Tulsi is one of our staff’s favorites, and is becoming better known. Make up some of this tasty ancient tea remedy to start your day – add honey or syrup to taste. A little goes a long way. Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum, syn. O. sanctum, Lamiaceae), also called holy basil, and East Indian basil (O. gratissimum) are aromatic…
Rose Hip and Snowberry – Part 1
Once upon a time, the world changes. On an Island like this one, forest and mist reclaim the land, technology falls away, and certain names disappear. Calling out to her two children to come home, a mother puzzles in mid-holler as she forgets their names. Noticing the two bushes on either side of the front…
The Treasure That Is the Vashon Senior Center
By Rich Osborne If you have been following my letters, you know that I lead the Music Mends Minds sing-along at 1:30 p.m. every Tuesday at the Vashon Senior Center. You should also know about other programs the Vashon Senior Center offers. Just last month, the Senior Center hosted Monday/Wednesday/Friday lunch service and delivery and…
The Dancing Wild – Within and Without
When I smell the Ponderosa Pine needles baking in the summer sun, I feel a deep warmth in my belly. I feel a sense of homeliness akin to sitting in front of a fire with a cup of coffee. Growing up, I found a home in the wild. The wild home that Merriam Websters defines…
Animals for Sale
Scroll down for pictures… African Guinea Fowl Keets Sebastopol Goose & Gander Breeding Pair (Must Take Both) And below, we have Nigerian Dwarf Goats!
Finn and The Salmon Of Wisdom
A retelling of an Irish mythIllustration above by Jane Valencia Here on Vashon Island, now is the time that the salmon return home after long years in the ocean. Up streams and rivers they swim and leap and lunge, taking in deep scents of the waters along the way, smells that reach into their beginnings…
Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette Carrot Salad
This year, I’ve been obsessed with learning to make side dishes that capture the aromatic, vitamin C-infused flavors of summer. I’m talking about the kinds of tastes that just explode in your mouth, that also happen to have great texture, and that you yearn to experience during the autumn and winter. This grated carrot salad…
The Dorsal Spin: Indigeneity
The COVID-19 lockdown brought into sharp focus our intergenerational trauma – emotional and spiritual baggage habitually restrained in “normal” times. We dove deep into our Indigeneity. Our thoughts turned to our First Nations ancestors who endured countless pandemics inflicted on them by colonization, the federal government, and the military. Would we survive this novel coronavirus?…
Land Acknowledgment – Salmon Return
Welcome back, dear Salmon! We celebrate your return to our Island. We honor the end and beginning of your life cycle, and the wonder of your transformation. You feed the waters and forest, the creatures of sea, land, and air, as well as us humans You nourish our bodies, brains, and imagination, our spirits and…
Code of Ethics in Action
Reflections on the SPJ Code of Ethics As a receiver of information, a reader of newspapers, a browser of magazines, a participant in social media platforms, a subscriber on YouTube, Rumble, Substack (and other platforms), a listener of radio shows and an all-around consumer of media … what does honesty look like to you? Isn’t…