Luncheon Speakers

Jeff erson County Chamber of Commerce luncheon meetings are held at the Port Townsend Elks Lodge, 555 Otto St., at noon each Monday, federal holidays excluded. Everyone is welcome!

october2012

Leader connects, helps businesses grow

Everyone in Jefferson Coun-ty knows The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader, the weekly newspaper that has been serving the area since 1889. What might not be so obvious to casual observers are the many ways the newspaper is evolving and continuing to make strong connections between merchants and markets, readers and their community.

It’s no secret the media world has been going through phenomenal changes in recent years, but The Leader is keep-ing pace. Leader advertising customers have access to a suite of services that represent the best mix of print and digital platforms available locally, and The Leader has brought on new staff to stay current with chang-ing technologies and advertiser needs.

The staff changes include Catherine Brewer, The Leader’s new Marketing Director. Born in Seattle and raised in Port An-geles, most recently Catherine was an advertising representa-tive for Sound Publishing in the San Juan Islands. She comes to The Leader with a wealth of marketing savvy and a strong desire to help local businesses grow.

“I’m so excited to be here,” Catherine said. “I enjoy help-ing local businesses gain more exposure in the marketplace and I love watching positive results happen with advertising.” Cath-erine has two grown children and three beautiful granddaugh-ters and is a trained and certifi ed yoga instructor.

Also new on the Market-ing Department staff is Carla Patton. People who frequently place classifi ed ads in The Leader will recognize Carla, who was in classifi ed ad sales for more than a year before accepting a position in the Mar-keting Department.

Carla has a Bachelor’s de-gree in English, but has many interests. Before coming to Port Townsend, she moved to Chi-cago to study improvisational comedy. Her other claims to fame include being a reality TV expert and winner of a ‘Saved By the Bell’ trivia contest.

The veterans on the Market-ing Department staff are Tami Hewitt, a familiar face to many Leader customers, and Sara Radka. Sara, in addition to her advertising coordinator role, is now expanding Leader Grafi x, a full-service graphic arts busi-ness producing business logos, brochures, web sites, social media pages and other market-ing materials.

Of course, the newspaper continues to provide high demand traditional services – inexpensive classifi ed ads that turn your possessions into cash,

ads for your garage sale (with free signs), and print advertis-ing with graphic arts services included. And of course, there’s nothing like a listing or a story in The Leader to tell people about your event. Unlike big city dailies who barely reach 30 percent of the homes in their communities, The Leader reaches close to 70 percent of

Port Townsend area homes and about 60 percent of south county homes. Nothing gets the community’s attention each week quite like The Leader.

In addition, The Leader’s free access web site, ptleader.com, is reaching out even far-ther. More than 20,000 unique visitors log on every week to

The Leader’s marketing staff is ready to help you find the perfect media mix to fit your budget and help your business grow. From left is Carla Patton, Sara Radka, Catherine Brewer and Tami Hewitt.

Marketing staff expands, offers new options for local merchants

Oct. 1 - Fort Worden PlanFrom the Fort Worden Pubic Development Authority, Dave Robison, Exec Director, and Cindy Finnie, FWPDA Chair, review plans for Fort Worden. Sponsor Ajax Cafe

Oct. 15 - Carl SmithThe new Jeff erson County Director of Community Development and Michelle McConnell, Project Manager for the Watershed Stewardship Resource Center, talk about improvements to the permitting process. Sponsor is the Food Co-op.

Oct. 22 - Chauncey Tudhope-LocklearThe Executive Director of The ReCyclery will share his fi ndings regarding the economic and environmental eff ect of communities who pedal more. Sponsor is Kristin Manwaring Insurance.

Oct. 29 - Dr. Luke RobinsThe new Peninsula College President discusses the importance of community colleges in today’s economy. Sponsor is The Leader.

Co� ee TalkOctober 2 - 8 to 9 a.m. Coff ee Talk at the Resort at Port Ludlow Olympic Room, 1 Heron Road. Speaker Tina McCleese of Clarity Enterprises Financial Management Services . Continued on Page 2

2 October 2012 Jefferson County Chamber Newsletter

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catch up on local blogs, comment on news stories and opinions, to check on the latest job openings or houses for sale or rent. When you add ptleader.com and print readers, there’s never been a time in history when The Leader reached more people.

The Leader is expanding in other ways, too. Need a simple, low-cost web site for your business? The Leader can create one for you. Do you need help setting up and managing a Facebook page or a Twitter account? The Leader does that, too. Do you need access to marketing professionals to help make sense of the many op-tions available these days? The Leader staff offers free marketing consultations that others charge hundreds of dollars for.

If you need to target your message to a particular group, The Leader does that through special publications and magazines aimed at specific audiences. Among these publications are The Leader’s popular Getaway visitor’s guide and The Local coupon book that encourages people to think local first. Our partnerships in the community produce programs for Centrum, the Port Townsend Film Festival and the Wooden Boat Festival, all of which have unique audiences. We also publish this Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce monthly newsletter, the only busi-ness to business publication in the county.

In addition to our marketing, The Leader takes seri-ously its role as the community’s communication hub. The Leader is the place people come to meet, learn, to debate, to become informed and make connections. We believe strongly in preserving open access to govern-ment meetings and records so, as our state Constitution says, “the people can retain control over the instruments they have created.”

Keeping track of government actions, supporting community endeavors, connecting businesses to the marketplace and helping people connect so their lives are enriched – that’s The Leader’s business.

The Leader – it’s partly a community institution, partly a community trust, and a local business working to help local merchants grow. To learn more about what The Leader offers, visit ptleader.com or just stop by our offices at 226 Adams St., Port Townsend. The door is always open.

Leader: Expandingto meet diverseneeds and wants

Stuck: An opportunity for renewalBy Heather Flanagan

Every time I feel stuck, I resist the way a cat does a bath. But every single time I have come out the other side with a fresh and inspiring course change, and renewed passion. So I’m learning to embrace my “stuckness” and trust it is actually a necessary pause in a natural process of renewal. Here are four practices to help you shift your perspective and nurture your own renewal when you find yourself in a so-called “stuck” place.

1. Make a list of what is bother-ing you. When we are stuck we may exaggerate the number of “bad” things in our life. If it feels like 5,000 things are bogging you down, it may be that there are actually 5 things but they have circled through your mind 1,000 times each. Some instant relief there. And having the thoughts captured on paper can free up your creative mind for problem solv-ing. Your mental hands have been holding on to so much, now they are free to mold something new.

2. Ask yourself, “What am I feeling?” Sometimes we can stay stuck in “stuck” simply because we put a lot of energy into avoid-

ing feelings at the core of it. Write a list of whatever comes to mind. Circle the one or two with the big-gest charge. Give them your atten-tion. What do these feelings want you to know? Though it can be very uncomfortable for a moment or two, I find that the feelings I have been suppressing relax when I give them my attention and listen to what they want. By becoming more conscious of my feelings and what they want, I create greater choices around my experience. Feelings become my guideposts to greater alignment within myself.

3. Reflect on how feeling stuck has shown up in the past. The stuck places from our past hold clues to what is needed right now. Try capturing a previ-ous experience of feeling stuck as a process. How did it start? How long did it last? How did you eventually come out of it? What purpose did it seem to have? Were you aware of that purpose while in it or did the im-portance of that uncomfortable experience only reveal itself in retrospect? Hmmm. What pur-pose might your current experi-ence of stuck be revealing?

4. Let go! Stop resisting. My standard answer to almost any problem is to take action. When I feel stuck I drive myself crazy trying to figure out what action

will get me out of this feeling. Focusing on feeling (step 2) lets me know there is wisdom within the stuck. Reflection (step 3) tells me that I don’t always get to see the purpose of my times of “stuck” until I have come out the other side with my shiny new wisdom and inspiration. Relax. It’s OK to be exactly where you are. Some-thing deeper is in charge.

These four practices can help you reframe the experience of stuck. Think of stuck, instead, as a powerful regenerative phase wherein your higher self has taken your day-to-day conscious mind offline because it has some big work to do. The body heals itself without needing our conscious-ness engaged. Perhaps there is a similar process for traversing our life path. What would the world be like if we knew to celebrate feeling stuck because we trust something really big is percolat-ing in our soul? What’s brewing in your soul?

Heather Flanagan is a business and life coach in Port Townsend specializing in helping people to show up and create sustain-able abundance from their inner callings. Heather offers a free 20-minute consultation and may be reached at 360-379-0322 or heather@heatherflanagan.com.

Flanagan

BrieflyOct. 9, 5:30 to 7 p.m. - After Hours Mixer at

Maestrale, 821 Water Street, Port Townsend.Oct. 17, 8 to 9 a.m. - Board of Director’s Meet-

ing at Jefferson County Library.

Oct. 18, 5:30 to 7 p.m. - Ambassador meeting at Doc’s Marina Grill, 141 Hudson St., PT.

Nov. 1, 6:30 to 8 p.m. YPN meeting. Location to be determined. Check website for updates.

Continued from Page 1

August 2012 Jefferson County Chamber Newsletter 3

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Tourism Summit set for Oct. 22This year’s Tourism

Summit is a one-day conference for business and industry leaders that takes a look at traditional marketing ideas through new eyes, while looking at new ideas to add to your marketing closet!

This fall tradition gives tourism partners an opportunity to network and hear speakers on top-ics ranging from Wash-ington Tourism Alliance update to digital customer service to public relations and social media. It’s the season to check your marketing closet to see if you need to make some changes!

Plus, you’ll hear an update on Washington Tourism Alliance, the organization creating a new Washington State Tourism office, have a little fun with geocach-ing and learn how it can help your business, find out what all the buzz is about Pinterest, learn about creating Facebook

contests, campaigns and sweepstakes, hear what’s new from the travel writer panel, determine if your digital customer service is equal to your in-person customer service, take time for digital storytell-ing to get YouTube ready, examine public relations in light of new media channels, and, finally, take a look at social media for tourism, from inspiration to transaction!

The Tourism Summit takes place Oct. 22 in Port Angeles at the Red Lion Hotel. For more information, call 360-452-8552.

Featured speakers at the summit include:

• Suzanne Fletcher, who will give a WTA and tourism in the state of Washington update. Fletcher was appointed the first executive direc-tor and the board of directors of the Wash-ington Tourism Alliance, which on July 1 became the state’s official tour-

ism marketing organiza-tion after the closure of the Washington State Tourism Office.

• Nancy Harrison, who will describe what’s new in travel and how to use public relations to your advantage.

Harrison founded Adventure Media in 1999 to serve as an agency connecting adventure travel providers with the media. Adventure Media has grown to represent 50 clients worldwide with a staff of six with the corporate office in Fort Collins.

• Florian Herrmann will lead a break-out session: Living in Facebook’s world - ads, contests and sweepstakes. With over 10 years of experience in tourism marketing, Herrmann’s background includes innovative travel book-ing, international market research, destination branding to engaging social media campaigns

in travel and tourism.• Lauren Domino will

address digital storytell-ing and YouTube market-ing. Domino currently serves as the Develop-ment Director for Seattle Shakespeare Company. With a background in theater and a Master of Public Administration in Nonprofit Management, Lauren is passionate about using storytelling to advance an organiza-tion’s fundraising and marketing goals.

Jenn Seva will discuss geocaching to promote your business and lead a geocaching activity lab. Seva began geocaching in 2001, fell in love with the concept and became a very active member of the community. Geo-caching.com asked her to become a Volunteer Reviewer for new cache submissions, a position that later evolved into becoming the Manager of all the Volunteer Re-viewers worldwide.

Accessorize itCammy Brown cutting the ribbon for the grand opening of Accessorize It, a business selling Miche purses, and, of course, chamber members were on hand to help her celebrate.

4 October 2012 Jefferson County Chamber Newsletter

PiPPA’s reAl teAPippa’s Real Tea is now

open on Water Street. It’s a modern take on a tea room with a selection of over 90 teas from around the world and delicious baked goods all made in house, including “proper” English scones - the only thing traditional about the store, according

to owner Pippa Mills, who makes them herself, along with the authentic clotted cream she insists you pile on top.

There’s a sleek tea bar up front where customers can have a free tea tasting or sip their tea and chat with Pippa and the Tea Mavens, a fireplace lounge with so-

fas, tables and free wifi, and featuring artwork by local artists, and a dog friendly courtyard garden seating area. Soon the Blending Bar will be open so custom-ers can create their own tea blends.

“We encourage people to have fun with tea,” says Pippa who calls herself a Tea Tart. “No tea snobs in here, definitely no pinkie lifting. Tea is finally “hot” again in this country. Did you know that people in America actually drank tea before the British? So many people want to explore the world of tea but don’t know where to start. That’s why we’re here – to help them on their way.”

The teas at Pippa’s are all in large sniffing jars on what she calls the Great Wall of Tea. They are not categorized in the usual way by color (black, green, white, oolong) but under Pippa’s own quirky and fun groupings. There’s Good, Strong, Hair-on-your-Chest Tea, Caffeine-A-No-No, Af-ternoon Delight, and several other categories that Pippa thinks will make it easier for people to find a tea they like.

“Chances are if you find a tea you like the smell of it will taste good to you as well,” says Pippa. “We want people to be influ-enced by their senses, not by words on a menu, which is why we don’t have one for our teas. The only thing that really matters is what you think of the tea, not what someone else thinks.”

Pippa’s CelebriTea Bak-ers are all talented home cooks whose passion is bak-ing. They produce delicious cookies, cakes, bars and pies, many of them gluten free and vegan friendly. They will also be offering a range of chicken and veg-etarian pot pies, authentic

Cornish Pasties, Australian Sausage Rolls and “loaded” focaccias along with other savory items for lunch.

Pippa joined the Cham-ber in order to become part of the business community, share in its networking opportunities and support other local businesses. She knows the importance of “keeping it local” and sees the Chamber membership as a great way to invest in her community.

Pippa’s Real Tea is at 636 Water Street. It is open 10 am to 6 pm, closed Tuesdays. The website is pippasrealtea.com and the phone number is (360) 385-6060.

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Seattle Children’s Hospital Bargain Boutique exists to provide support for uncompensated care at Seattle Children’s, and to ensure that no child will be turned away because of inability to pay medical costs. To foster this sup-port, our goal is to provide quality new and used mer-chandise at fair prices in a pleasant environment.

Seattle Children’s was founded in 1907 to estab-lish care for the commu-nity’s poor and disabled children. Retail had its origins after WWI, when guilds sold war surplus to raise funds.

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Don’t let fearsstand in the wayof taking control

By Tina Flores-McCleeseFinancial Fear.Fear of the unknown.

Fear of the known. Fear of what knowing will mean.

These are typical sentiments that we all have. Now, mix in money and it can get down right paralyzing. But know that when you do take the plunge to get your financial house in order or to have a deeper understanding of what your financial statements are telling you, that it isn’t as hard as you think. What you will find is that the investment you make – time, money or both, will always pay big.

The great news is that this a perfect time to assess the current year and use that to help plan for the future. It is the perfect time to gather that information and get it entered if it isn’t. It’s the perfect time to set up a new system that will work for you so you can have a solid base for the year ahead.

AssessiNG cUrreNt yeArHow is the year aligning

against budget? Are you ahead or behind estimates? What accounts for the dif-ference?

Do you have enough de-tail to analyze? Too much detail that it is distracting?

How is the year aligning against prior year? If it’s different, do you know why?

Which areas of your business are the strongest? The weakest?

So often, we find our-

selves with our noses to the grindstone but not taking the time to stop and take a look, talk it over. It some-times feels easier to just keep working. But, if we take the time to assess we have the opportunity to act. We have the opportunity to take a sharp right turn if we need to and get back on track.

PlANNiNG for Next yeArNow, here is the juicy

part! It’s time to lay out the plans for the future. Lay out what we plan to do in the upcoming year. Lay out the details of the strategic plans that have been put in motion that are now to be translated to numbers. We get to look at our current year, history and plans for the future and create a tem-plate for the upcoming year. Each line item is backed up and when we put them all together, it becomes instantly clear.

So, I encourage you to take some dedicated time to really analyze what is working and what needs change. I encourage you to take some time to get more educated on this part of your business and make the investment of your time and energy and resources. After all, if this part isn’t working – you don’t get to do the other part.

Tina Flores-McCleese is the owner of Clarity Enterprises, Inc., a firm providing financial consult-ing, workshops, one on one training, and grant man-agement for non-profits and small businesses. You can reach Clarity at 360-385-9963, or clarityei.com.

August 2012 Jefferson County Chamber Newsletter 5

By Frank DePalmaYour website isn’t the

only place on the web that your company mes-sage or “brand” needs to maintain a strong presence. A good online marketing strategy includes a well-crafted website, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and social media marketing. The interactive ex-changes that people have with each other and with their favorite companies are happening online in the social media channel realm.

This means that busi-nesses can no longer rely solely on a well-optimized website to earn customers’ atten-tion. A brand must be a conversationalist, going where the people are and engaging them in discus-sion, and by doing that earn a wonderful reputa-tion. Here are six ways you can fully leverage each social channels’ particular properties:

1. Facilitate conversa-tions with people who Like your Facebook page.

Simply announcing what your company is up to isn’t going to get fans engaging with your brand. Post information that is relevant to your brand and of interest to your stakeholders. Invite questions, suggest other reading, provide links, curate other content. The point is to have dynamic conversations between your brand and your “likers.” A great example is The Body Shop.

2. Share tweets about topics of interest (again--not self-serving announcements but follower-serving news) via Twitter.

The search engines are all looking at Twitter activity, at the keyword and brand-name level, as signals for which brands deserve top rankings. No one is going to be interested in miles and miles of one-way tweets about how great your brand is. Know your stakeholders: provide information that will be of use to them and they will not only follow you, they’ll retweet what you share. Check out Game

of Thrones.3. Uploading share-

able videos to your YouTube channel opti-mizes your brand as well as your website. How? When the content is engaging, people want to share it. When they share it, they often add a link to your website. Encour-age more sharing and engagement with people who leave comments by responding to their comments. Remember, Google owns YouTube. Enough said. ThinkGeek as a very engaging You-Tube Channel.

4. Pin and Repin interesting visuals on Pinterest. Pinterest may not be right for every brand, but if you market to consumers and have a brand with visual at-

tributes or messaging that can be supported by photos, images, and infographics, Pinterest is another option to lever-age for brand optimi-zation. Tracy Adams’ Forts, Tents and Trees pin board is excellent.

5. Participate in groups, answer ques-tions, and post company updates on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn builds brand legitimacy while put-ting your brand where the buyers are. Whether you are a B2B or B2C business, having a strong LinkedIn profile for your company, complete with referrals from customers and strategic partners, is a strong component in the brand optimization mix. The conversations in those groups where

your brand is referenced with links to your web-site can help with SEO and brand optimization too. And don’t forget, Company Pages are public and now feature status updates. ZipCar is using LinkedIn well.

6. Share information on Google+. There is widespread belief that as Google+ gains in popularity, the conversa-tions there will help with brand and search engine optimization. People have been somewhat slow to add yet another social media profile to their online presence, and brands have been slow to adopt Google+ too, but some brands are making smart use of Google+ now. One of my favorite G+ Pages has to

be NASA.All of this social

media activity works to create engagement around the brand by the people in your brand’s community.

So the question you need to ask is, “How can I optimize my brand so that it’s a sought-after participant in relevant conversations?” Answer-ing that will bring you brand recognition and much, much more.

Frank DePalma is an EDC Team Jefferson team member and President of Totera Web Systems, a Jefferson-County-based web development and marketing firm with clients throughout the U.S.

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Follow the Chamberon Twitter, FacebookIf you are a member of the Jeff erson County Chamber of Commerce and use Twitter or Facebook -- please follow us @Jeff CoChamber on Twitter and Jeff erson County Chamber of Commerce on Facebook.

We use Twitter and Facebook to showcase our members and bring you the latest business news that is important to our members – so if you’ve got some news tweet about it and we’ll help spread the word.

6 October 2012 Jefferson County Chamber Newsletter

Business investors

Business builders• Port Townsend Computers• Port Townsend Paper Co.• Hadlock Building Supply

• Homer Smith Insurance• Jefferson Healthcare• Port Townsend Laundromat & Self Service Car Wash

Thanks to our top chamber contributors!

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By Karen AndersonVisitor Centers across

the globe are constantly being asked to justify their existence. Sure, we all have similar missions: to dispense knowledge of our respective areas to vis-itors, thereby maintaining and increasing tourism. But at the Port Townsend Visitor Information Center (VIC), we want to take it a step further. We want to make your experience in Port Townsend the best it possibly can be, going beyond the dispensing of knowledge, and delving into, not what you want, but what you need.

On a sunny Thursday morning, a family of fi ve walked through our door; a lovely family from Guada-lajara, Mexico. The parents spoke English well, but often needed their teenage children to translate their need, which was to fi nd an old friend. Their history was this: Years ago, the young Mexican couple was on a cruise for their honeymoon, when they met an older couple from Port Townsend. They hit it off and stayed in touch for many years.

As time will have it, though, the husband passed away and the young couple fell out of contact with the older widow. Twenty years later, with three beautiful teenage children in tow, the family was vacation-ing in Seattle and, being so close to where they thought their old friend to be, took the short jaunt to Port Townsend to see if they could locate her. They had done some preliminary Internet and phone book searches, but were unable to locate their friend. So they turned to their next

available resource, the Visitor Information Center.

It’s true that it’s gener-ally easier for us to fi nd information because the size of our town is on the smaller side, but in a haystack of over 9,100, fi nding that one needle can be diffi cult.

One of the main things I try to impart to all of our volunteers is to use your resources. So our volun-teers went for it. They looked, and they Googled, and they called, but had an equally hard time trying to fi nd the woman who meant so much to this family. Finally, one of the volunteers looked at me and said, “She’s 92, why don’t we try Seaport Landing?”

The last thing I wanted to do was to start calling all of the assisted living facilities in the area, but I had to remind myself to utilize my resources. So we checked our Chamber Directory, and called up Justin Jackson, Execu-tive Director of Seaport Landing.

We were greeted warmly (it’s one of the things I love about Port Townsend - when you call someone, tell them who you are and they talk to you like an old friend.), and were patiently listened to while we ex-plained the story to him. At the end of our explanation, I said, “Justin, you’re prob-ably not allowed to give out a list of your residents, are you?”

“No, I’m not, but I’ll be happy to connect you to her room.” We saw the eyes of our visitors light up. The room phone wasn’t picked up, so the family left our VIC for Seaport Landing telling

us that they would come back if this was indeed the same woman whom they met 20 years prior. We sat down with a self-gratifi ed sigh and were quiet for a while when one of the volunteers said to me, “Did you notice that the entire time we were helping them, no one else came in?”

Several hours and a couple of volunteer shifts later, the family came back into the VIC all smiles showing us the updated picture they took with their recovered friend. Overjoyed, they said, “We would like to take a picture of you and your volunteers because you were part of this jour-ney for us!”

It’s moments like this when I think about how we justify the existence of our VIC. The digital age is upon us and transitions need to be made. But the digital age wasn’t able to take that last personal step to help reunite old friends in this case. The digital age can’t give you the gleam in an eye when someone tells you what it’s like to watch the tribal canoes come into Fort Worden each year. And the digital age won’t ever be able to sing that chorus of excitement when a visi-tor talks about something exciting they’re thinking of doing, whether it’s whale watching, hiking Hurricane Ridge, or head-ing to Fort Worden to hear amazing music. Let’s face it, the digital age is pretty cool, but nothing com-pares to the real deal.

This is what we do. We help make your experi-ence in Port Townsend the best it can possibly be.

Visitor Center staff steps upto help connect old friends

August 2012 Jefferson County Chamber Newsletter 7

Every time I take Visi-tor Information Center (VIC) volunteers on a new Familiarization (FAM) Tour, I always think that Jefferson County can’t impress me any more than it has; and every time I’m surprised to find yet another gem of the area.

VIC volunteers trav-elled out to new farm, Wilderbee, which was begun in 2010 by Casey and Eric Reeter. Step-ping onto this certified organic farm and walk-ing up the driveway to the farm store, we were immediately blown away by the beauty and obvi-ous dedication to this piece of land. The first things visitors will see are the rows of lavender. Casey and Eric planted 600 lavender plants consisting of nine dif-ferent varieties, which they use for sachets, oil, and wonderful U-pick options. Lavender and the copper still used to distill lavender oil both have antibacterial prop-erties which make the oil perfect for astringents, soaps, and bath salts, all of which are manufac-tured and sold at Wilder-bee Farm.

Lavender was second-ary in the Reeter’s plan though. Eric and Casey began with a dream of a blueberry farm. They

fell in love with and purchased the 12 acre property in 2007 and broke ground on the blueberry patch in 2010. The dream grew and grew until it included, not only lavender, but also dahlias, edible flow-ers, bees for honey and pollination, a pumpkin patch (which will be open for U-pick later in October!), and a herd of Soay sheep.

Soay sheep are a rare conservation breed from Scotland. They are about the size of a Pygmy goat and have a long, dark coat. They produce a very fine wool second only to Merino. They are not domesti-cated which means that when visitors walk up, the sheep all run away. Their ‘keeper’ sheep,

Bob, a Suffolk/Hamp-shire cross, is a large sheep with the white wooly coat most people picture when thinking of sheep. When the Soay herd runs away, Bob runs out, and will happily be fed by strangers.

Casey and Eric have created their business on half of their property and have a lot of ideas about expansion already! They are in process of building a woodworking and pottery shop. They would one day like Wil-derbee Farm to be open as a gallery, community space, classroom, hiking

and picnicking area, as well as a farm shop and garden.

Go out and take a look at this gorgeous addition to our booming agricul-tural market!

Wilderbee Farm • 223 Cook Ave. Ext., PT • 206-724-2391 • wilder-beefarm.com

We continued our ag-FAM out to Alpenfire Orchards near Beckett Point. Nancy and Steve (Bear) Bishop have loved hard cider since they met in college in the Or-ganic Farming Program at Evergreen State. After

a European cider tour in 2003, they took a cider class at WSU and ordered their apples at the end of the class. Their certified organic orchard is now seven years old with over 900 dwarf apple trees and about 20 varieties of apples, all bittersweet and bittersharp, making them the first bittersweet/bittersharp orchard in Washington State.

For the common cider drinker (as opposed to cider maker), we were surprised to learn about all of the science that goes into making cider. Testing pH balances, sug-

ars, potential for alcohol, are common tests which need to be performed on a regular basis as well as paying attention to weather patterns, know-ing how to eliminate diseases, and pests. Steve, who is a wildfire fighter by trade, takes care of invasive bugs and weeds by fire, which he learned as a Native American way. His burn technique safely and effectively keeps their orchard happy and healthy.

Alpenfire is a small operation, and though they are planning on ex-panding into the vinegar world with their several flavored vinegars, they are intent on not getting larger than they can han-dle and sacrificing quality for quantity. They also want to keep their opera-tion a beautiful place to visit or hold an event. The grounds are perfect for a quiet, outdoor wedding.

Visit Nancy and Steve on weekends from noon to 5pm. They are in the middle of harvest season!

Alpenfire Orchard • 220 Pocket Lane, PT • 379-8915 • alpenfirecider.com.

Chamber contactsChamber Staff

Executive Director Teresa Verraes director@jeffcountychamber.org

Event Coordinator Laura Brackenridge admin@jeffcountychamber.org 385-7869 VIC Manager Karen Anderson info@jeffcountychamber.org (360) 385-2722

Executive Board President Fred Obee The Leader President elect Dominic Svornich Kitsap Bank Vice President, Records Molly Force N.D. Prosper Natural Health Past President Kim Aldrich Cobalt MortgageVice President, Finances Kathryn Brady Brady Chiropractic

Vice President, Outreach Debbie Wardrop Resort at Port LudlowVice President, Membership Dana Petrick Dana Pointe InteriorsDirectorsJordan Eades Hope Roofing Chuck Russell Valley Tavern Judy Cavett FairWinds WineryCarol Woodley Hadlock Realty & Hadlock Hotel

Vi Koenig PT Laundromat Piper Diehl Ludlow Bay Wellness SpaNancy McConaghy Coldwell BankerCammy Brown Peninsula Legal ServicesSuzy Carroll Uptown NutritionCraig Downs Chimacum Schools

Jennefer Wood Maestrale

Diana Talley Taku MarineJake Beattie Northwest Maritime Center

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We welcome your submissions. If you have news to share, send articles and photos to director@jeffcountychamber.org or mail to 440 12th St. Port Townsend, WA 98368.

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Casey and Eric Reeter recently opened their certified organic farm to the public.

Alpenfire Orchards near Beckett Point is owned by Nan-cy and Steve (Bear) Bishop.

Volunteers get out to Wilderbee Farm, Alpenfire Orchard

8 October 2012 Jefferson County Chamber Newsletter

Prsrt stD U.s. PostAGe PAiD Port towNseND, wA Permit No. 34

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Mixing it up

Port Ludlow Golf Club mixerA good time was had by all at the Chamber mixer at the Port Ludlow Golf Club. Above, the crowd enjoys games and a raffle, and at left, Chamber Executive Di-rector Teresa Verraes stops for a picture with (from left) Vito DeSantis, Director of Golf, and putting contest winners Matt Choi, Harbor-side, and Byran Gilbreath.

PT Paper tourTim Caldwell of Puget Sound Energy, Eveleen Muehle-thaler of Port Townsend Paper, and Chamber Executive Director Teresa Verraes met for a tour of the paper mill.