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REC - Resources, Education, Compassion

September 4, 2017
Tags: Bainbridge Island, Resources, education, compassion, Harvey, refugees, Climate, Comprehensive Plan
Mount Tahoma and ferry from Bainbridge during the eclipse
Like many of you, I have been watching the news and worrying about friends and family in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. People are struggling to keep their families safe, and circumstances are bringing out the heroic in others. Meanwhile, the recent wildfires in British Columbia and the Western United States have produced the worst air  Read More 
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The Earth is Flat

April 7, 2017
Tags: trees, sustainability, development, Sound to Olympics Trail, Bainbridge Island
Breaking Ground on the Sound to Olympics Trail
The Earth is Flat

It seemed like a good idea at the time. A non-motorized trail that would run all the way from the ferry terminal to the Olympic Peninsula, providing a safe way for bicyclists, wheelchairs, and pedestrians to get closer to the ground. Wilderness would be accessible to all, and cars would be kept in their place. I supported it. I thought it would maintain a green corridor through the middle of the island.

This was a case of “be careful what you wish for.”  Read More 
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Ten Things

October 2, 2016
Tags: food, sustainable, Bainbridge Island, PNBA, clueless, eater, land, pie, book, Washington
Pie judging at the Harvest Fair
The launch for "The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island" is scheduled for October 13, 7:30 pm, at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. I am very happy to be able to present the book to the general public.

Yesterday, I was able to present it to  Read More 
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Desperation Salad

December 17, 2015
Tags: Bainbridge Island, sustainability, climate change, kale
Desperation Salad - what to do with kale?
It's been a long road and a long week, but I am almost finished writing my book about our relationship with food on Bainbridge Island.

I started out as The Clueless Eater, and now I am - slightly less clueless. Almost thirty people indulged me in interviews where I asked about their families, their  Read More 
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Mid-Winter Experiment

February 19, 2015
Tags: Bainbridge Island, cooking, farming, sustainable eating, chayote, Chihuahua, Mexican food.
I liked chayote as a child, but I had no idea how to prepare it.
While the East Coast has had a winter of discontent, we have experienced mild temperatures and even sunshine in the Northwest. Our growing season ended last fall with a whimper when freezing temperatures took out my late planting of squash in early November. I didn't think to check the garden space I rent until  Read More 
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June

June 17, 2014
Tags: june, vegetables, garden, Bainbridge Island, sustainable, gardening, organic, ravens
I thought rhubarb leaves were poisonous, but not to every creature, it seems.
As the season progresses, the community garden is bursting with life. A neighbor kept my plants watered while we traveled for two weeks, and I returned to kale, mixed greens, and more kale! We have enjoyed it many ways – stir fried, as salads, as a soup with white beans, and in a frittata. We are almost caught up now.

The carrots are well-established, and my yellow tomato plant survived its baptism of copper sulfate and sideways planting – la jefa of the garden, Anita Rockefeller, had me lay the gangly plant on its side and bury it, only allowing about eighteen inches at the top to curve out into the air. It seems to be working.

It rained intensely over the weekend, so there is no need to water. As I harvest and weed, two ravens greet each other overhead,  Read More 
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Gardening with Frog and Toad

April 20, 2014
Tags: Bainbridge Island, sustainable, seed library, garden, community garden, Rock Farm
Using the Seed Library at Kitsap Regional Library
This year, I will apply my mad skills in gardening to a 10x10’ plot at The Rock Farm, a community garden on the west side of the island. This lacks the convenience of walking next door to garden in Hilary and Neil’s yard, but affords a larger space with more sun and a Master Gardener to crack the whip if I get too lazy.

In addition, I will be able to  Read More 
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Hope for Trees

March 10, 2014
Tags: trees, Bainbridge Island, sustainability, development, tree ordinance, future
A tree was saved today.
A miracle might have occurred today. People who have worked in opposition for years were smiling and agreeing on something. Solutions were suggested and accepted. A tree was saved.

After years of e-mails, public meetings, and tense confrontations on the street, and a final sit-down meeting at City Hall, the city agreed to spare the lone tree on Cave Avenue that straddles the edge of the city right-of-way for a sidewalk. The sidewalk will bump out four inches into the street to maintain the four-foot width required in order to meet ADA standards.

What’s more, as the work began, the developer asked for his arch-nemesis, renowned arborist Olaf Ribeiro, to come out and consult on how to handle boles found at the base of the tree. They can be safely flattened, he said, using a diamond saw for a smooth cut. The one-hundred year old tree probably formed the boles in reaction to the street first being paved sometime in the 1970s.

Four inches of gravel now wind along a path between  Read More 
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The Rock Farm

August 29, 2013
Tags: Bainbridge Island, local food, sustainability, farming, Rockefeller, community, garden
In July, Phil and Anita Rockefeller invited me (okay, I begged) to see The Rock Farm, a portion of their property that has been turned into community gardens.

When I arrived Sunday at 10:30 am, Phil and Anita were hanging what looked like prayer flags along the eight-foot high deer fence. Up close, I could  Read More 
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The Next Big Thing

May 22, 2013
Tags: Bainbridge Island, local food, sustainability, sailing, why I write, Wendy Hinman
Apple harvest
I first met Wendy Hinman at the Seattle7 Novel Live! Event, where a number of us wrote a group novel, The Hotel Angeline, as a fundraiser for literacy. We each got up and flailed away at an unfamiliar computer on a stage with a camera pointed at us. The result is still pulling in  Read More 
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