A 2013 Issaquah Press article on Mirrormont raved about our “towering,” “colossal” trees and interviewed many residents who moved here because of the trees. In 1995, a competition for the largest tree in Mirrormont awarded a $50 gift certificate at Hayes Nursery to Ken and Susan Munsch for their Sitka Spruce, which measured 15’ 9” circumference 2-feet up from base. The Webley family came in second with a Douglas Fir of 14’ 7” circumference. How much have these trees grown in the past 20 years? Do you have a tree larger than these?
The homeowner with the largest tree, as measured by its circumference 2-feet up from the nearest ground, will receive a $50 gift certificate to Squak Mountain Nursery. The contest winner will be announced at the MCA-MCC annual picnic in August.
Entries must be submitted to President@mirrormont.org by March 1 and are subject to verification. Trees must be alive (no stumps, please) to qualify.
I’ve loved living in Mirrormont since 1988, and I care a great deal about our unique community, and am honored to have served as MCA President since 2014. I first became actively involved with the MCA when I volunteered to deliver a few Welcome Bags to new homeowners in 2008. Suddenly I found myself leading the Welcome Committee. In 2009, I submitted a proposal to the Board to build Mirrormont Pea Patch, wrote a grant to fund it, and have been actively involved on the Board since then. I became a Master Gardener in 2013 so I could better coordinate our Pea Patch and offer Growing Groceries Clinics to everyone in Mirrormont. For Mirrormont’s 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2012, I took on the role of historian. In 2013, I initiated a project, along with Janet Horton, Meg Wade, and Maryfrances Lignana, to create signage and a guidebook for forty native plants in Mirrormont Park.
In 2014, I began our Speaker Program. Wanting to find a way to reach all residents in Mirrormont, I revived Mirrormont News as an annual print newsletter, with Griffin Cole doing layout, and Maryfrances Lignana obtaining advertising to defray the cost of postage. When wildfires became an issue in Western Washington in 2015, I initiated a Firewise program in Mirrormont and we became a Firewise Community/USA, which made us eligible for grant funding for events such as Chipper Days.
Professionally, I have a Ph.D. in biochemistry, worked for two biotech companies, and taught for an online doctoral program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the Department of Transformative Studies. I’m the author of Lifting the Veil: The Feminine Face of Science, which won a Washington State Governor’s Award, and a co-author of Walk on the Wild Side: Native Plants of Mirrormont Park. My passion for plants led me to study herbs and ethnobotany, and I relish eating nettle soup in the spring, and summer vegetables from the Mirrormont Pea Patch.
