand cart traffic.

 

The color of the clay indicates it holds water more than half the year, known as gleying.  Gleying is the saturation of the soil profile where water replaces air in available pore space.  An increase in water, limits drainage resulting in an anerobic (lack of oxygen) environment which is a poor environment to grow grass.

 

We recently completed a renovation of the bunkers on #17.  This has been a project each winter to improve the aesthetic appeal of the bunkers throughout the course.

 



 

The crew did a great job of getting this project completed and we are really happy with the finished product.

 

 

I am excited for what 2016 has in store.  The crew has worked extremely hard, through record rain, improving areas throughout the course in preparation for summer.  I believe this hard work and dedication will pay off for the upcoming season. 

 

 





History of Aldarra Farms

I am excited to publish the information below.  I do not believe some of this information has ever been released publically in a digital form.  The History of Aldarra Farms has always intrigued me.  This post gives all that I know, as told by Bud Abbott.  Mr. David 'Bud' Abbott was the care taker of the farm at the times of its sale to be converted into the amazing golf course we know it as today.  Those eighteen holes are spread out over very interesting history.  Enjoy!

Written by Bud Abbott, Aldarra Farm Manager.
Transcribed to Microsoft word by Mike Swingle

To do a history of Aldarra Farms, one should go back to the 1850’s.

Native Americans occupied the Fall City area.  The only longhouses were in Fall City and Tolt, with their locations near today’s school houses.

This entire area was heavily forested and was opened up by the Homestead Law of 1882, which provided for the disposition of public lands to homemakers free of charge, requiring only residence, cultivation, and improvement.  A person who was the head of a family or who had reached the age of 21 and was a citizen of the United States could apply for 80 acres.  A Civil War veteran was entitled to 160 acres.  Upon residing thereon, cultivating and improving the same for three years in compliance with the law, one would obtain ownership of his land.

In 1883, Bert Taylor homesteaded the most eastern part of Aldarra’s River Farm.  Following west were homesteaders John Warren and Hans Moore, a veteran.   Continuing west were W.A. Cruikshank, Victor Hanson, John T Stone, E.L. Tapert, and William Dudley.  Swalwell, Bailey, and Carmichael were the three homesteaders that farmed what is now the main farm at Aldarra.

The first logging was done along the Snoqualmie River where the logs were branded and floated down river to Everett.  When they were sold was sometimes a year later.  Prices for the logs at the time were as low as $4.50 per thousand.

There was a cedar shake mill on Patterson Creek where Aldarra’s B and B Farm is today.  A picture shows shake bolts being sledded across Canyon Creek.

The use of the Washington Donkey Engines made it possible to pile the stumps up high for burning, and most saw logs were yarded and loaded with such machines.  The western acreage of the main farm was logged by railroad to the mill at Monahan, which was a large sawmill on the east shore of Lake Sammamish.  Two former rail ends can be seen at upper elevations of the farm.  The logs from the lowlands were trucked to the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company which in 1914 became a Weyerhaeuser Mill.  The aid of a tractor was most often needed to get up the Falls hill.  The size of the logs is apparent in some of the photos.

In the early days of Fall City there were two ways to get from Seattle to the Valley.  One was by foot via Renton and Issaquah, a two-day walk.  The other choice was by boat via Everett.  The vessels were the ‘Traveler’ and the schooner ‘A.Y. Trask’.  These trips began in 1855 and by 1883 the vessel ‘Alki’ had a regular run.

In 1889 the railroad reached Fall City via Issaquah.  This brought on a boom to the area.

The first school was founded in Fall City in 1879 and was the only one in our valley until the Patterson Creek School was built in 1890.  This school was on the land that is now Aldarra’s B and B Farm.  It was closed in favor of Fall City in 1915.

In this year of 1915, J.F. Duthie, a ship builder in Seattle, bought the lands held by J. Bailey, D Carmichael, Duelly and Harry Moore.  By the year 1917 he had purchased a total of 525 acres.  It was said that by the end of World War I, Duthie had 150 men working on the farm.  Duthie had named his farm ‘Walldale Farm’ and developed a showplace as a producing farm plus a recreation center.  There was tennis, golf, fishing and skating to keep people entertained.  The generating plant using the flow of Canyon Creek made the farm look like Electric City.  In 1930 Duthie passed Walldale Farm on to J. W. Bullock and C.E. Crandell.

Crandell built one building in 1932, a barn we now call the Homestead Barn.  Lumber from what was U.S. 10, today State Highway 202, was used to build this barn.

In March 1942, William E. Boeing, Sr. took ownership of the Walldale Farm from C.E. Crandell.  There was a total of 525 acres.  On March 17, 1942, Dutch Abbott moved onto the property as the manager of the newly named ‘Aldarra Farms’.  The name ‘Aldarra’ was the name used by W.E. Boeing for his Seattle home.  Mr. and Mrs. Boeing moved into the Duthie house in late 1942 after some remodeling was completed.

Boeing’s plans for Aldarra Farms were not just a comfortable home but to also improve the quality of livestock in the Northwest and to introduce modern farming methods.

In April 1943, a foundation herd of registered Guernsey Dairy Cattle was purchased from Western Glow Farms of Bow, Washington.  In this purchase of twenty-nine pregnant cows was Martha of Aldarra who became National Butterfat Champion on 1949.

In 1945, a foundation herd of registered Horned Hereford Beef Cattle was purchased from the Wyoming Hereford Ranch, which was owned by the Quaker Oats Company.  These, some thirty cows and bulls, became the top herd in this area.  The farm was the proud owner of prize winners in national cattle shows such as Chicago, Kansas City, Ogden and   San Francisco.  They were also prize winners at our local fairs in Western Washington and Portland, Oregon’s Pacific International.  The number of cattle at the year 1955 was over 500 head.  From that time, the numbers of cattle were reduced each year until August, 1993, when the last were sold.

Registered Duroc-Jersey Hogs were purchased in 1944 from three State Fair sales in the Midwest.  These hogs multiplied into eighty head and, because of a shortage of labor, were given to the University of Idaho in 1946.

A close friend of the Boeing’s gave the farm two pregnant Columbia Ewes.  These sheep, being a breed developed for the climate of the Northwest, also multiplied as an annual lamb crop can well be 150%.  Two hundred were sold and shipped to eastern Montana in 1950.  Aldarra was one of the founders of Puget Sound Wool Growers, which is a marketing co-op for our wool from seven Western Washington counties.

Two teams of draft horses came to the farm with Dutch, a great lover of horses.  These horses were used in moving and clipping the fields.  They also helped in land clearing, where they would pull a sled for rock and stick removal.  The last task for the draft horses was pulling a beer keg wagon in downtown Seattle during SeaFair week.

Chickens and turkeys were also raised in limited numbers on the farm.  These were used for domestic use only.  A large garden was maintained at the Duthie Home, and with the aid of a greenhouse, vegetables were supplied to some of the households.

The milk from forty milk cows was used at Aldarra to furnish the needs of each household.  Separated cream was shipped to the Golden Rule Bakery in Seattle.  The skim milk all went to the pigs.

The first plowing by Aldarra was in the Fields NL-1 and SL-3.  These fields were planted with a hybrid corn for silage. This corn grew to thirteen feet high and gave great tonnage per acre for silage.

Two attached silos on the Main Barn were showing age to a point where they were replaced by two tile silos in 1947.  By the year 1950, the corn silage was replaced by grass silage.  This was done because of the volume need and the greater amount of labor required with the corn.  At this time, a glass lined steel silo was also installed just west of the Main Barn, and it had a capacity of 240 tons.  The above mentioned second tile silo was located at Feed Lot No 1.

In 1948, a Heil Hay Dehydrator was purchased and placed on property that was purchased from Siler Logging Company which was on the very southeast corner of Section 6 and the Duthie Hill Road.  This machine enabled Aldarra to make hay from April to October, even in the rain.  A high headed ride o 70 feet for the grass found It baled within three minutes.  Using fuel oil costing five cents a gallon and growing orchard grass resulted in a product with more nutrition than alfalfa.  The fast rising cost of fuel and Mr. Boeing’s passing in 1956 brought on the sale of this equipment in the next year.

Cereal grains were grown from three years but only with success in the first year, 1949.  The need of a full three-month growing season ending with dry warm weather ended this program.

A labeling of Aldarra’s fields by letter and number was most important for all phases of operations.  One enclosed map shows Aldarra’s Township location and a second map shows the field layout.

Water rights were a very important part of the everyday operations with the farm. The first rights were given in 1939 and were later transferred to Aldarra in 1946.  The rights and their locations are on an enclosed map.  Most of Aldarra’s irrigation began in 1939 by C.E. Crandell and was expanded in 1948 with the irrigation of some 100 acres of grassland plus some 6 acres of gardens and yards.  The eight homes that remain today on the farm were built over a span of 80 years.  Six older, or out of need, homes have been removed during Aldarra’s time of ownership.

The main road through the barnyard at Aldarra was once a dead-ending county road, but in November, 1943 Mr. Boeing, having then purchased the 200-acre Foster-Swalwell Farm to the east of the Main barns, got a closure on this part of 292^nd Ave SE.  In 1963, King County did some straightening of the Duthie Hill Road and rebuilt the bridge crossing Patterson Creek.

The last property that was purchased for Aldarra was 21.35 acres in Section 12 to the west of P-1.  Land clearing was a never ending program going back to the Homesteading days and was just about ended in 1977.

Mr. William E Boeing Sr. passed away on his yacht in 1956 and his widow, Bertha Boeing, passed away just twenty years later at the farm she loved so well.  The ownership of Aldarra Farms was passed on to William E. Boeing Jr. in 1977, after his mother’s passing.

I, David ‘Bud’ Abbot, was made the manager of Aldarra Farms on January 1, 1951 upon my father, Dutch Abbott’s retirement. I have seen, been a part of, the past 50 years of Aldarra farms life.  The picture at daybreak that I have enclosed shows why one gets up in the morning.