Vashon Island's Agricultural Roots

Vashon Island's Agricultural Roots

Author: Pamela J. Woodroffe

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 0595241336

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Throughout their bountiful history, Vashon Island farmers have faced weevils, frost, hailstorms, war, internment, and other catastrophes by turning adversity to advantage. They survived to pass down a legacy of exciting oral history to coming generations. Now for the first time ever, their stories have been collected into a book by Seattle writer Pamela J. Woodroffe. Read what these farmers say about the following: —the urgency to produce healthy food —leading the standards for raising strawberries, chickens, roses, and fruit trees—losing farms to war and prejudice—the peaceful work ethic of life on a farm—the history and future of sustainable agriculture on a tiny isle in Puget Sound, Washington “Residents of Vashon Island should count themselves lucky to have this painstaking oral history of their agricultural heritage.” Michael Pollan, author of The Botony of Desire: A Plants-Eye View of the World. “A very instructional piece on the history of agriculture and the major changes that agriculture has encountered on Vashon Island over the last several decades.” Eric K. Nelson, King County Agriculture Program Coordinator. “It's good to hear the stories of the new generation of Island farmers who are carrying on the tradition of connecting their community with the land.” Mark Musick, a founder of the Tilth Association, Farmer Liaison with Seattle’s Pike Place Market.


A Brief History of Vashon Island

A Brief History of Vashon Island

Author: Bruce Haulman

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2016-05-09

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1439657890

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Reachable only by ferry, Vashon Island is a breathtaking rural retreat from the bustling activity of nearby Seattle and Tacoma. The island's first inhabitants, the sx???bab", took advantage of its evergreen forests and rich marine resources. In 1792, George Vancouver was the first Anglo to discover the island and named it after Captain James Vashon. By the late 1800s, the first white settlers had established farms and greenhouses that supplied nearby cities with berries, tomatoes and cucumbers. Ferries drove development in the later half of the century, introducing new industries and tourism to the area. While both influenced by and isolated from the mainland, the island developed its own unique character treasured by locals. Merging human and natural history, author Bruce Haulman presents the rich heritage of this thriving community.


Vashon Island Archaeology

Vashon Island Archaeology

Author: Julie K. Stein

Publisher: Burke Museum, Seattle, Washington

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13:

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This book continues that discovery process, presenting and explaining the data gleaned from the site and offering interpretations based on the various objects found that speak to people's lives at this place.".


Vashon-Maury Island

Vashon-Maury Island

Author: Bruce Haulman

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738574998

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Vashon-Maury Island lies between Seattle and Tacoma and is connected to the mainland by the Washington State Ferries. The bridge proposed in the 1950s and 1960s did not materialize, which helped retain the island's isolation and rural lifestyle. Like other Puget Sound islands, its original economy was based on logging, fishing, brick-making, and agriculture, especially its strawberries. Island industries included the largest dry dock on the West Coast, shipbuilding, and ski manufacturing. Distinct from the other islands, Vashon-Maury is the only one whose major town is not on the water. Originally inhabited for thousands of years by the S'Homamish people, the island's first white settler arrived in 1865. Today, 145 years later, the population is more than 11,000.


Backyard Roots

Backyard Roots

Author: Lori Eanes

Publisher: Skipstone Press

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781594857119

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"Along the West coast, a range of people--from families with young children, to immigrants recapturing their homeland culture, to idealistic twenty-somethings seeking community--are turning their urban backyards into modern-day homesteads. Lori Eanes reveals the lives of 35 of these urban farmers through her photographs and stories"--P. [4] of cover.


Strawberry Days

Strawberry Days

Author: David A. Neiwert

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2015-01-06

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1466888938

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Strawberry Days tells the vivid and moving tale of the creation and destruction of a Japanese immigrant community. Before World War II, Bellevue, the now-booming "edge city" on the outskirts of Seattle, was a prosperous farm town renowned for its strawberries. Many of its farmers were recent Japanese immigrants who, despite being rejected by white society, were able to make a living cultivating the rich soil. Yet the lives they created for themselves through years of hard work vanished almost instantly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. David Neiwert combines compelling story-telling with first-hand interviews and newly uncovered documents to weave together the history of this community and the racist schemes that prevented the immigrants from reclaiming their land after the war. Ultimately, Strawberry Days represents more than one community's story, reminding us that bigotry's roots are deeply entwined in the very fiber of American society.


Forces of Nature

Forces of Nature

Author: Barry A. Vann

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Published: 2012-03-20

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 1616146028

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As long as the human species has existed, men and women have had to contend with the unpredictable forces of nature. Geographer Barry A. Vann brings a unique perspective to this age-old struggle in this illuminating overview of human population shifts and their precarious relationship with climate change and geography. Vann takes us on a journey along the migration routes of the earliest modern humans and tells why our ancestors chose to settle down in places that can be best described as natural utopias. In the religiously oriented worldview of ancient peoples, such places took on a sacred aura of divine favor. Similarly, destructive events such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes were interpreted as expressions of divine wrath. Vann shows how the ancient texts of the Bible and the Qur’an offer glimpses of past climates that were distinctly different from the climate of our time. He also discusses the rise of technology as a means of controlling the threatening features of the natural world. Though technology has enabled humanity to cope with hostile climates, it has also created a false sense of security. Vann notes that population clusters are increasing in dangerous areas and that no technology can protect vulnerable groups from major-category hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes. Finally, he considers our current anxieties regarding global warming, pointing out that this focus has obscured a good deal of historical and geological evidence for a return of another ice age. The Forces of Nature offers a challenging perspective on the precarious balance between fragile human communities and their often-threatening environments.