Here’s a thought…
No Place Like Loam | Growing Wine Grapes in Seattle? Part 3: Earth, Wind, and Wire
||| NO PLACE LIKE LOAM by ALEX TAMAYO-WOLF ||| Viticulture reached the Pacific Northwest not with romance but with recordkeeping. In the 1820s, clerks of the Hudson’s Bay Company planted grapes at Fort Vancouver, a
Letter to Editor | Odd Fellows Hall Halloween gratitude
||| FROM DIDIER GINCIG for ODD FELLOWS HALL ||| The annual Halloween Dance at the Odd Fellows Hall was a great success! Thank you to all who attended. Gratitude to Lilo the disc jockey for
Midnight Mutterings |This coming winter
||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE BATES ||| Somehow, I’m less enthusiastic about the approaching winter than usual. Is is that the early dark and late daylight seem to affect me negatively more than in the
Occam’s Razor | Our island, our world through the eyes, pen of S.C. Watson
Welcome to our weekly feature, Occam's Razor, from local artist S.C. Watson.
Letter to Editor | In support of the November 4, 2025 school levies
||| FROM THE MUSIC ADVOCACY GROUP ||| The Music Advocacy Group (MAG) supports both Orcas Island School District (OISD) levies on the ballot this November 4. Strong schools are the foundation of a healthy, thriving
Guest Opinion | Fire Commissioner breaks down reasons to support levy
||| FROM ELISABETH BRITT ||| A bond ensures accountability, long-term funding for critical equipment, and respects the community’s history of rejecting permanent levies. As commissioners for Orcas Island Fire & Rescue, we are responsible for ensuring
No Place Like Loam | Less sugar, more soul: Making maple syrup at home in the Pacific Northwest
How to tap a bigleaf maple, boil down rain into sugar, and taste what the Northwest keeps to itself. ||| NO PLACE LIKE LOAM by ALEX TAMAYA-WOLF ||| My daughter was getting bored with our
As the Paradigm Shifts | To be or not to be woo-woo
What’s been dismissed as “woo-woo” is actually the threshold ||| AS THE PARADIGM SHIFTS by ROSIE KUHN ||| What’s long been waved off as “woo-woo” is, in truth, the threshold humanity is crossing right now—where
Occam’s Razor | Our island, our world through the eyes, pen of S.C. Watson
Welcome to our weekly feature, Occam's Razor, from local artist S.C. Watson.
Letter to Editor | In support of school levies
||| FROM ORCAS EDUCATION FOUNDATION BOARD ||| The Orcas Island Education Foundation (OIEF) Board believes that one of the most important things we can do is invest in our children’s future. For over 40 years,
Letter to Editor | Please support the Orcas Island Public Library – Vote YES for Proposition #1
||| FROM SAM BLACKMAN et. al ||| On behalf of the Orcas Island Library Advocacy Committee, I’d like to ask my fellow islanders to vote YES for Proposition #1. Our library is primarily funded through
No Place Like Loam | Growing wine grapes in Seattle? Part 2
||| NO PLACE LIKE LOAM by ALEX TAMAYO-WOLF ||| If you missed part 1, read it first. I saw a picture of my daughter yesterday. She was eleven, standing proud as a docent for the
Guest Opinion | No Kings?
||| FROM MISHA RAUCHWERGER ||| I come from immigrant families: fleeing the pogroms where the Czar was burning Jewish villages, and the holocaust. Situations far worse that what we are experiencing today. I became fascinated
Guest Opinion | Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good
Orcas needs public transit today ||| FROM COLIN WILLIAMS for FRIENDS OF RURAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ||| We believe residents should have choices—both in whether to raise additional taxes for enhanced service and in selecting among
Midnight Mutterings | Goals vs practices
||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE BATES ||| From Dictionary.com: Goal and practice: Goal: ’First recorded in 1325–50; Middle English gol “boundary, limit”; further origin. The result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.
