NCW Libraries

For many people, the most tangible and beneficial impact they can have on the environment is right in their own yard. Aimed at beginning and veteran gardeners alike, Real Gardens Grow Natives is a stunningly photographed guide that helps readers plan, implement, and sustain a retreat at home that reflects the natural world. Gardening with native plants that naturally belong and thrive in the Pacific Northwest's climate and soil not only nurtures biodiversity,...

An insider account of the high-risk world of elite wilderness firefighters who parachute into deep-wilderness fire zones reveals the unique skills that smokejumpers must employ to fight dangerous fires and stay alive.

Filled with more than two hundred delectable contemporary recipes celebrating Washington's bounty, Wandering and Feasting takes readers on an exciting culinary journey through the state. Vignettes on local communities note each region's history and its native and cultivated foods. These foods are then highlighted in delicious regional recipes such as Seattle's Saki Salmon; Long Beach's Cranberry Mousse in Hazelnut Butter Crust; Walla Walla's Sweet...

When two boys--John William Barry and Neil Countryman-- meet in 1972 at age sixteen, they're brought together by what they have in common: a fierce intensity and a love of the outdoors that takes them, together and often, into Washington's remote backcountry, where they must rely on their wits--and each other--to survive. Soon after graduating from college, Neil sets out on a path that will lead him toward a life as a devoted schoolteacher and family...

"Few regions of the country produced such a distinctive group of artists with such a particular view on the modern world as did the Pacific Northwest in the 1930s and 1940s. Capitalizing on their particular geographical position at what was a modern art outpost--working free from the strong influences of New York and Europe, and sitting at the portal to the Far East--a close-knit group of artists sought to address the global political, social, and...

"The selected locations help readers to appreciate the broader history of small-town life in Washington. Yet each featured town boasts a distinct narrative, as unique as the citizens who call these places home. These residents are innovators, hard workers, and--most of all--good people. The locations range from quaint to historic, and they wonderfully represent the Evergreen State"--Publisher.

Nestled in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains, Cle Elum grew as a railroad town, transporting lumber and coal, both from nearby Roslyn and later from Cle Elum itself. In 1891, it survived its first fire. In 1918, after reaching its population high of over 2,700 residents, a catastrophic fire broke out on a windy June day. Two-thirds of the townspeople were left homeless, and the majority of the town was destroyed. Cle Elum rose again from...

The Sunset Highway works its way east to west across the 300-mile-wide expanse of Washington State from the Spokane River to its ending at Seattle on Puget Sound. Later known as Highway 10, the route traverses a landscape of big cities, small towns, and wide-open spaces; rolling hills and rugged mountains; fertile fields of grain, apple orchards, and ranches; roaring streams, deep rivers, and rock-walled coulees-now dry, but once a mighty watercourse....