the
Volume 10 | Issue 4
EYE ON THE
APRIL 2019
APRIL happenings
market
The Puget Sound market continues at a steady pace compared to prior years. With the peak season for real estate just around the corner, it may be a good idea for sellers and buyers to start planning their timelines. Experts suggest that the first and second weeks of June will be an optimal time in the Seattle metro area for sellers to list their homes and maximize their earnings. Overall, most of 2019 is expected to be a buyer’s market. Analysts emphasize that the region isn’t in a “real estate bubble” but that home prices in the area are starting to match wages. Inventory and home values are modestly increasing— another sign that the market is healthy and consistent. In King County, the median single-family home price was $655,000 for February. Pierce County’s
value came in at $355,000 and Snohomish County was recorded at $474,948. Since news broke that Amazon will no longer place its second headquarters in New York, there has been discussion of what that means for the Seattle headquarters. The company has recently expanded office space to downtown Bellevue, and it may be that those who intended to be employed at the New York HQ2 will be displaced to Bellevue. More recently, Amazon has confirmed plans to sublease space in offices under construction in Seattle, which draws much speculation on the growth of the company in the Puget Sound region.
celebrating EARTH DAY EVERY DAY A few ideas for celebrating Earth Day in your home and your daily life: Walk or bike to work. Reduce your communities. Go to e-stewards.org to footprint on the Earth by leaving your find a facility that will help you recycle car at home whenever possible. You your e-waste in a safe and responsible benefit from the heart-healthy exercise, manner. and the Earth benefits because, with Reduce junk mail. One hundred million one less car on the trees are cut down each year to road, there are fewer produce junk mail, and the resulting carbon emissions. loss of trees takes a huge toll on the Recycle your e-waste. Earth. Return junk mail unopened More than 50 million to the sender by writing "Refused. tons of electronic Return to sender.” Opt out of waste are generated prescreened credit offers each year in the U.S. alone, and only 20 permanently or for five years online at to 25 percent of the waste is responsibly optoutprescreen.com. Decide what recycled. As a direct consequence, large other mail you do not want to receive amounts of hazardous materials such as by going to DMAchoice.org. lead, mercury and cadmium leach into (continued on next page) our air and water, contaminating our
1-30 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival tulipfestival.org
6 86th Annual Daffodil Parade thedaffodilfestival.org 7-18 Seattle Restaurant Week srw.seattletimes.com 11-14 Spring Fair thefair.com/spring-fair 13-14 Seattle Super and Sprint spartan.com/en/race/ detail/4276/overview 20 Free National Park Day nps.gov/planyourvisit/fee-freeparks.htm 20 Seattle Cheese and Meat Festival cheeseandmeatfestival.com/ seattle 25-5/5 Apple Blossom Festival appleblossom.org 26-28 Evergreen City Ballet Presents Coppélia | evergreencityballet.org/coppelia 27 Spring 2019 Protégé Show emeraldcitytrapeze.com
TAKING CARE OF tulips Bringing tulips home from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival? Here’s how to make them last: • Choose tulips that are tightly closed; this means they are fresher. • Select a vase that is half the height of the tulip stems • Fill the vase one-third full, as tulips do better in shallow water. • Re-cut 1/4 inch and rewater daily. • Keep them away from direct sunlight and heat. • At night, store them in the coolest room in the house. • Place a penny in the bottom of the vase; it’s been said to work!
April
I M P O R TA N T D AT E S
Monday, April 1 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Begins
Monday, April 22 Earth Day
Friday, April 5 Walk to Work Day
Wednesday, April 24 Administrative Professionals Day
Sunday, April 7 World Health Day
Thursday, April 25 Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day
Monday, April 15 Tax Day
Friday, April 26 Arbor Day
Sunday, April 21 Easter Sunday
LOCAL
Eating food that is grown locally helps the local economy and also the environment, as it has traveled only a short distance to get to your table. Below you’ll find where you can purchase local produce, as well as information on the benefits of doing so.
online information & resources
celebrating EARTH DAY EVERY DAY (continued from previous page)
Donate your old clothes. Much of your old, unused clothing can be given a second life by others who purchase secondhand; regenerated into textiles for other products such as cleaning cloths; or turned into fibers for insulation. Goodwill, Value Village and the Salvation Army all participate in “threadcycling” programs and accept clothing in any condition except wet, mildewed or contaminated with hazardous materials. Reduce energy use at home. Use the auto brightness feature on your TV to lower the brightness in low light (nighttime); wash clothes in cold water and spin at the highest speed (removes the most moisture, which means less time in the dryer); completely unplug gaming consoles and DVRs when you’re
eating
out of town, as these types of electronics are drawing power even when turned off. Use small kitchen appliances such as a toaster oven instead of the stove. We’ve heard for years that we should use compact fluorescent or LED bulbs. LEDs are more expensive but last longer and will save you money over their lifetime. Help end plastics pollution. Beginning to reduce your use of plastics can be as simple as telling your restaurant server that you don’t need a straw and bringing reusable bags with you to the grocery store; while there, select products without plastic packaging. Stay hydrated with a reusable water bottle. Find a plastics footprint calculator and more at earthday.org.
eat locally WITH PUGET SOUND-AREA CSAs
foodtank.com localharvest.org cityfruit.org seattletilth.org sustainablecapitolhill.org sustainabletable.org urbanfarmhub.org
local produce delivered & for pickup pugetsoundfresh.org/find-csa localharvest.org/csa
farmers markets & shops bellevuefarmersmarket.org everettfarmersmarket.net federalwayfarmersmarket.com fremontmarket.com kentfarmersmarket.com maplevalleyfarmersmarket.com pikeplacemarket.org proctorfarmersmarket.com puyallupmainstreet.com rentonfarmersmarket.com seattlefarmersmarkets.org sfmamarkets.com snohomishfarmersmarket.org tacomafarmersmarket.com vigavashon.org/farmers-market wafarmersmarkets.org
Joining a CSA is great for the environment—and your health! We all know that eating locally is great for the environment. We reduce the strain on the environment by shortening the length of time and the transportation resources it takes to get produce from the farm to our table. We also know that eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables is good for our health. Community Supported Agriculture programs, commonly known as CSAs, help us accomplish both.
HOW DOES IT WORK? Families pay an annual fee in the spring or winter that entitles them to a “share” of the season’s upcoming harvest. Once harvesting begins, members pick up a weekly box of local, in-season food items that may include fruits, vegetables, cheeses, eggs, honey, meats, poultry, flowers, herbs or preserves. What you get depends on the CSA you sign up with, and each week’s delivery may vary as the year progresses and produce comes into season. Some farms will include recipes and cooking tips that coincide with what’s included in that week’s delivery. This is especially helpful if you’re unfamiliar Volume 10 | Issue 4
with a particular food item. Most CSAs offer various delivery box sizes and price points to accommodate households of various sizes. Each CSA will usually have a few pickup sites within its service area, so be sure to find one with a pickup location convenient for your home, work or school schedule. It’s a good idea to check with each CSA directly before choosing one that fits your needs, because each CSA works a bit differently. More information can be found at: pugetsoundfresh.org localharvest.org/csa