Thurston County’s Community Recycle Days offer an easy way to recycle a variety of household items at reduced rates. These events are especially good if you need to get rid of items which, although they are recyclable, are too large to fit into curbside recycling bins.

The next 2008 Community Recycle Days will be held on the following days from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 20 at the South Sound Speedway between Tenino and Rochester

Saturday, Sept 27 at the Thurston County Fairgrounds on Carpenter Road

Items that can be recycled include tires, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, stoves, washers, dryers, hot water tanks, microwaves, televisions, computer monitors, laptops, fax machines, printers, scanners, copiers (under 50 lbs), CD & DVD players, VCRs, stereo systems, radios, speakers, phones, power tools, push or riding lawn mowers, bicycles, small gas motors (including chain saw, weed trimmer, outboard boat motor), Goodwill donations, and scrap metal (including de-valved propane tanks). For some of these, you will need to pay a fee.

Click here for more details, a price list, and for directions to South Sound Speedway and the Thurston County Fairgrounds.

From Futurewise, we received this information:

Four years ago Thurston County adopted its 20 year blueprint for future growth and development. Unfortunately, the County’s plan failed to adequately protect water quality, prevent sprawl, conserve farmland, and comply with state law – it was because of these reasons that we filed an appeal of this plan back in 2004.

After the County lost in numerous venues along the way, choosing to appeal rather than improve its plan, this case eventually landed in front of the Supreme Court. This morning, the Supreme Court issued its final and unanimous decision on the case.

Click here to read the full Supreme Court decision.

Today the Supreme Court agreed with [Futurewise] that Thurston County’s urban growth areas (UGA) cannot be larger than needed to accommodate the county’s adopted population projection and a reasonable market factor. Further, the Court agreed that Thurston County cannot use lands outside the rural area when determining if there is a variety of rural densities. The Supreme Court also rejected the county’s arguments that Futurewise could not appeal the county’s oversized UGA or county’s failure to protect the rural areas from sprawling development.

This is indeed another victory for Thurston County residents who want to focus growth in compact urban areas in order to protect rural character, water quality & quantity, and the remaining farmland of Thurston County.

In addition to these crucial determinations, there were three other issues addressed by the court:

• A party/person may challenge a county’s failure to revise its UGA designations after a 10 year update if the state’s population projections for the county have been updated;
• A party/person may challenge a county’s failure to revise aspects of a comprehensive plan that are directly affected by new or recently amended GMA provisions if a petition is filed within 60 days of the plan adoption; and
• The court remanded the case to the Board to determine whether the County used a land market supply factor when sizing its UGA and whether appropriate rural densities were included in the plan.

I confess it’s been awhile since I sought it out, but have you seen the Griffin Fire Department’s new web site? Web designer and fire department Lieutenant Max Hollander has put together an attractive and highly functional tool for the local community. If you’ve not yet seen it, click here and spend some time perusing what’s there and get an idea of what’s to come.

I especially want to point out the set of pages under the “Public Information” top-level menu. There residents will find out information about the seasonal burn ban and alternatives to burning, an offer to provide to homeowners very important address signs, and information about the Department’s ongoing series of CPR and First Aid courses.

The site contains a wealth of information about the work of the Department, its history and equipment, and how to volunteer.

There’s even a set of photos taken during recent calls.

Take some time to browse the site and bookmark its location.

Mark your calendars, get your tickets and make your donations of good-quality items now for the Griffin Foundation Auction!

The biennial Griffin School Foundation fund raising auction will be held on the evening of Saturday, September 13th, 5:30 to 10 PM, at the usual location in a circus tent in between the Grange Hall and golf driving range. This is a great event that should not be missed.

A number of Griffin Neighborhood Association members are attending the auction and have generously contributed items to be auctioned at this year’s event.

Tickets for auction and dinner, including two drinks (wine, beer, pop, or bottled water), are $45 per person. Tickets are available at Island Market and Sunrise Hair.

The Foundation is looking for good quality auction items. If you want to contribute an auction item contact Teri Weaver at teriweaver@comcast.net

The main item that the auction will focus on funding this year is an electric reader board for the school that will be located on a triangular piece of property the school owns, in front of the old mink farm where Old Steamboat Island Road meets Steamboat Island Road. This will allow easy communication of school events, etc., by the school to the general public. Other featured targets to finance will be a trophy case, as a “bid-an-item” where bidders just indicate the money they wish to donate without purchasing an item. The Foundation has a generous matching gift challenge to provide more money for scholarships.

The Griffin School Foundation is a Washington nonprofit corporation operating under the umbrella 501(c)(3) status of The Community Foundation of South Puget Sound. The Griffin School Foundation supports and contributes to the improvement of public education, and related needs, in the greater Griffin Community that are not, or can not be, support by traditional funding sources. These purposes are fulfilled by funding scholarships for Griffin School students or former students, funding educational and training opportunities for Griffin School employees and Griffin School Board members, funding capital improvements and equipment for the Griffin School District and Griffin-area youth, providing historical and other displays at Griffin School, addressing the special needs of Griffin students, and hosting events honoring our Griffin community senior citizens. Its website may be found at GriffinSchoolFoundation.org.

Local resident Velma Rogers has teamed with Food for Life Chef Maya Adjani, with support from the Olympia Food Co-op and Batdorf & Bronson to offer an informative and delicious series of benefits for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Food for Life Chef Maya Adjani will create a gourmet RAW food feast using seasonal locally grown produce for all to enjoy!

Food supplied by: Olympia Food Co-op
Beverages supplied by: Batdorf & Bronson

Featuring Local Farmers & Their Produce

Time: 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Location: 9604 Hunter Pt Rd NW, Olympia WA 98502
Dates:
August 23
September 13
October 25
November 22

$25 gift minimum required for any one of these dates – Space is limited.

To make reservations, gifts are requested 7 days in advance of the date of the event noted above. Make checks payable to “Velma Rogers” and mail to the address above.

Contact: Velma at 360-866-0244 or email at VelmasVegetables@aol.com

The concept of CSA was described in greater detail in our previous posting about a similar event Velma put together. Click here to read that posting and to learn more about CSA and about Chef Maya Adjani.

Click here to download the flyer for this event.

This year’s Garden Rhapsodies Tour will be in the Griffin area with at least five gardens selected on the Steamboat Island and Oyster Bay peninsulas.

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

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

Saturday, July 26, 2008
10:00 am-4:00 pm
Shuttle location: Griffin School at 6530 33rd Ave NW

Tickets are $15 and include a shuttle to all of the gardens. Youth under 16 are free. Tickets are available at all Thurston County nurseries, Olympia Federal Savings branches, Yenney Music, and Olympia Farmers Market. Tickets are also available the day of the tour at the shuttle site and the gardens.

Garden Rhapsodies is sponsored by Thurston County, WSU Cooperative Extension Native Plant Salvage Project, WSU Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Foundation, Olympia Symphony Guild, and the City of Olympia.

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

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.

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!