Michelle Schmidtke

Last November, I wrote about the adventures of Jessica Kelley on an arduous biking and rafting trip in Canada. This summer, I met up with her again at Lynne Wasson’s puppy class, where we both had our young dogs learning the basics of becoming canine good citizens. There, Jessica told me about her summer occupation […]

Smoke lingers from two ongoing fires over by Wenatchee, but the heat of summer is gone, and the cool days of fall have arrived. Most of the garden has been harvested, so it’s time to not only dry, can, freeze, and ferment, but also plant garlic and clean up all the plant debris, putting the […]

One of the perks of being a Valley Life columnist is getting to know people through interviews, either in person or occasionally by phone. So far, all my profiles have been about people still alive, but, after watching the movie “Our Mr. Matsura,” produced and directed by Beth Harrington, I was so impressed by the […]

His parents didn’t know what to make of him — their bright son, who preferred to study a field guide or explore the natural world, venturing into forests, swamps, and mountains, or collecting and dissecting specimens. They didn’t discourage him, but wondered where his future lay. His teachers didn’t know what to do with him, […]

In 2007, I wrote an article about Stehekin that started with, “You can’t drive to Stehekin. Go by boat, hike a trail, fly in by float plane, or ride a horse.” Since this article was published by “The Trail Rider” magazine, I wrote about riding my horse to the Stehekin Valley Ranch, a distance of […]

Forest health treatments, thinning out mostly non-commercial trees from dog-hair stands, have, so far, been the best solution to minimizing the severity of wildfires. But, since little marketable timber is involved, they are expensive to undertake. The treatments also leave behind piles of biomass debris that, when burned, add more CO2 to the atmosphere and […]

A few columns ago, I mentioned that Vic Stokes received the Lifetime Conservation Achievement Award from the Okanogan Conservation District (OCD). Four other people from the Methow Valley also received awards at the 2025 Conservation Celebration. Sam and Brooke Lucy, owners of Bluebird Grain Farms, were the recipients of the Wildlife Habitat Steward Award. According […]

Eleven years after the Carlton Complex Fire, and smoke and wildfires almost every summer since then, it’s a blessed relief to experience more moderate temperatures and the rare occurrence of a few rainy days and nights, even though we’re experiencing our third year of drought. We can thank the timely efforts of our local, state, […]

What’s civil discourse, and why is it important? Civil discourse is the open, respectful exchange of ideas, needed now more than ever in our divided world. When practiced effectively, civil discourse fosters a deeper understanding, enhances critical thinking and problem-solving skills, bridges political divides, and promotes civil communication through open dialog. In recent years, many […]