Thank your local organic farmer: help keep our food close to home
by Stephanie Taylor, Director, Farmland Fund
This article was originally published in October 2004
(October 2004)
In this season of gratitude, we thank our Washington organic farmers.
They do the work and take the risks to provide us with sustainable sources of fresh, clean local produce.
Send a gift to the Farmland Fund and we’ll mail this card to the farmer of your choice or choose a farmer for you from the Washington Tilth Producers Directory. Let us know what you’d like to say. All contributions will be used to preserve organic farmland.
Last year local organic farmers received nearly 200 cards with our messages of thanks. The card’s image of harvest bounty was created and contributed by artist Marion Keen. The colors are green and brown on cream woven card stock with matching envelope.
Bennington Place news
by Joel Huesby
I may have told you already about how, on one side of the road where the cattle were grazing wilted alfalfa (swathed in the rain and not cured), I blessed the rain and was making money (emphasis on the biological system). On the other side of the road where the hay turned black and spoiled, I cursed the rain and was losing money (emphasis on the mechanical system). I never want to be in a position in eastern Washington where I curse the rain again! The more forage that I can get a cow to harvest, on her own, is several times more profitable than this excessive dependence on machines to harvest sunlight when cows can do much of it more effectively. More later.
Sunfield Farm celebration
Pumpkin patch and corn labyrinth
Grand Opening Saturday, October 9
Port Hadlock, Washington
by Helen Curry, Director
Families and friends of the farm planted the pumpkin patch and corn labyrinth, and we’d love you to come celebrate the grand opening with us. There’ll be horse-cart rides, food, music and crafts. The farm will continue to be open from Friday through Sunday during October. For more information, visit www.sunfieldfarm.org.
Sunfield Education Association celebrates the protection of Sunfield Farm from any development or subdivision. The Jefferson Land Trust holds 76 acres under a permanent conservation easement in perpetuity.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service Federal Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program funded this project along with the Jefferson County Conservation Futures Fund. Additional fundraising efforts included a $10,000 challenge grant from the PCC Farmland Fund. $112,473 remains to be raised by December 30, 2004.
Buy the new 2004-05 Chinook Book: $10 goes to save farmland!
Save money and show your support for sustainable businesses with the Chinook Book. The book features more than $5,000 in money-saving coupons and is filled with ideas and resources for smart, healthy living. It makes a great gift. Available for $20 in all PCC Natural Markets. (www.chinookbook.net)
Update from the Delta Farm
by Nash Huber
“It’s harvest season. The first batch of carrots went out to the PCC stores and they are a good crop. In general, all the crops were very good. Lots of insects, specifically aphids, infested the broccoli and cauliflower, which we control with neem oil and lacewing larva. This kind of insect trouble is not unusual for the temperature that the Dungeness Valley has been receiving, and as a result, the water level in the Dungeness River is especially low.
The farm began the growing season with about half of what it normally receives from the snowmelt. The water level (in late August) is at 100 cfs (cubic feet per second) and will be shut off at 60 cfs by the irrigation ditch companies in the middle of September. This is what happened last year. The farm needs to make it through, so everyone is praying.”
Donor Roster (August 1-31, 2004)
Anonymous: 1
Walt & Dona Bubelis
Michael Carrack
Jennifer Durante
Michael Gross
Betty H. Hughes
Eric & Katy Matthews
Caryl & Peter Mezey
Kate McNenny
James Such
Erde Sun
Mark & Nancy Tucker
In honor of
Elizabeth Fikejs
PCC Staff More than 100 PCC staff members make payroll deductions twice a month.
Businesses and Organizations
Choice Organic Teas
Clean Earth/PureAyre
TalkingRain Beverage Company
Whit Press
Wildwood Natural Foods
The PCC Farmland Fund works to secure and preserve threatened farmland in Washington State and move it into organic production. For more information, see the PCC Farmland Fund web pages.