Articles written by anne basye
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PPE, PPP prevent COVID-19, financial problems for local farms
La Conner-area farmers used Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other measures to keep COVID-19 out of their workforce. Many also embraced the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program (...
Bountiful harvests but low dairy prices
Mother Nature was good to La Conner-area farmers this year. “It was a perfect summer,” said Dean Swanson of the Swanson Family Farm. A wetter spring and early summer warmth meant seeds could ger...
Skagit River Poetry Festival postponed
If you’re looking for poets next weekend, don’t come to Maple Hall. Or the Methodist Church. Or the Seafood and Prime Rib House. Or the Tavern. Or the La Conner Country Inn. Or any of the usual hau...
Braving California’s fires on trip to parents
On Wednesday, August 19, I drove through hell. The day started well enough. I woke up in a lovely pine forest near Mount Shasta. The night before, I had watched the sun set on the mountain and the...
MoNA opens Sept. 4, other La Conner museums soon
Thanks to new guidelines from Governor Jay Inslee, La Conner’s three museums will soon be back in business. Hours and visitors will be limited when the Museum of Northwest Art museum opens Friday, Sept. 4. “Since we can only operate at 25 per...
Nasty Jack’s, Planter Hotel on the market
Two businesses with deep roots on First Street are selling their buildings and all or part of their businesses. The multi-building Nasty Jack’s complex at First and Morris is listed for $1 million. The antique store is available separately for $...
Martha Stewart: ‘Snow Goose Best Roadside Stand in US’
The Snow Goose Produce Stand has been named “Best Roadside Stands” by lifestyle guru Martha Stewart’s magazine. “It’s a nice honor for us and the valley,” said Snow Goose founder Mike Rust, “but it came completely out of the blue. We don’t know wh...
Changes ahead for Tillinghast Postal, Pransky & Associates
Two Morris Street businesses are making big changes this summer. Lucy Kelly and her cat Six will be retiring soon. Tillinghast Postal and Business Center and its building are for sale. The beautiful,...
Zoom meetings the new normal here, too
Conducting day-to-day affairs online is working well for local government and business leaders – with a few exceptions. The Town Council’s pledge of allegiance, for instance. When the Council meets at Maple Hall, everyone stands to salute a f...
La Conner’s museums still here but only visits are online
Local fiber artists used to work on their projects over coffee every Friday at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum. Now they check in from as far away as Hawaii and New Mexico. When the Museum closed on March 18, the group shifted to...
Coronavirus cases in La Conner
Five local residents who came down with covid-19 agree: Keep wearing those masks! When Jo Wolfe started feeling bad in March, she attributed it to her allergies. Ten days later, the director of the Skagit County Historical Museum found herself at Pro...
USDA grant opens doors for Food Hub, area farmers
A new grant from the US Department of Agriculture will equip the Puget Sound Food Hub on Best Road to increase food security for families in northwest Washington. The Food Hub’s 80 member-producers will also benefit. Using funds from the USDA Coronav...
Fresh produce, increased safety available at local farm stands
“Thank you for wearing a mask.” That’s how Nicole Garcia-Swanson greeted La Connerite Sandi Davidson when she purchased berries at the Swanson Family Farm on Monday. Affirming positive behavior is just one new habit adopted by La Conner-area farm...
Skagit farmers plant, plan in face of uncertain COVID climate
Will restaurants and breweries open again? What about schools? The export market? While farmers are still grappling with big questions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, “we have to g...
Farmers, farmworkers handle COVID-19
You can work from home, shop from home, and call friends from home. But you can’t farm from home. That’s why La Conner area farmers and farmworkers are adopting new habits as they comply with new rules from the Washington State Department of Lab...
No go on restoring Pleasant Ridge School
Results from an engineering feasibility study has halted plans to restore the historic Pleasant Ridge School. The study was commissioned by Cemetery District 1, which acquired the school and its...
Farmers facing COVID-19 impacts
“Expected Returns on Most Northwest Ag Commodities Leveling Up” was the optimistic headline of Northwest Farm Credit’s quarterly Market Snapshot in January. The April 2 Snapshot says that in secto...
No markets, no tourists: Perfect storm slams tulip growers
Just two weeks ago, Brent Roozen was anticipating a great season for daffodils and tulips. Growing conditions were perfect and orders for field-cut flowers were strong. Social distancing and the national obsession with toilet paper and thermometers...
Spring flower forecast good; visitors uncertain
As this issue goes to press, the outlook for daffodils and tulips is brighter than the outlook for visitors to admire them. “This year is far better than last year, when all our early daffodils w...
Christianson's display garden 'best' at Northwest Flower and Garden Festival
Add another “People’s Choice” award to honors that Christianson’s Nursery earned at this year’s Northwest Flower and Garden Festival. “Hill Top Farm” earned the Display Garden Professionals Choice for demonstrating “excellence in design concepts...
Christianson's brings 'Hill Top' to Seattle Flower Show
A new farm “growing” on Best Road moved to Seattle last Friday. Hill Top Farm was delivered in five 24-foot trucks to the Washington State Convention Center, where it was reconstructed for this wee...
Smelt Derby extinct after 54-year run
In spite of tremendous support by members, the Rotary Club of La Conner is retiring the annual Smelt Derby. For the handful of smelt in the Channel, the Derby’s demise is good news. Not so for the h...
Roundabout will be built at Josh Wilson and Farm to Market Roads
A full-size roundabout will be constructed this summer at the hazardous intersection of Josh Wilson Road and Farm to Market Road. Skagit County Public Works director Dan Berentson and his team revealed the plans during a Jan. 29 meeting at the...
Patsy Love jammed with friends
Patsy Love sailed boats, taught special needs students, mended library books, repaired clocks and wrote books – but she was best known for making jam. “We met while she was picking up plums in my yard,” said neighbor and good friend Jo Ann Mul...
Rexville Grocery has new name, new owners, new vision
An overflow crowd was on hand last Friday to celebrate the relaunch of the Rexville Grocery as “The Rex.” The Pleasant Ridge institution at the intersection of Best Road and Summers Drive is now owned...
