It's time to get out of the house (or cabin), and do some fun stuff, before we all go stir-crazy!
On the 19th of January, our local bee-raising community will gather at the Deer Park Senior Center (located in the lower level of the Deer Park City Hall) at 6:30 p.m. for the first 2017 meeting of the Backyard Bee Keepers. The focus of the meeting will be(e) "Cooking with Honey," which sounds like a sweet class topic, to me. Non-beekeepers are always welcome.
On the 21st of January, a LOT of us will attend the first 2017 bingo night at Inland Grange (37411 N. Conklin Road, Elk), at 6:30 p.m. Competitiveness, pizza, caffeinated softdrinks, and a lot of laughter – it's all good.
On the 28th of January, the LDS church on Highway 2, across from the Ram restaurant, will hold a Self Reliance seminar starting at 10 a.m., with classes on gardening, food preservation, heating with wood, and more.
Also on the 28th of January, just after the Self Reliance seminar, the Pend Oreille County Master Gardeners will offer a series of gardening classes and demonstrations (not the picket signs and loud ranting kind of demonstration!) on winter indoor salad growing, spring garden preparations, seed starting, and related topics. The event runs from 1-3 p.m., at the CREATE place, 900 W. 4th Street, Newport, and you can call the Master Gardeners at the County Extension office for details, at 509-447-2401.
Garden club member Barbara Midtbo recommends a class, "Gardening with Grafted Vegetables," taught by Salem, Oregon, Master Gardener Harry Olson at the 2nd of February meeting of The Inland Empire Gardeners. The meeting and class starts at 6:30 p.m., at Center Place, in Spokane Valley Mirabou Park (2426 N. Discovery Place, Spokane Valley).
I hope you will take advantage of some (or all!) of these opportunities to have fun, and maybe learn something as well – oh, and maybe get out of the house.
jim
