The Vashon Way: How to Be Mistaken for a LocalBy Gayle Kellner When you run out of almond milk and have to go purchase more, put on a loose-fitting dress and mismatched sweater, preferably hand-knit. Finish off your outfit with a pair of rubber boots. If they look new, walk through a couple of mud…
Gene Amundson and I came up with the first rendition of “concealed carry” long before the National Rifle Association had it as a policy. We found we could make a “zip” gun out of a clothespin, using just a pocket knife and something to bend the spring. We used these at first to shoot spitwads at…
By Jane Valencia Mis abuelos hablaban español, yo solo aprendí a hablar un poquito, pero ahora estoy tratando de aprenderlo. En honor a mis abuelos, me gustaría contarles una historia muy pequeña y decir una pequeña oración. ¿Les parece bien? Gracias, queridos lectores. Un día, estaba en el Jardín del Rosario en la Iglesia Católica…
By Catherine Henderson “The Shining Mountains,” a historical novel set in the mid 1800s and written by Alix Christie, is the enthralling story of Angus McDonald, a Scottish immigrant, and his wife Catherine Baptiste, from the Nez Perce tribe. Angus is a trader for the Hudson Bay Company, moving between their outposts in Montana, Idaho,…
Kate Moore is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of “The Radium Girls.” A British writer based in London, she has published numerous Sunday Times bestsellers, writing across various genres including history, biography, true crime, and humor; her work has been translated into more than 12 languages. The Radium Girls was the winner of…
In a time when technology has fallen away, Islanders are rediscovering the ways of the forest. In a frenzy of excitement and discovery, two children, Rose Hip and Snowberry, have yanked quantities of moss and licorice fern from a tree. When a licorice fern-being named Sweet Root berates them for their lack of consideration, the…
I invite you back to mid-March 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown started. It was seasonable on Vashon. But because it was not yet really spring, it was still easy to feel cold, especially at night. Most notable at that time was a sense of worry and waitfulness. An uncertainty regarding what would come next, combined…
In last month’s “Farming Is Easy,” we introduced our foster cow Minnie, the purebred yearling Holstein whose name was upgraded on delivery to Leslie Lou Minnie Moo. Standing barely shy of six feet at the shoulder, my personal code name for her, “Cowzilla,” was rejected by one and all as too negative, human-centric, and bovine-shaming….
Empty pastures are like the vacuums which nature abhors. If you happen to have one, fenced and reasonably capable of growing grass, things will appear to fill it. Soon enough, someone is bound to notice, and ask, “Would you like a slightly used goat? How about two?” If you respond, “Yes, but only if you…