Book Review: Dear Friends

Jon Stevens’ Dear Friends: Letters from the Farm - 2009 touches the hearts of people striving to live wholesome, meaningful lives.

Stevens began writing newsletters six years ago to customers and anyone else interested in hearing about life on their productive 2-acre farm on Camano Island. Encouraged by enthusiastic response, Stevens compiled a year’s worth of newsletters and published this charming book.

More than just growing produce for their own consumption and for their produce stand, Jon and Elaine Stevens share a way of life. Dear Friends not only describes the daily routine of producing food, it describes the essence of living close to the earth.

Stevens gives voice to their chickens and ducks who play vital roles in food production with fresh eggs, eating bugs and slugs, and providing laughs. As the calendar year begins, the book shows only monthly newsletters, but as spring begins to produce, so does the frequency of the newsletters. The farmer’s life rotates from mending fences, to poring over seed catalogs, tilling the soil, planting seed and finally harvesting. When you read the accounting of all that, you realize how complicated it really is, this simple farming lifestyle.

For Stevens, life is more than growing good food, even Certified Naturally Grown food. He is enthusiastic about sharing gardening tips for food, flowers and shrubs. Dear Friends teems with information about how to make even a small farm sustainable. In addition to practical advice, humor and a deep faith shine through these pages.

Whether readers are interested in growing their own food, or interested in how others do it, or perhaps seeking a dream to follow, Dear Friends is a treasure. With humor and infectious enthusiasm, Jon Stevens imparts a love for people, for the land and for good honest work. His weekly journal is a passionate book borne of embracing life to the fullest.

For more information about Dear Friends and Stevens’ piece of paradise, The Open Gate Farm, visit www.theopengatefarm.com and click on “Visit Our Farm Store.”

Get a Kit. Make a Plan. Be Informed

We’ve witnessed a lot of disasters lately, both at home and abroad. Some disasters can be prevented. For instance, we can use caution when using candles in our home, and can ensure that our home’s electrical wiring is in good shape. But not all house fires can be prevented, no matter how careful we are. Still, we can make a plan to make sure that every member of the family knows what to do in the event of a house fire.

Some disasters give us warning, such as floods after heavy rains. We may have time to collect important items before leaving home for safety. If you’ve prepared an emergency kit in advance, you can move quickly to gather last-minute items.

Earthquakes don’t give warnings–they just strike. During an earthquake, it may be hard to grab even an emergency kit, but afterward you may be able to re-enter your home to gather supplies if you have to leave. Having an emergency kit ready will help. Make sure everyone in the family knows how to protect themselves during an earthquake.

We usually have some warning of a tornado or hurricane, but not much. You can save lives if you have a kit, a plan and are informed about what to do, where to go.

In major disasters, you may not be directly affected at all–your home may remain intact and you can continue to live there. However, it may not be possible for you to continue business as usual because of road damage, electrical outage, store closures, etc. Emergency management authorities now suggest you have enough supplies to last five to seven days.

Recent events have made it clear that we can’t be complacent about the possibility of a disaster. The American Red Cross urges everyone to prepare:

Get a KitKeep supplies in easy-to-carry containers such as backpacks, covered buckets and plastic tubs. Consider water, food, clothing, medicines, tools, enough supplies to last five to seven days.

Make a PlanMake sure everyone in your family knows what to do in the event of a disaster. Make a family plan about where to meet if you can’t return to the home. Choose an out-of-area contact whom family members can call to “check in.”

Be InformedLearn what emergencies may occur in your area. Identify how local authorities will provide information during a disaster. Know how to reach help. Make sure at least one member of the family is trained in First Aid and CPR–it can save lives.

For more information on disaster preparedness, visit http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/epc.pdf

Book Review: Baby Doe Tabor: Matchless Silver Queen

Joyce B. Lohse’s Baby Doe Tabor: Matchless Silver Queen (Filter Press) offers a refreshing visit to Colorado history from the late 1800's through Baby Doe Tabor’s death in 1935.

Baby Doe, also known as Elizabeth, Lizzie, Mrs. Harvey Doe and finally, Mrs. Horace Tabor, is one of Colorado’s most colorful legends. Without sensationalizing, glorifying, or judging, Lohse tells Baby Doe Tabor’s compelling story drawn from skillful research.

Baby Doe isn’t afraid of hard work. She pitches in to help at her husband’s silver mine, driving a team of horses to lift heavy ore buckets up mineshafts. When her marriage ends in disappointment, she is determined to leave hardship and heartbreak behind. She seeks the finer things in life: beauty, love, comfort and riches.

She realizes all her dreams, and more, though not without struggle and censure. Horace Tabor’s impressive talent for making money brings riches beyond belief. But riches can become rags with a bad turn of luck.

Lohse’s nonfiction is reality based with no made-up dialogue or embellishment. Although much has been written about Baby Doe Tabor, Lohse’s meticulous research reveals fresh material never before recorded. One resource, Baby Doe’s cookbook, proved to be a wealth of insights with scraps of paper and notations in the margins, such as this gem: “Be kindly to everybody you meet, but don’t make everybody your friend.”

Baby Doe Tabor: Matchless Silver Queen is a nonfiction historical work worthy of notice. Lohse brings this character to life, revealing the truth about an amazing but often misrepresented historical Colorado figure.

Freeing the Elwha

Take a last look. Washington’s Olympic National Park is gearing up for the largest dam removal in U.S. history–the Elwha. This past summer was celebrated as the “last dam summer in the Elwha River Valley.” Actual removal will begin in the summer of 2011, starting a two and a half to three year project. Restoration for natural habitat will take much longer, up to 25 years for the salmon runs to fully recover and many years longer for restoring the tattered ecosystem.

What prompted the damming of the Elwha? Over 100 years ago, Thomas Aldwell saw the Elwha River and its narrow gorges as an economic opportunity. Between 1910 and 1913 Aldwell’s Olympic Power and Development Company constructed the dam five miles from the river mouth. Despite a Washington State law requiring fish passage facilities, the dam was erected without them.

Thomas Aldwell boasted that the Elwha is “.... no longer a wild stream crashing down to the Strait; the Elwha was peace and power and civilization.”

The Elwha Dam and another, Glines Canyon Dam (also known as the Upper Elwha Dam, built in 1927) originally provided hydroelectric power for growth as far away as the Bremerton naval shipyard. In later years they provided about 50% of the power for one paper mill. These areas are now receiving power from other sources.

The dams were also responsible for the decline of hundreds of thousands of fish–coho, pink, chum, Chinook and sockeye salmon, as well as steelhead, char and cutthroat trout. With the fish reduced to almost zero, 137 species of wildlife, from the tiny shrews to eagles, mink, elk and bear, were drastically reduced.

In the early 1900s, extensive environmental studies showed that dam removal was the only way to restore native anadromous fish stocks and thus the river’s ecosystem. The final decision was made and a timeline established. Several large projects were completed in 2009 and 2010 in preparation for the actual dam removal.

The removal of the two dams will restore the river to its natural free-flowing state, allowing all five species of Pacific salmon and other fish to once again reach spawning and rearing habitat.. Reforestation will gradually begin, giving habitat to countless other wildlife. Nutrients that link the sea to terrestrial ecosystems will be restored.

One of the important benefits of the Elwha River’s restoration is to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, who have lived along the river since time immemorial. Tribal members will have access to sacred sites now inundated by water, and cultural traditions can be reborn. The National Park Service and the Tribe are primary partners on this project.

The cost for dam removal and supporting projects is staggering: approximately $352 million, which includes the purchase of the two dams, the removal of the dams, construction of two water treatment plants and other facilities to protect water users, construction of flood protection facilities, a fish hatchery and a greenhouse to propagate native plants for revegetation. The return, in addition to the restoration of the natural ecosystem, will be an increase in the local economy affected by tourism, recreation and fishing.

This project creates a living laboratory where people can watch and learn what happens when salmon return, after a century, to a still wild and protected ecosystem. What an exciting project to observe and view first-hand.

For more information about this exciting project, visit www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/elwha-ecosystem-restoration.htm

Book Review: The Devil in the White City

Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America follows the events of the great Chicago’s world’s fair of 1893. Its official name, the World’s Columbian Exposition, known throughout the world as the White City, brought extraordinary splendor to the world May 1 through October 30, 1893.

The book begins at the fair’s conception and concludes with the ending ceremony, with a few vignettes at the end. First conceived as a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the new world, the fair takes on a life of its own, showing the world architecture and design never before seen or even imagined.

Today, planning an event of this magnitude would be daunting. In the late 1800's, it was unimaginable. Architect Daniel Burnham, encountered so many obstacles on so many levels the wonder is that it happened at all. This book delves into the personalities of those who persevered to create an almost mythological experience.

But along with the splendor comes the dark deeds of a psychopath, Herman Webster Mudgett, alias H. H. Holmes. Taking advantage of the fair’s attraction, Holmes draws people into his web of destruction and death.

Larson’s account of the planning, building, performance and conclusion of the fair leaves the reader in awe that such a thing could be possible. The chilling deeds of Holmes introduces a macabre reality that only the most persistent detective can unravel.

The Devil in the White City is a well researched work, backed up by documented resource notations. The non-fiction historical is a fascinating, while chilling, page turner.

The Royal Wedding

When I hear reference to the “royal wedding,” it evokes memories of Africa. These memories, however, aren’t of round huts, friendly people and the sounds of exotic drumming. These memories are of being crammed into a house with 116 other people for eight days, of artillery too close for comfort, of wondering if we would see our families again.

In 1981, when my husband Bruce and I were in The Gambia with the Peace Corps, we happened to be in the capital city, Banjul, 250 miles downriver from Mansajang, the village where we lived. On the day we were scheduled to return home, a coup d’etat instigated by The Gambia Field Force (similar to our National Guard) broke out. All roads leading out of town were closed. Radio Gambia and the airport were taken over by the rebels.

Tanks and armored personnel carriers appeared in the streets. Obviously, we had to find safe shelter. Not knowing just what was policy–we’d never been instructed about what to do in the event of a coup–we ended up at the residence of Tom Mosier, local head of U.S. AID to ask for his guidance.

As we approached Mosier’s home, Tom came out, his normally cheerful face in a worried frown. I’d never seen anyone actually wring his hands before, but that’s exactly what Tom was doing. Now we were worried.

“Tom, what is it?” Bruce asked.

“We’re in a lot of trouble here. The Ambassador is ‘detailed’ at the Embassy. The Embassy radio is out for repair so we don’t have contact with Washington. We don’t even have contact with the Ambassador.”

Bruce looked surprised. “I can’t imagine the Ambassador doesn’t have a radio at his house.”

“Oh, he does. But it’s not assembled and no one knows how to put it together.”

“Tom, I can put a radio together. I’m a licensed radio operator.”

Tom’s eyes lit up. “Come with me, both of you.”

At the Ambassador’s house, not far from Tom Mosier’s, Bruce set up two radios, a short-distance radio with which he could talk to Ambassador Piper at the US Embassy in the capital city of Banjul, and the British Commissioner, just down the street. The other, a medium-range radio could reach Dakar, Senegal. Since the Ambassador currently had no medium-range radio at the Embassy, he sent messages through Bruce who then relayed messages via the medium range radio to the US Embassy in Dakar, who in turn relayed them on to Washington.

Bruce manned the radio about eighteen hours a day, playing a vital role in establishing and maintaining communication. For several hours during the night, atmospheric conditions prevented radio transmission, allowing Bruce time to rest.

We remained at the Ambassador’s for the next eight days. Within two days we had 118 people crammed into the house, Americans, Germans, Swedish, Indians, people from many different agencies and businesses, including about 20 of the 52 in-country Peace Corps volunteers and staff. Although it was the Ambassador’s residence, it wasn’t a particularly large or grand house and only had 3 bedrooms.

From the start, food and water was an issue. At our twice daily meetings, we decided the adults would eat two small meals a day, but the 17 children among us would have three meals a day. No one wanted to listen to hungry, whiny kids!

Much of the fighting took place a short distance from where we were. One of the President’s wives and seven of their children were being held hostage by rebels only a mile from us.

During daylight hours, we frequently heard artillery, rifle and machine gun fire. We dismantled the beds and placed mattresses over the windows for protection from flying glass. At times the fighting was so close we hunkered down under tables for safety.

Peace Corps takes a neutral position on politics. We were told that if we stayed inside we’d be safe. We had no choice but to trust that this would be true. We flew the American flag above the house day and night. Both rebels and loyalists entered the house to check on us and to assure us of our safety.

So what does the royal wedding have to do with all this? The President of The Gambia, Sir Dawda Jawara, was out of the country, attending Prince Charles and Diane’s wedding in England. The Field Force took advantage of his absence to stage the coup.

After eight days, with the military aid of neighboring Senegal, the coup was put down. It’s difficult to get a definitive count in The Gambia, but it is estimated about 1,000 people were killed in the skirmishes. Everyone at the Ambassador’s residence remained safe, though a little thinner because of the slim food rations. We Peace Corps volunteers were evacuated to Senegal until things calmed down enough for us to return upriver to our villages.

I am currently writing my memoirs about our two years in Africa. The working title of the book is “Tubob.”

Book Review: Donna Rose and the Roots of Evil

Donna Rose has done it again. She and her sidekick, Cyrus, find themselves involved in solving the murder of Police Chief William Donniker.

Donna and Cyrus’s involvement with mysteries isn’t new, but it’s nothing they seek out, either. They simply find themselves in situations where they seem to be the only ones in a position to get to the truth.

In the Chief’s case, it’s hard to find someone who really likes him. Lots of people have reason to hate him. But murdering a Chief of Police?

Donna and Cyrus have a strong incentive to solve the mystery. Their friend Jake, a contender for Police Chief, has been arrested for the murder.

Donna Rose and the Roots of Evil is a "cozy" mystery involving a retired school teacher and her dapper neighbor, Cyrus, a retired Navy man.

Cozy mysteries are becoming an immensely popular genre, especially when they become a series. What is a cozy mystery? It’s normally a crime that contains very little sex, violence or coarse language. By the end of the story the mystery has a satisfactory conclusion. The protagonist is often a well-educated woman, someone whom you would like to have as a neighbor. The story-line often takes place in a small picturesque town, such as Cedar Harbor, a make-believe town in the state of Washington.

Donna Rose and the Roots of Evil is the second of Norma Tadlock Johnson’s Cedar Harbor Mysteries, the first being Donna Rose and the Slug War and the third is Hazards of the Game. Johnson has found the key to keeping interest high.