The Olympia Family Barter Faire is holding an event to support their mission. The “fun-raiser” will feature a Chili Feed and Local Foods Dinner, Networking Opportunities, Variety Show and Dance Party with Olympia’s own Erev Rav — certified kosher live Klezmer music, Fire and Music Making!

Prosperity Grange, Steamboat Island Road
Saturday, February 28
6:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Cost: Sliding scale $10-$30

Can’t afford the cost? No worries! Contact the barter faire at barterfaire@yahoo.com to volunteer.

What is a barter faire? It is a two-day event, previously held this last September, where local and regional vendors will come together in a family style gathering to barter their crafts, produce, cuisine, skills, and collections of stuff. The location will be in a beautiful rural spot near Olympia. There will be camping and daytime visitors, singing, dancing, music, conversation, and many volunteer opportunities.

What’s the Mission of the Faire? The Olympia Family Barter Faire is being created to build community, support a local economy, provide educational opportunities through workshops and skill shares, promote the arts, and work towards local sustainability. Their events will encompass values that reflect a respect for diversity and the vision of a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable society.

You may have read, recently, that a statewide local electronics recycling program has been inundated with material and is asking that people delay sending in their electronic recyclables, at least for awhile. But, now we receive news that Best Buy has expanded its electronics recycling program to every U.S. store, providing an easy, mostly-free alternative to dumpster-chucking for anyone without a dedicated e-cycler nearby.

The caveats: Best Buy isn’t accepting hard drives (because of privacy concerns, you should consider always pulling the hard drive and demolishing it, from every computer you recycle), TVs or monitors bigger than 32 inches, anything containing Freon, or anything classified as an “appliance,” like a refrigerator, microwave, or the like. And each TV, monitor, and laptop costs a $10 fee to recycle, but Best Buy gives you a $10 gift card in return. They’re also only taking two items per household, per day, so don’t plan on making a last-day-before-moving trip to the big blue and gold.

Locally, there are other options for either recycling or committing your still-operating electronic device for reuse. If your equipment still works, you can offer it free, using a couple of online services:

Olympia Reusables
Freecycle
2 Good 2 Toss
RecycleMyCellPhone

Please remember that electronic waste is often hazardous waste.

Interesting Eco-Tip of the Day:
Along the lines of “How To Make Printer Ink & Toner Last Longer,” we have “Ecofont.” Use 20% less ink, just by changing to this free typeface.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge and GNA Board member Chris Wickham officially swore in Thurston County’s newest Commissioner, Karen Valenzuela (pictured to left), this last Friday. The Olympian is reporting “It is the second time in state history that all three seats on a county commission have been held by women, according to the Washington State Association of Counties.”

On March 1st the County will begin a major reorganization which will reduce the number of departments led by appointed directors from 16 to eight.

In a press release from the County, the reconfigured departments were identified as:

Public Works, which includes Roads, Solid Waste, Utilities, Engineering and Capital Projects;

Parks and Recreation, which includes Parks and Trails, the County Fairgrounds and Historic Preservation;

Central Services, which includes facility maintenance, Geodata, Equipment Rental and other internal services;

Resource Stewardship, which includes development services, storm water and lakes management, noxious weeds, WSU extension, agricultural lands, and the Puget Sound and Chehalis partnerships.

Public Health & Social Services, which includes Public Health, Social Services, Environmental Health, Housing, Veterans Assistance and Pacific Mountain Consortium.

Strategic Planning, which includes the internal services of Human Resources, Finance and Budget and Board of Commissioners support; and the external services of Long Range Planning, Capital Facilities Planning, Economic Development, and Regional Sustainability.

Emergency Services, which includes Emergency Management and Medic One, and

The Office of Assigned Counsel.

The term of Commissioner Bob Macleod, who resigned at the end of December, expires next year. Valenzuela has already filed to run in that race, in a campaign to be managed by former Olympia City Councilman Matthew Green.

According to the Olympian, Erik Landaas, who finished sixth in the [Thurston County Democratic] party’s nomination process, also filed paperwork to run for the seat. Susan Bogni, Macleod’s former assistant who finished second in the party balloting, said she’s strongly considering a run.

Local business YellowBearJourneys.com is offering a free Green Office Products Workshop & Show at Prosperity Grange on Saturday, February 21st.

Saturday, February 21
10:00am to 4:00 pm
Prosperity Grange, Steamboat Island Rd

Demonstrators needed, for paper making and other demonstrations. Contact Yellow Bear Journeys at 918-8121 for more information.

Workshop & Show provided by YellowBearJourneys.com
Ecotours; Workshops; Consulting