By Leigh Siergewicz When I first started learning about herbs, it was so exciting to find that the common weeds we see everywhere can be consumed for many benefits. After learning about cleavers, galium aparine, I can’t help but notice how abundant it is in spring. Cleavers are native to Europe, but have naturalized here. Cleavers…
By Sandi Silagi In February 2015, after withdrawing from a golf tournament, Tiger Woods claimed, “My glutes are shutting off.” That was the “butt” of many jokes to come, but what is the reality?Initially, I thought, “Fire your trainer!” “Use your ground forces, use your feet!” “Channel Arnold Palmer!” But I was wrong. The chain…
By Daniel Hooker It’s Father’s Day. I remember being a father and why I tell dad jokes, and tell humorous stories. I studied psychology as an 18-year old in London, and worked/lived at an unfunded halfway house, called Cope House. There, I manned a Help/Suicide hotline two days a week, where humor and sharing stories…
By Judy Mulhair Welcome to the AYH Ranch. I bought the land in 1970 and raised two boys, many sheep, goats, horses, and one cow named Hamburger. The orchard, gardens and livestock fed us well. As a United Airlines Flight Attendant, my first goal was to see the world, but this goal was put on…
By Daniel Hooker A friend of mine is about to become a Catholic, and he told me he was starting to study the catechisms. And it just popped into my head: “What chases a catechism? – A dogma.” A friend said to me, “You really ought to do stand up comedy!”I answered, “At my age,…
By March Twisdale When we moved from West Seattle to Vashon Island, it was after a two-year search. We were looking for a rural environment with an eclectic homeschooling community, but every rural community in the region was almost exclusively religion-inspired. Concern that our children would be disconnected from both schooled kids and homeschooling families…
By Andy Valencia If you’re an Islander and have been listening to our public discussions and media, you might have this nightmare image in mind of yourself, holding your chest, on the phone, begging for help which isn’t coming. The truth is, you can set aside this anxiety, because it isn’t going to happen. And…
By March Twisdale You may have noticed that young folks working the register tend to automatically assume customers will pay with a card. This happened at C&P Coffee a few weeks ago. As I was tapping on the screen, my brain started to ping at me. Only when I handed my $20 bill to the…
By Elizabeth Van Deventer Stella taught me one of the most important spiritual lessons of my life. Yet, you wouldn’t find her sitting in the lotus position in an Ashram or giving a sermon behind a church pulpit. She wasn’t a guru with a great following or what anyone would think of as a spiritual…