PCC Farmland Trust
This article was originally published in October 2006
Ames Creek Farm tour
Mark your calendar! Come visit the Ames Creek Farm, the Farmland Trust’s most recent purchase. We’ll be part of the King County Harvest Celebration Farm Tour on Saturday, October 7, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 27307 N.E. 100th St. in Carnation.
See our farm tour Web page for directions and more information.
New directors
The PCC Farmland Trust announces the recent hiring of two new executive directors. Kathryn Gardow and Alicia Guy will lead the trust in an innovative job-sharing arrangement that combines their skills, experience and personal dedication to the project.
Kathryn Gardow has been involved for many years in fundraising for local education, philanthropic and progressive political communities. Her firm, Kathryn Gardow & Associates, LLC, has provided land use and project management consulting to local cities. She is also a former member of the PCC Board of Trustees.
Alicia Guy has worked for PCC Natural Markets since 1997 and is an advocate for small-scale local agriculture. Guy brings to her new position experience as an event and volunteer coordinator, food and agriculture writer, editor and photographer with an emphasis on farmers and farmland. Both women have taken an active interest in the Farmland Trust since its inception in 1999.
Please feel free to contact them at 206-547-1222 or email kathryn.gardow@pccmarkets.com alicia.guy@pccmarkets.com
Salmon-Safe restoration project at Ames Creek Farm
The PCC Farmland Trust has teamed up with Stewardship Partners to restore the creek at our most recently purchased property in Carnation. Ames Creek meanders through the 178.5-acre Ames Creek Farm before converging with a bend in the Snoqualmie River.
Stewardship Partners will be working with the farmers to remove creekside invasive weeds and replace them with native vegetation. Stewardship Partners has established the Salmon-Safe certification to recognize farmers who apply fish-friendly farming practices. Criteria examined include riparian and wetland protection, irrigation management, erosion control, chemical use, animal management and promoting native biodiversity.
Ames Creek farmers Andrew Stout and Michaele Blakely have received Salmon-Safe certification based on their farmland stewardship in previous King County locations. Nash Huber, who leases part of another PCC Farmland Trust farm, also has received Salmon-Safe Certification.
Nash’s Organic Produce wins 2006 Vim Wright Stewardship Award
Nash Huber and his dedicated crew have won the annual Vim Wright Stewardship Award presented by local farming advocacy group, Farming and the Environment.
The award recognizes Washington state producers who are providing exemplary stewardship of soil, water, air and wildlife habitat. Huber states, “It’s an honor and we appreciate being recognized by Farming & the Environment.
“The long-term availability and health of farmland is paramount to our nation’s food security and adds greatly to our quality of life in the Puget Sound region. I’m blessed to have a great group of hardworking young farmers working with me. We need to ensure there’s plenty of good farmland for these young folks to farm.”
As part of his farming operation, Huber is leasing 74 acres of the Delta Farm, the first farm preserved by the Farmland Trust in 2001.