DRY GARDENS Grow vegetables without watering. Page 4
NEWS | School drive helps kids get set to learn. [8] COMMENTARY | Speak up about herbicide use. [6] ARTS | The sounds of chamber [10] music will fill the air.
FLYING HIGH Head to the festival this weekend. Page 10
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013
Vol. 58, No. 33
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Finding Faith | An occasional series
Zen center offers an oasis of quiet By JULI GOETZ MORSER For The Beachcomber
On the small hill above KVI Beach, a modest sign on the green door of stately house reads Puget Sound Zen Center (PSZC) and marks the building’s most recent incarnation as a Zen Buddhist temple. Behind the door is a small vestibule with a rack for guests to place their shoes before entering the meditation hall, a spare, elegant and serene space. Two rows of meditation cushions rest on the wood floor, each facing the other in traditional Zen fashion. At the end of the room, before French doors that open onto a deck overlooking Tramp Harbor, a simple alter holds a large wooden Buddha, a vase with flowers and two candles. Like any space dedicated to the sacred, the room emanates a reverent beauty. But unlike the nave of a typical church where spoken words of scripture continuously fill the air, this meditation hall mostly contains the spacious quality of silence. “That’s because Zen Buddhism is a path,” explained Abbot Koshin Christopher Cain, head and founder, along with his wife Soshin Lidunn Cain,
of PSZC. “It has religious aspects like chanting and bowing and ceremony, but what distinguishes it ... is that Zen is a practice, something you do with your body. In Zen Buddhism, the primary duty of a Zen practitioner is to learn to meditate deeply.” The tradition of Zen Buddhism practiced at the center comes from a Japanese word that means “just sitting,” said Elizabeth Fitterer, a board member at the center. “The focus is on getting to know your own mind,” she said. Fitterer explained the practice of meditation how Cain once explained it to her: like being in a deep, dark forest and trying to find the way to the cool water. Attend a morning meditation session — all are welcome with no previous meditation experience required — and experience first hand a taste of this Zen practice. A member from the center greets and orients visitors. First comes the tea ceremony, followed by chanting, walking meditation outside on the deck, sitting meditation inside on the cushions or chairs, a short SEE BUDDHISM, 16
FARMERS MARKET BOASTS BOUNTIFUL HARVEST
Susan Riemer/Staff Photo
Kelly and Nick Keenan teach the fine art of fishing to the next generation of islanders at Manzanita Beach. Their son Gavin is ready to reel one in, while his sister Mallory takes to the trees with a friend.
Gone fishing: pinks head to the sound Islanders flock to the shore for a prized catch By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Susan Riemer/Staff Photo
After a slow start due to the less than perfect weather in the spring, the Vashon Farmers Market has caught up and has surpassed last year’s sales. Even with mid-season manager transitions, VIGA president Merrilee Runyan expects the season to remain strong. The market will move into McMurray the first weekend in November, and the vendors will remain basically the same for the duration of the season. To read more about the change in management, see page 5.
The sun sank low in the sky last Friday evening while families with young children cast their lines in the water at Manzanita Beach, and several men sat on a log, watching for a sign that pinks were swimming by. Pinks, as many know, are pink salmon, which come through Puget Sound from the ocean every other year on their way back to the region’s rivers to spawn. More than 6 million salmon are expected to pass through the sound this season, the peak of which occurs in August, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). On Vashon, those numbers mean good fishing — and not just for old pros, either.
“Pinks are very good feeders,” said Doug Milward, the ocean salmon manager with WDFW. “They’re great for beginners. You just have to get something pink or silver in front of them, and they will bite.” Indeed, Kelly and Nick Keenan and their children Mallory, 7, and Gavin, 5, were all trying their luck at Manzanita after attempting to catch a pink for a few weeks. So far, their efforts had come up short, though they said they had fished next to people who had reeled fish in. Some of the kids’ fishing efforts gave way to splashing in waves and scrambling on low-hanging trees, but they all remained optimistic in the evening light. “We’re hoping today is our lucky day,” Kelly said. Just a short distance down the beach, Joe Wald, 19, reported considerably more luck than the Keenans. Over the last four days, he said, he had fished for about 24 hours,
hooked about 10 pinks and caught a few. The fish are not hitting fast, he said, and slow movements are needed to be successful. “You have to present it just right,” he said. Pinks are the most abundant Pacific salmon and are found from Alaska to Washington, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They typically weigh between 3 and 5 pounds and measure up to 25 inches long. Their numbers are increasing, Milward said, because unlike other salmon species, they are not hurt to a large degree by humans’ detrimental actions to freshwater habitats. Pinks spend very little time in rivers, he noted, and the increase in their numbers has both positive and negative aspects. When they are very small, he said, pinks are food for coho and chinook salmon. But the picture is more complicated than that. SEE SALMON, 14