Linda & Maureen from Land & Sea, the San Juan Island chapter of Slow Food USA, say the presentations from the Kallari chocolate cooperative last month went great, and wanted to thank some folks:

We had a GREAT visit from translator/intern Rebecca Roebber of the Kallari chocolate cooperative!

Thank you so much, Ian, for posting our event, with a picture, too! (Your help was amazing – we got our first call 9 am the morning it appeared!)

Becca visited with our Land & Sea Youth high school Club and advisors and friends; the 5th grade classes of Debbie Taylor, CJ Wavra and Jay Westphalen at FHES, and 3 of Jim McNairy’s classes combined with 2 of Ruthie Paull’s cooking classes at FHHS. Becca also gave a delicious and informative presentation at the FH Library (thank you, Adrienne Bourne, Beth Helstein and Floyd, tech expert), and we had a wonderful evening with many island farmers & great friends at a potluck in the tack room and around the bonfire at the warm and welcoming Sesby’s Heritage farm. (Thank you Lee, Mike and 3/17/09 incarnation of the All You Can Eat Band!).

The assistance of both Tom Schultz and the last minute computer expertise of Bruce Gregory helped make the presentation in the hayloft possible. Thank you for your generosity, Jim and Christina, also Casey, Vince, Tim, and Tito!

Our island gave Becca a wonderful reception, and this capable young woman did a great job doing not only her planned part but filling in for the missing (and missed) Enrique, telling us about the production of chocolate worldwide, and the inspiring ongoing story of Ecuador’s Kallari cooperative. Thank you so much, Becca! Mucho gusto.

For more info about Kallari Cooperative, and Land & Sea, the San Juan Island chapter of Slow Food USA: http://slowfoodlandandsea.blogspot.com/

Best,
Maureen & Linda

Emily Hallock

One of the nicest & most hard-working people on the island is Emily Hallock – she does a great job with her kids, working at the Medical Center, and is gonna be an awesome nurse when she graduates from her nursing program in 2012. She’s been recognized for her efforts – here’s more, from Kristine Odle:

Emily Hallock of San Juan Island has been chosen as the recipient of the 2009 Women’s Opportunity Award from the local Friday Harbor Soroptimist International club. The monetary award was presented to Emily by Kristine Odle at the April 1, 2009 Soroptimist club meeting at Vinny’s Restorante. Several applications were submitted and a team of judges selected Emily based on need and qualifications.

As a single mother, Emily is raising 2 children, working full time, and actively pursuing her dream of becoming an emergency department nurse. She has worked her way up and now works in several capacities at the Medical Center supporting clinicians, and the IT department.

Her list of accomplishments and volunteer work is really too long to recite… to further her nursing dream, she has earned all kinds of advanced clinical certifications (like Marine Rescue Tech) and Certified Wilderness EMT. She has taken every certification and class available to her online and on the island, and has been accepted to the Rural Outreach in Nursing education Program that is a distance learning program to ease the shortage of nurses in rural communities. This is really the only way she can accomplish her goal of becoming an emergency department nurse in our future hospital and stay on the island raising her children as she does so.

Beyond her EMT volunteer work she also volunteers in our community in a variety of other programs focused on children… Girl Scout leader is one example, and currently she is a 4-H activity leader for the rabbit and poultry club. One of her co-workers is quoted as saying “She is an inspiration to all who know her.” Friday Harbor Soroptimist are proud to be offer this award to Emily Hallock.

The Soroptimist Women’s Opportunity Awards give women the resources they need to improve their education, skills, and employment prospects. Eligible applicants must be women who provide the primary financial support for their families, and who are enrolled in or have been accepted to a vocational/skills training program or an undergraduate degree program. Applications are available online and submissions are requested in the Fall. Emily is now eligible for consideration at the Soroptimist International Region level which grants one first-place award for $5,000. (Note: most regions grant additional $3,000 awards.) The 28 first-place recipients then become eligible to receive one of three $10,000 finalist awards. For more information on Soroptimist and the various awards visit: www.sifri.org

Submitted by Kristine Odle
Friday Harbor Soroptimist International

Mike Cohen

You’ve seen Mike Cohen playing at Farmers’ Market and around the island, marching in uniform in the Fourth of July parade, and singing just about everywhere. He’s been running Project Nature Connect since 1959, and now has spread the reach of the program from here to Costa Rica to Hawaii… and it’s still growing.

Here’s more about what he does:

Hidden behind his banjo and accordion lies a little known fact about San Juan Island folk musician, Mike Cohen: he holds a Ph.D. in “Educating, Counseling and Healing with Nature,” he is the author of 10 books on the subject, and he directs online degree programs and courses in it for several different universities.

Recently, his work has gained the international recognition of UNESCO approved schools.

On his website, Cohen notes that, “A lilac can appear to be blue against a red background, and appear to be red against a blue one. However, he says, the color of a Lilac also has its own integrity.

Cohen says “We are excessively troubled because, with the ‘conquer-nature’ bias of Industrial Society as our ‘background,’ our thinking sees nature as a resource that we must increasingly exploit and consume for profit if we are to survive.”

The science of Natural Attraction Ecology (NAE) that Cohen has developed helps us reasonably sense nature based on a different background. That background certifies that for our survival and balance, the integrity of nature is a powerful and supportive friend to us. We each benefit from natural attraction relationships in natural systems as their flow creates its own self-correcting perfection, around and within us.

To survive in a balanced and ethical way with the whole of life, Cohen says, it is rational for us to learn how to let nature-connecting activities help us think and feel while in conscious sensory contact with the integrity of our natural attractions in natural areas.

NAE identifies 53 natural attraction senses in our genetic makeup, senses that we learn to subdue.  Our dismissal of them makes us think non-sense about our relationship with the flow of nature, in and about us.  In addition, Cohen has constructed 16 Axioms about our relationship with nature, Axioms that he demonstrates to be indisputable facts of life in balance.  He contends that we suffer because Industrial Society socializes us to ignore or demean these Axioms.

“If you have had a good experience in nature,” says Cohen, “You are eligible to particpate in Project NatureConnect and help discover missing answers that we desparately need, answers that, no joke, are actually ‘blowing in the wind.’ He invites anyone to learn Educating, Counseling and Healing With Nature, green their profession and relationships and help others do the same.

Learn about Cohen’s funded courses, degrees and careers, online at Project NatureConnect, http://www.ecopsych.com Contact him at: 360-378-6313

Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.
Tom Wilson

Wildwood Manor, located in the northern part of the island.

Now THAT rocks… I was looking over the listings on TripAdvisor and found that the island’s Wildwood Manor was ranked number 8 on their list of the Ten Best Inns/B&Bs. Not on the island. Not in Washington. In the whole freakin’ country!

Since Trip Advisor bases its rankings on the cool things people say who actually stay there, that’s even better (go to the inn‘s website – there’s a link to Trip Advisor so you can scope this out).

All of this isn’t too surprising – John & Michael have a wonderful place that looks out over the water so you can see Waldron & Orcas looking one way, and over the woods looking the other. They offer a three course breakfast, and have a place that’s comfortable in every way you can think of (I dropped by yesterday to see, and the place is one of those places you can just sink into.)

Drop by and see the inn sometime…you’ll be glad you did. And in the meantime, congratulations to John & Michael!

Eddie Nash steps to the plate against the Braves on Saturday.

As Friday Harbor baseball continues its trek to the top, they continue to look pretty dominating.

Pitching led by last year’s league MVP Richie Ochoa and hitting by a well-rounded group that includes senior Eddie Nash (photo) continues to roll over opponents… it appeared on Saturday that the boys have improved on last year’s sometimes spotty offense as they beat LaConner in a doubleheader 18-1 and 12-0.

They play tomorrow at Shoreline Christian… Go Wolverines! ooo

Anna Faris, Washington native, got engaged at Roche Harbor.

If you’re a movie nut, you probably know that Anna Faris stars in the upcoming film, Observe and Report, which opens this coming weekend… what you may not know is that she’s from Edmonds. What you may not know is that she was asked to get married by Chris Pratt of NBC’s sitcom Parks and Recreation – he’s from Lake Stevens (whom the FHHS boys play in soccer in three weeks.)

And…he asked her at Roche Harbor, so that’s pretty cool. Here’s more.

To be satisfied with a little, is the greatest wisdom; and he that increaseth his riches, increaseth his cares; but a contented mind is a hidden treasure, and trouble findeth it not.
Akhenaton

Spurge at Roche Harbor on Sunday....

It was nice to see all the spurge all along the side of the hill below the McMillin Suite at Roche Harbor in the sun, yesterday.

If spring is sprung, is spurge splurged, or what?

Spurge at Roche Harbor on Sunday....

It was nice to see all the spurge all along the side of the hill below the McMillin Suite at Roche Harbor in the sun, yesterday.

If spring is sprung, is spurge splurged, or what?

Toes, ready for spring.....

When I ran into LeeAnne Grosjacques (and FHHS senior daughter Christine) yesterday at Roche Harbor, she immediately said, “It’s nice out! Where’s your tank top and flip flops?” She was right, of course, but I had left mine at home, so I asked if I could take a picture of her toes, with sandals.

What a beautiful spring day it was, don’t you think?

Coming at you - that's Charlie with his mom.....

It was great to run into Jenni Bordhi and her boy Charlie at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday… can you believe he’s nearly two? ooo

The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.
Gaylord Nelson, former governor of Wisconsin, co-founder of Earth Day

Joy is the best makeup.
Anne Lamott

Juan & Carrie coming down the aisle....

You know the song:

Give yourself to love, if love is what you’re after
Open up your hearts to the tears & laughter….
Give yourself to love…give yourself to love.

That’s what happened when Juan (you know him from the front desk at the Medical Center) and Carrie (she manages the tele-psychiatry project there) got married on Valentine’s Day – a few tears, a lot of smiles, and a beautiful day, captured in this slide show by Rainshadow Arts‘ Mark Gardner:

Carrie & Juan Get Married!

Juan & Carrie coming down the aisle....

You know the song:

Give yourself to love, if love is what you’re after
Open up your hearts to the tears & laughter….
Give yourself to love…give yourself to love.

That’s what happened when Juan (you know him from the front desk at the Medical Center) and Carrie (she manages the tele-psychiatry project there) got married on Valentine’s Day – a few tears, a lot of smiles, and a beautiful day, captured in this slide show by Rainshadow Arts‘ Mark Gardner:

Carrie & Juan Get Married!