SEATTLE — Homestead Community Land Trust celebrated the completion of Nest, a new mixed-income condominium community on Seattle’s Phinney Ridge, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.

The development creates 30 homeownership opportunities in one of Seattle’s most sought-after neighborhoods, including 19 permanently affordable homes and 11 market-rate homes.

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Located at 6109 Phinney Ave. N., Nest is Homestead’s second condominium development on Phinney Ridge and the latest addition to its portfolio of permanently affordable homeownership communities.

Residents will have walkable access to neighborhood businesses, transit, and parks, as well as views of the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges.

Homes designated for income-qualified households are expected to be priced between approximately $250,000 and $335,000, compared with Seattle’s median condominium price of about $600,000.

Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony included Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, state Sen. Emily Alvarado, Nicole Vallestero-Soper, director of policy and innovation for Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, and Homestead homeowner Jessica Garcia-Ortiz.

The project was developed on a site assembled from a former Seattle City Light property made available through the City of Seattle for affordable homeownership and an adjacent parcel acquired by Homestead.

The development highlights how public land, public investment, and community partnerships can be used to create long-term homeownership opportunities in high-cost neighborhoods.

Nest includes one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes, rooftop community space, and all-electric, fossil-fuel-free construction.

The homes feature heat pumps, induction ranges, and modern building systems designed to reduce environmental impact and operating costs.

The development also incorporates environmentally sustainable materials and bio-based, PVC-free flooring that is cradle-to-grave certified carbon neutral.

The development was made possible in part through the transfer of a former Seattle City Light property for permanently affordable homeownership, advancing the use of public land to support housing affordability in Seattle.

The San Diego State Aztecs will officially leave the Mountain West for the new-look Pac-12 on July 1, along with Fresno State, Colorado State, Utah State and Boise State. They’ll join fellow newcomer Texas State as well as holdovers Washington State and Oregon State. 

It’s not the Pac-12 that fans wanted to join years ago, the one that included USC and UCLA up the freeway in Los Angeles, but it’s considered to be a step up nonetheless. The Aztecs primed themselves for the jump by finishing 9-4 last fall and reaching a bowl game for the first time in three seasons. 

Here are three reasons to be optimistic about San Diego State’s chances of contending for the Pac-12 title and playing in consecutive bowl games for the first time since 2021-22.

1. Running game led by Lucky Sutton

San Diego State is back to being Running Back U thanks to Sutton, who had a career year in 2025 and announced he’ll return to his hometown school for his senior season. 

Sutton sounds motivated after rushing for 1,297 yards and 10 touchdowns on 254 carries, all career highs and good enough to be named First Team All-Mountain West.

He hit a benchmark that’s important on Montezuma Mesa in becoming the 20th player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season — that plateau has been reached a total of 28 times — and taking over No. 16 on the single-season list. 

Sutton played at local powerhouse Cathedral Catholic High and said it was always his dream to play for the Aztecs. 

“Knowing the legacy that was set in the past and the legacy I can continue, I intend on taking the next steps in this climb. With that being said, I am an Aztec for life,” he said. 

Sutton will be backed up by another local player, senior Christian Washington, who went from Helix High to New Mexico and Coastal Carolina before returning home to SDSU. He had 563 yards and four touchdowns on 98 carries last year. Sophomore Javion Kinnard transferred from Colorado State, where he saw limited time at running back but was good enough as a punt returner to be named Second Team All-MW.

2. Quarterback Jayden Denegal

Denegal played in all 12 regular-season games last year in his first season as a college starter, but was limited due to shoulder injuries. He chose to have surgery on his non-throwing left shoulder a few days before the New Mexico Bowl so that he’d be ready for spring practice. 

He’s motivated to put up better numbers than last year, when he completed 143 of 243 passes (58.8%) for 1,807 yards and nine touchdowns, with eight interceptions. He said during spring drills that he wants to double last year’s passing yards and improve the touchdown-to-turnover margin. Of course, staying healthy will be the key for Denegal.

One of his main targets is expected to be Bert Emanuel Jr., who was Dengal’s backup last year but switched to wideout during spring. He showed what he can do when he has the ball in his hands when he started the New Mexico Bowl and rushed for 170 yards on just 11 carries, including two touchdowns, before getting hurt in the second quarter. 

3. Defensive mindset

This might be a bit of a stretch because of all the talent the Aztecs lost on defense, but if the Aztecs play with the same ballhawking attitude they did last year, they could overcome all the attrition. 

Losing so much production — including players who accounted for 31 of the Aztecs’ 32 sacks — means there are starting jobs and playing time up for grabs, which can be a huge motivating factor. The Aztecs worked the transfer portal hard for linemen, linebackers and defensive backs, so the coaches will certainly earn their paychecks as they work to meld a unit that had three shutouts last year in setting the overall tone for the bounceback season. 

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A few weeks ago, I was at my college reunion. My Harvard classmates know I’ve authored several gardening books and that I am into organics, so naturally I got lots of gardening questions. No problem there. I never mind answering garden questions. It was like writing a column where I answer Alaska gardening questions.

I noted that after the World Trade Center went down, Alaska soil with its extremely high microbiology was used to restore the soil. I had sent a compost tea and extract made from Alaska humus. At the edges of the application, trees on one side of the street were sprayed with that liquid while the outer side of the street were not. No one thought much about this until it became clear the sprayed trees were growing much faster than those that were not. And, they were much healthier.

This was right about the time Dr. Elaine Ingham came up with the soil food web concept that a plant puts out exudates from its roots that attract bacteria that feed the plant. If a plant needs something else, it can change the exudate to get the right kind of bacteria that will supply the plant with what it needs.

To explain what was going on, Terry Fleisher at Harvard wrote a master’s thesis on compost. As a result of this thesis, my university started making and applying compost everywhere. All those test booklets, notes, food scraps and just about everything else that could be composted, actually was. So, it was a pleasure at my reunion to walk on a campus that no longer uses pesticides, and to know that I had something to do with this. Every plot of bare soil was mulched with compost. Things looked fantastic.

The bottom line is that compost is really all you need to get your plants into tip-top shape. You can make a compost tea, though the results are often questioned. Or, you can take a few handfuls of compost, wrap it in cheese cloth and knead it in a bucket of water. You will end up with what is known as a compost extract, which has higher microbiology than the soil that went into making it. This, applied to your gardens, is all your plants need to thrive and perform.

To make compost, you need a pile that is at least 3 feet cubed and composed of brown and green yard wastes. This pile does not have to be in the sun as it has nothing to do with heating the pile, since it is microbial activity in the pile that creates and maintains the heat.

It is astonishing that you can take waste material and reconstitute it into something so useful as compost. It is valuable stuff and you should be making your own. This may not be possible due to land constraints or the inability to get the right input materials. Fortunately, you can buy compost. If you don’t have the room or materials, you definitely should.

Use compost as you would mulch. Apply a layer a few inches thick as you would mulch. You might even put leaf mulch on top of the compost as it will speed up the mulch’s decay.

The bottom line is that if you use compost, you won’t need any other fertilizer. A compost-based garden should be your goal.

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar:

Alaska Botanical Garden: Join to get the full advantage of this terrific institution. You will get all the announcements of events faster than waiting for me to put them in this listing. Every great city has a botanical garden. With your help, this will continue to include Anchorage.

Roses: All nurseries and box stores carry inexpensive roses. You supply the soil/compost and the appropriate size containers. You can treat these roses as annuals and toss them at the end of the season, or you can keep them over and use them the following year.

Starts: If you haven’t purchased yours, you better hurry up. There won’t be much available as we move into the summer season.