HOLIDAY HUMOR Favorite farce plays again this month. Page 12
NEWS | DoVE offers free legal clinic each month. [3] COMMENTARY | We need to recognize racism. [6] SPORTS | Winter sports are in [15-16] full swing.
A VOTE FOR SWIMMING? Park district to consider longer pool season. Page 4
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2014 Vol. 59, No. 50
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Land trust to preserve former strawberry farm Acreage behind K2 could be community farmland By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Photo
Vashon’s land trust is poised to buy a swath of land that for decades held a strawberry farm, a purchase that would be the nonprofit’s first-ever farmland preservation project. With initial funding in hand, the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust is already under contract to purchase 12 acres of farmland behind the K2 building from islander Miyoko Matsuda, who with her husband farmed strawberries there until the early 1980s. The property is currently a hay field, but the land trust hopes the spot, which it plans to pay about half a million dollars for, could one day be used as community farm land. “It’s one of the few pieces of property on Vashon that has been in agricultural production since the 1930s,” said land trust director Tom Dean. “There’s a huge history of agriculture there.” Walking the property last week, Dean explained why the
land trust recently jumped on the opportunity to purchase it. The rolling property behind K2 abuts a meadow outside the Open Space for Arts & Community as well as a 5-acre wooded parcel that Miyoko’s brother owns and promised to the land trust in his will. The picturesque spot, with views of both Mount Rainier and the Olympics, is good habitat for raptors, songbirds and other animals that prefer meadow habitat, Dean said. “Fallow fields don’t provide good habitat,” he said. “An active farm is better habitat.” Part of the property, a piece with a home and garage, is zoned industrial and could be built on if not protected. Keeping the site public would also keep it open to pedestrians, who frequently use it to walk between Center, the Open Space and Island Center Forest. “Even if it was a horse field, it would be fenced off,” Dean said. “We will preserve public access. We will preserve meadow features. There’s a lot we will accomplish just by purchasing it.” The land trust announced the pending purchase last month, after its 15-member board approved the project and members donated SEE FARM, 20
Natalie Martin/Staff Photo
Patrick Rooney, an employee of Vashon Velvet, trims plants at the new legal marijuana grow last week.
Legal pot grow begins business Vashon Velvet will sell to off-island retailers By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
Vashon’s first retail marijuana is nearly ready for harvest. In an old horse barn near the island’s south end,
rows of bushy marijuana plants sit under LED lights, basking in a pink glow. In a couple of weeks, buds will be picked off the most mature plants, dried, packaged into bags labeled Vashon Velvet and trucked to pot stores throughout Western Washington. “It all started with a dream,” said islander Susan Reid, who runs the new operation. “You sort of pinch SEE MARIJUANA, 18
ARTISTS OPEN THEIR DOORS Charlotte Masi’s work is mostly a private affair, as she carefully etches, paints and burns dried gourds at her north-end home studio. But twice a year, the artist welcomes visitors to take a peek at where she makes her gourd creations and see pieces available to buy, from intricately designed gourd art to birdhouses and small gourd Christmas ornaments. The annual holiday art studio tour began last weekend and will continue this Saturday and Sunday. This year more than 100 local artists are participating in the tour, offering art, jewelry and gifts at 32 different studios and galleries. Artists reported strong attendance last weekend, with many people coming from off-island for the tour. “It seemed like there were way more people than in the spring, and people are focused shoppers on the holiday tour,” said Lynanne Raven, an artist who is also coordinating this year’s tour. Raven said the second weekend of the tour is typically attended by more islanders, both those who waited for crowds to subside and those who scoped out their options last weekend before deciding on their purchases. “They get their wish list,” she said. “A number of people say, ‘I’ll see you next weekend.’ The tour continues this Saturday and Sunday. For locations and details, pick up a brochure or visit vashonislandartstudiotour.com. See page 14 for more photos.