PNW Bainbridge Summer 2023

Seattle and Bainbridge Island www.fairbankconstruction.com

When I was around 8, I read a headline in a Stetson ad in Horse & Rider magazine.

Good Guys Wear White, Bad Guys Wear Black, and Cowgirls Wear Any Color They Want

It checked all the boxes for me. Horses, girl power and accessories. Simply brilliant.

The headline clearly stuck with me, but it wouldn’t have, had the message not been as powerful as those perfect, perfect words. I can still hear my madman-era adman father saying that creativity without relevance is pointless.

The lesson I took forward is this: I don’t have to fit into anyone’s idea of who or what I should be. And that includes who I should like. Which brings me to my point. Right around a year ago at PNW Bainbridge’s launch party, I’ll admit I was feeling pretty, pretty good. We’d just put out a stunning publication, I was high on compliments, and most of my island besties showed up to raise a glass, not just to the magazine, but to me for pulling it off.

Right down the street, the competition was having their own launch party. From the beginning it was engineered to feel like a dogfight, even though I had nothing bad or even marginally iffy to say about Tideland magazine’s publisher and owner, Alorie Gilbert. In fact, we’d worked together back when I was editor of a former island magazine. And she was great. But the comparisons were obvious enough that I began to believe that if she won, that somehow meant that I’d lost. That despite everything I professed to believe about journalism—that more is better and that the world desperately needs more fierce females in leadership roles—that this town was only big enough for one cowgirl. I was wrong.

And I know I was wrong, because Alorie had the audacious brilliance to come to our party with heartfelt congratulations and, in the year since, has paved the way for us to cooperate and prop one another up. That’s good for our businesses, great for our advertisers and terrific for our readers. And I’m better for our friendship and collaboration.

In the coming months, keep your eyes and ears out for the many ways we plan to work together to better serve our community. And when you cross paths with Alorie, says thanks and congratulate her on her beautiful magazine.

Allison

Allison Schuchman Editor in Chief

FEATURES

38

Future Tense

Futurist Bob Johnasen considers the wild cards in life.

44

Prospect and Refuge

The natural world inspires and infuses this Port Madison home.

Artful Welcome

BIMA celebrates 10 years as a beacon to travelers and islanders alike. 52

Diving Deep 14 Exotic Aquatics helps you take the plunge.

Star Power 16 Astronomy buffs share their love of the heavens.

Bear With Me 18

Local author rescues an orphan bear. Farming Traditions 22 Island farmers bring fresh food to our tables.

Saddle Up 26 Island club boosts all things equestrian.

RECIPES

Shortcake Season 30

Anne Willhoit shares two recipes for this summer favorite.

contributors

Since Jeff Fraga’s Feast on This feature on Coquette Bake Shop in the Winter 2022 issue (page 61), owners Jerry and Tristen Childers have been busy. Very busy. The duo has since relocated their bakery sensation from Winslow Mall to Winslow Green, opening their doors officially in mid-April. “We’re delighted with the support from the community,” said Jerry. In addition to adding merchandise to their offerings, Coquette has been furiously serving up its signature pastries, sandwiches, bread and specialty coffees and teas to rave reviews and lines of hungry fans, selling out nearly every day. What’s next? Jerry was coy, but the odds are very good it will be worth waiting for…just get there early!

In the Spring 2023 issue, we neglected to give photo credit to Jamie Ahlman for the photo she took of JJ Johnson on the bottom of page 60. We send her our apologies and look forward to seeing more of her outstanding work. Check out her Instagram @korumanaphoto.

And lastly, in our Spring 2023 list of writers, we misspelled Christy Carley’s last name. Carley has been, is and will be one of our most beloved contributors and we’re glad she took our oopsie with her typically good humor. In this issue, read her adorable story on page 26 about the Bainbridge Island Saddle Club, which had us all wishing for a pony of our own.

Annie Graebner

Annie Graebner is a portrait photographer who captures moments, life and stories, blending a mix of candid and lifestyle elements. She was born and raised in the greater Seattle area and received her undergraduate business and master’s degrees from the University of Washington. Before her career as a CPA began, Graebner lived in Siena, Italy where she studied photography and fell in love with the craft. In September 2007, she launched annie g photography. Graebner, her husband Kyle, and their three kids moved from Queen Anne to the island in 2020. They are thrilled to be a part of this wonderful community.

Jeff Fraga

Jeff Fraga writes annual and sustainability reports for companies such as PepsiCo. Southwest Airlines, Target and Microsoft. When he isn’t writing for them, he’s writing for himself. He has written a Christmas musical, several 10-minute plays (including some that were part of the Island Theatre Ten-Minute Play Festival), a mystery novel, and several Hawaiian pop songs. A confirmed foodie, he once spent a week in the Paris kitchen of the Michelin 3-star restaurant Guy Savoy. Closer to home, Jeff lives on Bainbridge Island in a 117-yearold stone house with his wife, Kathe, and the occasional Fraga child returning to the nest for a quick visit. He loves hiking the Bainbridge trails and discovering the season’s first trillium.

Anne Willhoit

Anne Willhoit is a teacher, writer, photographer and parent. She tries really hard to only make one big kitchen mess per day, but rarely achieves this goal. She likes to collect and play with recipes and is always grateful for the seasonal bounty that our island provides. When not rising bread or teaching children, she enjoys reading fiction, beach sitting, paddling, and feeding friends.

PAW PATROL

BY

Scrolling through Facebook’s Bainbridge Islanders group, you would be forgiven for thinking that we islanders are a grumpy lot. Most any topic, from marauding coyotes to renaming an elementary school to pretty much any decision the city makes, is apt to touch off an onslaught of venomous comments. Searching “roundabout” will take you directly to the ninth circle of hell.

Just when your faith in humanity feels irreparably poisoned, an antidote can be found right next door (virtually speaking) at the group Bainbridge Island Lost Pets. Here, the words “Owner Found!” elicit outpourings of pure, childlike joy and islanders come together on a moment’s notice to help people they have never met.

When “super mutt” Mabel escaped from a dog sitter on a snowy night just before last Christmas, owner Beckey Anderson “thought she was a goner.” Anderson and her family were vacationing in Victoria when Mabel’s photo popped up on Bainbridge Island Lost Pets.

As they rushed home, a spontaneous search and rescue operation was unfolding. Mabel sightings from wildlife and doorbell cameras were reported on the page and the dog’s movements were followed by her pawprints in the snow. A live trap baited with treats was set up in her suspected vicinity

By the time the family got back, Anderson estimates that more than 50 people, mostly strangers, were involved in the search. Finally, around 1 in the morning, she checked the trap and found Mabel relaxing inside, no worse for wear after more than 24 hours in the frozen wilderness.

“It felt like the whole island mobilized for us,” Anderson said. “It was so heartwarming how many people cared,” adding with a laugh, “It’s amazing. ”

PHOTO BY BECKEY ANDERSON

GEORGE SOLTES

Beer FIGHT! now and then

Next time you enjoy an evening of fine dining at Doc’s Marina Grill, take a moment to appreciate that in the same seat 80 years ago, you would have been more likely to get hit in the head with a flying beer bottle than to be washing down your seared scallops with a nice Sauvignon Blanc.

Doc’s home, the Winslow Dock Commercial Building, housed a succession of bars back when the neighborhood was still a working waterfront. Most notorious was Mac’s Tavern, nicknamed the Bloody Bucket, best known for its beer fights and its patrons’ penchant for communicating with their fists.

BY GEORGE SOLTES

Best behavior at Doc’s Marina Grill, today

Ready to throw down at the Bloody Bucket, 1940s

COURTESY BAINBRIDGE ISLAND HISTORICAL MUSEUM

HAPPY RESIDENTS. HAPPY FAMILIES.

“In December I moved my good friend from a memory care facility in Bothell to Fieldstone of Bainbridge Island. I have been extremely happy with the care and kindness shown to my friend as well as the excellent communication the sta has had with me about her care and her needs. Those things alone would have justified the move but, in addition, the building itself and the beautiful and safe outdoor area are a big plus. Also, I want to mention how incredibly helpful the sta was in helping me get her moved in and set up in her room. I'm very grateful to Fieldstone!” Google review by Susan G.

Tangled Up in Blue

Islander Shares Her Appetite for the Salish Sea and Beyond

Jacques Cousteau is often called the Father of Scuba Diving. In relative (closer to Bainbridge) terms, master diver and instructor Pam Auxier boasts 35 years experience under her weight belt in addition to 6,050-plus dives worldwide, solidly qualifying her as our very own, home-town Mother of Scuba Diving.

Auxier is president and owner of Exotic Aquatics Scuba Diving and Kayaking, now celebrating 32 years in business on the island.

Her inspiration for diving began at age 10, when a family friend took her “diving” on a double-hose regulator in a 4-footdeep swimming pool. “Mike Nelson of ‘Sea Hunt’ was my hero,” she said, referring to the 1960s underwater adventure TV series.

When Auxier was starting a nursing career in 1986, owning a dive shop was just a twinkle in her eye. When she—the only female among 32 male counterparts—mentioned her dive-shop dreams at a Professional Association of Diving Instructors certification course, she got a big laugh. “Since it was a predominately male sport back then, suits and equipment didn’t even exist that fit women properly,” she said. “I now have a large female clientele.”

Auxier made her dream come true after moving to Bainbridge, launching the shop in 1991. “I wanted to teach at home,” she said, “and take people to exotic

places, locally and abroad. That’s been my model for 32 years.”

Her business now employs six dive masters plus two master instructors with roughly 10,000 dives between them.

Featured international dives include the Galapagos Islands; Okinawa, Japan; Port Hardy at the tip of Vancouver Island; and an 1867 shipwreck in the British Virgin Islands. Local favorites are the China Wall, with sheer rock faces and innumerable fissures, leading 100 feet to a sandy floor; Shangri-La, a true heaven on underwater earth; Waterman’s Wall, a 140-foot sheer wall with huge cracks and crevices revealing all the marine life the Pacific Northwest has to offer; and Blake Island, with, among other attractions, a vibrant artificial reef system, created by chunks of the old Interstate 90 floating bridge dumped there in the 1990s.

No matter one’s thirst for adventure, skill, master-level experience or lack thereof, Exotic Aquatics offers a chance to pursue under- or above-water adventure. For seasoned enthusiasts, there are self-guided scuba diving or kayak excursions, while guided tours

BY KERRIE

REIGHTLEY

around Bainbridge, the Seattle area and Kitsap peninsula are offered for all levels, as well as specialized trips around the world. In addition to tours and instruction, Exotic Aquatics also sells and rents kayak and scuba diving equipment.

Some of Exotic Aquatic’s most popular kayaking excursions include romantic full moon paddles to watch sunsets or moonrises above the Seattle skyline; or a Blakely Rock tour—set against the backdrop of Mount Rainier to the south, Mount Baker to the north, the Cascades to the east, and the Olympics to the west—to picnic, explore tidepools and bask in the Salish Sea’s natural beauty while hoping to catch a glimpse of killer whales, bald eagles, harbor porpoises and seals and blue herons.

For local divers, Auxier said that the crown jewel is our resident, famed giant Pacific octopus near Rockaway Beach. “His mantel [head] reaches to my waistline. His arms are 12 to 14 feet [long], and his suction cups are the size of sandwich plates,” she said. Smaller underwater gems include starfish, sandalwood nudibranchs, giant barnacles, mosshead war bonnets, wolf eels, cuttlefish, moon snails and spiny lumpsuckers.

Auxier’s ease in the sea and among its creatures—both great and small—was perhaps best illustrated when asked her opinion on diving with sharks. She pulled out a screenshot of her in the Galapagos, frolicking among 300 hammerheads. She added, “The next day, we saw whale sharks the size of school busses.” Closer to home, in Blakely Harbor, Auxier has encountered a rarely seen, deep-water, 15-foot sixgill shark.

Today, she’s still chasing her dreams. In the ‘90s, she dived in Palau, an archipelago in the western Pacific. “I vowed to return someday,” she said. That someday is October 2023—this time, with 16 scuba-diving patrons in tow.

“Being under water is mesmerizing,” Auxier said. Describing Keystone off Whidbey Island, she mused, “It’s like diving through a huge feather pillow, with all its white, feathery plumose anemones everywhere. Beauty surrounds you and washes away all your worries.”

PHOTOS BY J.C. FIGUEROA

HOUSTON

STAR POWER

Astronomy Buffs Keep an Eye on the Sky

They were going to tear it down.

In 1972, the Bainbridge Island parks district acquired a two-story concrete building once used to house World War II radio equipment, along with land that would ultimately become Battle Point Park. By the 1990s, the district had proposed demolishing the antique Helix Building.

But local architect John Rudolph, hired to complete a plan for Battle Point Park, recognized the Helix Building’s potential. He imagined the space as a public observatory, where island residents could gather to

BY AUDREY

study the night sky. Along with former Boeing Company colleagues Ed Ritchie and Mac Gardiner, Rudolph founded the nonprofit Battle Point Astronomical Association in 1992. Through BPAA, the three men scrounged enough labor, materials and funds to save the Helix Building.

Today, the building is known as the Ritchie Observatory, a gathering space for BPAA’s astronomy enthusiasts. The observatory is also home to the Ritchie Telescope, the largest publicly accessible telescope in the Pacific Northwest.

Shortly after funding BPAA, Rudolph, Ritchie and Gardiner submitted a proposal to Boeing, which was looking to donate a spare mirror. The three founders laid out BPAA’s plan for a brand-new telescope that would take advantage of Boeing’s donation. Their proposal won the 27.5-inch spare mirror. So, while other volunteers refurbished the budding observatory, Ritchie reshaped the mirror so it could be used in the telescope.

Frank Petrie, BPAA’s current president, still marvels at Ritchie’s dedication.

NELSON PHOTOS COURTESY BPAA AND BARN

PHOTO BY ABBY WYATT

PHOTO BY ABBY WYATT

“He actually built a grinding machine in his garage,” Petrie said. “He used it to refigure the mirror. And there are stories about people coming over and watching this thing in action in his garage, how long it took to get it done.”

Ritchie died before he could see the telescope dedicated. But both the telescope and the observatory honor his name.

Since its founding, BPAA has grown into a thriving organization. The group hosts “star parties” and lectures, provides access to the Ritchie Telescope and even lends telescopes to members. Recently, BPAA acquired a new planetarium projector, which casts a model of the night sky onto the underside of a cloth dome. Controlled by an iPad, the projector “flies” visitors through the solar system to investigate different heavenly bodies. There’s a disclaimer: Petrie admits that he and the rest of the BPAA board are “still learning how to do that smoothly.”

Traditionally, BPAA hosts a lecture and a star party at Ritchie Observatory on the second Saturday of every month. Bonus events are scheduled on shorter notice. But Petrie and his colleagues are hopeful that the new projector can increase BPAA’s offerings.

“Rain or shine, we can do the planetarium,” Petrie said. “It can be in the middle of the day…We’re hoping to, at least every other weekend, maybe even every week, to have planetarium shows.”

These shows would add to BPAA’s current community connections. The BPAA board partners with KiDiMu, supports students from Hyla Upper School’s astronomy club and even plans to host a summer program in collaboration with Bainbridge Performing Arts. Plus, Petrie estimates that about 60 percent of current BPAA members are families who take advantage of a special family membership rate.

BPAA also welcomes junior members. Michaela Leung, a former island resident, was a junior BPAA member through middle and high school. She’s now a Ph.D. candidate researching planetary astrobiology at the University of California, Riverside.

“For me, [astronomy] is a really compelling question about what we don’t know,” Leung said. “The near-infinite possibilities that could be out there. And I think that’s definitely something that was encouraged by the folks at BPAA.”

The organization gave Leung her first experience with “naked eye” observing. But now, BPAA wants to explore using more than just direct observation. Under the guidance of chief astronomer Cole Rees, BPAA is adapting the Ritchie Telescope for “astro-imaging”—i.e., remote observation and photography. This is great news for BPAA members who live as far away as North Carolina and New York and who could begin booking time on the telescope from afar.

Petrie is thrilled by the prospect of expanding BPAA’s offerings.

“Just emotionally, it’s meaningful to understand what is happening in the universe,” he said. “I want to share it with everybody.”

About 20 years after the Ritchie Telescope was built, BPAA began to have trouble tracking objects through it. They discovered that some of the instrument’s metal components had degraded, preventing the smooth rotation of the main shafts. The telescope had to be repaired.

So BPAA joined forces with the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network. Together, the two organizations applied for and received a cultural funding grant from the city’s biannual program. That grant money funded materials; then volunteers headed to BARN’s metal arts shop to participate in fixing up the telescope.

Improvements to the telescope included aluminum plating, steel supports and new bearings. Current BPAA president Frank Petrie was BPAA’s secretary and BARN’s machine shop treasurer during the project. He enjoyed the hands-on nature of the renovations.

“All that stuff we did, we did it all ourselves,” he said. “And we had a good time doing it, too.”

In addition to refurbishing the Ritchie Telescope, volunteers modernized it, as part of BPAA’s plan to expand into the world of astro-imaging. They also made improvements to BPAA facilities.

Sparked by that initial collaboration, the BPAA/BARN relationship continues to this day. Some members of each organization have “a foot in both worlds.” This includes Petrie, as well as Peter Moseley, a BPAA board member also heavily involved with the BARN machine shop.

“We’re doing astronomy,” Petrie said. “We’re also over there doing machining. And it’s great. We have a really strong relationship with [BARN].”

PHOTO COURTESY BPAA

PHOTO BY MARIO ALEJANDRO TORRES

PHOTO BY RICK GORDON

Frank Petrie, BPAA President

shorts

Bear With Me

Local Author

Answers a Cry for Help

BY GEORGE SOLTES

Bainbridge author Jonathan Evison was hiking near his cabin in Sequim one day in late April when he heard what sounded like “a cross between a raven and a crying baby.” Approaching the noise while using his camera’s zoom function to look from a distance, he spied a tiny black bear cub at the base of a hemlock tree. “He was scratching as though he was trying to climb it,” Evison said, “but he couldn’t. He was just crying, crying, crying.”

Evison’s family spends weekends and summers at the cabin, which abuts a thousand acres of Department of Natural Resources land, and he also comes up to write during the week. “I know every trail, every loop,” he said. He knew, too, that a family of bears lived in the area and figured that the mom would soon return to her cub. “I thought, I'm not going to intervene now. I'm going to just monitor the situation.” He worried, though, because he had heard gunshots the night before.

After a restless night, Evison set off into the rain the next morning and again heard the now familiar sound. He found the little bear trapped in underbrush beneath a downed tree. “He was sopping wet and miserable and crying,” he said. After Evison freed him, “it was all over.” Despite trying to keep his distance, the cub followed him back the half mile to his cabin.

Evison penned the bear near his chicken coop while he sought out expert advice. As his children dried and warmed the drenched animal—his daughters christening him “Brave Blackie” in the process—he contacted the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, but, despite promises from a dispatcher, never heard back. Help arrived instead from an unexpected quarter.

While awaiting a callback that never came, Evison posted about his surprise visitor on Facebook. Soon thereafter, he was contacted by staff at West Sound Wildlife Shelter on Bainbridge Island. “We monitor (social media) 24/7,” said Lisa Horn, executive director at West Sound, “so we immediately jumped on it.”

After a brief experiment with a cat carrier (“He did not want anything to do with it,” said Evison), Brave Blackie was laid on a towel, where he immediately went to sleep, and driven to West Sound.

Shelter staff examined the cub, who weighed less than 3 pounds. “He was quite thin and dehydrated,” said Horn. “I don't think he would have lasted very long without a mom.”

West Sound is the primary wildlife rehabilitation center for Kitsap County and other counties throughout western Puget Sound and last year saw over 1,500 injured, sick and orphaned animals. While the shelter is licensed to triage bear cubs, it does not have the specialized facilities to keep them long-term. As Blackie was given fluids, shelter veterinarian Alicia Bye worked the phones. As luck would have it, PAWS Wildlife Center in Lynnwood had just received another black bear cub and

PHOTO BY COURTNEY COOK

PHOTO BY JONATHAN EVISON

PHOTO BY JONATHAN EVISON

shorts

was happy to add the little Sequim bear. Within a few hours, Blackie was on the ferry to his new home.

The coming months will be busy ones for Blackie, said PAWS wildlife director Jennifer Convy. After a brief period of quarantine, the cub, who Convy estimated to be about 4 months old, will go to a sort of bear frat house, with similarly aged cubs integrated as they arrive. “He'll grow and play with those animals,” Convy said. “They'll compete for food, sleep together, not sleep together, argue about things and get more muscular and stronger.”

Blackie is likely to return to the wild in the spring. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which has final say over the release site, usually chooses an area close to the bear’s origin, but this may vary depending on the local population.

Horn is certain that Evison’s intervention saved the cub’s life but emphasized

that this was a unique set of circumstances. She noted that in most instances of a wild creature in possible distress, the animal should not be handled prior to discussion with a local rehabilitation organization or Fish and Wildlife.

Evison remains concerned that the cub’s mother was killed by poachers. He continues to listen for other little lost bears in the wilderness near his cabin but has not heard that strange sound again. For now, he is just thankful that West Sound kept such a close watch on social media, joking, “Thank goodness for Facebook.”

Bainbridge’s West Sound Wildlife Shelter depends almost entirely on donations to support its mission to rehabilitate sick, hurt and orphaned wildlife and promote conservation, education and awareness.

Want to help?

Scan the QR code to find out more.

Whether you visit once, or visit every week, Bloedel Reserve’s landscapes are ever-evolving. Wild and groomed alike, every corner of the Reserve holds the power to stop us in our tracks and root us in the present moment.

stories

Photo: Deanna Leon Guerrero

PHOTO BY COURTNEY COOK

Where Do We Grow from Here?

Three Farmers and a Foodie Speak on the Power of SmallScale Agriculture

In a world with Instacart and Uber Eats, there is not only a public appetite for farm-fresh food, but for farms themselves. Nobody knows this better than Brian Stahl and Penny Daniels, the husband-wife duo helming Winney Farm, an historic 2-and-a-half-acre property that produces beef, pork, lamb and chicken.

Stahl grew up on a 50-head Wisconsin dairy farm, and Daniels grew up watching

BY ISABELLE HAINES

PHOTOS BY DINAH SATTERWHITE AND COURTESY MICHELE MUFFOLETTO

“Little House on the Prairie.” The pair is equally passionate about their land and animals—and honoring Nellie Winney, the Texas-born ranching matriarch who made her home in the Pacific Northwest and founded the farm.

In her portrait, which hangs in the entryway of the Winney Farm Store, Winney appears bespectacled and well-coiffed. In the memories of neighbors, she was ornery and sweet, a legend of the T&C produce section who hosted school field trips.

meat production, but also by welcoming the community onto their land.

Last October, they hosted their first Fall Festival, a spiritual successor to Johnson Farm’s Harvest Fair. The turnout was amazing.

“We were totally caught off guard,” Stahl laughed. “I bought 100, maybe 200 hot dog buns, and then about 1,000 people showed up.”

“She was a farmer,” Daniels explained, spring-loading extra meaning onto that one word. “And she did it all on her own.”

Stahl and Daniels are trying to do right by Winney—not only through sustainable

After the event, Stahl and Daniels got some criticism—people wanted to know why there wasn’t an entry fee. “We got a lot of advice on how to do it better,” Daniels said. “But that advice is always about making more money, and in my opinion, that’s not making it better.”

The wild success of the Fall Festival showed Stahl and Daniels a public eager to engage with their work at the farm. People may come for the hayride and the beer garden, but they’ll stay for the renewed connection to land and food systems.

At The Wanderers’ Nest, a 2-and-a-half-acre therapeutic farm tucked off Finch Road, that same sense of connection is the whole point. Michele Muffoletto, the farm’s owner and facilitator, totally gets it—sometimes you just need to pet a goat or sit quietly by a pond to feel OK.

“My youngest client is 4 years old; my oldest is probably 70,” said Muffoletto. Whatever brings a client to the farm—grief, stress, self-care—it seems that they are all seeking to build a relationship with the land, with themselves. »

The Wanderers’ Nest is a sensory wonderland by design. Every square inch of the farm has been thought out—from the fragrant path-side herbs to the textured glass panes in the gazebo. That same level of detail also goes into growing the farm’s fruits, berries, herbs and vegetables.

“We have to start planning in January for that one carrot you buy in July,” Muffoletto said. But she noted she is Virgo with a soft spot for logistics—the planning might be her favorite part.

Other elements of the operation aren’t quite so fun. Expensive land, supplies, housing and labor make the already demanding line of work even more challenging. Even with resources such as Friends of the Farms and Washington State University’s Master Gardener program, the whole thing can feel like a game of Chutes and Ladders.

“We have so much knowledge and ability here,” Muffoletto said. “But [sustainable, small-scale farming] is still hard and expensive.”

This is where Heather Burger, a proud foodie and the executive director of Friends of the Farms, comes in.

Brian MacWhorter Cultivates

Fruits, Vegetables and a New Generation of Farmers

In his early days on the island, Brian MacWhorter and a generation of Kitsap farmers were mentored by Akio Suyematsu, an almost mythic figure in Bainbridge history. Now, as the proprietor of Butler Green Farms, MacWhorter is carrying that torch—whether it’s hosting field trips, running his own farm school or providing internships for up-and-comers.

“[Akio] got us all hooked on farming,” said MacWhorter. “Now we’re trying to keep his legacy going.”

And he’s doing just that, helping the next farming generation clear a few hurdles—such as finding affordable housing. MacWhorter offered up Morales Farm, a 5-acre property that he subleases, to be the site of three new tiny houses for farming interns. The project was the brainchild of Friends of the Farms, Coates Design architects, Clark Construction and Housing Resources Bainbridge.

“We decided, ‘Let’s take on the most impossible thing and see if we can pull it off,’” said Friends of the Farms Executive Director Heather Burger.

With roughly 26,000 pounds of donated building materials, 60 local businesses contributing supplies and services, and 100 volunteers, the project came together at time-lapse speed.

“We want more and more and more of this because it’s so good, but then where’s the capacity to do that?” said Burger. “It’s a real challenge we’re facing.”

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom in the island farming community—not even close. Both farms and the organizations that support them are working to keep the world of small-scale agriculture turning. Earlier this year, Friends of the Farms helped pioneer a tiny housing development for farming interns and arranged for local produce to be included in school lunches. What’s more, many farms are incorporating agritourism into their business plans, both to educate the public and earn more income. Other solutions, including more attainable county tax exemptions and conservation easements, are possible, too.

And then there’s community support—whether it’s shopping at the Bainbridge Island Farmers Market or the Winney Farm Store or the several farmstands around the island. This might be the most invaluable piece. As Burger put it, “If I didn’t have our local farmers, I most definitely couldn’t eat.”

Permits were acquired in June of 2022; the houses were done in December. This spring, three interns moved in.

“They just step out their front door, and they’re on the job,” MacWhorter said.

Even after decades of sharing his knowledge and welcoming others onto his land, MacWhorter is still moved by watching enraptured, field-tripping elementary schoolers dig around in the dirt.

“They pick a strawberry out of the field and just taste it— the wonder of it,” he said. “That to me is the most important thing I can do through my farming.”

Farm interns Emma White and Rebecca Poe

PHOTO BY TAMI MEADER, COURTESY FRIENDS OF THE FARMS

HORSE SENSE

Saddle Club Has Been Shaping Childhoods for Decades

Lifelong islander Kathy Countryman remembers showing up to her 8th grade banquet in a bright pink dress with a bright red sunburn. She had been out riding April, her quarter horse, all day, only to realize she had made it all the way down to the south end of the island from her parents’ place near Wilkes Elementary. And now she had to make it back up north before the festivities began.

BY ISABELLE HAINES

PHOTOS BY ANNIE GRAEBNER

That was more than 50 years ago, back when young island equestrians could cross Highway 305 with hardly a worry about traffic. Countryman viewed her access to a horse as a ticket to freedom before she was old enough to drive a car. It was also a chance to be alone, or at least not around other humans; a peaceful refuge on quiet trails through the woods. Countryman was 12 when she got April as a 3-year-old filly. “I still had her when she died at 29.”

Melissa Davis has similar memories dating back to 1982 when she moved at age 7 to Bainbridge with her parents. Davis described her parents as “city folk,” but said they decided to buy horses upon moving to the island—perhaps, in part, to keep their daughters occupied. Rides across Bainbridge were also a staple of her childhood.

She recalls trips to meet friends from various parts of the island to explore trails in the Grand Forest or traverse Manitou Beach at low tide. To get around, “we had permission to cross through several different pieces of private property,” she said.

“The horses I grew up with as a kid were whatever my family could afford,” said Davis. “They were quite the variety of misfits. The horse I rode all over the island was a mare named Tana,” an

Appaloosa-Thoroughbred cross that, oddly, didn't have a single spot. “She was my best friend and trusty steed.”

Both Davis and Countryman have watched Bainbridge transform over the past few decades. Crossing busy roads like Miller and Highway 305 is no longer safe on horseback, and the woods aren’t as quiet as they used to be. But the island still boasts a strong equestrian tradition thanks, in part, to the efforts of the Bainbridge Island Saddle Club.

Founded in 1948, the Saddle Club provides riding facilities to more than 280 members and hosts monthly hunter-jumper shows from April through September. Both Davis and Countryman are long-time club members and currently sit on its board, Davis as president. Countryman and her daughter, Katie Countryman Starks, along with fellow board member Megan Lawson, organize and manage the club’s shows, which are free for spectators and open to the public.

The club also hosts clinics and special events. For the past couple of years, Davis has run a clinic on mounted archery, a sport she picked up in 2019, which is just as formidable as it sounds. While the club doesn’t provide lessons,

it remains a gathering place for young riders who build community at shows or a week-long summer campout for island Pony Club members. Davis remembers those campouts as the highlight of her childhood summers. “I more or less grew up at the club,” she said.

At its current location on Day Road, the club provides direct access to the trails at Manzanita Park and maintains more than 8 acres. Evergreens tower over its two arenas. For an island that has seen a lot of change, Countryman feels strongly about preserving that place for the equestrian community and for future generations of riders.

“It’s almost a little look into old Bainbridge,” she said.

The Saddle Club acquired the Day Road property in 1969 and began construction on a clubhouse. As the club is 100 percent volunteer run, members would swing by on Wednesday evenings to help with construction, with the work parties topped off by potlucks and a bonfire. Horse shows and facility maintenance are also left up to volunteers, but those who work with horses aren’t strangers to hard work and responsibility. From a young age, Davis woke up early to feed and care for her horse before school. She blames the fact that she’s a self-described “ridiculous morning person” on that particular habit but is grateful she learned responsibility at a young age.

“I have actually not been without a horse since I was 7,” Davis said. “And my parents are still wondering when the phase will end.” She credits much of her lifelong passion to the Saddle Club and hopes that she can pass that passion along to new riders. Membership has remained steady over the past few years, but Davis said the club hopes to grow. Both individual and family membership plans are available, including for non-riders who want to support the island’s equestrian community.

“I still ride. And a lot of that is because of the foundation I got growing up at the club,” Davis said. “That’s why it’s so important for me to preserve the club as it is today.”

shorts Ride the Yang Wave of SUMMERTIME & Burst into your Brightest Bloom

School’s out for summer! Live life to the fullest! Soak up the sun!

BY BAJDA WELTY

Summertime is the perfect season to experience the warm, uplifting and outgoing Yang-trending energy of our natural environment. Immerse yourself in a hike, a bike or a paddle. Go on a backpacking, boating or sleeping-under-the-stars type of journey. Dig into your garden, cut pretty flowers or pick berries.

In our part of the world, we wait all year for this season, when we can easily blend into our beautiful natural surroundings. We instinctively spend more time outdoors, outside the shelters that swallowed us up and kept us warm and safe all winter.

Take a plunge, take a risk, go out on a limb. This is the time for adventurous actions to develop our greatest good and seek our highest potential.

Of course, Yang energy cannot exist on its own. We might burn up or burn out and tempers could flare. Balance the long, bright, active times of summer with a calm heart and a mind as cool as a cucumber. Offset the external Yang climate with an internal Yin climate.

Pacify your mind by being in water or looking at water. Pacify your spirit and heart by avoiding anger and following a path toward something that brings a smile to your face.

Here are a few tips:

• Go to bed late, wake up early and rest mid-day

Drink plenty of fluids

Eat light, not greasy

Include watermelon, apricot, cantaloupe, sprouts, watercress, asparagus, cucumber, snow peas, lettuce, dill, mint and cilantro in your diet.

Locate Yintang (the Zen button), an acupuncture point between the eyebrows. Touch it and apply gentle pressure with your fingertip for 1 minute each day. This point brings powerful presence, calms the spirit, eases anxiety and worry and activates intuition.

Bajda Welty MS, EAMP, LMP, practices acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine on Bainbridge Island

PHOTO BY BAJDA WELTY

Summertime Jewels: Strawberry Shortcake

recipes TWO WAYS

One of the delights of eating seasonally is the anticipation of summer fruits. Islanders wait for berry season all year, looking forward to standing outside under blue skies, eating berries warmed by the returning sun. We snatch them off the plants before the squirrels do, line up early at the market and farmstand to get our flats and wait patiently for our neighbors to confess that they have too many and could we possibly help them out by taking some? (We can.)

BY ANNE WILLHOIT PHOTOS BY ANNE WILLHOIT

Some seasonal dishes live in our memories at the nostalgic junction of our souls and stomachs. Strawberry shortcake is one of these, a dessert that happily highlights berries just as they are—fresh, sliced, ready to stop the show. Below are two shortcakes recipes for when you find yourself rich in berries. The first, for shortcake purists, makes a barely sweet biscuit with a delicate crumb, ready to catch all the berry juices. The second, a chocolate variation, is a nice surprise that pairs the berries with another companionable flavor.

Pro tip: Making and freezing shortcakes ahead of time is a great trick. When cool, simply pop them in a freezer bag and you'll always be ready for a spontaneous beach picnic, porch sitting with friends, or a little personal dessert moment.

Traditional Strawberry Shortcake

Makes 8 generous servings

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. kosher salt (or a scant 1/2 tsp. table salt)

2 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. lemon or orange zest (optional)

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cold 1-1/3 cups cream

To top: one or two pints of summer strawberries, whipped cream

1. Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2. Stir in the zest, if using.

3. Slice the butter into rough pieces and sprinkle into the dry ingredients. Stir briefly with a fork, then get ready to get your hands in there.

4. Cut in the butter by squishing the sprinkled butter pieces with your fingers and mixing it a bit as you go. Continue to crumble and mix with your hands until you have an uneven, clumpy looking mixture. (Alternatively, briefly pulse the dry ingredients and the butter in a food processor.)

5. Drizzle in the cream and gently fold with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, just until it looks mixed and not a moment longer. (Overmixing will damage the delicate crumb and springiness.)

6. Sprinkle a bit of flour on your workspace and turn the dough out onto it. Pat into a rectangle, about 1-inch thick.

Chocolate Shortcake

Use the same ingredients listed above, omitting the zest. Reduce the cream to 1 cup.

Add:

1 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips, divided.

1. Heat 1 cup cream in a small pot over low heat just until you see bubbles on the edges. Turn off the heat and add 1/2 cup chocolate chips, jiggling the pan just a bit to make sure all the chips are down in the cream. Immediately cover with a lid and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Using a whisk, mix well until satiny and smooth. Set aside to cool.

2. Mix the dry ingredients as in the traditional shortcake, then cut in the butter.

3. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

4. When the chocolate cream has cooled, pour, and fold it gently into the dry ingredients.

5. Finish the recipe in the same way as traditional shortcake.

To prepare the berries: Wash, stem and slice half of the beautiful berries. Add to a bowl or jar with 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar per pint of berries. Refrigerate for a few hours until some juices collect. Right before serving, slice the remaining berries and add these to the macerated berries.

Add whip? Of course!

To make a basic whipped cream for 8 shortcakes, whip 2 cups cream with 1/2 cup sugar. Flavor with a little vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons amaretto or another favorite flavor. Scale up or down as needed or swap in vanilla ice cream for true summertime decadence.

MARIA Metzler

Maria Metzler has focused on solving problems pretty much her whole life, including the last six years as executive director of Helpline House. She relishes finding new ways to lift people up. If you have a need—food, utility and rent assistance, counseling—just walk in the door. As a 10-year islander, Metzler’s happy to be raising three kids in a community that cares—and shares—so much.

BY CONNIE BYE PHOTOS BY TANNER RIGHTLEY

How did your previous job at Seattle’s Downtown Emergency Service Center influence your approach at Helpline House?

I learned about the human experience in such a deep way by facing it every day. There, we had a mindset of scarcity, where we had to do what we could with what we had. It made me want to operate differently here. If we have it and you need it, it’s yours.

What services does Helpline provide?

The food bank and social services are the main ones, and we have special projects. At the holidays, we have gifts for seniors and kids. For back-to-school, we have Project Backpack. And we have Project Happy Birthday. If you have a child between 0 and 18, you can fill out a simple form at the front desk and say, for example, my child is turning 10 and his favorite color is blue and his most favorite things in the whole world are soccer and baseball. We have a group of Birthday Angels who we send that request. Presents come in for this child, then the parent or guardian picks up the gifts at the front desk, goes home and says, “Look what I got you for your birthday.” It always works out.

What innovations have you tried?

There generally are lots of parameters when you shop at food banks: the number of times a week or month you can come, the

number of items you can take. We used to have a limit on cereal, for example. But what if your two kids eat cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we say, “I’m sorry, but you can only have one box.” We decided to trust people to make choices for their households that are the best for them.

In the past six weeks, we’ve had more food bank shoppers than we’ve had since 2019—nearly 300 [shopping trips] a week. In 2019, we averaged 250 shops a week.

Is there enough food?

If there’s not enough, it’s our job to procure more, by asking the community, by careful stewardship of our dollars, by purchasing through Food Lifeline and Northwest Harvest. Two things with limits in the food bank: eggs and meat. Those are difficult to get and expensive.

How does the Kids Pantry work?

It’s offered during the four breaks in the school year and the summer. We partner with Rotary. Each bag contains five days of breakfasts, lunches and snacks—one bag per kid per household each week. People can come here to pick [bags] up, or they can be delivered to your door through Rotary.

How does someone access your services?

For the food bank, the easiest thing to do is walk in. No income parameters. We ask for information, but it’s optional. You can designate someone else to shop for you, or you can connect with [Island Volunteer Caregivers], and they will shop and deliver to your house.

We have an extensive porch pantry that’s open when the food bank is closed. We put out as much as we can that’s not perishable. We did a survey a couple of months ago and found people shop the porch pantry for three reasons: They can’t

get to Helpline during open hours, they shopped earlier that week but need a little more or they want anonymity.

For social services, walk in or call and make an appointment. Mental health therapy is free. It can be one time or however long you need it. This is with a licensed mental health counselor.

For case management, we want you to make an appointment and let us help. We have partnerships, we have resources, we have referrals to places you might not have thought about otherwise.

What are the greatest needs on Bainbridge Island?

One of them is food, one of them is hunger. We do a good job of addressing that, so it’s not an unmet need. A huge unmet need is affordable housing.

How can people help?

Financial contributions help us. People also participate by volunteering and with food donations.

We distributed 51,000 pounds of food a month in 2022. The Sakai food drive is our largest food drive every year. When you’re at the store, consider buying two items [and donating one]. If it’s something you’d like to have for dinner, then that’s what someone else would like to have for dinner, too.

FUTURE TENSE

BY GEORGE SOLTES \ PHOTOS BY ANNIE GRAEBNER

The mules are coming.

In the new book “Office Shock,” futurist Bob Johansen describes mules (named after a character in Isaac Asimov’s sci-fi classic “Foundation” trilogy) as “unpredictable wild cards” that cause sudden, shocking change. COVID was the most recent mule to charge into our lives, kicking workers out of offices, kids out of schools and virtual technology into our homes, seemingly overnight.

The bad news is that more mules, pandemic and otherwise, are on the horizon. The good news is that Johansen, a Bainbridge Island resident and a distinguished fellow at the Institute for the Future, is ready to help us wrangle the next stampede.

Growing up as the son of a milkman in rural Illinois, Johansen didn’t look much further ahead than the end of a basketball court. “My life was focused almost completely on basketball in a basketball-crazy part of the country,” he recalled. After shooting up to a gangly 6-foot-5, he made all-state in high school, then rode an athletic scholarship to the University of Illinois.

The collegiate level of play was an eye-opener for the basketball-obsessed teen. “I was only a marginal Big Ten player,” he said, “and not nearly good enough to be a pro.” Two events in particular convinced Johansen that he might need a backup plan.

The first was a game versus UCLA, where he was matched up against a player named Lew Alcindor. “I played pretty well,” Johansen remembered, “but he had an effortless 45 points. I remember looking up at him as we stood at the free throw lane and thinking, ‘I need another career.’” (Alcindor later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and became one of the greatest NBA players of all time.)

Second was meeting future wife Robin, a fellow undergraduate who “wasn’t really that impressed with me as a basketball player” and who insisted that Johansen, a half-hearted student to that point, buckle down and study with her before she would go out with him on dates.

The new focus paid off. After becoming the first member of his family to graduate from college, Johansen went on to Crozer Theological Seminary, the same divinity school attended by Martin Luther King Jr., then earned a doctorate in sociology at Northwestern University.

A fascination with the earliest computers and a misunderstanding regarding the title of a conference pivoted Johansen into his career as a futurist. He had become interested in the potential for ARPANET, the predecessor to the internet, to facilitate interpersonal communication, and the 1972 International Conference on Computer Communications seemed like a perfect venue to present this new concept. His ideas received, charitably, a mixed reception. It turned out that the “communications” in the conference title referred only to computers sharing data with other computers, and that most attendees held the view that people communicating with other people was an improper use of the nascent internet. One

PHOTO COURTESY BOB JOHANSEN

participant was so offended by Johansen’s “fringe” panel that he stormed out of the room.

The conference did, however, bring the young sociologist to the attention of the Institute for the Future, a recently formed think tank whose mission was to help organizations go beyond short-term thinking by providing insight into the future (typically 10 years ahead), then working back to the present to determine the best action, an idea they called “futureback.” (See sidebar for a deeper dive into that and other IFTF concepts.)

The Palo Alto-based nonprofit hired Johansen, a rare social scientist in a sea of hard scientists and engineers. He would never work anywhere else. Over the ensuing years, he and the institute’s other futurists provided training and custom forecasts to a diverse array of organizations, ranging from Disney World to the United Way to the U.S. Army War College. Johansen eventually served as president of the institute from 1996 to 2004, and the IFTF is now the longest running futures think tank in the world.

The COVID mule didn’t spare the Johansens. With the couple working virtually from home, they decided, after 35 years in Silicon Valley, to move to Bainbridge Island in 2020 to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

At the same time, the pandemic provided an opportunity for Johansen to apply his decades of experience as a futurist to the abrupt, radical changes it caused in our work and home lives. In “Office Shock: Creating Better Futures for Working and Living,” published this year, Johansen and co-authors Joseph Press and Christine

Bullen ask questions as basic as why we work in offices at all, and use futureback thinking to provide concrete, specific tools to re-imagine and prepare for the workplace of the future.

Since arriving on the island, Johansen has also taken his expertise to the local level, working as a “foresight advisor” with organizations such as the Rotary Club, Bainbridge Prepares, Imagine Bainbridge 2035 and OfficeXPats.

“’Office Shock’ is all about figuring out how to work and live better,” he said. “One frame is just the idea of what's it like to live on an island but now be able to work anywhere. I'm not good at local politics. I'm not good at boards. But I am good at helping people think about the future, and that's what I'd like to do.”

Both Johansen, who recently celebrated his 78th birthday, and Robin, an attorney specializing in constitutional and election law, continue to work full time. “I doubt if either of us will ever retire,” Johansen said. “Retirement is kind of an old-fashioned word anyway.”

Even as he’s promoting his latest book with lectures, interviews and a dedicated chatbot (to his knowledge, “Office Shock” is the first book ever to have one), Johansen is, perhaps unsurprisingly, looking to the future. He has already filled a

Coming to Terms with the Future: A Q&A with the Office Shock Chatbot

What is office shock?

An abrupt and unsettling change in where, when and how we work.

What is futureback thinking?

Imagining oneself in the future and working backwards to determine the steps needed to reach that desired future state. It requires a shift in mindset from present-forward thinking, which focuses on the urgent details of everyday life.

What is the cone of uncertainty?

The wide range of uncertainties that exist in making choices. Futureback thinking can help narrow the range of uncertainty and bring clarity, even though we can't have certainty.

What is VUCA?

VUCA, coined at the Army War College, stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. It is a term used to describe the unpredictable nature of the world we live in today.

What are the IFTF’s counterpoints to VUCA?

Vision, understanding, clarity and agility.

Will there be a place for humans in the AI future?

Yes. The human-computer spectrum of capabilities and mix of talents will not be an either/or choice between human or machine but rather a full-spectrum blending of human and machine that will raise both.

Got questions of your own? Ask the Office Shock Chatbot at officeshock.ai

On the low-tech side of the spectrum, he has contracted a local artist to build five custom boxes, jokingly dubbed “Bob in a Box,” which will contain all his books and go to each of his four grandchildren and to the Institute for the Future.

More ambitiously, he plans to use the latest developments in artificial intelligence (a term he hates for its ominous connotations) to aggregate his writing and experience into a format that will be able to carry on beyond his own lifetime. “I'm trying to stretch the idea of what it would be like to take the best of my thinking and create it in a more animated, interactive form,” he said. Johansen foresees young researchers using the “Bob Bot” to pick up his work wherever he eventually leaves off.

That said, he has no plans to leave off any time soon. He keeps fit with a home gym and basketball hoop and, while he’s not as quick to the basket as he once was, he still has a few tricks on the court to teach his grandchildren.

Doing a bit of futureback thinking on his own life, Johansen muses about evolving over the coming decade into a computer-enhanced “augmented writer.”

“I don't know exactly what I'm going to come up with,” he said, “but that's what I'm imagining over the next 10 years.”

Learn more at iftf.org and officeshock.org

PROSPECT & Refuge

Architecture Inspired by the Natural World

Though Russel DeLombard and Tina Gilbert spent their careers in the building industry—DeLombard as an architect and Gilbert in commercial construction management—it wasn’t until they designed and built their own home that they got to truly release the spectrum of their creativity and talent.

BY ALLI SCHUCHMAN PHOTOS BY DAVID COHEN

DeLombard’s vision for the Port Madison home was partly inspired by the work of Harvard biologist, naturalist, entomologist and author Edward O. Wilson, known for his study of biophilia. Biophilia posits that our inherent attraction to nature may be biologically based, that what’s pleasing to the eye and soul is likely genetic and probably key to our survival. Wilson’s research went so far as to examine architecture, citing the 20th-century designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, who pulled the constructs of biophilia through his iconic buildings, something that arguably made them so appealing.

It's not hard to see Wright’s influence in the Port Madison home, or to feel the biophilia (once you learn what that is). Gilbert explained that its southern, beach side’s openness contrasts with its more solid north side. “It makes you feel unconsciously protected. You feel both prospect and refuge,” she said.

The home does feel peaceful and intuitive. DeLombard said he achieved its continuity by extending the ceilings, the soffits and even the flooring from the interior to the exterior. “They're the same materials, so it reinforces the openness by making it feel like you're outside even when you're inside,” he said.

A lot of geometry went into the design, too. DeLombard explained that its equilateral triangular layout creates a more natural flow than would a rectilinear plan. Repetition of triangles and hexagons can be

seen throughout, which required a lot of mapping out, and then equal amounts of execution, so that the points came together at precise intersections.

In addition to its thought-provoking design, an unmissable feature is the wood. Thirteen thousand linear feet of it. “This is all western red cedar that we bought up in Forks from the tribes,” said Gilbert, describing the board-and-reverse-batten panels that run horizontally from floor to ceiling. “It was all fallen dead. We had it rough cut up there, brought it down and then we milled and finished it in the wood shop.”

DeLombard said that when the old growth cedars were originally felled, they weren’t worth logging, so they were left lying on the ground, partially burned or rotting. Since the wood was relatively undesirable, he explained that only the best parts of it were salvaged. “Usually, cedar has all kinds of knots in it, but this is 100-year-old tight grain,” he said. “There's no knots in it anywhere.”

Today, that same, once overlooked cedar is so sought after that people go to great lengths to get their hands on it, sometimes going as far as airlifting it out with a helicopter—a point which makes the two painstaking years it took to hand-finish it worthwhile. Luckily the pair had the time. “We’d poured the concrete and then we stopped because we didn't have very much money,” said Gilbert, who said that while their budget caught up, they just worked on the wood. After that was done, “we were able to start on the 3-D part,” she said.

The couple chose mahogany where the red cedar couldn’t be used because it is too soft for doors and windows. DeLombard made all those on site too, as well as the shelving, cabinets and built-in furniture. All the wood is stained the same striking red hue, as are the radiant red dye cast concrete floors with saw-cut grid lines, which contribute to the home’s largely monotone, calming palette.

The house’s angular ship feel is accentuated by sliding pocket doors to segment it out when needed. “Since it's just the two of us, we usually leave them open all the time,” said Gilbert, explaining that their daughter has long since left the nest and is now a tenured professor at University of California Santa Barbara. (Though the pair still sweetly reference the second bedroom as hers, even though she’s never lived in the house.)

A counterpoint to the all the wood is sandstone, sourced from Yelm, Washington, which jackets the four fireplaces. Within the fireplaces, structural steel anchors to the frame of the house and provides exceptional stability in case of an earthquake. DeLombard pointed out the painstaking work that was done to cut and notch the wood into the shape of the stone where the materials meet,

It makes you feel unconsciously protected.

handiwork he credits to the talented craftspeople they worked with, one of whom he dubbed a miracle guy.

The home is designed for year-round comfort, its south-facing windows filtering sun inside in the winter months as its overhangs cast shade in the summertime. The radiant floor works similarly, heating in cold months and cooling when it’s hotter, and the cantilevered outdoor overhang provides shelter no matter the weather.

Special touches include a gutter that DeLombard designed to reflect water onto the ceiling to mimic a beautiful, dappled effect they noticed while the home was being built when the rain fell onto the exposed slab. Integrated into the southern doors are salvaged 100-year-old prismatic glass tiles that had to be painstakingly fashioned to meet the sandstone’s edge. One of Gilbert’s requests was for an outdoor tub and

shower, which further connect the interior to the water beyond, as does an inset water feature at the patio’s edge. “In the summer it’s filled with lilies and fish, just goldfish because the herons and raccoons get everything,” said Gilbert.

When DeLombard was designing and choosing materials for the sophisticated 1,700-square-foot home, he was also thinking much, much further down the road. When the time comes, he said that it was premeditated

to be deconstructable and recyclable, including all its lumber, siding and paneling. In an elegantly written manifesto of sorts, DeLombard explained that its interior shelving and solid wood tops can be removed and salvaged, and as the wide clear cedar boards are held in place by the battens and not face nailed, the finish can be sanded or planed off and the wood reused.

Although DeLombard and Gilbert did a huge part of the heavy lifting, they were

quick to mention the team who worked alongside them during the home’s construction. “Without Jeff Waldroop, Pat Mitchell, Jim Hodges, Ken Short, Kim Warren, Debra Greiner and Betty Nockton, we simply could not have done this,” said Gilbert.

The couple isn’t done creating yet, even though they’ve been in the house 18 years. Gilbert is back to finishing boards for a studio over the garage, in addition to still professionally working on an 8-story, 84-unit affordable housing project in Ballard for St. Luke's. She also recently lent her managerial talents to the ReHome project alongside Friends of the Farms, Clark Construction, Housing Resources Bainbridge and Coates Design. DeLombard is still milling wood and working on cars as well as doing architectural design work.

DeLombard and Gilbert once kept a sailboat moored off their beach, but they sold it last year and now have a 14-foot boat to venture out into the harbor. Neighborhood kids routinely drop by on their way up and down the beach, and a dog from a couple of houses up likes to lie on the patio when he needs a rest from the action at his own home. Must be the biophilia.

BY CONNIE BYE

PHOTOS BY DAVID COHEN

a10 Years and Counting

fter a decade, it’s tough to imagine Bainbridge Island without its art museum.

Now, as the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art celebrates that milestone anniversary, it’s time to acknowledge what the institution means to island life, said Inez Maubane Jones, former executive director of Arts & Humanities Bainbridge.

“We have a very large concentration of artists, people who have achieved success in all fields,” Jones said. “Before, they needed a center, a hub, a physical showcase. BIMA has supplied that in spades.”

And, Jones said, BIMA’s big art-filled window at Winslow Way and Highway 305 delivers a message to travelers and residents alike: You belong here, you are welcome here.

BIMA would be “a jewel for any city or town,” Mayor Brenda Fantroy-Johnson said in an email interview. “Having the museum at such a prominent intersection signals to those coming to the island what our community cares about and finds important.”

Despite that high visibility, Sheila Hughes said the museum wasn’t on her radar when it opened in June 2013. “But it became a heartbeat where there wasn’t one,” said Hughes, who started as BIMA’s executive director in 2016.

The museum belongs to everyone, said founder Cynthia Sears. That’s a big reason that BIMA’s board is committed to keeping admission free.

“The art of our culture belongs to the people,” Sears said. “They shouldn’t have to pay for what belongs to them.”

Taking Art To The People

You’ll not find paintings by Rembrandt or Van Gogh on BIMA’s walls. The museum focuses on artists and collections from the Puget Sound region.

“BIMA elevates all voices,” Jones said, “from the marginalized community in Kitsap to (artists) at the top of their game and those on their way up.”

The staff constantly tries to look harder and deeper at whether BIMA is fulfilling its mission, Hughes said. “Are we welcoming? Are people seeing themselves in the artwork here?”

On a dreary day last fall, Joe Wilcynski, chair of BIMA’s board, was surprised--and delighted—to find families everywhere, enjoying the museum. “It’s intriguing how some of these events appeal to families with small kids,” he said.

Children are a particular focus for BIMA. Early on, the board decided to subsidize the cost of bus drivers for field

trips, mainly from schools in Kitsap County. For many students, it’s their first encounter with a museum of any kind.

To prep students for their trips, BIMA’s education staff visits classrooms and shares photos of what to expect; when students arrive in person, docents lead discussions where kids talk about what they see in the galleries.

COVID temporarily halted that program, but this spring, school field trips brought several hundred students into the galleries once again. Hughes said she hopes by fall that the program will return full steam.

COVID also pushed the staff to think of innovative ways to “meet people where they are, rather than waiting for them to come to us,” Hughes said. Education Director Kristin Tollefson began offering digital art lessons for kids. The Museum Store started selling more items online, and the Bistro offered special meals for pick-up.

Assistant director for the Artist’s Books Collection, Catherine Alice Michaelis, launched the “Artist’s Books Unshelved” video series, allowing viewers to explore the books remotely. “Lots of educators use them,” she said. “We’ve made 40 videos to date.”

Hughes said BIMA also invited artists to talk about the COVID challenges they faced. “Studios, materials, the gallery system were all collapsing.”

Seeing With Fresh Eyes

From the start, BIMA incorporated art forms beyond the visual, and that pace quickened when Hughes came on board. With a background in live performance, she was inspired to look for different ways to bring visitors into the museum and to utilize all its spaces.

“When I first started working here, the auditorium was empty nearly every day when I passed by,” Hughes said. “I was open with the board: Try this on a low-risk basis; see if people want to hear some jazz. That first festival sold out.”

Special programs also serve artists by boosting public awareness and visibility of their work, Hughes said. Most visitors welcome experiencing other ways to interpret the art they see in the galleries, she said. “We were

DECADE OF SUCCESS

BIMA welcomed an estimated 750,000 guests in its first 10 years, despite a temporary pandemic closure.

• When BIMA opened, it had 38 actual gifts of art in the Permanent Art Collection, plus 60 promised from founder Cynthia Sears, said Curator Greg Robinson. In 2023, the collection has grown to 200 realized works of art through donations from collectors, galleries, artists and estates, plus another 75 promised gifts from multiple sources.

The Cynthia Sears Artist's Books Collection had more than 200 pieces in 2013. Today, it contains about 2,800 artworks, both one-of-a-kind and limited editions, Robinson said. very deliberate about picking apart our mission. One-and-done exhibitions just are not meaningful.”

To that end, BIMA also offers a series of themed films, Wilcynski said. Concerts featuring a variety of music now regularly fill the auditorium and sometimes spill out onto the patio. The Creative Aging program, Look Again, targets yet another audience. And special events, such as the Dia de los Muertos celebration, have become visitor favorites, he said.

“Art truly takes flight when allowed equitable access for all,” Fantroy-Johnson said. “These programs allow for that, and I’m glad BIMA offers them.”

Art For Everyone

When Sears moved to Bainbridge with her husband, Frank Buxton, in 1989, she was surprised that there was no public showcase for art. And so, a seed was planted.

Now, a decade after the museum opened, Sears said she’s still “knocked off my feet by the way the community, in many different ways, has embraced BIMA.” For example, at the launch of an indigenous artists exhibition this spring, tribal elders provided blessings, she said.

Jones, with Arts & Humanities, praised Curator Greg Robinson for continually pushing to include artists from a range of backgrounds—age, gender, ethnicity, race and more.

“What a visionary,” Jones said. “There’s such an accessibility to arts and culture, to diversity. You step in the door and know that there’s something there for you.”

Every voice on Bainbridge Island matters, but it’s especially important to highlight those who are seldom heard or have been “historically marginalized, shut down or glossed over,” said Fantroy-Johnson. The city strives to build that platform through special committees, a diverse staff and a new equity and inclusion manager, she said. “BIMA amplifying these important voices completely supports the values we hope to embody on the Island.”

Jones noted that BIMA worked alongside other entities to win state Creative District status for the Winslow area last year. “It took all players and partnerships to make that happen,” she said. “BIMA has been instrumental in things we’ve done—and hope to do.”

MARKING A MILESTONE

Sears’ collection of 2,800 artist’s books–with more being added all the time–forms the basis of rotating exhibitions in the Sherry Grover Gallery. These one-of-a-kind and limited-edition books wow museum visitors.

“It’s a rich and provocative art form, varied and amazing,” Sears said. “Children totally get it.”

Eventually, the collection will belong to BIMA. “I’m just the temporary custodian,” Sears said.

Too often, art is considered a luxury item, Fantroy-Johnson noted. But not at BIMA.

“Art is community. Art is language. Art is thought in motion, activism, joy and a window to see deeper and/or differently,” Fantroy-Johnson said. “If we limit that to a select few, we miss the bigger picture— pun intended.”

BIMA’s 10th Anniversary Celebration includes:

• Through June 1 – Treasure Trek (biartmuseum.org/treasure-trek/)

• June 9 and 10 – BIMA Bash! (biartmuseum.org/bima-bash-2023/)

• June 30 – BIMA Spotlight, the museum’s first juried exhibition, opens with more than 150 regional artists. (biartmuseum.org/exhibitions/ bima-spotlight/)

• August 5 – BIMA Block Party, featuring music, food vendors, beer garden, hands-on art projects, plus the museum's exhibitions— and free admission to KiDiMu.

• September 23 – BRAVA Awards presentation, a new biennial recognition of contemporary artists in four categories. (biartmuseum.org/the-brava-awards/)

magic moments

In the SAME BOAT

BY GEORGE SOLTES PHOTOS BY BRITT JEZAK

At its worst, ferry travel can bring out our least agreeable selves. Delayed boats, endless terminal construction and (prepare side-eye) people coming up the wrong side of the walkway to cut in line are just a few of the inevitable hassles that come with depending on a watercraft to get from point A to point B.

At its best though, the ferry creates a community: we wait together, sail together, complain together and, when the unexpected happens, get through it together.

When the Seattle-bound Walla Walla lost power and drifted onto Pleasant Beach on a Saturday night in April, things could have gone either way. In the hours that followed the grounding, hopes of a quick resolution faded, plans for baseball games, restaurant dinners and travel connections evaporated, and the initial adrenaline gave way to tedium.

Britt Jezak was in one of the last cars to make it onto the Walla Walla. The Port Orchard-based wedding photographer had recently quit her job at Amazon to make photography her full-time career and had rushed to the ferry after getting a last-minute request to shoot a marriage proposal at the Seattle Great Wheel.

After the grounding, Jezak, the epitome of a people person, began to make friends in the cabin, including a number of Navy personnel and their spouses heading to the Submarine Birthday Ball. “They were dressed in their uniforms and beautiful ball gowns and were just stunning,” she said. When the announcement came that nobody was getting off the boat any time soon, “I could see their faces just fall.”

Jezak had an idea. After getting the captain’s permission, she set up a makeshift studio on the stern deck and offered a free photoshoot to her fellow

stranded passengers. She ended up taking more than 1,000 photos that night, with many of her subjects donning orange life vests over their fancy attire.

Why did Jezak take all those photos and later, after finally being freed from the vessel, stay up all night so that people would find their galleries complete the next morning?

“I’m limited in what I can do,” she said. “I’m not trained to help with the mechanics of the vessel or the emergency protocols. But you know what I can definitely do? I can definitely make people laugh. I know how to love on people.”

Want to see more of Britt’s work? Check it out at brittanyjezakphotography.com or on Instagram at @brittjezakphoto

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YOU CAN’T TAPAS THAT

BY ERIC FREDRICKS

Can’t make it to Spain this year?

Here’s the next best thing.

“I lived in Spain when I was younger and it stole a piece of my heart”

That’s how Sonja Fredricks describes her connection to Spain and how she brought it to Bainbridge Island Her restaurant, Bainbridge Tapas, opened last spring in the Pavilion to a chorus of praise

If challenged to describe Bainbridge Tapas in a single word, a good choice would be authentic. “We want to give our diners the kind of meal they might get in Madrid or Grenada,” said Fredricks. That typically includes small plates— tapas—shared by the table, such as Pincho de Carne, meat skewers served with mojo verde, and Patatas Bravas, roasted potatoes, brava sauce and aioli.

Also on the menu are larger plates, including Paella Mixta and Lamb Tagine, cooked in the authentic North African earthenware pot. And don’t forget dessert—Bainbridge Tapas hasn’t, with sweets, such as Crema de Catalana, a Spanish crème brûlée.

“Bainbridge Tapas makes every effort to use local, sustainably sourced, organic ingredients in its menu items, and everything is made to order,” said Fredricks. The result is eclectic tapas, charcuterie and mains, plus wine and cocktails served in a cozy, rustic-chic setting that’s perfect for socializing.

Who wants to spend 12 hours on a plane anyway?

Bainbridge Tapas

403 Madison Avenue North, at the Pavilion | 206-460-4367

feast on this

PHOTOS

Somethingburger feast on this

The Burger you’ve been looking for is here on Bainbridge. There are places that serve burgers. And then there are burger places. If you love burgers, that is more than a fine distinction, said Lydia Dobson, assistant to the general manager and director of guest services at Pleasant Beach Village, where Hammy’s Burgers is located.

“Lots of restaurants on the island sell hamburgers,” she added, “but we believe that Hammy’s is the only place that sells only hamburgers.”

In other words, no fish & chips or French dips here.

And Hammy’s has Best of Bainbridge voters nodding in agreement—it has been named the island’s Best Burger seven years in a row. Since burgers go so well with fries, it’s good to know they’ve also won that category twice.

How does Hammy’s do it? By offering fresh, never frozen, 100 percent Angus beef pressed daily, for the freshest quality burgers. You’ll also find unique creations, including

the John Wayne Burger: a quarter pound of beef, with peppered bacon, grilled onions, cheddar cheese, barbecue sauce and a crispy onion ring. Want a burger that’s uniquely yours? Hammy’s invites you to create your own burger. And it’s all rounded out with hand-mixed shakes and malts.

Yes, you can get a burger at a different restaurant on the island—but it won’t be like Hammy’s. “We make sure of that,” says manager Evelyn Cos.

Hammy’s Burgers

4688 Lynwood Center Road NE, #119 206-201-3561

PHOTOS COURTESY HAMMY’S

Hammy’s manager Evelyn Cos.

Quite a FISH STORY

SuBI is really on a roll.

If you’re a big sushi fan, consider this: You could enjoy a different sushi roll at SuBI Japanese Restaurant every week for a year and still not sample all of them.

And these are no ordinary rolls. For example, the Bainbridge Roll is a salmon and avocado roll topped with tuna, red crab meat and capelin roe (masago). The Black Widow is soft shell crab tempura, cucumber and avocado, kanikama mix topped with torched escolar, black tobiko and unagi sauce.

The most expensive roll on the menu? The Hypnotic— a baked avocado, cucumber and kanikama mix roll topped with langostino lobster tail, shrimp and mozzarella cheese. It will set you back $25.

Of course, you’ll also find more familiar rolls, such as California and Spicy Tuna, as well as traditional Japanese dishes, from sukiyaki to udon to tempura to bento boxes.

For the ultimate sushi experience, SuBI owner Richard Lee suggests you reserve a spot at one of SuBI’s Tatami rooms. “Or for an up-close view of our sushi chefs preparing your sushi, ask to sit at the sushi bar,” he said. It’s the perfect spot for watching the creation of rolls, such as Caterpillar, Cherry Blossom, Rainbow, Rock & Roll, Red Dragon, Salmon Love…Fredericks. The result is eclectic tapas, charcuterie and mains, plus wine and cocktails served in a cozy, rusticchic setting that’s perfect for socializing.

PHOTOS COURTESY RICHARD LEE

summer

1. Laura Silverstein at Fletcher Bay Winery

Laura Silverstein’s work ranges from earthy bluegrass on banjo to the relaxing melodies on her 2012 album “Happiness is a Warm Guitar.” More recently she’s delved into moodier tango music. It’s up to you to choose which wine pairs best with this eclectic catalog. Reservations recommended.

June 7, 6–8 p.m. at Fletcher Bay’s Coppertop Location fletcherbaywinery.com

2. The Bard at BloedelThe Tempest

Any production of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” is full of magic, but when it’s staged by BPA at the Bloedel Reserve, that magic is sure to multiply. Grab a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy a (hopefully) balmy summer evening of theater in one of the most picturesque spots on the island. Snacks and non-alcoholic drinks are welcome.

June 22 - July 9, 7 p.m. bainbridgeperformingarts.org

3. Grand Old Fourth

B.I.’s Grand Old Fourth has all the trappings of a small-town community celebration: live music, street vendors and, of course, the parade. For early risers, the day will kick off with a traditional pancake breakfast and— for those who prefer exercise to eating— a fun run.

July 4, 7 a.m. – 5 p.m. bainbridgechamber.com

4. Sounds of Summer Concert Series

6. BIMA Summer Art Market

Swing by the plaza outside Bainbridge Island Museum of Art on a Sunday in July for a festive art market, complete with live music. Each day of the market will feature different local art vendors and musicians, so you may want to keep coming back.

Sundays, July 9–30, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. biartmuseum.org

7. Bainbridge Pride Festival

While normally observed in June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots, Bainbridge’s Pride festivities will take place a bit later. Since its inception celebrating the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage, Bainbridge Pride has blossomed into a full-blown festival designed to honor and foster community among LGBTQIA islanders.

July 15, 1–9 p.m. bainbridgepride.org

8. Movies in the Park

This summer’s catalog of Battle Point concerts features tribute groups for ABBA, Van Morrison and Steely Dan, along with a slate of PNW bands playing original tunes. Pack a picnic and shoes you can dance in (or just dance barefoot).

Wednesdays, July 5 – August 30, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. biparks.org

5. Rotary Auction & Rummage Sale

They say summer in the PNW starts on July 4, but on Bainbridge it starts with what might be the world’s largest rummage sale. Get there early to run for a bike or fancy camping gear, or come later if you prefer to dig through mounds of vintage sweaters at a more relaxed pace.

Preview night: July 7, 5– 8 p.m., Auction: July 8, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. bainbridgerotaryauction.org

Battle Point Park will be the site for free outdoor movies on Fridays this August, featuring classics such as “E.T.” and new favorites, including “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Fridays in August, 30 minutes after sunset biparks.org

9. Pickleball Founders Tournament

Bainbridge made a cameo in the New Yorker last summer, when the magazine wondered whether the island’s most holy sport could “save America.” You can come to your own conclusion this August at the Founders Tournament run by the Historical Museum at Battle Point Park. Register online ahead of time.

August 7–13

bainbridgehistory.org

10. Summer Studio Tour

This year’s Summer Studio Tour will feature regional artists practicing in a wide array of styles and media. Wander through the island’s studios and gardens while enjoying live music and, of course, the creativity and craftsmanship of participating artists.

August 11-13, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. FridaySaturday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday bistudiotour.com

A GOOD EGG

BY ALLI SCHUCHMAN

Robin Melton first came to know 10-year-old Lily Lincoln after a visit to Lily’s mother, Dr. Helena Lincoln, AKA Bainbridge’s Fairy Tale Dentist. Melton was tight on money, so Lincoln proposed that in exchange for the dental services, Melton could help Lily with reading. She accepted.

The pair hit it off. “We started going to the library, checking out books. She would read to me, and I would read to her. She’s become a wonderful little friend,” said Melton, age 77. “She’s very, very bright. She comes over here and we make candles together. And she just got a bicycle so she’s all over the island now.”

One of Lily’s many passions is chickens. She estimates that she and her mother have between 70 and 100 birds. Lily takes care of them and sells their eggs at the Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. “She hand-paints beautiful pictures on the egg cartons,” said Melton. “She names the chickens and carries them around. I took this picture of her holding one of her friends, Hona.”

Hona is no ordinary chicken. She’s a Svart Hona, which is Swedish for black hen. The breed has only been in the United States since 2012 and they are rare. Their eyes, combs, wattles, feathers, legs and even bones are all black. Despite being relatively small chickens, they lay big eggs.

So sweet, it sounds like a fairy tale.

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