Road sign entering Ferns, Ireland
Courtesy: Flanagan’s Apple Irish Pub, Yelm

Ferns, Ireland is the Sister City to the City of Yelm

From Wikipedia:
“Ferns (Irish: Fearna, meaning “alder trees” short for Fearna Mr Maedhg) is a small historic town in north County Wexford, Ireland with a population of about 900.”

“Ferns is believed to have been established in the 6th century, when a monastery was founded in 598 dedicated to St Mogue of Clonmore who was a Bishop of Ferns. The town became the capital of the Kingdom of Leinster when the kings of that southern part of the province established their seat of power there. King Dermot MacMurrough founded St. Mary’s Abbey as a house of Augustinian canons c. 1158 and was buried there in 1171.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Miceal Ledwith

Ferns Castle, an Anglo-Norman fortress, was built in the 13th century by William, Earl Marshall. Today about half of the castle still stands. The town also contains the 13th-century St Edan’s Cathedral (Church of Ireland) and several high crosses and parts of crosses.

The 19th century population peaked in 1851, but never reached the levels of medieval times. Lewis’s Topography of 1834 claimed the town ‘consists chiefly of one irregular street, and contains 106 houses indifferently built, retaining no trace of its ancient importance’.”

Editor’s Note:
The Yelm area has another connection to Ferns, Ireland, as well.
Yelm-based Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment (RSE) Teacher Dr. Miceal Ledwith [L.Ph., L.D., D.D., LL.D (h.c)] is from the Fern’s Diocese in Ireland. The diocese was founded in the year 598 AD.
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Dr. Ledwith was the former adviser to Pope John Paul II for 17 years as Member and Chairman of the Vaticans International Theological Commission.
Read more on Dr. Ledwith.

This post was written by Steve Klein.
Klein is employed as the Event Services Manager for JZ Knight and Ramthas School of Enlightenment.

Representative. J.T. Wilcox

“Gov. Chris Gregoire plans to sign a bill on Monday that would allow project planners an option to fund environmental programs if they cannot comply with wetland mitigation requirements.

Currently, one of these programs has about $10 million in dues to small-forest landowners, according to officials in forestry.

Rep. J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, sponsored House bill 2238, which would allow public or private entities, looking to start projects, the option of providing monetary funds toward state environmental agencies in lieu of required on-site wetland mitigation.

‘(This option) is good for small private landowners,’ said Wilcox. ‘A lot of promises were made to them in the course of passing forestry regulations that were never fulfilled. So this is a way of helping them, without taking new taxpayer dollars,'” quoting Raechel Dawson, WNPA Olympia News Bureau, for the Auburn Reporter.

From Take Part:

“Forget meadows. The citys new park will be filled with edible plants, and everything from pears to herbs will be free for the taking.”

“Seattles vision of an urban food oasis is going forward. A seven-acre plot of land in the citys Beacon Hill neighborhood will be planted with hundreds of different kinds of edibles: walnut and chestnut trees; blueberry and raspberry bushes; fruit trees, including apples and pears; exotics like pineapple, yuzu citrus, guava, persimmons, honeyberries, and lingonberries; herbs; and more. All will be available for public plucking to anyone who wanders into the citys first food forest.”

“The concept of a food forest certainly pushes the envelope on urban agriculture and is grounded in the concept of permaculture, which means it will be perennial and self-sustaining, like a forest is in the wild. Not only is this forest Seattles first large-scale permaculture project, but its also believed to be the first of its kind in the nation,” by Clare Leschin-Hoar.

Editor’s Note:
How about Yelm joining Seattle in leading the way on this, too?

Wouldn’t this idea be a wonderful addition to the Yelm Food Co-op’s Farmer’s market?
“We will be establishing the Yelm Cooperative as a 501.c.3 federally approved non-profit organization. It will oversee the programs of the Retail Store, the Farmers market and the Community Food Education Program. The latter will now encompass what was earlier seen as the Community Garden program,” quoting the Yelm Food Co-op.

YELM COMMUNITY SERVICES –
CELEBRATING 22 YEARS OF SERVICE.

THRIFT SHOP & CLOTHING BANK
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Saturdays, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
(360) 458-4230
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FOOD BANK
Serving Yelm and Rainier School Districts, and the Nisqually Tribal Reservation since 1971
Yelm Community Services is proud to be the first and oldest food bank in Thurston County.
Open on Thursdays from 1-4 p.m.
For emergencies, we are open Monday through Friday, 9-5
(360) 458-4003
Food Bank and USDA Commodities
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YOUTH ACTIVITIES
Spring, Summer, 2012
– After School Activities from 2:30 to 6 p.m., ages 5-18, Monday through Friday
– Late Night Teen Dances, April and May, 2012
– Saturday Fun Events, May and June, 2012
– Great Escapes Day Camp 2012
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From the Ramtha School of Enlightenment Press Release:

“YELM, Wash., March 13, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ —
More than 600 people around the world, ranging from infants to age 90 and above, will gather at Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment (RSE) for the Yelm Primary Retreat. The annual nine-day event is open to all current students and will be conducted at the School’s campus in Yelm, Washington. A live video stream will be available to current students across the globe.”
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Yelm Community Blogger Klein is employed as the Event Services Manager for JZ Knight and Ramthas School of Enlightenment.

From Yelm Community Schools:
“There was something for everyone at the 17th Annual Yelm Dollars for Scholars auction. With over 400 silent auction items and 40 live auction items, everyone was able to contribute toward the main goal of raising scholarship funds for this years senior class. Over $145,000 poured in from community members as students paraded across the stage with college hopes in their hearts.

‘A big thank you to the citizens of Yelm for all you do to support our children and their dreams of higher education. Once again, the generosity and support for our students and their education is alive and well here in Yelm,’ said auctioneer Larry Schorno.”

Yelm’s First Annual Wedding Walk
Saturday, March 31st, 2012
Free Admission 10am-5pm
1202 Yelm Ave. E.
Grand Prize valued at over $1000.
Register at Willow Spa & Nail Clinic

Click here for the the Facebook page link.

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Guest entry from Yelm-area property owner Sara Foster, in her own words:

“On November 18, 2011, Sara Foster submitted an Appeal against the City of Yelm and the Dept of Ecology to stop the pumping of 942 acre feet of water, every year for 20 years, from our aquifer. Ecology had just rubber-stamped Yelms Mitigation Plan and the city was approved to begin pumping. This amount has huge environmental impacts to the aquifer. It means all of our wells in a vast surrounding area [outside of Yelm city limits] could drop in static level and people would have to drill new wells…In 2009 our community became aware of this same Mitigation Plan submitted to Ecology, and wrote over 85 letters in protest. It was subsequently withdrawn.

So Yelm waited 2 years and then very quietly resubmitted the same old plan, putting it on a fast-track with Ecology for approval.

I discovered this with just 2 days to spare. With the help of a friend, I filed an Appeal as “Sara Foster & The Downstreamers” . . . but in the beginning, there were no Downstreamers. And no one else filed an Appeal. Because no one knew!! Yelm right now would have begun pumping out of our aquifer, effecting all of our static levels.

I had legal assistance from a non-profit organization for the first few months, so I could file motions and respond to everything Yelm sent our way. I got our case on the docket for a hearing date of July 25th, 2012, so Yelm was not granted these water rights and cannot pump any water [additional water over the city’s exiting water rights] until after this Hearing. In the meantime, 9 other dauntless entities have stepped up to become The Downstreamers.

I have now hired an attorney to represent us… Im pleased to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you all so much! You are a great community!”

Sara Foster
saradfoster@gmail.com

From the Thurston County Auditor:
The Board of County Commissioners has scheduled a public hearing on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. The subject of the hearing is the proposed amendments to Chapter 1.08 of the Thurston County Code, relating to Election Precincts. It is necessary to amend certain voting precinct boundaries because of Congressional and Legislative redistricting.

Hearing Details

Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Time: Hearing begins at 3:00 p.m.
Location: Building 1, Room 280
County Courthouse Complex
2000 Lakeridge Drive SW
Olympia, WA 98502

The Thurston County Auditor’s Office is currently accepting written comments on the proposed ordinance, and will do so until the close of business on Monday, March 12, 2012. Comments may be submitted to Tony Wickie at wickiet@co.thurston.wa.us or send comments to:

Thurston County Auditor’s Office
Attn: Tony Wickie
2000 Lakeridge Dr. SW
Olympia, WA 98502

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From World Music Central,

“The Narrow Garden (Release Date: Jan. 31, 2012) is the new album from Seattle composer Eyvind Kang. A multi-instrumentalist, Kang is well-known for his string arrangements and recordings with John Zorn, Sun City Girls, Mike Patton, John Doe and Bill Frisell.

Kang has released many recordings of original music, including the acclaimed choral piece Athlantis (Ipecac) and The Yelm Sessions (Tzadik). The Narrow Garden is no exception, offering one of his most original and perhaps one of his most playful recordings to date. The album was recorded in Barcelona (Spain) with a group of thirty musicians directed by Kang.

‘I composed most of the songs at a pond on Vashon Island,’ explains Kang. ‘I also went down to Yelm and Olympia, and music just came to my head. There were birds, plants and flow.'”
Buy yours here.