Community Calendar

Transform your yard to a water-wise, pollinator friendly paradise.

Fall is the best time for planting. This workshop is for existing gardens and those currently in lawn. From deciding on a water-saving concept and determining a step-by-step process to prepare the site, build soil health and install drip irrigation, this workshop provides a practical path towards success in a variety of situations. It will cover site analysis, hydrozoning, weed prevention, choosing a mulch, plant choice and care- with plenty of information about pollinators sprinkled in.

Presenter: Kate Frey

Learn the basic skills of tapering, bending, scrolling, and twisting metal. Work will be performed on a traditional coal forge using the same tools used over 150 years ago. This is a great opportunity to try your hand at an historical craft and possible future hobby. Make a small project to take home with you.

This class will take place Saturday, September 12 from 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Participants must be 18 years or older; open fire, hot coals, and sharp tools!
This class requires caution and appropriate clothing; safety glasses will be provided.

Instructor Clinton Bouslaugh has 35 years of blacksmithing experience as a hobbyist, mostly utilizing coal forges. In those years, he has performed blacksmith demonstrations at mountain man rendezvous, fairs, museums, schools, and Washington and Oregon state parks. He has taught the blacksmithing merit badge to Boy Scouts for 20 years.

We once depended on handwriting for recording information. Then the printing press changed everything. We could record, store, and access information in thousands of copies. Five hundred years later, the digital revolution is transforming things again. Today, we get information from millions of websites in milliseconds with search engines and AI.

Technology has always shaped the way we’ve stayed informed, expressed ourselves, and stayed connected as communities. What lessons do earlier technologies, like print, hold for us today in the age of AI and digital overload? And why, despite the speed and convenience of newer technologies, is print more popular than ever?

At the end of the talk, audiences will get the chance to try printing on a portable press.

This free event is in partnership with Humanities Washington and Columbia Basin College. Doors open at 6:30.

Speaker Bio
Geoffrey Turnovsky is professor of French at the University of Washington. His teaching and research focus on the cultural history of early modern France and Europe, and the history of print, books, authorship, and reading. He is the author of Reading Typographically: Immersed in Print in Early Modern France.

Geoffrey lives in Seattle.

Virginia Blodgett is an artist based in Kennewick, WA. She began her formal art training in her thirties at CBC, where Art History was her favorite. She spent much of her career teaching art. The art shown is a painting Virginia Blodgett created of her granddaughter, Emelia.

Admission is free all day. Donation are appreciated

Participants will use old tools and make a clock by laminating wood. The clock face and mechanism will be provided and will fit into the wooden structure. Each participant will come away from the class with a clock they built themselves.

This class will take place over the course of four Sundays in a row, from September 20th through October 11th, from 1 p.m.–3 p.m. all days.

Participants must be 18 years or older; hazardous and sharp tools!
This class requires caution and appropriate clothing, safety glasses will be provided.

Instructor Jim Cooper has 50 years of experience with woodworking, including 30 years managing furniture factories. Jim will be assisted by Bob Bonstead, whose experience with woodworking includes the restoration of dozens of historic fire lookout towers.

What’s old is new again—regenerative agriculture combines modern science with many time-tested techniques to restore and strengthen soil. It is a holistic farming system that takes more effort, but aims to be healthier for the environment, livestock, and ultimately the people eating the food.
Participants will learn the ins and outs of this traditional farming technique and follow a guided tour of the Williams Brothers’ farm, where the practices of regenerative farming are still in use today.

This class will take place Saturday, September 26th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Instructor Tom Williams and his brother Ray Williams are third-generation farmers, operating Williams' Hudson Bay Farm. Their certified organic and salmon-safe farm grows wheat varieties, barley, beans, Walla Walla Sweet Onions, and winter squash.

Participants will use old tools and make a clock by laminating wood. The clock face and mechanism will be provided and will fit into the wooden structure. Each participant will come away from the class with a clock they built themselves.

This class will take place over the course of four Sundays in a row, from September 20th through October 11th, from 1 p.m.–3 p.m. all days.

Participants must be 18 years or older; hazardous and sharp tools!
This class requires caution and appropriate clothing, safety glasses will be provided.

Instructor Jim Cooper has 50 years of experience with woodworking, including 30 years managing furniture factories. Jim will be assisted by Bob Bonstead, whose experience with woodworking includes the restoration of dozens of historic fire lookout towers.

Keynote Speaker: Willie Frank III (Qua-Lash-Qud), Nisqually Indian Tribe

This day-long conference will explore how local agriculture can adapt and build resilience in the face of a changing climate. The event combines classroom presentations with practical, field-based learning for farmers, ranchers, gardeners, local leaders, policy makers, and anyone interested in local food systems, conservation, and climate adaptation.

Topics include Assisted Migration of Wildlife and the Nexus with Farmland Preservation, Utilizing Dry Farming Practices in an Uncertain Climate, Farming with ESA listed species, Flower Farming in All Seasons, and much more!

View the full conference schedule on https://thurstoncd.com/.../upcoming.../unitedinconservation/

Questions? Contact Nora Carman-White [email protected]

Participants will use old tools and make a clock by laminating wood. The clock face and mechanism will be provided and will fit into the wooden structure. Each participant will come away from the class with a clock they built themselves.

This class will take place over the course of four Sundays in a row, from September 20th through October 11th, from 1 p.m.–3 p.m. all days.

Participants must be 18 years or older; hazardous and sharp tools!
This class requires caution and appropriate clothing, safety glasses will be provided.

Instructor Jim Cooper has 50 years of experience with woodworking, including 30 years managing furniture factories. Jim will be assisted by Bob Bonstead, whose experience with woodworking includes the restoration of dozens of historic fire lookout towers.

Volunteers avail themselves monthly to help Kittitas County community members repair broken household items. Every second Saturday we meet at the IOOF Cemetery shop to repair lamps, toasters, mowers, blowers, grinders, binders, electronics, water fountains, chairs, tables, shirts, skirts, you name it! If you can bring it to us we'll try to repair it! We'll even help you sharpen your knives and tools! It may be the most fun you've ever had in a shop!