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lummi island wine tasting april 26-27 ’24
Hours, April 26-27 ’24
OPEN for wine tasting and sales:
Friday 4-6 pm Saturday 3-5 pm
At the moment we are in our trailer at Maryhill State Park on the north shore of the Columbia River.
Over millennia the river has cut a dramatic canyon through the deep basalt built up by Cascade volcanoes. This photo is looking west toward Mt. Hood (from a winery backyard!). By our unofficial count, about 20 120-car trains go each way on each side of the Columbia every day, carrying mostly raw materials west and empty cars east.
At the same time we can look across to the Oregon side and see I-84 running along the river with a steady stream of semis carrying finished products to markets in both directions. Just above us is a steep climb from the nearby bridge to Highway 97, with the frequent sounds of big semis grinding up the half-mile grade in low gear, and the explosive sounds of air brakes on the ones coming down.
Though we have been here many times before, this is the first time we have been so consciously aware of the ongoing sounds of truck and train traffic. It doesn’t change the fact that this is a beautiful and relaxing place, a wide open piece of unique geography.
This visit does, however, strike a resonant note with my training and experience as a resource economist, my research on climate change some 40 years ago at nearby Batelle Labs in Richland, and the fact that my friend Peter just gave me a copy of the book Slow Down: the Degrowth Manifesto, by Kohei Saito. More on that below.
Friday Bread This Week
Buckwheat Rye – Fresh milled buckwheat and rye flours are soaked for several hours without any yeast in a method known as an autolyse. As buckwheat has no gluten and rye has very little, the autolyse allows the grain to start the overnight fermenting process in the refrigerator. The buckwheat-rye soaker is then mixed with bread flour, salt, yeast and a bit of honey. Goes well with all sorts of meats and cheese – $5/loaf
Whole Grain Spelt Sweet Levain – Also made with a levain of freshly milled whole wheat and whole spelt before mixing with bread flour and a nice combination of dried apricots, golden raisins, slivered almonds and both sunflower and flax seeds. Chock full of flavor!– $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Brioche Almond Buns – Made with a delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Rolled out and spread with an almond cream filling. The almond cream is not made from pre-made almond paste, but rather is a delicious creamy filling made with lots more butter, sugar and eggs as well as almond flour. Yum, yum – 2/$5
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday Janice emails the week’s bread offering to her mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday will be available for pickup at the wine shop each Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Go to Contact us to get on the bread email list.
Economics of the Heart: Climate Change Elephants in Every Room
Slow Down, by Saitō Kōhei, is essentially a refresher course in environmental economics from the viewpoint of a Marxist economist. Lots of people outside the profession don’t know that there are a lot of different specialties in the field, and in particular that there is a bona fide group of modern day Marxist economists called the Union for Radical Political Economics. (URPE)
My experience with these people is that they are particularly bright theoreticians who have long been “onto” the duplicity of the so-called “perfectly competitive model” dating back to Adam Smith a very long time ago, and have developed their own vocabulary for analyzing its many shortcomings.
Years ago I taught a course in “Urban Economics” several times, found the subject fascinating, and learned a lot! I stumbled onto a great textbook, a collection of readings by mostly URPE neo-Marxist economists. One takeaway that has stuck with me all these years is the particular absurdity of expecting markets to sort out fair or efficient resource allocations in the close complexity of any large city…or anywhere else where the distribution of wealth (i.e.,” the ownership of income-earning assets”) is highly skewed to a uber-wealthy minority.
Back in the early fifties, Ronald Reagan hosted a weekly series of video plays called General Electric Theater with the slogan, “Progress is our most important Product.” That progress has been achieved by systematically destroying the environments where these resources were extracted and the global environment upon which the damages from both their extraction and use have fallen.
Since 1980 and Reagan’s deliberate policies of lowering taxes for the rich while reducing assistance for the poor, the crazy, the disabled, and the sick became bedrock of Republican Policy, more guard rails have fallen off in many directions. In particular, under the auspices of “free market forces,” fossil fuel consumption since 1950 has risen 7-fold, from 20,000 terrawatt-hrs to 140,000 TWH. And that is where the carbon that is killing our planet is coming from: a bunch of rich guys in suits sitting around a table willing to destroy all life on Earth for a few more years of personal wealth and power.
The essence of URPE thinking is that there is no such thing as a “perfectly competitive market” in the real world, where market power would be equally divided between producers and consumers. Rather,Kōhei‘s view is that under capitalism the owners of the means of production collect $ every time anyone passes “Go,” while workers only get paid for a day’s labor, and non-pecuniary external costs are exported to the environment rather than mitigated by moderation and due responsibility. These outcomes are the predictable outcomes of unregulated capitalism.
Adam Smith is considered the founder of market economics, in which the Invisible Hand of self-interest “leads everyone to promote the overall good of the society more effectually than when by direct attention.”
But Marx considered that capitalism, i.e., ownership of the means of production by an elite few, would serve only the needs of its owners while at best keeping everyone else at basic subsistence levels, and at worst condemning them to lives of poverty and misery.
to be continued
lummi island wine tasting july 7-8 ’23
Open Friday AND Saturday, July 7 & 8, 4-6pm
courtesy toiletovhell.com
PLEASE NOTE!! Beginning July 7, we are expanding our summer hours to be open both Fridays and Saturdays from 4-6pm!
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Pear Buckwheat – The preferment in this bread is a poolish, made with bread flour, water and a bit of yeast and fermented overnight. Mixed the next day with bread flour and fresh milled buckwheat. Since buckwheat has no gluten using the preferment allows the dough to begin to develop before the final mix. The addition of toasted walnuts and dried pears soaked in white wine makes for a really flavorful bread – $5/loaf
French Country Bread – A levain bread made with mostly bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat and and a bit of toasted wheat germ. After building the levain with a sourdough culture and mixing the final dough it gets a long cool overnight ferment in the refrigerator. This really allows the flavor to develop in this bread. Not a refined city baguette, but a rustic loaf that you would find in the countryside.
and pastry this week…
Gibassiers – A traditional french pastry that incorporates the flavors from the southern France region. Made with a delicious sweet dough full of milk, butter, eggs and olive oil. The addition of orange flower water, candied orange peel and anise seed bring great flavor to these pastries. After baking they are brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with more sugar. Ooh La La a delightful pastry to go along with your morning coffee or tea
To get on the bread order list, click the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Wine of the Week: Bodega Garzon Tannat Reserve ’18 Uruguay $15
Bodega Garzón vineyards, Uruguay
Tannat originated in the Southwest of France near Madiran in Gascony, in the shadow of the Pyrénées, where it has thrived for many centuries. It has long been known for its muscular tannins and was often blended with Bordeaux varietals cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. It was planted in Uruguay by Basque settlers in the nineteenth century, and has evolved into the dominant red wine of the country.
The Uruguayan evolution of the grape has developed wines characterized by soft and elegant tannins and complex blackberry fruit notes. Over many decades, several new clones have been developed which as a group have brought more ripeness, but higher alcohol and lower acidity and fruitiness. There is ongoing development of the wine’s potential by blending it with cab sauv, merlot, or cab franc. At present it offers a unique array of flavor and textural characteristics unlike any other varietal that some of us find irresistible!
Bodega Garzon Tannat Reserve ’18 Uruguay $15
Opaque deep, dark red; opens with an enticing, delicious aroma of very ripe, dark fruit and berries stewed in their own liqueur, with a melange of spice, wood. The palate is steeped with vermouth-like spice, herb, and licorice notes that are seamlessly balanced and integrated with the robust tannins of this rustic grape.
This week’s wine tasting
Chapoutier Belleruche Blanc ’21 France $14
Delicious blend of grenache blanc and roussanne; fragrant and perfumed with a light, grilled-lemon note over ripe melon,with a lingering palate of rich white peach.
MAN Vintners Pinotage ’20 South Africa $12
Aromas of dark coffee beans, red berries, nutmeg, and vanilla spice turning to dark berries and smoky plum; rustic yet silky and juicy, with smooth tannins, balanced acidity, and comforting intensity.
Bodega Garzon Tannat Reserve ’18 Uruguay $15
Opaque deep, dark red; opens with enticing, delicious aromas of very ripe, dark fruit and berries stewed in their own liqueur, with lingering notes of spice, herb, and licorice on the seamless finish.
Economics of the Heart: Undiscussed Elephants
Okay, okay, I promise this will be my last post regarding our parochial little ferry finance issue!
Several weeks ago, a unified community was able to get the County Council to postpone any action on the County’s stiff-arming attempt to get a new ferry rates ordinance passed that would allow it to charge any outrageous expense against fare revenues. A little breather, we all thought…
Instead, a subgroup of LIFAC, a County citizens committee that reports to the Council on ferry matters (I am a member), called a “special meeting” on two days’ notice that would change that decision and instead endorse the County’s new draft ordinance, with no public discussion of its many alarming faults. That meeting was called off at the last minute, ostensibly because it seemed to violate the WA Open Meetings Act. It is good that it was called off.
At this point it is important to note that there are several Very Large Elephants in this room that have been studiously ignored by Lifac for many months, never making it onto the agenda for the detailed and thoughtful discussion they deserve, despite extensive citizen resistance, including:
- A thorough validation review of at least the highest ten unprecedented O&M charges between $30,000 and $428,000 for “regular and routine” maintenance since 2013;
- A lengthy, thoughtful, detailed review and discussion to clarify, point by point, the language and intent of WCC 10.34 (Ferry Fares) with a particular focus on ease of interpretation and fairness to all stakeholders;
- Establishing an easily calculable rule to set limits on the allowable annual variation in the total fare box burden.
One place to start such a discussion is shown in this chart. Between 2013 and 2022 there were ten unusually large maintenance charges, ranging from $30k to $428k. There is nothing “regular, ordinary, or routine” about “maintenance” expenses of this magnitude, which in no way qualify for inclusion in the fare box burden.
In the chart there are two lines. The blue line links the total O&M costs charged against fare revenue of the years the expenses occurred. The red line shows how removal of just these ten, vastly higher costs than have ever before been passed off as “ordinary maintenance” substantially increases the “regularity” of total expenses from year to year. And these are just the most glaring examples!
This is the Main Event, folks. This is what the last six months have been about: underhanded changes of the rules in an unscrupulous effort to make ferry users pay for keeping our very old boat afloat. Well, no one elsewhere in the County pays for repaving the road in front of their house, or repairing the bridges they cross to get to work or shop. We are just fine with paying our fair share and maybe a little more. But this way, way, way past a fair share.
lummi island wine tasting july 3 ’20
click on photos for larger images
Wine Tasting Reset Time
For the past couple of months we have been trying out piggy-backing a minimal wine tasting on Janice’s Friday bread pickup and DIY Happy Hour at the ferry parking lot each week. As you know, she is taking this weekend off, so we remind you there is no bread pickup this weekend. Look for next week’s menu email sometime Sunday.
After experimenting for a couple of months now with with the Friday Tailgate tasting, we have decided to discontinue the practice. That will free us to just drop by and visit along with everyone else on Fridays…and to focus on promoting tastings by appointment. We will have more on that next week.
In the meantime, have a relaxing, sunny, and Happy Fourth of July (with caveats as noted below…!)
Annual Fourth of July Alert
Every Fourth of July we like to remind you all to “Watch out for Falling Elephants!” That’s because of an old limerick (even back then!) that was popular in my neighborhood in Maine when I was a kid in the Fifties. It goes like this:
“I asked my mother for fifty cents
To see the elephant jump the fence;
He jumped so high he touched the sky, and
Didn’t come down till the Fourth of July.”
So, a word to the wise for this Saturday: Take nothing for Granted…Keep a Sharp Eye For Falling Elephants!
Mar a Lago Update: How’s That MAGA Thing Goin’, Mate?
Here it is now July, 2020, and a Long, Long time has passed since the most recent Republican Coup in 2016. As Jesus said in Superstar, “I’ve tried for Three years, Seems like Ninety..!” America’s last three years have been Exhausting and Crazy-Making. We occasionally think back to the Republican Candidates’ Debates in 2015 and just scratch our heads. How could this have happened?
It’s not that any of the other candidates would have been more worthy than the Tweetster in any measurable way. It’s more that their particular forms of insanity were Familiar. We didn’t Like them, and had little respect for them, but weren’t Afraid of them. On the other hand, the Tweetster’s whole MO is his penchant for the Outrageous, his complete willingness to pull the chain that flushes Everyone and Everything down the toilet. As if the only Element of his actions that is relevant is that they make the Front Page, not that they accomplish or contribute anything of lasting benefit.
Supposedly the Tweetster’s strong suit is the Economy. But a recent article in Independentaustralia.net presents a damning Statistical assessment of the Tweetster’s economic failures.
First, although the economy was supposedly Booming, government revenue went from 85% of gdp in 2016 to 75% in 2019, the worst budgetary outcome of all 36 wealthy members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Second, his penchant for Trade Wars (you know, the Art of the Deal guy) led him to start trade wars with numerous trading partners in 2018, causing increasing trade deficits. Exports have tumbled, trade deficits have deepened severely, production has declined, farms and businesses have gone bankrupt, and hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their jobs.
Third, The rationale for Trump’s costly 2018-19 trade wars was that our deficits were too deep, averaging $39.8 billion over the last ten months of 2016. The trend continued for two more years, with exports falling and imports rising, costing tens of billions in lost treasure, thousands of farmer suicides, and trade deficits approaching $50 billion. At the same time, since the 2018 tariffs, counterbalancing production and exports have continued to fall.
Fourth, the Tweetster has claimed since taking office in 2017 that he deserved credit for jobs expansion that was more correctly attributed to the policies of the Obama Administration: “It took gross mismanagement of the Coronavirus pandemic to reverse the positive trend in American jobs which started back in 2010, although the rate of decline eased somewhat in 2018 and 2019 as exports and economic growth faltered.”
Bottom line: There is no Art of the Deal. There is no Business Acumen. There is no Art and No Deal, no Leadership, no Understanding, no Heart, no Mind, no Caring, no Responsibility. And most disturbing of all, our so-called President has not even a Touch of Class.
New Wine Tasting Protocol
Pretty simple: call or email us to make a 30-minute appointment for a tasting on our deck. We will pour five wines (as usual over these many years– members $5, non-members $10). More details next week.
Happy Fourth of July!
lummi island wine tasting july 5-6 ’19
Friday Breads
Multi Grain Levain – Made with a sourdough culture and using a flavorful mix of
bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A nice mixture of flax, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and polenta add great flavor and crunch. And a little honey for some sweetness. – $5/loaf
Polenta Levain – Also made with a levain which is mixed with bread flour and polentain the final dough mix. While there is a hint of butter used when making the polenta for a nice rustic loaf with great corn
flavor. – $5/loaf
Chocolate Croissants – a traditional laminated french pastry made with a bit of sourdough flavor and some pre-fermented dough to help strengthen the dough to create the traditional honeycomb interior. Rolled out and shaped with delicious dark chocolate in the center. – 2/$5
Fourth of July
Every Fourth of July we like to remind people to “Watch out for Falling Elephants!” That’s because of a limerick that was popular in our neighborhood in Maine when I was a kid. It goes like this:
“I asked my mother for fifty cents
To see the elephant jump the fence;
He jumped so high he touched the sky, and
Didn’t come down till the Fourth of July.”
Fortunately it is now late in the evening on the Fourth with No Reports of Elephant Damage! (whew!)
Mar a Lago Update: American Dreams
Here it is another Fourth of July in America. Besides the perennial worry about Falling Elephants , today we enjoyed the company of close neighbors over tasty snacks, decent wine, tasty barbecue, and excellent conversation on issues of the day that grew curiously animated, suggesting an unconscious anxiety about the world we share and the politics that drive it. Interestingly, our little group shared a common political perspective, which is not so much Philosophical as it is Nostalgiac, somewhat reminiscent of Robert Kennedy’s line about “Other people see things as they are and ask Why?…I see things that Never Were and ask “Why Not?”
As we went around the table, each of us dug deeply to try to Name the sources of our Fears. The common element seemed to be that from childhood we had all become attached to idealistic fantasies of the Meaning of America which over recent decades in general and over the last two years in particular have been Wholeheartedly Abandoned by Republicans.
At root is a somewhat arcane economic theory involving the relationship between “property rights” and “amenity rights” proposed by EJ Mishan some decades ago. The idea is that in lots of circumstances the behavior of one individual imposes collateral costs on other individuals, as when someone smokes in a restaurant, plays loud music that bothers neighbors, or dumps radioactive waste into a public waterway.
Mishan’s central point was the ambiguity of rights in modern society. Does a cigarette smoker have the property right to smoke wherever and whenever s/he pleases, or does everyone else have the right to a smoke-free environment? Should the smoker pay for the right to smoke in a social setting, or should those present have to pay the smoker Not To Smoke?
Today, nearly fifty years after the first Earth Day, these issues of property rights and amenity rights remain unresolved and to a large degree define the differences between Republicans and Democrats. If you believe every individual Owns the Right to Clean Air and Water, Quiet, and Equal Opportunity, you are a Democrat. If you believe that every individual Owns a Right to engage in any personal and economic behavior they choose regardless of its consequences on others, you are a Republican. Sadly, it is hard to see any room for compromise between these Extremes.
Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 10,000 as of 5/1/19
This week’s wine tasting
Ottella Lugana Bianco ’16 Italy $15
Trebbiano di Lugano (Turbiana). Intense straw yellow color with green tinges. Exotic notes of candied fruit and citrus, warm and very deep on the nose. Widespread expressive finesse, with rich and persistent texture.
Elicio Rosé ’18 France $12
Syrah-grenache blend; bright vibrant pink; fruit-forward notes of fresh raspberries and summer flowers.
Atalaya Laya ’17 Spain $11
70% Garnacha and 30% Monastrell; Cassis, blueberry, pungent herbs and mocha aromas lead to an open-knit palateof fresh cherry, dark berry, and a hint of black pepper and a subtle floral note.
Coupe Roses La Bastide ’17 France $12
Carignan-Grenache blend; aromas and flavors of the garrigue underbrush of the high Minervois, laced with notes of blueberry and Carignan’s tarry black notes.
Seghesio Zinfandel Angela’s Garden ’17 $19
Nose has ripe bing cherries with a bit of leather that expand on the palate to ripe maraschino and Rainiers. Youthful and bright with a surprising depth of flavor and a youthful finish.
2072 Granger Way