Whidbey Green Guide by WhidbeyExaminer

reduce • reuse • recyle • protect • preserve • restore

spring 2011

A special supplement to The Whidbey Examiner, Whidbey Island’s only locally owned, independent newspaper

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The Whidbey Island Green Guide • May 2011

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Britt Conn, joint manager of the Whidbey Green Seal Program, Cheryn Weiser, executive director of Senior Services of Island County and Cathy d’Almeida, joint manager of Green Seal, work through the Green Seal checklist to help Senior Services go greener.

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A new program on Whidbey Island is aimed at encouraging local businesses and organizations to follow sustainable, environmentally friendly practices. The Whidbey Green Seal program, which is open to all businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies, is sponsored by the Sustainable Whidbey Coalition, a group that aims to promote sustainability on Whidbey Island. Cathy d’Almeida, sustainability coordinator for the Town of Coupeville and joint manager of the Green Seal Program, said the program is aimed at setting basic standards that businesses and organizations can follow. “I want it to be a benchmarking and educational tool to help organizations move toward greener practices,” d’Almeida said. Already, 15 local businesses and organizations have signed up to participate as “early adopters” that will provide feedback on the program and serve as examples for others to follow. The Anchorage Inn Bed and Breakfast in Coupeville is among the first businesses to sign up as part of the pilot project. Di-

The Whidbey Green Guide is a special publication of The Whidbey Examiner, Whidbey Island’s only locally owned, independent newspaper. For subscriptions, call 360-678-8060 or visit whidbeyexaminer.com. COVER: Willowood Farm intern Sabrina Hilton and Lauren Hubbard of Ebey Road Farm display a variety of produce offered at a cooperative farm booth at the Bayview Farmers Market. Photo: Kasia Pierzga

anne Binder, who owns the inn with her husband, Dave, said she is excited about being part of the growing effort to promote sustainability on Whidbey Island. Binder, who also is a member of the Coupeville Town Council, said she and her husband have already taken steps to make their business more sustainable and are using the Green Seal checklist to help identify additional ways to reduce their use of resources. “We’re 80 percent there as far as criteria goes,” Binder said. For businesses, it’s not just about be-

“I want it to be a benchmarking and educational tool to help organizations move toward greener practices.” ing “green.” It’s also about saving money, as participants in the Whidbey Green Seal program can expect to lower their energy, water and waste disposal bills, d’Almeida said. The program is expected to pay off in other ways as well. As a growing percentage of consumers place a premium on doing business with “green” companies, earning the Green Seal certification may give businesses an added edge over their competition. Businesses that achieve certification will receive a window sticker that indicates they are committed to sustainability. “As more consumers look for green products, Green Seal will help businesses stand out as having gone through the process to be committed to being green,” said Britt Conn, coordinator of the Sustainable Whidbey Coalition and joint manager of the Green Seal program. “It’s a way to help local businesses save money and to encourage the community to choose to do business with them.” See GREEN SEAL: page 3

May 2011 • The Whidbey Island Green Guide

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Protecting Whidbey’s water quality with rain gardens By Toni Grove For the Examiner

For gardeners, a little rain is a good thing, especially during the dry summer months on parts of Whidbey Island that lie within the Olympic rain shadow. But what about the rest of the year, when there’s frequently more rain than can be absorbed by the soil? Where does this storm water end up – and why should we care? When water-absorbing trees and native vegetation are replaced with impervious surfaces such as roofs and driveways, water that would normally soak into the soil becomes runoff that must be managed to prevent flooding and erosion. Equally important, it can carry pollutants into our streams and wetlands and even into Puget Sound. For many islanders dependent upon clean surface water for maintaining the quality of their drinking water systems and who value living beside a healthy marine ecosystem, rain gardens are both a practical and attractive solution to storm water control. They’re also a part of the low-impact development measures now in place for new building development in both Coupe-

ville and Langley, and are beginning to set the standards for storm water management throughout all of Whidbey Island. Don’t assume a rain garden is just a flowerbed plopped down in the soggiest spot in your yard. You have to know the type and quality of your soil and match that to the amount of water that will be routed to the rain garden area for it to be effective. The garden area must have good drainage to begin with before runoff is diverted via pipes, swales or other landscaping features for infiltration though the soil. But with any garden design, the choice is yours in terms of its shape, size and if you want to build several rain gardens on your property instead of just routing all of your runoff into one. Even though you may be installing a rain garden to improve your property’s drainage, prevent runoff to neighboring homes and to safeguard the island’s water quality, as a gardener you will undoubtedly be thinking about which plants you’ll want to include. As with any garden, choose according to whether they’ll be in sun or shade, and then how well they tolerate fluctuating water levels. For example, put plants that thrive in occasional standing water in the lowest ar-

eas, with those that prefer drier conditions toward the outer, higher edges. Native plants work well because they’re used to having “wet feet” in the winter. And once they’re established, they tolerate drought well in summer. For example, lady ferns and deer ferns could be planted near the center of the garden, with snowberries and evergreen huckleberries towards the outer edges. Wildflowers are a good choice to rim a sunny rain garden. There will be work involved in the planning, excavation and planting of your rain garden, but the Whidbey Island Conservation District offers free technical assistance. The district office at 1 NE 4th St., Coupeville also has brochures and handouts, including a thorough and user-friendly, step-by-step guide called “Rain Garden Handbook for Western Washington Homeowners,” developed by Washington State University Pierce County Extension. The handbook also is available on the conservation district’s Web site at whidbeycd.org. Click on the “LID” link at the lower David Welton photo right hand corner of the page for info and Students from South Whidbey help inresources on rain gardens and other low- stall a rain garden at South Whidbey High impact development techniques. School near Langley.

Green Seal: Sustainable practices; from page 2 In addition to the extra marketing appeal, participating organizations become affiliate members of the Sustainable Whidbey Coalition and are included in the online Green Seal member directory. The program asks organizations to meet at least 50 percent of the criteria in at least four of these seven categories: energy efficiency; water conservation; transportation; waste and toxic pollution reduction; community, which includes contributing money, goods or services to local charities and educating employees and the community about sustainability; local, which means the organization is locally-owned; and purchasing. Within the categories are criteria such as eliminating unnecessary lighting; checking toilets and faucets for water leaks on an annual basis; encouraging employees to find an alternative to driving alone; and using worm bins, compost piles or recycling to reduce the amount of waste headed to the landfill. The program focuses on implementing low and no-cost improvements in operations and maintenance, d’Almeida said. To maintain their certification and to encourage continued improvements, each business is to review and complete the checklist again each year. At the Anchorage Inn, Dianne Binder said lighting, heating, cooling, water conservation and waste disposal will account for the biggest savings – and the biggest benefits. The inn already has adopted a towel reuse program that encourages guests to use their bath towels more than once rather than having fresh ones delivered each day. The Binders also compost food and other waste and recycle, bottles, cans and and paper products. They use environmentally friendly cleaning products and use compact

fluorescent light bulbs. “The traveling public is now looking for green properties, so we jumped on the bandwagon with the Bed and Breakfast Guild,” Binder said. “I think this is the right thing to do – and it benefits everybody in the long run.” The official launch of the Green Seal program is expected to happen in June. D’Almeida said she hopes to organize workshops aimed at helping businesses and organizations adopt sustainable practices. For information visit SustainableWhidbey.org.

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The Whidbey Island Green Guide • May 2011

From farm to fork: Slow Food movement taking root By Gordon Weeks Examiner Staff Writer

Aracely Knox’s slow food is rising in her Greenbank gardens, winding along vines, pecking away in pens, formulating as eggs. The bounty from her 5.5-acre Strawfield House and Farm includes onions, potatoes, beets, carrots, peas, herbs, garlic, grapes, apples, pears, plums, strawberries, cherries and currants. Twenty-five hens are laying eggs Knox sells at a stand in her driveway. Earlier this month, she introduced a second brood of ducks, which will put eggs and meat on the table. When her four children were at home,

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two hours were allotted for dinner. Lots of conversation, no texting and – of course – no fast food. “I feel like I’ve known about slow food all my life, because that’s the way I grew up,” said Knox, a northern California native who purchased her Central Whidbey farm five years ago. Knox is a founding member and vice chair of Slow Food Whidbey Island. The group strives “to preserve the traditions of eating at the table, conviviality, and ways to implement that through education,” said Knox, who occasionally teaches cooking classes for children and adults. The Slow Food movement is about celebrating and promoting locally produced food “from the soil to the table,” says Vincent Nattress, chairman of Slow Food Whidbey Island. You have a prime opportunity to taste locally produced cuisine at Slow Food Whidbey Island’s second annual Taste of Whidbey Island from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 5 at Greenbank Farm. The event pairs fine dining chefs and restaurant owners with the local producers of some of the ingredients they use. Each table offers small plates of food, and a display of local raw produce that goes into the food. The chef and the grower will talk about the value of local food, and sustainable agriculture sold directly to Whidbey restaurants and markets. The restaurants and caterers include Front Street Grill, The Oystercatcher and Christopher’s in Coupeville; Fraser’s Gourmet Hideaway in Oak Harbor, Gordon’s on Blueberry Hill in Freeland; The Inn at

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Gordon Weeks / The Whidbey Examiner

Aracely Knox says her canning closet is the favorite part of her kitchen. The bounty from her garden includes pickled zucchini, chutney, vinegar and mustard.

Langley and Prima Bistro in Langley; and Whidbey Pies Café in Greenbank. Flyers in Oak Harbor provides beer. Tickets are $30, and are available at participating restaurants, and at Bayleaf in Coupeville and Oak Harbor. The “Taste of Whidbey Island’’ is the group’s only public event. Members also gather four times during the year for potlucks, at the equinoxes and solstices. And don’t look for Doritos or microwavable pizza bites at the group’s potluck meetings. “No one is going to bring something lousy to a Slow Food meeting,” said Knox with a laugh. Excellent growing conditions make Whidbey Island a great place to practice slow food, said Nattress, who recently purchased a five-acre farm near Bayview. And then there’s the history. “There’s a continuum of agricultural tradition that goes back, unbroken, to pioneer days,” he said. Part of that pioneer continuum lives on in Georgie Smith, a fourth-generation farmer who cultivates 10 of the 20 acres at her Willowood Farm near Coupeville. She

sees the slow food movement as a “partnership between farmers and eaters.” Smith said the slow food ideals include knowing where your food is coming from, and “thinking of food as more than calories or nutrition.” “You’re not just eating cordon bleu,” said Smith. “You’re eating chicken that was raised humanely, and hopefully sustainably and naturally.” But as a farmer and mother, Smith admits she can’t always follow the ideal of the well-prepared meal from scratch. Some days, said said, “I work 16 hours, eat a sandwich and then go to sleep.” Smith partners with Prairie Bottom Farm, owned by Wilbur and Julieanna Purdue. Prairie Bottom Farm grows about 300 varieties of vegetables and produce on six acres, and under Smith’s distribution, supplies local restaurants with fresh produce. For the second year, Prairie Bottom Farm offers fresh produce weekly June through September through Community Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) shares. The Purdues sometimes trade shares for locally produced beef. Another beneficiary of local crops is Slow Food Whidbey Island member Cathy d’Almeida. She bought a share of produce

“I feel like I’ve known about slow food all my life, because that’s the way I grew up.” from Rosehip Farm and Garden outside Coupeville. Getting fresh produce in season “forces you to cook the way the Slow Food proponents want you to,” she said. She shares a gardening patch with a neighbor, purchases locally produced meat from 3 Sisters Cattle Co., catches crabs in local waters in season, and cooks healthy dishes from scratch. “We don’t do drivethroughs,” she said.

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May 2011 • The Whidbey Island Green Guide

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County recycles 1 million Buy Local • Eat Local • Be Local pounds of electronics One million pounds’ worth of old televisions, computers and monitors have now been collected in Island County under a program called E-Cycle Washington, which started in January 2009. The computer components collected are recycled rather than sent to a landfill. “The county’s four participating sites, two of which are operated under contract with Island Recycling, collect an average of about 375 pounds per day,” said Jerry Mingo, Recycle and Hazardous Waste Coordinator at Island County Public Works. According to Mingo, televisions account for 61 percent of the collected weight. Twenty-nine percent of the total weight comes from computer monitors, and the remaining 10 percent comes from computer towers and laptops. After the electronics are dismantled by Total Reclaim in Seattle, most of the met-

“The county’s four participating sites collect an average of about 375 pounds per day,” als they contain are recovered at sites in the United States. The leaded glass from cathode-ray tube televisions and monitors are removed and used in production of new CRTs in India, as the United States no longer has a manufacturing plant. There is no charge to drop off eligible electronics because collection and processing costs are covered by electronics manufacturers that sell in Washington. Statewide, the E-Cycle Washington program has so far collected 80 million pounds of discarded electronics. The four types of eligible electronics (TVs, monitors, computer towers and laptops) were chosen for industry-sponsored collection because they are have relatively high in toxic and persistent metals and compounds including phosphorus, barium, polyvinyl chloride, bromine, cadmium, mercury, beryllium, lead, and hexavalent chromium. These toxic components do not break down in the environment and accumulate in the food chain when tossed carelessly. The Solid Waste Division of Island County Public Works, along with its recy-

help Keep Whidbey’s Watersheds healthy! • Help us restore and maintain special places for fish and wildlife. • Learn how to use native plants. • Be a volunteer teacher at the Maxwelton Outdoor Classroom. All ages and school districts welcome.

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Kelly Tuggle is an employee of Island Recycling at the Coupeville and Freeland recycle parks. One million pounds’ worth of old televisions, computers and monitors have now been collected in Island County under a program called E-Cycle Washington, which started in January 2009.

cling contractor, Island Recycling of Freeland, began participating in the E-Cycle Washington program at its inception. E-Cycle Washington is a collaboration of industry, government, trash haulers and processors that accept the eligible waste electronics. “This is juicy stuff in our industry,” Mingo said. “This is an example of an industry taking responsibility for the end fate of products after their useful life.”

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Page 6

The Whidbey Island Green Guide • May 2011

Whidbey Islanders leading the way in solar power By Gordon Weeks Examiner Staff Writer

When Kelly Keilwitz launched Whidbey Sun and Wind in Coupeville in 2000, solar power was in its infancy and he describes his first customers as “off-the-grid people who lived in the woods.” A decade later, solar panels are popping up on roofs and poles throughout Whidbey Island. They can be seen atop Coupeville High School, the Coupeville branch of Sno-Isle Libraries, and as of eight months ago, at Whidbey Telecom in Freeland. Earlier this month, Whidbey Sun and Wind employees installed solar energy panels atop the Island Athletic Club building in Freeland.

But the Island project receiving the most attention is the community solar project at Greenbank Farm. Solar panels were installed earlier this month, and the system is expected to be producing power by the end of May. Puget Sound Energy confirms that more Island residents are turning to the sun for power. The company reports that it has 861 customers in nine counties who generate power and are net metered to its system. Of those, 77 are on Whidbey Island, and all produce their own power from solar energy. Fifty-eight of the Whidbey customers have gone solar in the past three and a half years, the utility reports. Per capita, Island County ranks third out

of the nine counties in the number of solarSeeking to use his engineering skills “to make the world a better place,” Keilwitz repower users. “Where Island County really shined last turned to Whidbey and launched Whidbey year was in production,” said Jake Wade of Sun and Wind. The company specializes Puget Sound Energy’s net and production metering department. “The system average is roughly 1000kWh produced each year from 1 kW of solar installed. Last year, Island County produced 1035 kWh per kW installed, edging out Jefferson County for the top spot.” In 1999, Keilwitz, a civil engineer with a background in geotechnical engineering, “Where Island County really and his wife Janie were traveling the counshined last year was try when they came upon Solar Energy International in Colorado. Intrigued, Keilwitz in production.” signed up for solar energy classes. “At that point, I was hooked,” he said. in renewable energy system integration, including solar electric, solar water heating, wind power, and micro-hydro power systems. But the jobs were scarce in the first years, and Keilwitz continued taking consulting work and taking solar-energy classes. His first customers were off-the-grid people throughout the state: the San Juan Islands, Shelton, Eastern Washington. Folks spooked by Y2K, fearing that the nation’s energy grids would shut down when the clocks and calendars moved from 1999 to 2000, became more interested in renewable energy and buying backup power systems, Keilwitz said. The innovation that made solar power more feasible came about eight years ago, with batteryless grid interconnectKelly Keilwitz ed inverters that convert the collected rays directly into the AC power of a house or business. That system could be tied to the Puget Sound Energy grid. Customers who generate their own electricity through solar power, wind, biomass from animal waste, fuel cell and other renewable energy generating systems are connected to PSE’s distribution grid, offsetting electricity that would otherwise be purchased from the utility. When the customer’s system generates more electricity than the home needs – in Western Washington, that’s during the long, dry summer days – a credit is issued to the PSE customer’s account for the extra power that can be used during the following months. Net metering “allows us to use the grid as a battery,” Keilwitz said. With the incentives and the access to the grid and technological innovations, alternative energy became much more attractive to homeowners and business owners. “The price came way down; the complexity came way down,” he said. The latest Island company to take advantage of the rays is the Island Athletic Club in Freeland. The panels were erected on the roof in early May. The 9-kilowatt array panels were all made in Washington, which resulted in a See SOLAR POWER: page 7

May 2011 • The Whidbey Island Green Guide

Page 7

Along the way, don’t forget to stop and eat the roses! By Toni Grove For the Examiner

Doris Day may only have been half right when she warbled, “Please don’t eat the daisies.” After all, the petals of the English daisy (Bellis perennis) can be a pungent addition to a summertime salad. But if plant identification isn’t your strong suit and any flower with white petals is a daisy in your book, then you could be in for a world of hurt. Wolf down a bouquet of anemones (Anemone spp.) and you will become inflamed from one end of your gullet to the other. Eating flowers is really not that far off the beaten gastronomic path. You do it whenever you eat an artichoke. From Europe through Asia, violets and rose petals have been included in everything from beverages to main courses for thousands of years. Teas made from jasmine and hibiscus flowers are still popular. And it could be argued fried squash blossoms are more American than apple pie. Sure, go out to the vegetable garden to pick your side dishes, but don’t ignore your flowerbeds on the way back for your soups and salads. Common bedding plants, such as carnations and nasturtiums are spicy, while calendula can be used as a poor man’s saffron. Violas are sweet and rose petals are sweet and aromatic, though the white portion of the petal, nearest the sepals, may be bitter. As expected, the flowers of many of

The same goes for anything you’ve sprayed with toxins meant to kill other living creatures. Avoid flowers from florists for the same reason. Some people are allergic to the pollen of flowers in the aster family. Other people may have unforeseen food sensitivities as well, so use flowers sparingly until you know for certain what their effects will be. Some people can be killed by something as seemingly innocuous as a peanut butter sandwich, so don’t assume anyA salad made from locally grown greens gets some extra color and flavor from edible flowers such as these spicy orange nasturtiums.

our common culinary herbs, such as lavender, sage, and chives, taste much like their leaves. Borage flowers are cucumber-like and lemon verbena lemony. And why not take advantage of some of those “weeds” we love to hate? Cut the young flower heads from the dandelions driving you crazy out back and make wine, or fry them up in butter for a mushroomflavored treat. When gathering anything from the outdoors to eat, it is important to take the time to know what it is you are picking and to consult a reputable source. A misidentified flower could do as much damage as a misidentified mushroom. And it’s best to avoid eating anything that has been growing along the side of a well-traveled roadway. A plant with a steady diet of car exhaust, oil pan drippings, and road spray is not something you want in your body.

Solar power: Innovations; from page 6

Gordon Weeks / The Whidbey Examiner

Whidbey Sun and Wind employees Kyle Collins, left, and Byron Odion assemble the framing for solar panels on the roof of the Island Athletic Club in Freeland.

tax incentive for the business. The photovoltaic (PV) panels face south for maximum exposure to the sun. At Greenbank Farm, the first solar panel was put in place earlier this month and is expected to begin capturing energy by the end of the month, said Island Community Solar President John Hastings. “It’s quite exciting,’’ Hastings said. “It’s been a long, complex pathway.” The project began in November 2009, when PSE awarded a $25,000 grant to the Island County Council of Governments –

thing that’s labeled edible, even grown organically, is safe for everyone. Finally, you need to take into consideration the non-human members of your household when bringing a plant indoors. While daylilies (Hemerocallis species) can be eaten by humans in moderation, all lilies are toxic to cats. Just brushing up against the pollen of stargazer or tiger lilies in a vase and then licking its paws could be lethal to your favorite feline.

a group made up of elected leaders from around the county – to start a community solar-power project on Whidbey Island. The money became available after Whidbey Island met PSE’s goal for participation in the utility’s Green Power program. After reviewing proposals, the council in June 2010 agreed to award the grant money to the Port of Coupeville to develop a project at its Greenbank Farm. The port used the money to install underground lines to a one-acre site in a pasture west of the event field that’s been divided into six lots, which will be developed one at a time. Island Community Solar, LLC, formed by investors in May 2010, has three of the lots, and seeks investors for the other three. Each can produce 25.1 kilowatts. “The Port of Coupeville has been very excited about this, and very encouraging and very helpful,” Hastings said. Hastings was introduced to the possibilities of solar power when his wife showed him a magazine article spotlighting an island in Denmark that became completely energy independent by producing sustainable energy from the sun, wind and other sources. “It was my first vision of how the Island might move forward,” he said. The latest innovations in solar power are in the power of the panels, the aesthetics and the monitoring, Keilwitz said. When he founded Whidbey Sun and Wind 11 years ago, the largest panels were 75 watts; now the typical panel is 220 to 240 watts. The panels cost about one quarter of what they did a decade ago, he said.

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