Benefit to Support Community Supported Agriculture

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Join us for a Monthly Luncheon, this time spotlighting locally grown food. Learn to prepare raw food and learn about our local farmers and their life giving art.

Featuring Chef: Maya Adjani, Living Food Preparation and
Farmer: Susie Kyle of Winlock Meadows Farm.

Date: June 28, 2008
Time: 11:30 am to 3:00 pm
Location: 9604 Hunter Point Road NW, Olympia, WA 98502
Minimum Gift: $40 to benefit local farmers
Additional contributions are appreciated

To reserve your spot, gifts need to in by June 20, 2008.

Make checks out “Velma Rogers” and send to 9604 Hunter Point Road NW, Olympia, WA 98502.

For questions, contact Velma at 360-866-0244 or email at VelmasVegetables@aol.com

Click here to download the poster for this event.

Who is Maya Adjani?

Maya is a dynamic healer and health enthusiast. Ms. Adjani is a writer, artist, entrepreneur, world traveler and certified Kundalini and Hatha yoga instructor. She enjoys sharing her in-depth study of wellness and innate passion for life, wholeness and abundance. She began focused study on living foods more than nine years ago, and has never doubted its simple brilliance. Her approach to health and self-healing is compassionate, playful and uplifting. Maya Adjani lectures on the benefits of living food and has taught hanlds-on live food preparation at various venues throughout the Western U.S.

Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a new idea in farming, one that has been gaining momentum since its introduction to the United States from Europe in the mid-1980s. The CSA concept originated in the 1960s in Switzerland and Japan, where consumers interested in safe food and farmers seeking stable markets for their crops joined together in economic partnerships. Today, CSA farms in the U.S., known as CSAs, currently number more than 400. Most are located near urban centers in New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Great Lakes region, with growing numbers in other areas, including the West Coast.

In basic terms, CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or “share-holders” of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer’s salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing.

— An EXCERPT from “Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): An Annotated Bibliography and Resource Guide.”

For more information about local agriculture, see the Thurston County Food Map at http://fertileground.org/foodshed/

The Evergreen State College maintains a list of local CSA’s. Click here for that list.

St. Christopher’s Community Church Asks for Support to Build Their Community Center

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From St. Christopher’s Community Church, we recently received this letter:

To Our Friends and Neighbors in the Steamboat Island area:

For the past 10 years the members of St. Christopher’s Church (79th and Steamboat Island Road) have been planning a facility that will have a positive impact on the lives of all of us living in this area. Our projected 6,000 square foot community center includes multi-purpose rooms, a conference room and a large divisible meeting room. This project has been designed in large part in response to neighborhood surveys submitted by many of you. To build a facility for use an hour or so each week makes little sense compared to daily use by our neighbors.

St. Christopher’s members have raised just under a half million towards this 1.5 million dollar project and can take on a certain amount of debt. To close the gap we are inviting you to join the “900 Club”. This would be a generous group of neighbors giving a one-time tax-deductible gift of $500. Would you become part of this group? If 900 neighbors participate, construction could commence this fall.

With its Steamboat Island Road entryway, lighted parking, and clean modern facilities, this center will meet the needs of all ages and support many activities from scouts to 12- Step programs, after school tutoring, neighborhood association meetings, and senior activities to name just a few. We hope to be designated as a Red Cross Disaster Center.

You can help this facility happen with your gift to: “St. Christopher Community Center.” The appropriate IRS acknowledgment will be sent to you. Speaking of the IRS, you might consider contributing a portion of your one-time 2007 tax rebate since this is an unanticipated windfall and would serve to stimulate the local economy and support a worthy project. We heartily support this project and hope you will too. If you would like more information, please call 866-2111.

Signed Kathleen O’Shaunessy, Fred Finn, Mark Messinger.

Your tax-deductible gift can be mailed to:

St. Christophers
Steamboat Island Community Center
3320 – 79th Ave. NW
Olympia, WA 98502-9960

Click here to visit the web site of the St. Christopher’s Community Church.
Click here to view an artist’s rendering of the project.

Join the Griffin Foundation at the “Griffin Gala” on June 7

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The Griffin Foundation is sponsoring a special fundraising event, the Griffin Gala, this Saturday, June 7th. The event is a dinner at the Viewpoint (lower level at Westbay Marina) from 6:30 to 9:30, prepared by Chef Adam. There will be a prize for the craziest hat, drawing for an incredible Grand Prize package, 10 exciting baskets for silent auction, and live music provided by kids from the Griffin School.

The cost is $40.00 per person or $75.00 per couple and donations are welcome.

For tickets contact Alisha at 866-9004, 5102 Totten Ct NW, Olympia, WA 98502.

It will be a fun evening and support a great cause “Yes for Griffin Kids”. What a great chance to visit with old friends and new.

The Griffin Gala will raise money to fund future information campaigns around Griffin School District levies.

If you cannot attend the event, but would like to contribute to “Yes for Griffin Kids,” you may do so my contacting Alisha Brannam at 866-9004, 5102 Totten Ct NW, Olympia, WA 98502.

For more information about the Griffin Foundation, click here to visit their web site.

The Annual “Death to Scotch Broom!” Blog Posting

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Every year, around this time, all those yellow flags – those scotch broom flowers – come out to wave. Next will come the seeds and, next year, more scotch broom. There are noxious weends and then there’s scotch broom. Now is an excellent time of year to get serious about reducing the amount of scotch broom on your property.

So, responsible rural property owners want to know: What makes scotch broom so bad?

Scotch broom is a prodigious seed producer. The seeds have hard coats enabling them to survive in the environment for up to 80 years. Once established, scotch broom forms dense brush fields over six feet tall. The brush fields diminish habitat for grazing animals, such as livestock and native animals. Areas of dense brush shade out and kill native grassland plants in invaded areas, and favor invasion by other woody, non-grassland plant species.

Scotch broom prevents reforestation, creates a high fire hazard, renders rangeland worthless and greatly increases the cost of maintenance of roads, ditches, power and telephone lines. Wildlife suffers as the growth becomes too dense for even quail and other ground birds to thrive. Being slightly toxic and unpalatable it is browsed very little by livestock.

If you cut your trees, so that a lot of sunlight reaches the ground, you’ve probably now got scotch broom to cut.

How do you eradicate scotch broom?

There are two schools of thought, those who say pull out the whole plant and those who will tell you, if you’re clever and your timing is right, all you need are a pair of lopping shears.

From the School of Pulling Out the Plant, we get these instructions:

Pull out the entire plant, including roots. When the soil is moist, small plants can be pulled easily by hand. Winter and spring are good seasons to do this.

Larger plants must be removed with a tool such as a Weed Wrench. Be sure to remove the entire plant. Broken stems re-sprout and are much harder to remove for the next person. Plants can be left where pulled.

One of the benefits of being a member of the Griffin Neighborhood Association is members can rent our Weed Wrench.

Not yet a member of the GNA? Dang, what are you waiting for?! Click here to join online.

From the School of Cutting Broom in Bloom, we get these instructions:

First, cut broom in bloom. Use loppers or small saws and cut broom right at ground level.

Broom puts all of its energy into making flowers. If you cut it while in bloom, it will most likely die in the summer’s dry heat.

If you have to make a choice, go after single plants and small infestation to prevent its spread.

If the broom is huge, cut off as many of the branches as you can. If the broom is small and not blooming, you can return and cut it next year when it blooms.

It is most important to not let the broom go to seed! Cut before June 17 (this date is from Vancouver Island’s “BroomBusters” web site, so it’s probably earlier, down here in the South Sound).

CUT DOWN ALL YELLOW FLOWERS so that they can not turn into seeds. Each scotch broom plant can produce 2,000 to 3,500 seed pods – which burst open, shooting seeds into adjacent soil. If you cut them while in bloom – no seeds!

HERBICIDES applied in the spring when new leaves are present are another effective control tool, but always remember to read the labels carefully and exercise extreme care when applying chemicals, especially near waterways.

DO NOT BURN SCOTCH BROOM! When exposed to fire, its seeds burst from their seedpods. Also, the smoke from burning scotch broom is actually toxic and may seriously irritate the respiratory tracts of you, your family, or your neighbors.

TAKE SCOTCH BROOM TO THE DUMP. The best way to get rid of scotch broom, once it is cut, is to take it to Thurston County Waste and Recovery Center.

The Thurston County Noxious Weed Control Agency offers the following information and services to the public: Educational presentations, plant identification especially those that may be noxious weeds, consults on your property, prescriptions for specific noxious weed problems and what the county approves for its own use, free disposal of designated noxious weeds at the Thurston County Waste and Recovery centers, and limited use of a manual removal tool called the wrench. Also available are many informational brochures and pamphlets as well as several videos.

So, responsible homeowner, get out there and cut your scotch broom!

“Conservation Funding for Your Forest/Farm Improvements” – April 23

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The Delphi Association is sponsoring a special presentation by Jeff Swotek of the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), who will be speaking about opportunities for conservation funding on your property. There will be informational packets available and Jeff will have lots of time to answer all your questions regarding the different projects available and how the whole process works.

Wednesday, April 23
7 PM
Black Lake Fire Department
5911 Black Lake Blvd. SW

In a letter to the Delphi Association, Mr. Swotek wrote:

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, is an often little known Federal agency. The main mission of our organization it to provide national leadership in conservation and wise use of our natural resources. We are not a regulatory agency but rather a technical assistance and financial assistance agency for everyone who owns, leases, or uses lands in all counties throughout this county.

You can check out our website at www.wa.nrcs.usda.gov and learn more about us and our programs. I might draw special attention to our Environmental Quality Incentives Program which provides financial assistance and technical assistance.

In a nutshell, this is a competitive program where landowners, renters, and alike bring their list of projects that they would like to do on their forest or farm and apply for the program. The applications are all ranked and we take the funding as far as we can based upon the ranking and the cost of the projects that you would like to do on your land and develop contracts. Lets take your typical forestland application. Say you are a customer who would like to do 40 acres of thinning, 10 acres of Maple control, 38 acres of Alder hand slash. . . Each project you would like to do and its location generates points in our ranking and we can tell you how much, should you be awarded funding from us, you could receive so much for each acre of thinning, Maple control, Alder hand slash. . .

You can develop a schedule of what you would like to do when (from 2 – 10 years) and have the money for all of your projects reserved under your name if you are awarded funding. All we would do is provide you a minimum specification for each project, you do the work or hire it done, you contact us, and we pay you on a per acre basis. We like you to maintain the project for the life of the project and I can better explain this when we get together. Financial assistance is also available for culverts and many many other projects under this same program.

Well now that I have tried to explain the financial assistance side, lets look at the technical assistance side of the program. For each of your projects we can provide free technical assistance or provide you additional funds to select from a list of “Technical Service Providers” or TSPs. The technical assistance takes the form of project planning, development of the minimum specifications, assistance in in the layout of project as well as the final certification of the projects.

It is important to note how we work. By participating in the program your information and your land are respected. All of your information is protected under the Federal Freedom of Information Act and is not releasable. We do not come out to your property unless invited by you and when working with us there is no public access. So rest assured we respect your rights as landowners.

We hope Griffin homeowners, too, will be interested in learning more about this program.

For more information about the Delphi Association, visit their web site at http://www.delphiassoc.org/

Other interesting information new on the website is the McLane 2008 timber sale that will occur April 24, 2008. For information and all the available documents, check out the Delphi Association website at:
http://www.delphiassoc.org/capitol_forest.htm

The Delphi Association would like to direct your attention to an interesting article that was just in the Olympian regarding County zoning and the planning fund:
http://www.delphiassoc.org/articles.htm

Willis Family Trust to Continue with Plans to Build Conference Center on Steamboat Island Road

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As many of you know, the County has permitted to hang over our heads for more than five years a proposal to build a conference center on the corner of Steamboat Island and Sunrise Beach roads. For much of that time, we have waited for the Willis Family Trust, developers of the project, to deliver the Environmental Impact Statement requested by the County in early 2005.

This last month, the County sent a letter to Robert Patrick, the representative for the developer. In this letter, the County requested two simple things: (1) information “indicating the applicant intends to pursue the project” and (2) the “timeline for starting the Environmental Impact Statement process”.

The County gave the developer 2 weeks to respond or, according to the letter, the project “will be expired”. Click here to read the letter.

When Mr. Patrick could not meet even that deadline, the County granted yet another extension.

Folks, you couldn’t make this stuff up.

When the extension was granted, the County added that the applicant’s response must include information as to what the applicant has actually accomplished toward completing the required Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

Representatives from the County’s Development Services specifically stated in their letter to Mr. Patrick the project “will be expired” unless the county receives the requested information or materials by the deadline.

On the day the extended deadline was set to expire, the developer’s representative made a full payment ($9890) for the application fees required by the County to move the application forward.

No DEIS was delivered to the County. No timeline. No information whatever. Just a check.

In the face of rumors the County will raise its application fees, the Willis Family Trust simply paid the current fees and provided absolutely nothing the County requested.

We believe the application should be lapsed, as the developer has failed to meet the conditions stipulated by the County.

Mr. Willis clearly intends to go forward with his project, despite the poor reception given by residents in the area, the sagging economy, and the presence of many competing banquet and convention facilities.

We are now waiting to see if the County will expire the application, as they promised they would.

What You Can Do

  • Print out a copy of the window sign opposing the project. You can download a sign here.
  • Please consider making a contribution to our legal fund. All contributions to the legal fund are held exclusively for the use of fighting this project. You can make a secure contribution, using your credit card, here.
  • Tell your neighbors. Many of them may have mistakenly come to believe that, after 5 years, this application has already been expired.

The developer, Mr. Willis, is determined to convert residentially-zoned property to his own commercial use. We want the County to enforce its existing regulations prohibiting this use of residential land.

Learn more about the proposed Steamboat Island Conference Center and contribute to our legal fund online at http://www.griffinneighbors.org/confctr.htm .

Stay tuned, as the Board will continue to provide you with updates as events materialize.

Thank you for your continued support of the Griffin Neighborhood Association.

UPDATE: On March 31st, the President of the GNA sent to Michael Kain, Thurston County Planning Manager, a letter. In this letter, GNA President Gary Goodwin asks the County to do what the County said it would, if the conditions described in its letter to the applicant were not met. The GNA has asked the County to “return the check [for application fees], inform the applicant that the project has expired, and inform the applicant that he may file a new application for a special use permit under the existing zoning controls if he wishes to pursue the proposal.”

Click here to read the letter in which the GNA is asking the County to confirm the application has now been expired.

Save the Date: Garden Rhapsodies Tour – July 26

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This year, the annual Garden Rhapsodies Tour in Thurston County will be in the Griffin area with five gardens selected on the Steamboat Island and Oyster Bay peninsulas.

The garden tour features lovely gardens cared for in an earth-friendly manner. Gardens included in the tour do not have to be strictly organic but they should use preventative techniques and pesticides only as a last resort.

Garden Rhapsodies Tour
July 26th
10:00AM to 4:00PM

This is an educational event and a fund raiser for three local non-profits: The Master Gardener Foundation, Native Plant Salvage Project and the Olympia Symphony Guild.

More information will be posted here, closer to the event.

Or, contact Jennifer Johnson, Environmental Educator, Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department, Environmental Health Division at (360) 754-4111 ext. 7631 or by email at johnsoj@co.thurston.wa.us

Update to South Sound Logistics Center Proposed by Ports of Tacoma, Olympia

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We are pleased to be able to update our prior post on the South Sound Logistics Center (SSLC), proposed for a part of South Thurston County. See also the link to the Olympian article, which will provide more information about this latest turn of events. Our prior post also links to several other Olympian articles on the plans to build a large warehousing facility within 1/2 of a mile of Millersylvania State Park.

From The Friends of Rocky Prairie, we received this notice:

Dear Friends,

Port of Olympia has helped us by withdrawing their request to postpone our rezone. Click here to read the Olympian article “Port rethinks request for county to delay rezoning”.

The Port of Tacoma has not withdrawn and they stated this past week that they could still sell the property to industry!

Let’s keep the pressure on!

Please! We need all of you to attend the rezone meeting March 26th, 6:00 pm at the Thurston County Expo Center (Thurston County Fairgrounds).

See you there!

—Friends of Rocky Prairie

Directions to the Thurston County Expo Center:

Heading to Lacey on I-5 North

Take exit 109, turn right on Martin Way. Take Martin Way and make a right onto Carpenter Rd. Follow for about 3 mikes to fairgrounds on left. Follow signs to Expo Center.

Heading to Lacey on I-5 South

Take exit 109, turn left on Martin Way. Take Martin Way and make a right onto Carpenter Rd. Follow for about 3 mikes to fairgrounds on left. Follow signs to Expo Center.

Save The Date: Emergency Preparedness Fair, Sep 27

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As may of you may know, the GNA has undertaken as one of its ongoing projects an effort to increase the emergency preparedness of families and businesses in our area. This project, a partnership with the Griffin Fire Department, Griffin School District, the Red Cross and local emergency planning agencies, is described in somewhat more detail on our web site.

On Saturday, September 27, the Thurston County Emergency Management Council will hold its Second Annual Emergency Preparedness Fair. This will include preparedness demonstrations, vendor booths and a lot of very useful information you can use to prepare for the inevitable. Whether its an earthquake, Avian Flu, or an extended power outage, a comprehensive event such as this one cannot be beat, as a way of preparing.

Saturday, September 27
9AM to 4PM
St. Martin’s University
Worthington Center & Pavilion
5300 Pacific Ave. SE, Lacey

For more details about the Second Annual Emergency Preparedness Fair, contact Vivian Eason at 360-786-5243 or email her at easonv@co.thurston.wa.us

Thurston County Emergency Management has useful online resources, to help you to begin your planning. Click here for that web page.

For more information about the Griffin Neighborhood Association’s emergency preparedness efforts, click this link to visit our web page.

Be prepared (it’s more than just part of the Boy Scout Motto)!

Friends of Rocky Prairie Ask for Support for Rezone in South Thurston County

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Perhaps you have already read or heard about the South Sound Logistics Center (SSLC), proposed by the Port of Tacoma and Port of Olympia. Located within a 1/2 of a mile of Millersylvania State Park, plans are already on file for a high-cube warehousing facility. In this biologically diverse area of rural Thurston County, plans show a structure with a building footprint of 3,028,00 square feet, the size of 28 football fields.

We’ve seen this sort of thing already; construction of a project that in no way reflects the rural setting on which it is sited. Both the Ports and the County have sought to downplay the significance of the plans or even the likelihood of the project going forward. Meanwhile, plans are now on file with Thurston County.

The Friends of Rocky Prairie “is a group of concerned homeowners and residents in Washington’s South Puget Sound region, including the Thurston County rural communities of Maytown and Tenino.” According to Friends of Rocky Prairie:

The plans for the SSLC contain numerous possibilities including a rail switching yard, chemical manufacturing plant, solid waste transfer station, warehousing and a truck to rail distribution site. This would create a massive 24 hour per day industrial complex the size of Olympia, and would inundate roads from Olympia to South Thurston County with 1000’s of trucks and blocked railroad crossings.

A citizen has filed an application with the county to rezone the Port’s property in order to bring it into conforming use with the surrounding rural lands, including the State Park, the Fish & Wildlife Preserve, and long-term forests.

You can help.

Learn more about the issues. The Friends of Rocky Prairie have a page dedicated to the rezone, on their web site. Click this link to visit that page.

If you believe the County ought to rezone the property, you may sign a petition. The Friends of Rocky Prairie would like to obtain the names, addresses and phone numbers of as many County residents as possible, by Wednesday, March 19. There is a link here to that petition.

The Olympian has run a number of articles on the project. Among these are:

Crowd of 300 speaks out on port project
Logistics center meets opposition
Ports to meet on cargo center
Plans for cargo center collide with concerns about prairie
Ports team up on depot Web site
Neighbors rail against cargo site