Thank your local organic farmer: help keep our food close to home
by Jody Aliesan, PCC Farmland Fund President and Operating Officer
This article was originally published in November 2002
(November 2002) — 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 protect the Shipley Fields.
Last year local organic farmers opened 180 cards with our messages written on them.
After Scott Leach lost 30 percent of his pears and apples to a disastrous hailstorm in June of 2001, our thank you notes were part of the support that helped him recover. He said that every few days, his wife, Lupe, would read one at the kitchen table with tears in her eyes.
Farmer JoanE McIntyre of Rent’s Due Ranch wrote to say there are times when their work is piled so high that “We wonder why we are doing this. When the overwhelming feeling came over me,” she said, “I looked down at the corner of my desk to this incredible stack of thank you cards and well wishes from so many grateful customers. There it is, the inspiration to get up and do it again. To be soldiers for a healthier tomorrow.”
The card’s image of harvest bounty was contributed by artist Marion Keen. She lives in Sequim near the Shipley Fields and our Delta Farm. Colors are green and brown on cream woven card stock with matching envelope.
Protection shares make meaningful gifts
“Protection shares” provide a way to dedicate a gift to our Delta Farm: the land itself, the farmhouse, barn, outbuildings, orchard, and even individual fruit trees. Stake-holders receive certificates on fine paper with a green ribbon and gold seal. Your name and the names of those you wish to honor or remember are inscribed on permanent plaques. This spring the first series of these plaques were installed on the barn. Look for the brochure “Become a stakeholder in the Delta Farm” in the Farmland Fund display in PCC stores, or find a donation form online.
Flash! WDFW deal closes
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has completed purchase of 23 acres of wetlands on our Delta Farm and a conservation easement protecting wildlife on the remaining 76 acres. The $241,000 received was used to retire debt on the Delta Farm and towards protection of the Shipley Fields. The mortgage papers were stamped “Paid” by many hands, shredded, and then folded into the Delta Farm’s compost pile.
Farmland Fund Highlights
Ruth Pickering writes, “Here is the equivalent of my first Social Security check. What could be more important to our social security than local farms?”
Dr. Janette Sherman, author of Life’s Delicate Balance: Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer and Chemical Exposure and Disease, was honored on her 73rd birthday by a gift to the Farmland Fund made by her daughters and son-in-law. Visit her website at www.janettesherman.com.
Farmland Fund t-shirts are on sale for $9.95 through the end of the year! They’re available in all PCC stores.
Contribute $100 or more to the Fund and receive a free print. Original illustrations in color pencil and watercolor by Northwest artists are printed on high quality recycled paper and are donated by Good Nature Publishing. Sunset Magazine calls these illustrations “Horticultural Fine Art!”
Donor Roster (September 1 -30, 2002)
Anonymous: 3
Michaelene Adams
Chad Aschtgen
Connie Ball
Michael Dilazzaro
Leslie Geller
Esther Hazelet
Ed Irwin
David and Ellen Jenner
Carlo Levy
Mary Jane Helmann
Candace and Ted Hoffman
Virginia Kelley
Ronald Long
Leonard and Emily Mandelbaum
Robert Messina
Bil Moorhead and Margo Leishman
Kenneth Pfluger and Kay Planting
Ruth Pickering
Joan Ritzenthaler
Rollie and Susan C. Roberts
Joel Schlekewey
Jeanette Stiles
P.Stimac and Kent Buttars
Mark and Nancy Tucker
Jeffrey Vaughan
Duane and Bertha White
PCC Staff:
More than 100 PCC staff members make voluntary payroll deductions twice a month. Marianne Gibbs increased her deduction, Leola Mullins contributed her PCC Anniversary gift, and Gwen Belsvik made an additional donation.
Businesses and Organizations:
Diamond Dry Extraction Carpet Cleaning
Good Nature Publishing Company
Organic Valley
TalkingRain Beverage Company
Wildwood Harvest 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.