Transition Fidalgo & Friends   Seventh Generation Supper  
Tuesday, June 24th, 5:45 pm       Anacortes Senior Center

Bill Testerman emceed the evening and lively music was provided by Transition Fidalgo's own Ron Larson.  Ron had some fun with his last song, "I Just Don't Look Good Naked Anymore."  Attendance was 43. 

 Community Announcements:

• Maggie and Larry Collinge, with friends Michelle Ledeen and Bruce Hall, are collecting good, saleable "stuff" for a Shipwreck Days booth to benefit Oso slide victims - all proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross. They are hoping for contributions ( no clothes please) and volunteers to help man the booth. Home phone, 360 466-3431, cell 360 202-5618; lmcollinge@gmail.com  Larry (360-202-5618) or Bruce (206-251-6862) will pick up items.  Please call.
• Carolyn Gastellum asked for volunteers to sign up to be a TF&F Supper Emcee.  Volunteers are being sought for July, August, & Sept.  In addition, helper bees are needed for set up and clean up.
• Carolyn also noted three upcoming events regarding the Oil Train issue.
• ---Oil Train Event #1 - June 30, 6:30 - 8:30, "Oil Trains in Skagit." Hosted by Protect Skagit, in the Skagit PUD Aqua Room, 1415 Freeway Dr, Mt. Vernon.  Protect Skagit is an all-volunteer group that will inform the public about the transport of Bakken crude oil by trains through Skagit County.  Local volunteer Ginny Wolff will preside over the meeting that will feature Mt Vernon  Fire Chief Roy Hari to discuss emergency response planning and practices for possible oil train accidents.
• ---Oil Train Event #2 - July 7th, 5:15pm. Commemorative Event in Remembrance of Lac-Megantic, Quebec.  Meet at the plaza of the Skagit Transit Center, south of the Skagit Station building at 105 Kincaid Street, Mt. Vernon.  We will walk from the plaza along the Kincaid Street sidewalk and cross the BNSF tracks to the Skagit County courthouse.  This event will remember the 47 deaths from a derailed Bakken crude oil train explosion.
• ---Oil Train Event #3 - July 8th, 6:30 - 8:30 pm, Anacortes Senior Center, 1701 22nd Street. "Risky Business: How oil transport threatens Washington's health."  This free event is a public forum concerning oil by rail safety with featured speakers Matt Krogh from Forest Ethics and Stephanie Buffam from Friends of the San Juan Islands. 
• Eric Shen reminded everyone that there is a "Fix-It" booth at the Farmers Market every 4th Saturday.  Bring your broken items and the team will repair them if possible.  All proceeds go to benefit the Deception Pass Park system that is under financial stress with state cutbacks.  The next Fix-It day is Saturday, June 28th, 9-2pm.
• Bill Bowman and Howard Pellet presented the Skagit Living Democracy initiative on the Community Bill of Rights today to the Skagit County Board of Commissioners.  Bill has brochures and a "Living Democracy" petition focused on proposing a local Community Bill of Rights. The principles of the bill include protection of local natural resources; protection of residential neighborhoods; full rights for workers; and the transition to carbon-free power sources. For more info, contact Bill at kinetic.ki.bill@gmail.com
• Phyllis Dolph requested everyone contact Governor Jay Inslee either through letter or on his website, asking him to STOP oil and coal trains from coming through our state.
• Rich Bergner invited everyone to march with TF&F in the 4th of July parade.  Meet at the movie theater area on "O" Ave about 10:30 for a 11am parade start. Be creative - dress up, carry signs, show your "Vision 2030" spirit - or use props we'll have available.
• Evelyn Adams mentioned that the Timebank Summer Social will be Wednesday, July 16th, 6:30pm, at the Washington Park picnic shelter.  Bring a potluck item, place setting, and lawn games if you have them.  Also, the Sept 30th 7th Generation Supper will be devoted to the Time Bank and will include a presentation and silent auction fundraiser to support the TimeBank. The committee is hard at work planning the auction (some great gift baskets are in the works!) and they will be looking for unique items from the TF&F and Time Bank communities. Evelyn also noted that our free skillshare workshops (co-sponsored by TF&F and the Farmers' Market) are in full swing - this Saturday's 10 am workshop will focus on culinary herbs, and July workshops will include medicinal herbs, mason bees and raising urban chickens. The 3rd annual "Tour de Coops & Crops" will take place 1-4:30pm on July 26, following the chicken class - 11 families in Anacortes are on the tour list.
• Kevin Maas discussed the three proposed Skagit County Community Solar Projects - Kevin is seeking local investors.  One project will be at the Anacortes Library, a second project will be at the Anacortes Middle School, and a third project will be at the Mt. Vernon Waste Water Plant.

Here are a some important points in Kevin's presentation:

1.      we are developing three projects, each with similar anticipated size (17kW), cost (~$85k), and performance (5-15% annualized return, depending on tax situation)

2.      each project needs to sell 16 "units", each representing one kilowatt of solar panels

3.      we have prepared a prospectus for each project; if we know which one you are most interested in, we will send you that specific prospectus--otherwise, we'll take a guess!

4.      we are looking for "soft commitments" to invest by the end of the month, while actual investment of cash ($4250) won't take place until September.

5.      since some projects may fill up with commitments sooner than others (the Anacortes Library, probably), consider a second-choice project

Call Kevin with your project preference or any questions. 360.770.9212

• Ron Larson, Treasurer of TF&F, was delighted to announce that we have surpassed our $2,500 goal in donations to our matching gift fund.  TF&F will still gratefully accept donations - use our website's paypal feature or mail to TF&F, PO Box 62, Anacortes.

 
Featured Presentation by Adam Lorio, Samish Indian Nation: "Past, Present, Future"

An inspiring presentation featuring information about Samish Tribal Culture and traditions was given by Adam Lorio, Educational Program Manager for the Samish Indian Nation. The Samish have lived on land in this area for thousands of years.  However, in 1792 the first Spanish sailing vessels appeared with white explorers. The land has changed since then and has lost a lot of its natural beauty.  The Samish are trying to regain some natural resources and habitat, and are involved in many restoration projects, one example being the restoration of various parts of Cypress Island.  Adam noted there are about 500 federally recognized tribes in America and 29 of those are in Washington State.  The last Samish longhouse was on Guemes Island and closed in ~1900.

Adjourned at 8:00 pm.

Bud Anderson, Secretary

Transition Fidalgo & Friends works to grow a more resilient community with a reduced reliance on fossil fuels.
Visit transitionfidalgo.org. and Find us on Facebook

Thanks to all who came down for Bow Little Market's Opening Day and Skill Share!  The market is blessed with so many familiar faces and loyal customers.

Here is a picture of Janet McKinney, Bow Little Market Lady, helping our first EBT card using customer!  It was our first day accepting EBT cards and participating in the Double Up Bucks program. So fun to give people free money that will then go straight to our hard working food producers in the Valley! To learn more about the program go here http://www.svfmcoalition.org/double-up-bucks-ebt-incentive-program.html

Here's a picture of Laura Matthews turning tops at our opening day.  She is selling her tops for a suggested donation of five dollars with all proceeds going to our county wide Double Up Bucks program.  She is a shining example of ordinary people working cooperatively towards "community feeding community" in Skagit County.  Thank you Laura for your generosity and action!

Other market news is that volunteer Chuck Nafziger built a community board for the market.  Located at the market entrance, it is a place folks can post business cards, wants and gots, and events.  He made it out of all recycled free material.  Just another way we are recreating lost rural village life.  Thank you Chuck!

I would like to inform that our free box is back this year.  Every week we have a box or two of donated household and clothing items.  Don't forget to check it out.

Lastly, our new signage is working!  We received great feedback and saw new customers because of our new signs.  Much of the new signage was hand painted by superstar volunteer and vendor, Allen Berry.  Allen was at one time a professional sign painter, but now he is a committed wood crafter and fiber artist.  He specializes in hand carved drop spindles, knitting and crochet needles.  Here he is chatting before market.  Thank you Allen.

This is a handmade market.  We started with a donation of $1295 from my dad.  He donated this money because his daughter, me, was overwhelmed with the simultaneous threats of climate change, resource depletion, and economic instability and needed to do something tangible at the local level.  Now in our fifth season, I spend very little time worrying about things I can't control.  I find that the generosity, the love, the spirit that I have found in the people that have congregated around this idea to be more beautiful and reassuring than words can express. 

Thanks for all the support and beauty,
Sarai Stevens
Bow Little Market Lady

What kind of business would you like to see in downtown Alger?  There is definitely room to improve the rural village of Alger.  What convenience do you dream of being available? 

Property owner of the old Trading Post in Alger is wondering what his community needs.  The old building, once cleared out, has tremendous potential.

Unfortunately, the building can't be converted to a restaurant or cafe because the owner would have to spend a lot of money joining his septic to the private sewer that runs through Alger. 
 
Take our survey.

We ask, "how do you deal with these little balls of slime?"

Anyone who gardens in Western Washington has to deal with hungry slugs. My mom told me there weren't any slugs when she was growing up here. The brown and black slugs showed up in the 1950's and without any natural checks to their population they became a serious pest in the garden. My mom would go out after dark with a flashlight to pick them up by hand and then feed them to her ducks. I hated to pick them up because the slime was impossible to wash off.

Over the years I've tried many ways to protect my garden from slugs. I've tried physical barriers. The first was metal flashing pushed into the ground the length of the garden. I bent over the top into an inverted "U" . The slugs couldn't get past the sharp angle while hanging upside down. But then they would go around the barrier or slither up grass and get over. It did keep the population of slugs lower while the seedlings were small. When I built rock retaining walls around my garden I cemented in a strip of metal window screen that jutted out an inch from the wall. Again the theory was that the slugs couldn't get around the edge while hanging upside down. It worked as long as I remembered to straighten out the screen and remove any vegetation.

When the screen started wearing out I began to patrol the garden with a flashlight and knife to spear the slugs. I switched to a putty knife to make the task easier. Then I started using a scissors so I could get to the slugs that were clinging to plants. I still have a scissors on the widowsill next to the door to grab as I go outside to take care of any slugs in the coldframes.

Last year I got Muscovey ducks. So I started to collect slugs to feed the hungry growing juveniles. When I put my sheep into the bigger field I found hundreds of slugs. I took a quart yogurt container and flipped slugs into it with the lid. I filled up the container almost every day for two months in late summer. The extra protein made it easier to fatten up the birds. Even my chickens learned from the ducks to eat some of the slugs.

So I had changed a nuisance into a resource. And like any resource I started to think about it's limits and how to sustainably harvest it. I didn't take mating slugs. I left the smaller ones to grow bigger. I left an area alone like a sanctuary so there was always a reserve breeding population. This year I'm letting the population grow in size and number before starting to collect slugs from the big field. By the time the ducklings are hatched and growing, the slug population will be built up enough to sustain a continuous harvest to feed them.

Like weeds, in some places I completely eradicate slugs and in other areas I use them as a food resource.
~Chris Soler

If you don't or can't have ducks, a container of soapy water or vinegar water works to drown them, then into the compost pile they go, YAY!!  No matter what you do, success depends on the amount of labor you put into the project.  ~Kathi Marlowe

On the slug and snail trail -
Living in the rural village of Alger, my property has more snails than slugs. Over the years I have tried many different physical barriers. The one that seems to work best is the beer trap, a cup with stale beer sunk into the dirt. This trap seems to work fairly well but it is disgusting.  A few years ago, I saw a book titled “Slug Tossing”. I never read the book, but the title kept coming up in my thoughts while weeding. Living on a busy road, I decided, a variation of “Slug Tossing” could help eradicate the snails that enjoy eating my tender little plants.  Snail bowling is now my disposal plan. Every time I find a snail, I aim for the center line using a nice slow, underhanded pitch.  With each consecutive toss, I try to get the snail a bit further out in the road. Once in the road, the snails are at the mercy of the passing cars. ~Anette Witter

For the most part I try and make my garden happy, and I use slugs as an indicator pest to show me where the soil needs improving or the location/timing for whatever I planted was not optimal.  What I have found is slugs target weakened plants and choice fruit.  Veggie starts need protection as they establish their roots and get over transplant shock.  Perfectly ripe strawberries and mushrooms, favored by all creatures, are also chomped and slimed before I can harvest them.  I use Sluggo, an organic slug bait, around my transplanted seedlings, my stropharia mushroom bed and strawberries when they are in their prime fruiting stage.  Sluggo costs an arm and a leg, but I use it like its gold.  I used to use ducks, but I can't keep ducks safe from predators without our old farm dog.  With a two and half year old baby boy, I have zero motivation to sign on for dog training, so I will be duck free for at least a few more years.  ~Sarai Stevens

The first thing this morning, I opened the door to go outside, and there on the aluminum door sill was a banana slug s-l-o-w-l-y crossing my path. I thought this must be an omen: what is the animal energy of a slug?  What was it trying to tell me?  
 
I know slugs leave shiny trails, they slough off dirt and toxins in a layer of slime that they then leave behind.  They do not seem to be rushed.  They are prolific and successful.  They are hermaphroditic.  They can climb vertical walls and smooth glass, even occasionally traveling upside down.  They like beer. .Their protective coating is amazing.  If conditions are not right, they go to sleep; some can sleep for years and then wake up when things are right. They are smart enough to stay out of the sun, no skin cancer for them.  So what was the slug trying to tell me?  I know I should think twice if someone offers me lots of beer.  The NSA is recording and analyzing my trail.  I try not to be rushed.  Vertical wall climbing is part of my long ago past.  Maybe the message had something to do with the hermaphroditic aspect and the fact that most slugs can even mate with themselves.  Maybe the slug on my threshold was telling me to "Go f... myself."  Coming from a slug, I doubt that message has the derogatory implications it has coming from a human.  I never really understood why that phrase should be so derogatory anyway.  Maybe the slug was telling me I should work on my protective aura or my sleep time.
 
I have a book, The Secret World of Slugs and Snails, Live in the Very Slow Lane, by David George Gordon, 2010.  There are a few things from the book worth passing on.  First, don't try to wash off slug slime.  Slug slime is hydrophilic, it loves water, and you just get a larger volume of slime.  Instead, thoroughly wipe the slime off on a dry towel before washing.  Alternately, rub the slime between your hands until it acts like rubber cement and then scrape it off.  Next, some slugs are intermediate hosts of some parasites and also are known to harbor salmonella, so it is best to clean your hands after handling slugs or slug slime and not to kiss pet slugs.  On a related note, long ago, I was on a field trip in Discovery Park, Seattle when the ranger giving the tour spotted a banana slug.  She said she would lick the slug if anyone else would.  She was cute, and this was kinky enough for me to agree.  Banana slug slime has a anesthetic effect and causes a little numbness on your tongue.  Some Native Americans used it for tooth and gum aches.  I suffered no ill effects from the experience.  
 
The book gives a recipe for cooking snails.  It says to remove the slime, soak the snails for four hours in a container with a tight fitting lid using water containing two tablespoons of salt and one tablespoon of vinegar per each twelve snails.  I imagine that works for slugs too, but I am not sure I will be the first to do that experiment.  Lastly, the book mentions that some species of slugs have a garlic flavor in their slime that may deter predation.  I know from experience eating marine snails collected near Alki Beach that one snail, either the Leafy Horn Mouth or the Oregon Triton has a natural garlic flavor.  It is hard to tell them apart when they are out of their shells.  Also, I may have my id wrong anyway.

By Chuck Nafziger
June 10, 2014

Hi all!

Well, Sunday is just around the corner, and in between raking and baling hay, I'll be there with my dancing shoes on. In fact, I'll be posting our spiffy new road signs (and our banner!) on Sun. morning and should be at the Hall by 10:30-ish to let you get your tables and chairs for set-up. Erin Deller-Meyer has offered to help with the Yard Sale part of it, back on the ballfield, as I'll be "posted" out front with you marketeers. Katie Philbrick is organizing the music (for the June and July markets) and it will be a jam and singalong this time, which should be fun. (Katie, thanks for bringing your mic and amp, too!) And thanks to Terri Wilde for designing and posting the wonderful flyers. The weather looks to be cooperating, but be sure to bring some sort of tie downs, and/or weights, for your canopies - remember the afternoon winds?Vanessa will be organizing and staffing the MCH Bake Sale this month. V: call Shana if you have any questions about it. And everyone, be sure to have change (money) with you. I'll have a box or fannypack, too. And I'm bringing a couple of walkie talkies for communications between Yard Sale and Market proper.  Also, just a heads up that the AUGUST 10 market will be dedicated as Kids' Day, with local youth providing the music, as well as a vendor booth or two! Please contact me if you have, or know of, kids who would like to be involved. We hope to have at least 2-3 new vendors this time - I'll be checking the MCH P.O. Box today for last minute applications. RUSTY - Have you picked up any? If so, please call and let me know: 853-8388, leave a message. In addition, Brooke Pedersen will have a "mobile" mini-library set-up, for folks to check out books! (adult and children's selections) How cool is that? She'll also have library card application forms.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing ya'll again, and enjoying your wares. Here's to a great season!

Best,
Christie
P.S.: If anyone is going downvalley between now and then (esp.to the SV Food Co-op), could you snag some June "Grow Northwest" magazines to have available? Also the current Co-op newspaper, as we are supposed to be in it! THANKS!

Chuck sent this video link.  Mandy, one of the artists interviewed in this little video is also very involved in our local food movement as well.  She is an intern at Bow Hill Blueberries and did the art for their Bow-Edison Food Trail Map.  Mandy also did the art for Crystal Sheer's local artisan spirits and chocolate map she made special for Valentine's Day.

Then problem with such publicity is how long will we be able to keep Mandy's cheap rent if everyone hears about how special this area is...

~Sarai

[Vancouver] Council Approves Resolutions Opposing Tesoro-Savage Project

• Close to 700 people attended a Vancouver City Council meeting Monday, and a majority of speakers urged councilors to fight an oil-handling facility at the Port of Vancouver.
• The meeting ended at 1:25 a.m. today, with the council voting unanimously to formally intervene in the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council process and voting 5-2 to adopt a council policy to fight not only the Tesoro-Savage project, but all proposals that would result in an increase of Bakken crude oil being hauled through Clark County.
• Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies want to build what would be the largest oil-by-rail terminal in the Northwest, capable of handling up to 380,000 barrels of crude per day.

Picture by Dan Leahy