Locavore Mercantile Cooperative Opens on Steamboat Island

Above: Beth Mathews of Olympia will open a new, local cooperative for artists called Locavore Mercantile on Steamboat Island. Her grand opening is on Saturday.

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

A new local business will open on Steamboat Island just in time for holiday gift giving, and if all goes well, will continue to stay open in 2017.

Beth Mathews has opened a “pop-up” cooperative, Locavore Mercantile, featuring over 20 artists, located at the Steamboat Island exit just off Highway 101, at Steamboat Square, 6541 Sexton Drive NW, Olympia.

The cooperative features a local Steamboat Island business, Saucy Goodness Company, which makes all-natural hot and spicy chutney and related condiments, metal art by Dan and Landi Dial of Shelton, and many more multi-media artists who use clay, photography, paper, glass, textiles, and more to express their creativity.

Located between Subway and Flowers by Kristil, the shop will officially open on Saturday, October 15, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Regular hours will be 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.

For $150, juried artists joined the cooperative for three months. The money pays for rent, utilities, and basic needs.

“I'm still getting a few more vendors in here, so things will fill up a little more this week,” said Mathews, who lives on Steamboat Island, during a tour of the shop on Monday.

Above: Bee Happy Organics of Tumwater has a wide selection of delicious smelling soaps, such as Rosemary Mint, Lemon Lavender, and Yippie Hippie. 

During the tour, jewelry artist Chris Kaitlyn of Olympia popped in to arrange and take pictures of her display.

A former art teacher in Alaska, and science teacher and school counselor in Washington, Kaitlyn described her jewelry as rustic bohemian. She’s looking forward to the grand opening.

“Beth’s done a fabulous job of setting this up! It’s come a long way since last week!” Kaitlyn said enthusiastically, admiring the shop and its new turquoise wall color.

Mathews, an archaeologist in cultural resource management, recently decided to take the plunge - she quit her job, and decided to focus solely on her art and form the cooperative. 

Her homemade jewelry and all-natural body care products and business, Nature Nouveau, is inspired by her scientific training. She has had a booth at the West Olympia Farmers' Market, Love Our Local Fest, and other venues throughout the region.

“About seven years ago, I started using art as a way to balance really intensely dry, scientific work. It became hard to shut down the desire to create things, and eventually, art became my part time job. People say, 'Don't quit your day job,' in the art world a lot, but it turned out that art was more stable than doing contract work in the cultural resource management industry,” laughed Mathews.

“It's always been funny to me that we cry “buy local, local, local,” but art shows, festivals, events, and markets are so temporary and time consuming to set up. I really was thinking, ‘This has to be easier! Can't we all just set up inside somewhere?’ The traditional shop idea seemed like such a novel idea after I'd been moving things around from market to market. And we have so many ultra-local, amazing creators near the shop. It's been really cool to see people coming together,” said Mathews.

As for after the holidays, Mathews says she would like to see the cooperative become permanent. Mathews is optimistic and passionate about the shop’s success. 

“We have a lot of artists who are interested in showing their work here, too many to fit, and a ton of local support, but our success depends on how responsive customers are to this location and what we have to offer as a group of artisans and artists. The reception so far has been really positive, so it seems it will be a joyous shopping season for local buyers and makers,” says Mathews.

Not only is the Steamboat Island area seeing significant new construction with three new 3,500 square foot buildings for retail, services, and office space, over 5,000 people live in the Steamboat Island community and an estimated 30,000 cars drive past Steamboat Square every week.

“We’re a tight community, and I expect there will be a lot of curiosity and word of mouth about the new shop. This project is about a community joining together to make something happen,” said Mathews.

Above: Local artist Ainsley Walden of Go Fish Raku creates sockeye salmon and driftwood art, holiday ornaments, wall art, and magnets.

For more information about Locavore Mercantile, go to http://www.locavoremercantile.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/LocavoreMercantile/

Love our Local Fest 2016

Above:  The Psychedelic Shadow Show was one of ten bands who entertained vendors and street fair goers at Love our Local Fest, held in the northeast Olympia neighborhood on Sunday. The group plays throughout the Shelton-Olympia area, or “Shelympia” as lead singer Carolyn Malanowski called it after her gig, as she bought a few goodies from the 8 Arms Bakery booth. Groovy.

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Old friends hugged and spent the day catching up on old times, from afternoon through evening at the Love our Local Fest on Olympia’s northeast neighborhood on Sunday. What a long, strange trip it's been....

Plenty of new relationships were formed too as friends introduced friends and volunteers of local nonprofits explained the missions of their groups to newcomers.

Gathered around Bethel Street and San Francisco Avenue in front of the San Francisco Street Bakery and Roosevelt Elementary School, the annual event was filled with great community vibes, music, locally made food, arts, and crafts. 

Nearly 20 local sponsors, and tens of vendors helped make it all possible.

Above: Gita Moulton demonstrates her weaving skills as passersby watch her create a new guitar strap for City of Olympia Councilmember Clark Gilman, who stopped by her booth and put in his order. Gita also had key fobs, belts, dog leashes, and yoga mat straps for sale.

Above: City of Olympia councilmember Jeannine Roe sampled a handmade cream at Beth Mathew’s booth. Her business, Nature Nouveau, features vegan, cruelty-free, non comedogenic products free of synthetics, and can be found at the West Olympia Farmer’s Market at West Central Park, open for the season until October 11, on the corner of Harrison and Division on Tuesdays, 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. 

Above: Bev Bassett of the Olympia Confronting the Climate Crisis group explains her group's activities and gets more mileage out of a float that wasn’t allowed in the Capital Lakefair parade earlier this year. Nearby, Dave Peeler of the Deschutes River Restoration Team handed out beautiful, new Deschutes River Watershed Guide programs and Yestuary! bumperstickers.

Zombies Take Over Olympia

By Janine Unsoeld
www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Everyone knows that the legislative session can get a bit grueling, but the zombies seen today on the state Capitol Campus in Olympia were not legislators.

Zombies took over while children from Columbia Adventist Academy in Battleground and Gateway Christian Schools in Bremerton and Poulsbo arrived along with other school groups to tour the Capitol Building.

The actors, complete with realistic blood and gore, were working with members of Keep Film in Washington.

Production crew members were in Olympia to educate legislators about the industry, its positive impact on the local economy and encourage passage of Senate Bill 6027, which would phase in an increase for Washington's film program.

According to Heather Weiner of Keep Film in Washington, every one dollar invested in keeping film and television jobs in Washington generates more than $10, an economic boost and jobs for our communities.

Members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 488 were also on hand. The group represents more than 600 carpenters, electricians, set decorators, grips, hair and makeup artists, and other skilled workers in the Pacific Northwest.

Abby Dylan, Washington State Chair of the national board of SAG-AFTRA, a film organization which represents about 1,200 actors in the region, was also on hand this morning providing interviews to regional television stations.

"Last year Washington turned away more than $55 million of economic activity and jobs people who rely on the film industry to support their families - they cannot afford to lose more good film jobs and economic benefits to our competitors."

The film they were producing this morning on the Capitol Steps, a promotion for the bill, was scheduled to be completed in a couple of hours, said Dylan.

Legislators and their staff occasionally came out of the Capitol Building to observe the scene and take pictures, including Senator Karen Fraser of Olympia.

For more information go to: www.KeepFilmInWa.org

Below: Seattle actor David S. Hogan looks pretty realistic as a zombie.

Skill Sharing Promotes Community Resiliency

Above: Tim Thetford demonstrates the efficiency of his homemade rocket stove at a day of re-skilling workshops in Olympia today.

Skill Sharing Promotes Community Resiliency

By Janine Unsoeld

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Many excellent events were scheduled throughout the South Sound today, on what turned into a beautiful sunny day, extending summer into fall. Over 150 people chose to attend a day of interactive activities and hands-on learning held at the Quaker Meeting House in Olympia near Priest Point Park.

About 15 workshops and several on-going demonstrations centered on the idea of “re-skilling” – the learning of basic skills that were often common knowledge to our parents and grandparents.  These skills, needed to survive potentially tougher economic times, climate disruptions, and energy shortages ahead, encourage personal and community self-sufficiency.   

“This is everything I needed to know!” exclaimed Diane Grace, of Olympia, after attending the “How to Build a Rocket Stove” presentation by workshop coordinator Tim Thetford. A retired dietetic technician, Grace is a compost instructor at Sunrise Garden. She was interested in learning how to prepare food in emergencies.

“We need to know how to prepare food in an emergency (without electricity), how to heat water to cook legumes, and have a knowledge of complete nutrition in such a situation…,” said Grace.

Workshops such as learning how to make solar collectors, rocket stoves, and cold frames, beekeeping, candlemaking, cheesemaking, wild harvesting, weaving, animal husbandry in an urban environment, and bio-sand water filter demonstrations kept coordinators and participants busy all day. Several short films on these issues were also featured in a quiet side room.  Regular refreshments allowed many people to stay all day.

Throughout the day, as new people continued to arrive, many workshop coordinators patiently repeated their presentations as people milled around, ducking in and out of activities throughout the grounds. Children also had plenty to do and learn.

Seeing a diversity amongst those in attendance, the power of social media, community groups, and good, old-fashioned word of mouth were attributed as the answer to my question for people I did not recognize, when I asked them how they heard about the event. In order are their responses:

“Facebook”

“Facebook”

“At a VBC event” (Village Building Convergence)

“Email, through the TESC Crier” (the internal email system for The Evergreen State College)

“StreetBank”

“FOR” (Fellowship of Reconciliation)

“My friend Joe”

“Lisa Smith” (Smith is coordinator of Enterprise for Equity in Olympia)

“Through my Permaculture Design Certification class” (at Evergreen)

“Joseph Becker”

“Through the Quaker meeting”

“From a flyer at the Lacey library”

“A friend told me”

“FaceBook”

 

 

Above: David Wittenborn demonstrates how to make a pop and/or beer can solar collector.

David Wittenborn of Yelm provided a lesson on creating a pop and beer can solar collector. Wittenborn is new to the area, having arrived from Chicago two and a half years ago.

“I worked on Wall Street, quit that in 1998, and have been self-employed ever since,” said Wittenborn. He is now a dealer for a solar oven company and creates websites.  Later, Wittenborn announced that the solar panel he had made earlier and placed in the sun was now registering a 177 degree air output.  “It shows you what you can make with trash and found materials…there are so many ways you can make this work.  It’s not the Space Shuttle,” he told the crowd. His solar panel cost about $8 to make, he said.

 

 

Above: Scott Bishop shows the Jennings-Mapp family, Calder, 4, Athena, 12, and mom Kendra, the fine art of candlemaking.

Nearby, Scott Bishop demonstrated how to recycle the wax from used candles to create new candles. Bishop said he’s been making candles for about 20 years. “Don’t leave it in too long, it’ll melt right back off,” he cautioned Athena Jennings-Mapp, 12.  When asked by a workshop observer, Bishop did not recommend using crayons for adding color to candles. “It makes candles smoke when lit,” he said. Bishop says he gives his homemade candles to his church.

Building a money-free economy through local skill trading builds a stronger community.  Robin Lee and Joanne Lee co-coordinated a workshop featuring alternative currency models. Playing a game with workshop participants, each person described what skills they have, and what they need.  Noting hesitation, the coordinators told stories about how hard it can be for some people to think about what skills they could offer.

“We all have something to give,” said Joanne Lee, a life coach. “For example, I’m a yoga teacher, and I need someone to take pictures,” she offered.  An Evergreen student with a Canon digital camera offered her photography skills, then kept the ball rolling by saying she has about 15 large storage containers full of beautiful fabrics such as bridal silks, satins, and wool.  She said she was a seamstress and could make clothing. A man said he repairs electronics, and needs some mulch, help stripping wallpaper, and access to a lawnmower. The conversation continued, with everyone pretty excited, exchanging business cards and contact information, by the end of the workshop.

“Random exchanges – our needs can be met.  It just takes us to be active,” said Joanna Lee.

Robin Lee agreed. “Networking, meeting your neighbors, weekly street potlucks…We can come and share to be nourished in different ways and attend to individual needs.  When we exchange skills, hours for hours, we’re generating a different kind of wealth.  I feel rich when I come home to a clean house, when I can get that service that I ordinarily wouldn’t be able to afford.  I have really seen how a community is built.”

Gita Moulton, the tireless and dedicated community organizer who put countless hours into making the event successful, along with co-coordinator Susi O'Bryan, said she wants to do another re-skilling event in February, centering on crafts and cooking local foods.  

“We need to keep this going,” she said, humbly setting out more homemade refreshments and preparing yet another pot of coffee for attendees.

Several local organizations and resources encourage skill sharing and community transition building. Go to www.oly-wa.us/transitionolympia for more information.

Above: Gita Moulton made sure workshops presenters and participants had plenty of nourishment through the day today.