About

Welcome to SquashPractice, my attempt to chronicle experiences focused around gardening, beekeeping, and living lightly in a suburban setting in Eugene Oregon.   My wife, Ellen, and I live in the River Road neighborhood in Eugene a few blocks from the river bike path that takes us into town.   Both Ellen and I are dedicated bike riders and are fortunate to be able to pleasantly bike into town.

Most of our one-acre lot is covered with large Douglas Fir trees, so getting enough sunlight is a challenge for gardening. A few years ago I tilled up the front lawn to provide enough space for a serious garden.

I keep two or three hives of bees – not so much because I like honey, but rather because the bees are fascinating creatures, and because “Gary’s Gold” is our trademark general purpose gift and barter product.
When I’m not playing in the garden, I’m probably at work as the design engineer at Applied Scientific Instrumentation. I do a lot of electronic design and mechanical engineering and invention. My formal training included a stint at Cornell University where I received a PhD for work on a large pulsed power ion beam generator.