All Blog Posts (445)

UnitingCreatives.com launches campaign to change the world through creative collaboration and conscious intent

Singer songwriter Shawn Galloway was in Bellingham, Washington this past week to celebrate the launch of Joy Glfilen’s start-up company UnitingCreatives. He sang a concert of 15 songs in front of a small and

enthusiastic crowd of supporters at The Conway Muse, an old barn turned

eclectic performing and visual arts center/ meeting place in La Conner.

Local film company Anchor Light Productions filmed the show that will be

featured on Gilfilen’s UnitingCreatives.com…

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Added by Cynthia DuVal on November 2, 2010 at 2:27pm — No Comments

Did You Remember to Vote?

Nov. 2nd is the deadline to get your ballot in the mail, or drop off at one of the drop-off locations. The drop-off near the County Courthouse has changed. Located in the parking lot south of the courthouse.

As I've said before:

Transition doesn't support any particular political parties or candidates, but it does recognize the important role government plays.

Step 6 of the 12 Steps of Transition tells us to "Build a Bridge to Local… Continue

Added by David MacLeod on November 1, 2010 at 10:00pm — 1 Comment

Celt's Garden - Cabbage, Potatoes and Sausage

Gardeners will routinely cheerfully eat produce that they would refuse to pay money for. Those undersized, lumpy, be-spotted potatoes that appeared after shoving a fork into a supposedly vacant row? Trim, steam and mash, or make cottage fries. The ragged cabbage sadly loved by slugs? Drown it in salt water to stun the critters and surreptitiously wash out mud, intense green caterpillar frass (bug poop), slime, earwigs, pill bugs and all four kinds of gastropods when the rest of the household… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on November 1, 2010 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Celt's Garden - Corn Tortillas and Skagit River Produce

Winter squash stores well at cool room temperatures. If you didn't grow any winter squash, feel free to buy some from your local farmer. To prepare your squash for storage, wash off the soil, scrubbing gently with a soft brush, then go over the clean squash again with a wash rag soaked in cool water with a shot of bleach added. Allow to air dry. Then store your squash in cardboard boxes in a single layer, not touching. I keep mine in the basement, but any coolish place where it doesn't freeze… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on October 29, 2010 at 3:00pm — 2 Comments

Redwoods film, Sunday Oct. 24, 2:30 Pickford

Help celebrate October as Urban Forestry Month by coming to this great film.

Film maker, Ben Greene will be on hand for Q and A after the showing.…

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Added by Barbara Davenport on October 22, 2010 at 4:39pm — 1 Comment

Celt's Garden - Mother Corn and More Hot Sauce

It's time to get the garlic in. For the organized, the cover crop of summer buckwheat is already grown, tilled in, and broken down and the garlic patch is ready to go. For harried folks with day jobs, me for example, it's a rush to get the summer garden pulled out to make room for garlic. Planting garlic comes on the heads, to protect the cloves until planting time. When you pop the cloves off the head, take care not to injure the base plate at the bottom. The clove's roots will grow from the… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on October 8, 2010 at 11:00am — 3 Comments

Little Bellingham is # 10 in the nation for bike-to-work riders!

Portland is ahead of Bellingham for total percentage of workforce that commutes by bike. But not by much!

Ride on!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/01/boulder-colorado-leads-na_n_747261.html#s148813

Added by Rob Olason on October 6, 2010 at 9:10pm — No Comments

Empowered Communication

Not all of the tools needed for building resilience are physical ones. On day 2 of Transition Whatcom's Great Unleashing, someone mentioned how important it is to make sure we have good communication skills. It has been a subject of discussion numerous times since then - as peak oil bloggers Carolyn Baker and Sally Erickson put it,… Continue

Added by David MacLeod on October 3, 2010 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Removal of Yard Sign Launch from the Events page

I removed the Oct. 9th Yard Sign Launch (which was my project and not a TW event) from the Transition Whatcom events listings because, on re-reading the vision statement and articles of TW at the suggestion of the TWOG, I realized that any event/post tending toward the political can be seen by some as an "us and them' issue. Since TW is about inclusivity, I have decided, in future, not to post things that might be interpreted as political but instead stick with my other passions - chickens and… Continue

Added by Alicia Wills on October 3, 2010 at 12:00pm — 3 Comments

Celt's Garden - Easy Seed Saving

Here's how to save tomato seed: slice a very ripe tomato through the equator. Using the point of a knife, scrape and squeeze out the seeds and surrounding jelly into a glass. Add a half cup of non-chlorinated water. Take some tape and make a label with the variety and date. Now, leave it sitting around 2-3 days. The jelly will disintegrate. The top may grow a layer of mold. The good seeds will fall to the bottom. Take a mesh tea strainer and pour the lot through the strainer. Run some tap water… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on September 28, 2010 at 3:00pm — 3 Comments

The Community Energy Challenge

During these times of high energy costs, declining resources, and knowledge about how our energy consumption is affecting the climate, the Community Energy Challenge is a brilliant idea. While the Transition Network has a pilot program called the Energy Resilience Assessment going on in the UK, the Community Energy Challenge is a great pilot program happening right here in Whatcom…

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Added by David MacLeod on September 25, 2010 at 9:00pm — 1 Comment

Celt's Garden - Walking the Talk, in Baby Steps

Watch the weather now. When the nights start to drop below 50 degrees F, it's time to get the green tomatoes. If you have your tomatoes on stakes, you may be able to drop the stakes and cover the vines with row cover (Remay, Gro-Therm.) Mine are a happy sprawl of vines and cages, so I'm going with Plan B: go out this weekend and harvest all the tomatoes. Packed in shallow fruit boxes with newspaper above, below and between layers, they will keep indoors. Keep it to two layers deep maximum, as… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on September 24, 2010 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment

Celt's Garden - Healthy Korean Food

The Koreans are mad container gardeners. Everywhere there's a bit of sun, there are greens in pots, squash scrambling up walls, hot peppers and medicinal herbs tucked into corners. In the summer, Korean apartment buildings take on a shaggy look. Apartment buildings in Korea invariably have balconies, a miniature version of a traditional Korean courtyard. A courtyard house has an outside kitchen, a place to store big earthenware jars, a large sink, usually sunken below ground level, a bit of… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on September 16, 2010 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Scything reed canary grass

I wear so many hats, and one of them is as a contractor for a few humble projects along Whatcom County streams where the goal is to eliminate noxious weeds and replace them with large conifers. A worthy goal, you say? A reality check is forthcoming....read on.....

I constantly battle with my use of fossil fuels. Being in this battle, I analyze all my endeavors, as I'm sure you do too at times, for their impact on my own contribution to global warming. I mean, if I was totally…

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Added by Juliet Thompson on September 15, 2010 at 9:05pm — 3 Comments

Celt's Garden - Rotations and Smelly Garden Concoctions

A crop rotation is just following say, a bed of tomatoes, when it comes out in October, with a fall cover crop, perhaps a handful of small fava beans and oats, or that nifty cover crop mix from the Bellingham WFC. The solanums (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatillos and wild relatives including the nightshades) are the worst for building up diseases and pests in the soil, followed by the cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, kale, radishes, cauliflower, turnips, etc) and the alliums… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on September 6, 2010 at 5:30pm — 5 Comments

Celt's Garden - Green Tomatoes and Sweet Onions

Ah, the tomatoes are finally ripening, and the Walla Walla sweets are in. Even before the tomatoes ripen, they can be eaten green. Look for tomatoes that are getting close to turning color, past the hard and sour stage. Slice the tomatoes along the latitude lines (the fat way), about a quarter inch thick. Dip in beaten egg and then cornmeal or finely squished bread crumbs. Fry up gently in a little butter or oil. Fine, fine with your sweet onion omelet.

Green tomatoes also make… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on August 31, 2010 at 1:00pm — 5 Comments

Transportation shortfall

I'd like some help. I am writing an article for Northwest Citizen about the people of Whatcom county responding to WTA's upcoming service decline. I cannot find a transportation sub-committee on the home page. Where can someone direct my query: How important is this transportation gap to the mission of Transition Whatcom?

Added by Robert Bystrom on August 17, 2010 at 3:30pm — 1 Comment

Celt's Garden - Beanburger in Paradise

But first, fennel pollen, and the shug recipe. Fennel, a great companion plant in the right place, otherwise obnoxious, shoots up seven feet in a cluster of branches. It is hard to believe that a tiny fennel seed turns into... that. So, sensible Italians eat the fennel stems if caught young, the ferny foliage in salads, and drop the head of flowers, laden with yellow pollen, into the marinara sauce. Take the head out before serving. It looks a bit prehistoric over noodles. Pollinators love… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on August 16, 2010 at 3:00pm — 5 Comments

Please Remember To Vote!

Transition doesn't support any particular political parties or candidates, but it does recognize the important role government plays. Step 6 of the 12 Steps of Transition tells us to "Build a Bridge to Local Government: ... Whether it is planning issues, funding or networking, you need them

on board."

With that in mind, I'd like to encourage us all to vote in the WA state primary. I consider educated voting to be the… Continue

Added by David MacLeod on August 15, 2010 at 9:29pm — 1 Comment

Celt's Garden - Summer Frenzy and the Farm Stand on Railroad

Scrape up that pile of horse poop you left usefully rotting last spring and dump it on the winter garden beds. They will need the nutrition to get through the winter. Then plant fall vegies in the beds: kale, broccoli, Asian greens, cabbage, beets, chard, spinach, carrots if you have the soil for it. You may need the nutrition, also. It's official, some 50% of us are un, under, other, or less employed than they would kinda like to be. Tell this to a bunch of Hamsters, and they say, "unnh...… Continue

Added by Celt M. Schira on August 6, 2010 at 12:30pm — No Comments