December Enews

Four Thoughts – A Holiday Community Dinner

Friday, December 6th, 5:30–8pm,
Venue: Winthrop Barn
Free, but seating is limited, so tickets are required!

We are mixing it up this year and trying something new for our usual December First Tuesday and Holiday Gathering. On Friday, December 6^th, we’ll host our first-ever Four-Thoughts: A Holiday Community Dinner in The Winthrop Barn.

During dinner, we’ll take an opportunity to honor conservation leaders in the community with our annual awards. Following the community dinner, we’ll turn the program over to four of the Methow Valley’s finest thought leaders:

• Katharine Bill - conservationist, adventurer, writer, parent
• Mark Miller - Methow Descendant
• Vic Stokes - 4th generation rancher up Beaver Creek
• Johnnie Duguay - land steward, part-time sheep herder, Methow grown
  

Each speaker will inspire us with their 8-minute ruminations on the theme for the night: Caring for the Land.

While dinner is free of charge, seating is limited and registration is required. As of today, we are almost sold out of tickets. Please email Sarah or call Sarah at 509-996-2870 to see if we have tickets left of if you want to get on the waitlist.

Volunteer!

As the snow begins to blanket the Valley, we're looking forward to giving our hard-working, on-the-ground volunteers a bit of a rest from Methow Conservancy weed pulling, barb wire removing, and general land restoring. We still, however, need some indoor help for our big event on December 6th (just follow the links to sign up).

• Food Prep help on Wednesday the 4th.
• Clean Up help after the event on the 6th.

And, it's a good time to remember that volunteering is good for your health and for the community all year long, so if you need ideas for how to keep the volunteer momentum going, check out the Volunteer Methow website and share you time and talents with any of the Methow Valley's awesome nonprofit organizations.

From the Farm: Holiday Gift Ideas

Even though farms of the Methow Valley have been “put to bed” for the snowy season, there are many ways you can still support local farms and ranches during the holidays!

• DIY Gift Basket– Many farm products are still readily available at the valley’s grocery stores and gift shops, or directly from the farm: including pasture-raised meats, grains and flours, cheeses, milk, apples, pears, root vegetables, garlic braids, hard ciders, honey, sauerkrauts and chile sauces, yarns, wool hats and blankets – just to name a few! To learn more about farms and their products, visit the Methow Grown website.
• Produce or Meat “Shares” – Give someone the gift of fresh produce next season! Several vegetable farms offer weekly produce box subscriptions during the summer and fall, and welcome folks to sign up in winter or spring. Consider purchasing a gift certificate from one of your favorite farms at the Methow Valley Farmers Market, or give the gift of a “share” of locally-raised beef, pork, or lamb. For ideas and more info, visit the Methow Grown website.
• Dine Out– Join family and friends to savor a delicious meal made with locally-sourced ingredients at the Arrowleaf Bistro, Glover Street Market, or The Mazama Store.
• Shop the Bazaars – There are several opportunities to shop for locally-crafted foods and gifts:
  • Twisp Bazaar: Saturday, Dec. 7^th9am-3pm at the Methow Valley Community Center in Twisp.
  • Winthrop Bazaar: Saturday, Dec. 14^th 9am-4pm at the Winthrop Red Barn.
  • Methow Made Holiday Gift Emporium: ongoing from Dec. 6^th thru the end of the month. M-F 11am-6pm; Sat&Sun 11am-3pm at the TwispWorks Campus.
• Donate – A gift made in someone’s honor to the Methow Conservancy’s Agriculture Program will go a long way to ensuring a vibrant future for small farms here.

The Art of Photography and Barns

Thursday, December 5^th, 4 – 7pm,
Venue: Methow Arts, northeast corner of Glover Street and 2nd Avenue in Twisp

We're excited to partner with Methow Arts to present a photographic exhibition called “The Historic Barns of the Methow Valley.” The exhibition runs December 5th - February 5th and features the work of participants from last summer’s photography workshop, led by National Geographic Explorer Ryan T. Bell.

The exhibit premiers during the Town of Twisp’s annual shopping night Mistletoe Madness (December 5, 4:00 – 7:00 pm). There you can see amazing photographs of historic barns from around the Valley, taken by people that you most likely know. In addition, if you are looking to buy a gift for that Methow Valley enthusiast in your family, prints of the photos will be on sale with proceeds benefiting the local artists and future exhibits at Methow Arts.

After the Holidays, we’ll host an special exhibit reception on January 9, from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m at the Methow Arts building in Twisp. Meet the photographers and landowners who brought these images to life, and speak with representatives from Methow Arts, the Methow Conservancy, and the Shafer Historical Museum to learn about the artistic legacy of agriculture in the Methow Valley. For more information about this event contact: info@methowartsalliance.org.

December Reading List

We thought you might be interested in seeing what we’ve been reading lately. Editor’s note: These articles do not represent the beliefs or opinions of the Methow Conservancy or its staff. We offer them purely as a means of sparking discussion.

Anchorage Daily News: Tracks in the Snow Can Tell Amazing Stories - If you’re like me, the quick transition from sunny and 50 degrees to several inches of snow caught you by surprise. While nostalgia for those snow free days may linger for the next week, reading a short piece like this can adjust your attitude and help you remember that we are lucky to live in this dynamic place of two worlds where entirely different things are possible in each.

The Washington Post: The Climate Chain Reaction That Threatens the Heart of the Pacific - It’s not just the Pacific Coast of the United States that is reeling from huge declines in its salmon population. Japan is going through a similar, if not more dramatic, decline of its salmon populations and salmon culture. Unlike here, where a myriad of factors are driving down our populations, in Japan it is almost directly tied to the loss of sea ice in the heart of the Sea of Okhotsk. While this is good news for no one, we can take solace in the fact that there is another culture just as committed to saving the salmon as we are.

New York Times: Engineered Wood Tower Construction - There is a new trend among successful companies in Silicon Valley, Portland, and Europe. Forget steel and concrete, these companies are starting to build their new buildings out of wood. Driven in part by the lower greenhouse gas emissions given off by timber but also out of aesthetic considerations, lumber is the new building material of choice. Given that a company in Spokane just built one the largest cross laminate timber plants in the country, this trend is likely to have a large influence on forests in our neck of the woods.

Audubon Magazine: The World’s Top Natural History Museums Have a Male Bird Bias - It turns out that women are not just under represented as scientists, but as scientific subjects as well. This not only raises interesting questions about the manifestations of gender bias, but causes real issues when scientists try to use those specimens for understanding the biological norms for species or conducting genetic research.

New York Times: Hibernation Works for Bears. Could it Work for Us, Too? - Hibernation is amazing. Bears go through a number of physiological phenomena that if replicated by a human would give them serious health issues. Research coming out of Washington State University is starting to uncover how bears are able to stay healthy through these large seasonal fluctuations and its applications for humans are getting noticed by powerful parties.