Island Rec’s evening drop-in programs begin next week at Turnbull Gym!!!  Now that it’s getting cooler outside, join us for some indoor fitness. 

 Beginning 10/1/2018
Monday & Wednesday 7:30-9:30pm – Badminton, Table Tennis, & Pickleball
Tuesdays Only – 7:30-9:30pm – Basketball
Thursdays Only – 7:30-9:30pm – Volleyball

All participants must be 16 & Up, and bring clean court shoes into the gym to participate. Sixteen and seventeen year old’s must have a parent signed waiver to participate.  $3 drop-in, or purchase a 10-time pass for $25. 

Beginning 11/1/18 @ the Fairgrounds
Mondays & Thursdays – Indoor Soccer 7-9pm, NEW! Purchase a 3 month pass for $96 at the Island Rec office or on our website www.islandrec.org

Tuesdays – Roller Hockey (6-7pm ages 5-14) (7:00-9:00 ages 15+)
Saturdays – Scooter & Trike (5:30-6:30pm) Open Skate (7-8:30pm)
Drop-in rates vary at the Fair Building. 

For more information or registration www.islandrec.org; call 378-4953 or drop by the office 580 Guard St.  Monday – Friday 11am-5pm.  Please note that the schedule for all drop-in programs is subject to change.  Please visit our program calendar at http://www.islandrec.org/calendar/to get up to date information.

Life’s a Garden Party – Contributed photo

Would you like your garden to be a remarkable reflection of who you are and what you care about? To be a landscape that supports wildlife and creative exploration?

Join keynote speaker Lorene Forkner Edwards and the San Juan County Master Gardeners at their popular Annual Gardening Workshop for inspiration and truly workable ideas to create ‘a Garden That Fits YOU.’

Lorene Edwards Forkner – Contributed photo

Lorene Edwards Forkner is an author, editor, and passionate self-proclaimed ‘horticolorist.’ The author of five gardening titles including the bestselling “Handmade Garden Projects” and the “Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening: Pacific Northwest.” Lorene is the editor of Pacific Horticulture, a magazine that supports the power of gardens to enrich life and help heal our planet. Lorene will be a contributing author of a new weekly column for Pacific NW magazine called GROW. She is passionate about personality-infused garden spaces and the beautiful, fruitful, and innovative landscapes of our region. Follow Lorene at ahandmadegarden.com and on Instagram @gardenercook. 

And returning this year is Dr. Linda Gilkeson, last year’s highly regarded keynote speaker. Dr. Gilkeson will lead three afternoon sessions: “Common Pests, Diseases and Disorders of Fruits,” “Of Cabbages and [January] Kings,” and “Do You Really Know what the Problem Is?” Dr. Gilkeson is the author of “Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest,” the best-selling guide to vegetable garden success. Continue Reading

Cover Cropping Workshop

Cover Crop Workshop – Contributed photo

Get ahead of spring weeds now with a fall cover crop! Attend a free WSU San Juan County Extension workshop on how to use cover cropping to control weeds and build soil this winter.  Chris Benedict, WSU Extension will present a hands on workshop at Morningstar Farm. Topics will include pros and cons of various types of cover crops, when to plant and terminate and how to work with weed biology to get ahead of next season’s weed problem. The workshop is at Morningstar Farm 244 John Jones Road, Orcas Island Wednesday, October 10th 10am-3pm. Dress for the weather and bring a lunch. Snacks provided.  

Please RSVP with Angie Freeman Shephard at [email protected]  or 360-370-7664.

Orchard Care and High Value Fruit Production Workshop

Orchard Care Workshop – Contributed photo

Wondering how to care for the fruit trees you have? Curious about how you could integrate a high value fruit production system into your farm? WSU San Juan County Extension welcomes Tom Thornton, Director of Cloud Mountain Farm Center and a fruit grower with more than 35 years’ experience at a free workshop October 14^th 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Warm Valley Farm 7483 Orcas Road. We will spend the morning in hands on orchard care techniques and the afternoon with a discussion on the principles behind developing a high value fruit production system for your farm.  Bring your specific questions for Tom! Dress for the weather and bring a lunch. Snacks provided.  Please RSVP with Angie Freeman Shephard at [email protected]  or 360-370-7664.

Give your child the gift of nurturing relaxation through Yoga Calm. Youth will learn to deepen and focus their breath to manage emotions, practice a variety of yoga postures, and develop healthy relationship skills during both partner and group yoga activities focusing on social/emotional skills development. Older youth will be given leadership roles. Wear comfortable clothing.

Yoga Calm is an award-winning, K-12 wellness curriculum used by thousands of educators and therapists. Simple yoga-based activities, mindfulness exercises and social skills-building games help children improve their focus, learning readiness, behavioral skills, physical health and emotional stability. Yoga Calm helps benefits children’s overall health as well as their academic performance.

Alice became a Certified Yoga Calm Instructor in 2011. She is also WA State Certified Teacher with a MEd and has worked with youth in a variety of ways. She is a FHES Substitute Teacher and has offered enrichment and after school classes in dance, nature, art and community building for many years on San Juan Island.

Island Soul Studio
Tuesdays 3:15-4:15, Beginning on October 2nd
For children in grades K-6
$40 per month (4 classes) or $12 drop-in

Please register by calling Alice Hibberd at 360.298.2186 or emailing, [email protected]

Fall is here and its time to think about this winter’s Craft Fair…

Mark your calendars, our Winter Flea & Craft Market will be happening Saturday, December 1, from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm in the main building at the San Juan County Fairgrounds!  Vendor booth space for Flea & Craft Market is $27, which includes one 8’x 30” table & two chairs.  Don’t have anything to sell?  You can still plan on attending and find something unique for holiday gift giving, or treat yourself to something special!

Visit the Fairgrounds website www.sjcfair.org for more information and get your vendor registration form today!

We’re ready to launch Mount Grant trail construction and welcome any trail blazers interested in helping!

Goldenback Trail at Westside Preserve – Contributed photo

Starting October 6th, we’ll meet Saturdays (10/6, 10/13, 10/20)  and Wednesdays (10/10, 10/17, 10/24) working from 10am to 2pm. Trail construction will involve brushing, limbing, and transplating vegetation; moving rocks, timbers, and brush piles; and grubbing/grading trail surfaces. 
 
We’ll meet and park in the vicinity of the lower road junction, where you would take a left to get to the current “non-motorized” route to the top. Please bring your own gloves, sturdy boots, and eye protection. We will have some tools available, but if feel free to bring your own (handsaws, pruners, grub hoes, pick adze, McClouds, etc.) if you prefer!   

We will have some snacks on hand, but please also bring lunch/water.

RSVP to Tanja ([email protected]) or call 360.378.4402 for more information.

BooBoo wants you… in her boxing class! Here’s her new Fall schedule…

A Broadway hit first produced on the West End under the title Gaslight and filmed twice, Angel Street tells the story of the Manninghams, who live on Angel Street in 19th century London.

As the curtain rises, all appears to be the essence of Victorian tranquility. It is soon apparent, however, that Mr. Manningham, a suavely handsome man, is slowly driving his gentle, devoted wife, Bella, to the brink of insanity with an insinuating kindness that masks more sinister motives. While he is out, Mrs. Manningham has an unexpected caller: amiable, paternal Inspector Rough from Scotland Yard.

Rough is convinced that Mr. Manningham is a homicidal maniac wanted for a murder committed fifteen years earlier in this very house. Gradually, the inspector restores Bella’s confidence in herself and, as the evidence against Manningham unfolds, the author has built and sustained some of the most brilliant, suspenseful sequences in modern theatre.

In the On Book! series, island directors gather actors and friends to read new, classic, and prize-winning plays. Admission is free!

Come and hear the hit play that inspired the film GASLIGHT.
Learn what it means to gaslight someone.  Presented by
 On Book! at the Gubelman Theatre September 25 and 26. 
Doors open at 7 for a 7:30 show.  Bring a friend you trust!

Yakima ferry coming into Friday Harbor under a double rainbow – Tim Dustrude photo

Washington State Ferries recently released the draft for their Long Range Plan looking out the next two decades to 2040. This has been a long time in the making, including meetings over the last year and public outreach by WSF this spring. The draft plan is now open for comment, and the final draft will be complete and presented to the state legislature in January. The next month is the time to for serious attention.

It will surprise no one that the top priority from all the comments has been reliability, and this is the key focus for the draft plan: Expand the fleet and focus on maintenance. The current situation, as laid out by the previous (2009) LRP, seems almost doomed to fail in retrospect: A total of 22 vessels with 19 in active service during the summer months, two in rotation for scheduled maintenance, and only one spare available for service in the event of mishaps.

We’ve had our share of ferry mishaps, as have most of the routes: Elwha out of service since early spring with serious corrosion issues (and not due back until December), Yakima crippled for months with bent props (now fixed), Hyak still sidelined with drive-motor problems, Issaquah out with gearbox problems, the list goes on and on. This is not the fault of the vessel engineers or maintenance folks, the equation simply doesn’t work: aging ferries need serious maintenance. Maintenance budgets have been cut but WSF even can’t spend what they have, because there are no spare vessels to allow for preventative maintenance. This is a circle that ends with broken boats and service disruptions right in the middle of our busiest season. Continue Reading

From the San Juan Update mail bag…

The board of the San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) would like to express their gratitude to Annie Howell-Adams for her recent successful Conversations With Gee’s Bend exhibition.  The show featured over 50 works from 23 artists from all over the US and as far away as Ghana.  The exhibitions encompassed the entire museum and featured three gallery talks and two workshops open to the public.

This is challenging work for a curator and took months in the making. Howell-Adams and volunteers, some of them artists in the exhibition, and many more, painted walls, installed art, made labels, led tours, signed in visitors, just to name a few of the many essential tasks.

We’d also like to thank Annie for her creativity in designing this exhibition, which was visited by many hundreds of people over the summer.

Seed monies and underwriting from these prominent sponsors, Dave and Nancy Honeywell Charitable Trust, Kim Miller, Peg Gerlock and Phil Johnson, and Maryanne Tagney Jones Foundation were vital to the success of the exhibition and our ability to plan.  Other valued sponsors were the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Town of Friday Harbor, David and Valerie Kelly, Keith and Carol James, Printonyx, Harbor Rentals, Sharon Lannan, Cindy Pigott, Tom and Barbara Cable, Margaret and Scotty Greene, Islanders Bank, Bill and Susan Potts, Deirdre Morris, Christine Leiren Mower, Café Demeter, Funk and Junk Antiques, and Kenmore Air.

We are grateful for their support and that of the community and visitors.

The SJIMA Board of Trustees

Planned Outage Tonight – OPALCO photo

Early Tuesday morning September 25 from 12:30 am (half past midnight tonight) until 2:30 am all of San Juan County will be affected by a planned outage. Another outage is planned for Tuesday, October 23. These outages are necessary for BPA to replace a section of one of the two main power lines that feeds the San Juan Islands from Fidalgo Island.

These maintenance outages will happen on overnight weekdays to minimize impact to OPALCO consumers. This outage will allow the BPA crew to deconstruct a section of high-voltage line in need of replacement.

OPALCO recommends you turn sensitive equipment off at the power strip or unplug. In the morning, turn equipment on gradually to aid in power load pick up. OPALCO members are responsible for their own equipment. Members are encouraged to install surge protection to safeguard electronic, computer and other sensitive equipment and appliances.

Friday Harbor Film Festival is very excited to announce our 2018 Andrew V. McLaglen Lifetime Achievement Awardee; Captain Paul Watson, founder of both Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd…

Each year since 2013, the Friday Harbor Film Festival, located on beautiful San Juan Island, Washington, invites dedicated and talented Filmmakers to showcase their Documentary films unique ability to

• Entertain audiences through the art of compelling storytelling;
• Inspire audience members, as well as filmmakers to be a force for positive change; 
• Enlighten all participants by conveying relevant information, creating awareness and expanding appreciation of our fragile planet, diverse cultures and those daring to explore new frontiers. 

The Film Festival will be hosted in 5 venues throughout the 3 days.  All films are shown twice. There are also special events including the favorite: Filmmakers Forum.

Capt Paul Watson – Contributed photo

The Lifetime Achievement Award honors a person who has made outstanding contributions to raising awareness and his or her professional excellence in the field of filmmaking and activism.  It is presented in memory of Andrew V. McLaglen, a proficient Award winning Film Director and long-time resident of San Juan Island.

This year’s coveted Andrew V. McLaglen Lifetime Achievement Award is being presented to Captain Paul Watson, a renowned marine wildlife conservation and environmental activist from Toronto, Canada.  He was one of the founding members and directors of Greenpeace, a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.  

Captain Watson founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization. Its mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species by using innovative direct-action tactics.  Watson has served as Master and Commander on seven different Sea Shepherd ships since 1978 and continues to lead Sea Shepherd campaigns. Alongside his crew he has starred in seven seasons of Animal Planet’s television series Whale Wars. Continue Reading

Merri Ann Simonson tells us…

Almost Everything You Want to Know About Septic Systems

As a Real Estate Agent, we are constantly learning and then sharing our knowledge with our clients.  We must even expand our knowledge into some related industries that are not comfortable to discuss with a client, such as septic systems and their functions.    The real estate industry isn’t just cars and contracts; it includes other really interesting stuff as well.

SEPTIC DESIGN AND INSTALLATION.  The process starts off with unimproved land.  A property owner or buyer mustfind out where on their site they should install the system and what type of system will be required by State regulations.  There are various types of system options to select from.  The latest technology includes systems that are considered mini sewage processing plants.  Those manufactures claim that the effluent is nearly potable by the time it is pumped to the drain field.  I am not convinced to that level but my opinion is based on the “ick factor” not science.

The system selection process includes hiring a licensed on-site designer who will complete a site and soil analysis and submit a design to the County for their approval and permit. The permits have a validity period of four years and the cost is around $1,250-$1,500 but add $500 if a backhoe is needed for the holes.   A full list of approved designers is available via the link shown below. 

https://fortress.wa.gov/dol/dolprod/bpdLicenseQuery/lqsSearchResults.aspx

If the parcel is under a Purchase Agreement, the design and permit process is typically done by the buyer as part of the Feasibility Contingency, which is processed prior to closing.  Continue Reading

Dr. Astrid Ginneken – Contributed photo

Dr. Astrid van Ginneken has worked with the Center for Whale Research since 1987. She is co-principle investigator for CWR’s Orca Survey and has published both scientific and popular articles in addition to a book about killer whales. Astrid has great enthusiasm for Southern Resident orcas and her stories of these wonderful creatures are beautifully told. Please join us for this special event!

Seating is limited and first come, first serve.

If you can’t join us in person, then join us on Facebook! We will be LIVE STREAMING TONIGHT

Link to: Center For Whale Research

Boy Scout Troop 4090 Pressing Cider – Kelley Balcomb-Bartok photo

Thanks to Kelley Balcomb-Bartok for this fun fall news…

Boy Scout Troop 4090 had fun pressing cider out of apples from the orchard at the Center for Whale Research. The troop pressed twenty gallons of juice they are calling, Orca Survey Cider. Said Kelley, “Once it was me in the trees. Thankfully, I have passed that torch to a younger generation.”  

“Everybody had fun, and nobody went home empty handed. Yum!”

L-R: Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, Troop 4090 members Luc Diaz, Hank Erickson, Tyler Fleming, Cody Balcomb-Bartok, and Tate Geiser with his parents and Troop Leaders Mikayla & Lorin Geiser – Kelley Balcomb-Bartok photo

The crew included: L-R: Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, Troop 4090 members Luc Diaz, Hank Erickson, Tyler Fleming, Cody Balcomb-Bartok, and Tate Geiser with his parents and Troop Leaders Mikayla & Lorin Geiser.

“If other youth want to join the Troop, they’d be welcome!” 

For youth interested in joining the troop please email 6geisers@gmail for more information.

We hear from Jill Urbach…

“FHHS band members are on their way to participate in UW Band Day today. They’ll get to play on the field during half time tonight. Anna Faris was on our Ferry and was gracious enough to take a picture with all of us.”

FHHS Band off to UW Band Day – Anna Faris photo