Sound Consumer

Holding off development bulldozers against the fast disappearance of farmland in Western Washington, our Farmland Fund rides to the rescue of 40 acres of prime farmland in the Dungeness Delta near Sequim.

Market prices are misleading; they ignore the damage to our environment. While we in the United States like to think we’re blessed with the world’s best and cheapest food, we’ve actually let market prices lie to us. They don’t register all the hidden costs of our “factory farming” model, costs that undermine the very sustainability of nature’s gifts. Food prices don’t count the fact that soil is eroding on prime farmland many times faster than nature rebuilds it, or the marine life we’re losing because of nitrogen runoff from overusing fertilizers.

Would you love to escape the city to bury your hands in the soil? Have you thought about starting a farm, but the idea of making the transition is overwhelming? Here’s a chance to answer these thoughts as you work alongside local farmers, helping them sow, transplant, weed, harvest, build compost piles, and more.

I have this friend who needed to lose a quick 25 pounds in order to qualify for a life insurance policy. He shopped around a bit and decided to start a high-protein diet. “It’s great!” he told me. “I can eat all the meat, chicken and fish I want, and there’s no counting calories or fat grams. I’ve lost 15 pounds already!” In the end he didn’t reach his goal but his situation raised a few questions for me.

The Bullitt Foundation, premier guardian of our Pacific Northwest landscape, has approved a one-year, one-to-one matching grant of $25,000 to assist the Farmland Fund’s purchase of an agricultural easement on the Shipley Fields. See also in this article: Futures Cards, news on the Delta Farm and the Donor Roster for May 1 – 31.