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Bed Time

While some gardeners are putting their beds to sleep for the season, mine is just warming up! Yellow beets gave way to snow peas. Snow peas gave way to red cabbage. I’ve got a second, sweeter crop of carrots, new crops of broccoli and chard, and every other day I harvest a few potatoes. I tried to grow blue ones, but I must have picked up the wrong starts at Bainbridge Gardens! I made soup with them the other night along with a cup of dried nettles picked earlier this year at Suquamish.

We had a hot, dry summer in the Northwest, punctuated by bad air from fires to the north, east, and south. Some days were apocalyptically bad, with the worst air I have tried to breathe since leaving smog-filled San Bernardino in the 1970s. But the plants loved the days of endless sunlight, rare up here.

Fall means  Read More 
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REC - Resources, Education, Compassion

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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Culinary Arts and Local Food

For years and years, my husband and I have visited a magic place on the Washington coast called the Shelburne Inn. It was first recommended by a friend of the chef at the restaurant, but we soon fell in love not only with the food and the brilliant, clean light sweeping up and down the wide beaches, but with innkeepers Laurie Anderson and David Campiche. Laurie always appears calm and collected in the midst of the storm. David is always happy to slip away for a moment for a glass of beer or wine. In my book The Deepest Roots, I credit them with making me aware of the abundance of local food that can be grown, purchased or foraged year-round in Washington State. David grew up on the Long Beach Peninsula, and met Laurie when she got her father’s truck stuck in the deceptively soft sand on the beach. Read More 
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Vending Veggies

Sam Lillie of Veggie Vinder with giant kale leaf. or is that Swiss Chard?
At a reading from The Deepest Roots in Port Townsend, Washington, at the Imprint Bookstore, I met food purveyor Sam Lillie. His business is called Veggie Vinder.

-First of all, did you grow up in Port Townsend? If not, why did you choose to locate here?

I'm originally from San Diego. I moved to Port Townsend in December of 2015 about a month after I finished thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. It took five months to complete and, because I solo hiked, I spent the majority of it alone. I returned to San Diego but felt claustrophobic from the amount of people. I have family in Port Townsend and was offered a place to stay while I transitioned back into the "real" world. It's been perfect. I get to wake up, have coffee, see deer, and be a part of such an incredible community. I applied to, and was rejected from, 106 companies across 4 states before starting Vinder.  Read More 
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The Earth is Flat

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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"Another World is Possible"

I was thrilled and humbled to walk with upwards of 100,000 people in the Womxns March Seattle last Saturday. 50,000 had been expected by the organizers.

Women of all ages, colors, religious backgrounds and agendas turned out to say we have better things to do than help this man take away our rights - to education,  Read More 
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Another Trip Around the Sun

Another trip around the sun. I have spent the last two weeks contemplating what to write in a year-end blog post. Like many of you, I was more than surprised, I was shocked at the election of - I have avoided even writing it - Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States. While I have always been actively engaged in politics, I only contributed to  Read More 
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The Deepest Roots is Launched!

Altar for dia de los muertos - in memory
The Deepest Roots is launched!

In spite of a major windstorm, fifty or sixty people turned out to the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art to celebrate the release of The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island.

The celebration included luscious food locally sourced from our farmers, including Butler Green  Read More 
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Ten Things

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

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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