2011 Farm Tour Program

2011

Sunday, Sept. 18, 10am to 4pm

Stop by and join us on the land…

By Pamela Roberts, WSU Jefferson County Extension Interim Director

S

some are internationally recognized in areas such as the protection and propagation of seed diversity. Others are exploring sustainable farming methods that enhance agricultural soils and that honor a healthy ecological balance between water, air, trees, soil, farm animals and food production. Still others are leading the way in the shellfish sector, helping us monitor and protect the precious marine water resources we have around us that are so vital to their success.

eptember is an exciting time for local farmers and for the entire Jefferson County community when the WSU FARM TOUR rolls back around each fall. This is the time of the harvest - when children and families, grandparents and visitors convene to celebrate the working farms and farmers throughout Jefferson • Jefferson County County. Join us to has an increasing reconnect with where effective local food your food, fibers and system that owes shellfish come from much to organizations and to enjoy the fresh that support the sales air, the friendly people, of local agricultural the farm animals, a products, including bit of music, and the the Port Townsend healthy food that Farmer’s Market, comes from our local Port Townsend Food farms. For those Co-op, Chimacum who want a physical Farmer’s Market and challenge, consider the Pamela Roberts, WSU Interim Director, the Chimacum Corner Tour de Fermes bike peering through SpringRain Farm greenhouse Farmstand. tour as a way to cut tomatoes. down on your carbon • WSU Jefferson footprint. We have County Extension has also established “Farm Tour Central” at the cast a positive spotlight on our wonderful Chimacum Corner Farmstand where you Jefferson County farms and researchers can meet with friends to carpool before through its connections with the WSU going out to tour the farms.

International Programs in Pullman. In the past we have worked with Taiwan, Rwanda Join us and bring a friend, knowing that and Ecuador. This year WSU and our local this special day is available annually for all farmers will collaborate on agricultural our community to enjoy since it is entirely and economic development projects with FREE to the public.

Ghana, Pakistan and Ecuador.

Our county of 30,000 residents is among • We have important public and the smallest by population in Washington private organizations in our community State, and yet we have become a high that collaborate to support the longquality center of excellence in the farming term protection of working lands for world. The WSU FARM TOUR helps us farming and forestry in Jefferson County. celebrate that achievement together.

These organizations also work together You should know that: to protect critical habitat, as well as lands with unique characteristics such • Jefferson County has a team of as those with public views and public dedicated agricultural entrepreneurs forging access to special natural resource areas. new and better ways to farm, emphasizing The Jefferson LandWorks Collaborative organic practices that eliminate the use of member organizations are: Jefferson toxic chemicals, hormones and antibiotics County Conservation District, Jefferson in local food production.

County Farmer’s Market, The Port • We have a growing sector of Townsend Food Co-op, Jefferson Land agricultural researchers living here and Trust, Northwest Natural Resource Group, Shore Bank Enterprise Cascadia, IN THIS PUBLICATION: Photos by Sally Chapin, Sunfield Land for Learning, and WSU Jefferson County Extension.

Pamela Roberts, Katy McCoy and Crystie Kisler.

2 WSU Farm Tour 2011

• Our local vegetable and fruit producers are inspiring us to eat fresh, healthy food and to explore a broader variety of cuisines and recipes that focus on cooking local produce that is in season. Many local farms offer Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) plans that facilitate direct sales to the consumer, thereby providing a muchneeded, higher profit to participating farmers.

• Working voluntarily with local professionals dedicated to Olympic Peninsula salmon renewal, our farmers have embraced their role in protecting and restoring riparian habitats for salmon – showing the world that through flexible thinking and collaboration we can successfully balance healthy food production with the need to restore our natural habitats.

• Local farmers are exploring creative and varied methods to stay financially viable by providing additional services on their farms such as Bed and Breakfast facilities, farm tours, tasting rooms and educational workshops.

• We have an organic dairy in Chimacum that has stayed in business despite the loss of so many others. They produce high quality organic milk, which helps give them the margin of profit needed to stay economically viable.

• Our dairy, beef, goat, sheep and chicken farms provide free-range, wide open pasture lifestyles, creating an environment that is happy and healthy for both animals and local citizens to enjoy.

• Jefferson County has a growing cheese industry with unique local products emerging every month and plans for a new creamery to be restored in the heart of our agricultural center in Chimacum.

• Jefferson County is successfully nurturing a new generation of farmers through a unique program that places interns onto local farms and provides them hands-on experiences and academic education.

• We have a growing number of apple orchards and hard cider producers that are winning regional awards for their cider quality. Several also have tasting rooms for visitors to enjoy.

• Our dedicated fiber farms are inspiring a host of local fiber artists and processors with the high quality wool produced from their diverse breeds of sheep, llamas and alpacas.

• The average distance that food travels to reach our homes is 1500 miles.

Farmers and community members alike are beginning to explore local meat production, including establishing facilities to process meat locally.

Innovations related to farming are happening in unique and customized ways on each and every farm in Jefferson County because our local agricultural community has embraced a mindset of experimentation and a willingness to try new and promising approaches.

Farmers in our community are dedicated to scientific inquiry and are eager to ask basic questions. They are willing to challenge the notion that things are best because, “It is what we have always done.”

Our farmers embrace a more visionary stance and are bold enough to ask,“How can we do this better?”

There is so much to celebrate in our Jefferson County farming community – please join us and give your local farmers a much-deserved pat on the back!

John Navazio, Senior Scientist, Research & Education, Seed Extension Specialist OSA/WSU September 14, 2011

9th annual WSU FARM TOUR & EVENTS Thursday, Fri, Sat, Sun Sept. 15-18 Northwest Earth Institute 2011 Bi-annual NORTH AMERICAN GATHERING & CONFERENCE

“If Not Me, Then Who?” Building Healthy Communities & Local Food Systems One Conversation at a Time.

Coulter Kisler enjoys a gleeful relationship with apples at his family’s Finnriver Farm & Cidery.

An Apple a Day Keeps the Farm Boy at Play, and Work

By Crystie Kisler Finnriver Farm My younger son, three year old Coulter, drags the ladder next to the tall stack of wooden apple bins, methodically climbs the steps, and then tries to hurl himself into the pile of mounded Galas. He is ecstatic. It’s like one of those play-pens filled with colorful plastic balls, only these are edible, and organic! This batch of apples is getting pressed into juice, for eventual fermentation into cider, and their ripe, red, round presence is a great temptation to my boy. He reaches into the bin to pluck an apple from the pile, takes one ferocious bite and then tosses it over his shoulder in a fit of gleeful mischief. After the second incident of wasteful hurling, he is politely relocated over to the apple press where we hope to put his throwing arm to better use. There he stands on a bin edge and, with the help of his father, aims apples into the chute of the press. The apples are quite large, and his hands can barely wrap around one, so he rises from the bin with an armload and wrangles each one proudly into the chute.

I am surprised that my son is not uncomfortable around the press, which is loud and rather intimidating during the September 14, 2011

“chipping” phase of the operation. After traveling down the chute, the apples are shredded into tiny pieces by a bladed hammer-mill that works much like a big blender, flinging chunks of apple out the top at times and snorting and roaring as it goes. But even though I am a bit shy about getting up close and personal with the press, this little boy seems to love it! And then I recall an image of him as a baby (not even one yet) in a blue snowsuit, tucked into a pack on his father’s back while Keith sorted and pressed apples in the mid-winter chill.

This child, I realize, was introduced to the joys of fresh apple juice very early in his life. And he was lulled to sleep many a day by the rumble of that press, his little head resting on his dad’s shoulders while the work of the cidery carried on.

Thanks to his early exposure to loud equipment and to long hours supervising the work on his dad’s back, it looks like Coulter will be a great farm-hand, undaunted by the rumble and repetition of jobs like pressing apples. The golden juice dripping from the barrel is his reward; and ours is raising our children on a farm, with good purpose, wonderful community and food and drink that honors its origins in the land.

Port Townsend community members, partners, course organizers, course participants and volunteers. Enjoy three days of hiking, yoga, workshops on sustainable food, edible landscaping, dynamic community organizing, networking and community building. Keynote Speaker is Will Allen, urban farmer and retired American Basketball player.

Fort Worden State Park & Conference Center, Port Townsend $55 - $75 nwei.org

Sat. & Sun., Sept. 17 & 18 FIBER FARM TOUR 10 am - 4 pm It’s FREE!

Ananda Hills, Jacob’s Fleece, Compass Rose Farm, Spring Hill Farm, Taylored Fibers olypenfiberfarmtour.com

Sunday - Sept. 18 WSU FARM TOUR & TOUR DE FERMES

10 am - 4 pm It’s FREE!

4-H Shellfish Farm, Alpenfire Cider, Ananda Hills Farm, Bishop Dairy, Colinwood Farm, Compass Rose Farm, Elk Meadows, Finnriver Farm, Jacob’s Fleece, Mystery Bay Farm, Red Dog Farm, Short’s Family Farm, Spring Hill Farm, SpringRain Farm, Sunfield Farm, Taylored Fibers, Westbrook Angus, Whiskey Hill Farm Join Port Townsend Bicycle Association in celebrating our local farms through the Tour de Fermes. Details can be found at: wsufarmtour.com Look for our red WSU banner at Farm Tour Central located at the Chimacum Corner Farmstand on Sunday.

WSU Farm Tour 2011 3

Farm Tour History: Telling the Origin Story

I

n the past few years many leadership positions in Jefferson County have been in transition.

Kenna Eaton is the new General Manager at The Food Co-op. Pamela Roberts is Interim Director of WSU Extension participating in an active search to replace Katherine Baril. Teresa Verraes is the new executive director at the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce. We have a new school superintendent, hospital director, and have had five Jefferson Transit Authority General Managers in just over one year.

In the past five years we have had three different Farmer’s Market Directors.

This type of transition makes recording the history of something like the WSU Farm Tour challenging because producers of the early farm tours have moved on.

My interest in farm tour history was sparked by my desire to increase awareness of The Food Co-op’s role in sponsoring the farm tour consistently since its inception nine years ago. I was also curious why the tour name was changed from “Jefferson County Farm Tour” to “WSU Farm Tour” during the 6th Farm Tour in 2007. Why was it suddenly the WSU Farm Tour? Had this community event, sponsored since its inception by the same three organizations -- WSU Extension, The Port Townsend Food Co-op, and the Farmer’s Market -- somehow left the Farmer’s Market and the Food Co-op behind in recognition?

My research has left me humbled, and in a nutshell, what follows is a very brief farm tour history. Maybe this article will generate more information on the history of the tour from those that have been involved over the years. If so, please contact me at info@foodcoop.coop and let’s build a written history to share, honoring all those who helped to grow this event. Katherine Baril has already agreed to help with this project.

Apparently, in 2003, the Farmer’s Market Board (basically Phil and Wendy Norquest) approved a fee of $500 per month to hire a director. Harvindar Singh responded to the call and moved his family to Port Townsend to run the fledgling market. That same year, Katherine Baril, then director of WSU Extension, wanted to start a farm tour in Jefferson County and had some money in her budget. Recognizing the value of augmenting Mr. Singh’s meager salary, 4 WSU Farm Tour 2011

Katherine offered Singh $2,000 more per month to produce a farm tour and the first Jefferson County Farm Tour was born. Shuttles to and from The Food Coop and participating farms were supplied

by Jefferson County Transit. Ten farms participated.

So, the event has always been a WSU Farm Tour, sponsored by the Farmer’s Market and Port Townsend Food Co-op.

The details of actual collaboration have been challenging to verify as financial support offered to WSU by the two sponsors over the years has varied from nothing to $3000 per year. Yet every year, Katherine generously placed the logos of the Farmer’s Market and The Food Co-op on every poster, and from the first Farm Tour insert in the Leader, has given the back page to the three founding organizations.

Once I got over my embarrassment for feeling such entitlement on behalf of The Food Co-op, I began to mull over the importance of knowing the history of something. Should we awake each day as though everything is new and live in the moment? Would it be valuable to put energy into understanding the history of something, even if it requires considerable research? Does anyone really care

Compass Rose Farm plants their produce in healthy, colorful patches.

Chickens and sheep enjoy each other’s company at Compass Rose Farm. about origin stories? Is it important to understand the relationship between the past, present and future? These questions are significant to me currently because The Food Co-op is celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2012 and we will be collecting stories from our owners about their personal experience of the past 40 years. We’d love to hear your story.

While contemplating these questions, I remembered an experience I’d had while living in the Oakwood section of Venice Beach in the early 1990s.

My neighborhood was in transition.

Gentrification was displacing families that had been living in a once economically depressed area of Los Angeles. The grandkids of my acrossthe-street neighbor, eighty-year-old Vannie (who had purchased her house in the 1950s), the first black nurse hired to work at Santa Monica General Hospital decades earlier, were helping me wash my car. I went inside to get refreshments, bringing out fresh peaches. While juice was running down their delighted faces, the oldest brother asked me, “What are these?”

I was stunned into mute confusion.

What did he mean? Could it be possible that these kids had never had a fresh peach before?

The reason this story comes to mind is connected to our WSU Farm Tour. It’s connected to knowing the origins of our

food. It’s connected to telling the story of our farms and farmers and connecting the dots between the sun, the soil, the tree, the farmer and the can of peaches at the store. It’s connected to the need for families and educators to help their kids understand the history of their food.

I recently watched a video related to my work as President of the Jefferson County Farm to School Coalition. The producers of the video were asking a group of elementary school students eating French fries to identify what vegetable they were eating. Only one of five students could name the potato, and when asked to name where it grew, none could do so. We’ve travelled that far from the origins of our food, our farms, and our farmers. Our kids no longer know the origins of French fries. The WSU Farm Tour, produced this year by Pamela Roberts, is a great place to remedy this lack of food history, and a fun day to boot!

September 14, 2011

Building Back Our Agricultural Community

By Katy McCoy Chimacum Corner Farmstand

T

he grocery store as a community center? Yep, that’s exactly what Malcolm Dorn, Phil Vogelzang and I envisioned in November, 2010, when we opened Chimacum Corner Farmstand, a new local “FOOD FROM HERE” grocery located at the confluence of Chimacum’s two rich agricultural valleys, Center and Beaver.

If you think about it, grocery stores are natural community centers. As Phil points out, “Food is the original glue that held societies together. How well they managed that food supply determined their ability to survive years of famine and pestilence.”

It is still true today that how we choose to grow and procure food can greatly affect the health and cohesiveness of our community. The best local agricultural practices can play a huge role in preserving healthy soils, streams, and wildlife, building local economy, creating rich cultural traditions, and keeping its human inhabitants healthy and happy.

From the beginning of non-native settlement of the Olympic Peninsula in the late 1800s, Chimacum functioned as an important agricultural center.

In those days, all food was necessarily local, and the thousands living and working in the booming mill and smelter towns of Port Townsend, Port Hadlock, Port Ludlow, Irondale, Discovery Bay, and Port Gamble all had to eat. Chimacum’s two valleys, Center and Beaver, boasted not only the best agricultural land on the peninsula, but they were also centrally located. A prosperous and diverse farming community developed along with an axis of roads that carried large quantities of food out in all directions. The thriving hub of that axis was at the intersecton where Chimacum Corner Farmstand sits today.

As the extraction industries ran their course and the mill towns began to close,

September 14, 2011

Michelle Shooman shares local food from here at the Chimacum Corner Farmstand.

Chimacum, besides growing lots of wheat, began to specialize in dairy and expand its reach, selling to places like Seattle. By mid-century there were well over 60 small dairies, Glendale Dairy being the biggest with a large creamery that processed milk from the smaller dairies. For a time, farmers prospered, but consolidation continued, and before long, everyone (including Glendale) was either owned by or sold their milk directly to Darigold. It became the norm for food to be shipped further and further distances. Economic factors favoring industrial-scaled operations forced dairy after dairy to close. (Today, only one defiant dairy, Bishop Organic Valley Dairy, remains.)

Chimacum lost its agricultural footing, and with it a big part of its identity and purpose. 20,000 cars may drive through each day, but few stop or appreciate its impressive history.

There is reason to hope however that this trend away from sustainable farming and local food may finally be reversing in our area. Older farmers, unwilling to give up, are trying new tricks, while younger farmers

are flocking to the valley with big ambition and new ideas. Farm interns from across the country are coming to East Jefferson County to take part in the “field program” and mentor under the instruction of our local farmers, while WSU provides lots of other educational opportunities through its extension “ag” programs. Jefferson Landworks Collaborative, a network of diverse organizations, is working hard to find creative ways to preserve working farmland and keep local farms

economically viable. One of their most recent successes is that within the next few years, Mount Townsend Creamery will be moving their entire creamery and heifer cow operation to Chimacum. And last, but not least, a grass roots movement is taking hold.

As we all become more aware of the industrial food system’s hidden costs to the environment, animal welfare, personal health, and national security, people are increasingly choosing to invest in our future via buying local food.

Which brings us back to Chimacum Corner Farmstand and our vision.

We believe that in our century-long journey away from eating local, our community lost much of the “food glue” that held it together, kept it healthy, and gave us purpose. We want to be part of the glue that begins the repair process. We are only part of the glue however which includes farmers, producers, other markets, supportive institutions, and of course YOU, the educated principled consumer.

Our primary goal is to build a public marketplace where local farmers can one day make a decent living feeding the locale. If we can enrich the experience further by acting as a community center where neighbors get to know each other and connect to where their food comes from, so much the better. It is all strangely reminiscent of Chimacum in 1900.

(Except of course…we have a much better website: www.chimacumcorner.com) We’re honored to be the headquarters this year for the annual WSU Farm Tour. Please come visit us at 9122 Rhody Drive on Hwy 19.

We’re open daily 9-7. Look for the 12’ rooster at the only 4 way stop in Chimacum!

WSU Farm Tour 2011 5

Directions: Located on Cape George Rd, north of Hastings Avenue. Look for gravel driveway on the west side.

Whiskey Hill Goat Dairy produces artisanal aged cheeses and fluid milk from raw goat milk. We also produce a cow milk cheese. The milk is sold in quart and half gallon sizes. We raise purebred Nubian and French Alpine dairy goats for replacement and breeding stock for other dairies. Come and tour the goat barn, milking parlor and cheesemaking room.

We will have several cheeses for sale as well as well as soaps and lotions. The goats are eager to meet folks and love to be petted!

Bridgehaven

Shine

Directions: From the intersection of SR19 and Center Rd, follow Center Rd south 2.7 miles to Country Meadow Rd. Turn right (west) onto Country

Keith and Crystie Kisler, Janet Aubin and Jeff Horwath 360-732-6822 62 Barn Swallow Road, Chimacum, WA 98325 info@finnriverfarm.com www.finnriver.com

Jennie Watkins 360-732-0111 553 Embody Road, Port Ludlow, WA 98365 Parad jewatkins@olypen.com anandahillsfarm.wordpress.com

13. Ananda Hills Farm

recognition of the quality of their sheep and wool.

Their farm is located in Beaver Valley where Margaret has developed an extensive line of products made from her own sheep's fiber. She has an array of combed and carded wool as well as several weights of yarn, all in beautiful natural colors. If you Marrowstone are a spinner looking for a raw fleece to work with, Island Margaret has many beautiful fleeces to choose from.

She also has flat felt for sale, wool socks, comforter batts and blankets.

Nordland On Saturday and Sunday, the Walters will have shearing demonstrations at 11:00, 1:00 and 3:00.

4

Port Ludlow

11 12 13

10. Finnriver Farm

Coyle

Center Rd.

8. Westbrook Angus

Visit Red Dog on the Farm Tour and be treated to a tour of the fields by one of the fabulous crew members, a delicious Cape Cleare salmon sandwich, a scoop of seasonally-inspired Elevated Ice Cream, live tunes from Jefferson County's finest musicians, and fresh farm produce available at our farm stand.

Bring the whole family for a day of fun, but please leave your dogs at home!

Brinnon

18

17

Dabob Rd.

Diana Dyer and Family 360-385-3407 2333 Cape George Road, Port Townsend WA 98368 raven5di@hotmail.com whiskeyhillfarm.com

Goat Dairy

2. Whiskey Hill

Quilcene

16

d.

Coyle Rd .

Naval Magazine Indian Island

Beaver Valley Rd.

Directions: Located on SR19. Look for driveway located between Circle and Square Auto Repair and Fiesta Jalisco Restaurant. ~ Farmer led tours at 10, 12 and 2:00. ~ Goat Milking demonstration at 11:00 ~ Visiting area with goats, sheep, chickens and rabbits ~ Farm products and fibre on sale. ~ Sunfield Waldorf School classrooms open for touring Sunfield Farm uses biodynamic farming methods to enrich and replenish the soils, and nourish a diversity of crops and animals as a model of sustainable agriculture. The farm serves CSA members and the local community with a variety of organically grown produce.

Sunfield, Land for Learning, is a non- profit organization with a community building mission of education and land stewardship. The eighty-one acres of fields, forest and wetlands, with 76 acres held in conservation, is a learning environment for a pre-K through grade eight Waldorf School and community education programs that serve regional schools for farm visits and host a variety of events and workshops. During the farm tour a free workshop on Hugelkultur, an ancient method of creating growing beds from woody material, will be held from 12 to 2p.m. (Hugelkultur | Jefferson County, WA – Solid Waste Program). We invite you to learn more about biodynamic agriculture on a farmer-led tour of the gardens and the composting system, observe milking and wool processing demonstrations given by our 4-H students, and visit with our farm animals.

To learn more about our programs, please visit www. sunfieldfarm.org or call (360) 385-3658.

Chimacum

56 7

1

Irondale Port Hadlock

8 9 10

15

Rd.

Neil and Verity Howe 360-385-3658 111 Sunfield Lane, Port Hadlock WA 98339 info@sunfieldfarm.org sunfieldfarm.org

5. Sunfield Farm

Ea gl e

Four Corners

unt mo

Directions: Farm lies half a block east of the intersection of San Juan Avenue and F Street. Park near farm stand.

Collinwood Farm has been producing certified organic fruits and vegetables since 1989, and runs a 24/7 self-serve farm stand open all year! Come see 40,000 square feet of greenhouses which will help farmers John and Jesse move into year-round local food production.

14

Discovery Bay

Gardiner

Cape George

2 3

Port Townsend

V a l le y R

John Gunning and Jesse Hopkins 1210 F St. Port Townsend WA 98368 |liveorganiclife@yahoo.com

Protection Island

st

1.Colinwood Farm

farming via ecology. Our interest in trying to create a truly sustainable farming system grows out of observations of natural systems from which the word 'sustainable: resilient, adaptable, evolving and thus stable', is derived. We believe that farming can be done in an ecologically, economically and socially responsible manner.

Sunday, September 18, 2011 10am - 4pm

WSU Farm Tour

We

.

Rd

Center Rd .

Oak Bay

Kateen Fenter with parents, Bev and Robert and family 360-379-1443 1463 West Uncas Road, Port Townsend, WA mkfenter@gmail.com

14. Compass Rose Farm

Directions: Heading south on Hwy 19, travel 1.5 miles past Egg & I Rd., turn right on Embody Rd. * Open for tour September 17 and 18, 2011 Ananda Hills Farm is a small and cozy place located in the hills above Beaver Valley. The owner, Jennie Watkins, specializes in raising organic eggs and Shetland Sheep, a diminutive breed originating in the Shetland Islands that produces an amazing amount of beautiful wool in a variety of different colors.

At Ananda Hills Farm, all the farming activities have a symbiotic relationship. The hens scratch up the manure left behind by the sheep allowing it to dry up faster resulting in cleaner pastures. The bedding from the both the chickens and the sheep is turned into compost that enhances the soil in the vegetable gardens.

Silverdale During the Farm Tour, Jennie will have an assortment of raw fleeces for sale as well as roving prepared for spinning. She will also be featuring hand-spun, hand-woven blankets made from her own wool.

d. ay R ise B

Go south on Center Road to the Quilcene Intersection with Highway 101. Turn left and then after you pass the school turn left again at Windermere. Go one block and turn left on Linger Longer Road. Go south 3+ mi. to the Quilcene Boat Haven Marina at the end of the road and park.

A "land" tour will be held at the Quilcene Marina

Joe and Joy Baisch Linger Longer Road Quilcene, WA 98376

Enterprises

17. 4-H Big Quil

* Open for tour September 17 and 18, 2011 Directions: Take Center Valley Rd into Quilcene to intersection with Hwy 101. Take a right on Hwy 101 and go 1.5 miles to a left onto Wildwood Rd. From Wildwood Rd, take your first right on Big Leaf Ln. (gravel road). Follow to farm on left.

Jacob's Fleece Farm is a little off the beaten track but well worth the adventure. Located on 40 acres in the hills above Quilcene, Jan's flock is primarily made up of Jacob Sheep, a unique breed known for its black and white spots and for its multiple horns. Jan sells roving and yarn that she has hand-spun from her own wool. It comes in a variety of natural colors (just like her sheep). She also has created her own line of unique knitted and felted purses.

There will be ongoing weaving, spinning and knitting demonstrations.

During the Farm Tour, Jan has invited several friends to join her: ~Karen Rose of Rose Bud Ranch and Fiber Studio in Port Townsend will be there selling fleeces and custom spun and dyed yarn made from her llamas and alpacas. These yarns are incredibly sophisticated and you won't find them in your local yarn shop! This year Karen will also be demonstrating triangle looms. ~For anyone who appreciates hand-weaving, Ann Norton will be at Jacob's Fleece selling woven items for you and your home. ~Mary Gese will be bringing her mixed media art and jewelry Returning this year will be Victoria Stewart from Salsa 101, who raises salsa ingredients and makes wonderful goat's milk soap.

Jan Gillanders 765-0103 693 Big Leaf Lane, Quilcene, WA 98376 thenest@embarqmail.com jlgillandershorseandfiber.com

16. Jacob's Fleece

Directions: From SR19 heading south, take a left turn onto Covington Way and go to the end of the driveway. Park on the left. From SR19 heading north, take the first right after HJ Carroll Park. Look for signs.

SpringRain Farm & Orchard has been designated as prime agricultural land since the 1920s and is a diversified certified organic farm. We focus on producing a variety of small fruits including raspberries and blueberries, eggs, chicken, turkey, lamb, and heirloom apples and pears. We have an ecological approach to farm management and are committed to sustainable agriculture designed to meet local community needs. Come visit us and try the SpringRain Challenge - a treasure hunt of activities for all ages!

Directions: heading South on Cape George Road, turn right on Pocket Lane immediately before the Beckett Point Y. Alpenfire Cider is the first driveway on the right.

Be sure to stop by Alpenfire Cider's new tasting room for a sample of "Washington's only organic hard ciders." By September our early season apples, Foxwhelp, Muscadet de Dieppe, Kingston Black, etc. will be big, beautiful and just about ready to harvest, come and try a mouth puckering sample! Our late season apples, the Dabinett, Vilberie, Brown Snout and others will still be just beginning to mature. Take a walk through the orchard while it is heavy with fruit and at the height of its productivity.

If you are interested in fermentation be sure to check out the cider house and yes, the finally producing, vinegar room. You can trace the apples’ path from the orchard through the Voran processing equipment straight to the fermentation tanks and into the bottle!

Grab a seat between the trees and enjoy a glass of cider with cheese samples or a cup of coffee and our fresh apple cake. We hope to see you here!

Directions: From SR19, head east into Port Hadlock. At 4-way stop, go east on Oak Bay Rd. Turn left onto Flagler Rd, following signs to Marrowstone Island. Stay on Flagler Rd, crossing Indian Island, and follow to the Nordland Store, halfway up Marrowstone, looking for 72 Beveridge Lane. Follow signs and instruction to parking.

Mystery Bay Farm is a small scale, family farm operating on 5 acres on Marrowstone Island. As of spring 2009, we are a WSDA certified Grade A Dairy. We produce farmstead, goat milk cheeses for general sale (which means we make cheese only from the milk of our animals). We came to

Rachael Van Laanen and Scott Brinton 360-385-3309 72 Beveridge Lane, Nordland WA 98358 info@mysterybayfarm.com www.mysterybayfarm.com

4. Mystery Bay Farm

John G. Bellow 425-218-7756 187 Covington Way, Chimacum, WA 98325 info@springrainfarm.org springrainfarmandorchard.com

Nancy and Steve 'Bear' Bishop 360-379-8915 220 Pocket Lane, Port Townsend 98368 snpbishop@waypt.com alpenfirecider.com

Directions: From the intersection of SR19 and Center Rd, turn south onto Center Rd. Follow to #406. Make a right into the driveway and head for the red barn.

Settled in the fertile Center Valley, Red Dog Farm boasts gorgeous views, salmon-bearing Chimacum Creek frontage, and prime growing conditions. We are certified organic and grow over 150 different varieties of vegetables, berries and flowers on 23 acres. Our produce is sold locally at Port Townsend and Chimacum farmers markets, our 10-month long CSA program, at the farm at our fabulous self-serve Farmstand, and through various retailers and restaurants.

Red Dog Farm is operated by owner Karyn Williams along with her talented crew including Laura Llewellyn, Zach Yakush, Kyra Williams, Joel Sokoloff and Dan Hysko. Red Dog Farm is named after Rupert Dandelion, Karyn's red border collie.

Karyn Williams 360-732-0223 406 Center Rd., Chimacum, WA, 98325 info@reddogfarm.net reddogfarm.net

7. Red Dog Farm

and Orchard

6. SpringRain Farm

by our 4-H students, and visit with our farm animals.

To learn more about our programs, please visit www. sunfieldfarm.org or call (360) 385-3658.

3. Alpenfire Cider

We will have several cheeses for sale as well as well as soaps and lotions. The goats are eager to meet folks and love to be petted!

Directions: Located 1.5 miles south of the intersection of SR19 and Center Rd. From 4-way stop, turn south on Center Rd. Follow to #1594. Turn right (west) into driveway and follow signs to parking.

The Short family has been farming the same 450 acres of Chimacum Valley since 1945. Come see their most recent endeavors: raising USDA certified grass-fed beef and producing over 6000 yards of compost and magical soil for local gardeners. Tour the composting facility, learn about the composting process and order some "Magic Dirt." Roger and family will be showing off their beef retail business and will be available to discuss the necessity of good pasture maintenance for raising healthy beef and preserving the health of our watershed.

Roger and Sandy Short 360-301-3521 1594 Center Valley Road Chimacum, WA 98365 rshort42@gmail.com shortsfamilyfarm.com

9. Short's Family Farm

Directions: Go past the Chimacum School and turn onto West Valley Road going south. Go about 1.3 miles and 1311 West Valley Road is on your left.

Located in the heart of beautiful Chimacum Valley, Westbrook Angus sells grass-fed black Angus directly. Call to place orders or email. Julie is a member of a Chimacum pioneer family that distinguished themselves as well-known leaders in the field of Angus breeding. Her parents were Wally and May Westergaard.

Julie and her husband, Chuck, set a high standard for animal husbandry, maintaining a healthy herd and producing delicious meat for the consumer. You can see their herds at state and regional fairs in the summers where they always take top prizes. The Westbrook Angus farm is among the most beautiful in our county with its lush green pastures and happy, healthy animals.

Chuck And Julie Boggs 360-732-4335 1311 West Valley Road Chimacum, WA 98325 westbrookangus@yahoo.com westbrookangus.wordpress.com

8. Westbrook Angus

* Open for tour September 17 and 18, 2011 Gary and Margaret Walters have been raising purebred Romneys for over 25 years. They have successfully shown their sheep all over the United States and have won many ribbons and awards in

Gary and Margaret Walters 360-732-4856 3723 Beaver Valley Road, Port Ludlow, WA 98365 springhillromneys.com

12. Spring Hill Farm

Directions: Drive south on Beaver Valley Rd. Turn right on Egg & I and go 1/4 mile. The farm is on the left. Park near the barn and house.

Come visit the historic Bishop Dairy, home to a local legend and lore-as well as organic milking cows! For over 100 years the Bishops have farmed these 525-acres which inspired Betty MacDonald's famous book, "The Egg & I". Come do a self-guided tour of the farm and learn about their Certified Organic practices. Plus, meet three generations working together to preserve this important piece of Jefferson County's agricultural heritage.

The Bishop Family 360-774-0582 2691 Egg & I Road, Chimacum WA 98325

11. Bishop Family Dairy

Directions: From the intersection of SR19 and Center Rd, follow Center Rd south 2.7 miles to Country Meadow Rd. Turn right (west) onto Country Meadow Rd. Follow until road splits, and follow to the right, past houses, and park at barn.

Finnriver is a 33-acre certified organic family farm, orchard and artisan cidery, committed to creating deep-rooted and fruitful connections to the land, our wild and human neighbors, and to our community. We grow an assortment of berry crops, mixed vegetables, heirloom apples, as well as offering a “sustainable staples” CSA program. We keep honey bees, raise layer and meat chickens, as well as a few pigs, goats and sheep. Stop by the farm and enjoy a visit to the Cidery tasting room to enjoy the fermented fruits of our labor. $5 gives you a sample of a handful of hard ciders and fruit wines. Dented Buoy Pizza will be on-site selling wood-fire pizza, Ahmad Baabahar will be providing live music, and storyteller Brian Rohr will offer family-friendly storytime at 2:00 pm.

360-732-6822 62 Barn Swallow Road, Chimacum, WA 98325 info@finnriverfarm.com www.finnriver.com

WSU FARM TOUR CENTRAL this year is at the CHIMACUM CORNER FARMSTAND where Center Road and HWY 19 come together. Stop by on your way out to the farms! Think about arranging to meet your friends there and carpool to lessen the carbon footprint of your tour.

Farm Tour Central:

Directions: From any direction, take Hwy 101 S. through Quilcene, over Mt. Walker and along Hood Canal to Brinnon. Turn right on Dosewallips Rd., go 3 miles and look for signs.

Elk Meadows Nursery specializes in deciduous azaleas, kalmia, daphne, maples, and perennials.

The farm is the original homestead on the upper Doeswallips Valley, and has been producing for over 100 years from the 106 year old apple trees to the relatively new berries, nuts, produce, beef, and commercial nursery. We strive to have a sustainable farm and give as much back to nature as we take from her.

To benefit the Brinnon School Technology Program and 4-H Big Quil Enterprises, Cabbage Patch Soup will be served on the Lawn this year ($7.50).

Joe and Joy Baisch 360-796-4886 3485 Dosewallips Road, Brinnon, WA elk@dishmail.net elkmeadowswa.com

Nursery

18. Elk Meadows

Go south on Center Road to the Quilcene Intersection with Highway 101. Turn left and then after you pass the school turn left again at Windermere. Go one block and turn left on Linger Longer Road. Go south 3+ mi. to the Quilcene Boat Haven Marina at the end of the road and park.

A "land" tour will be held at the Quilcene Marina prior to going on the "water" tour to the beach.

Visitors go by boat (reservations only) to see Big Quil's shellfish farm. Clams and oysters to buy fresh.

Donations for boat fuel appreciated by the youth to help defer costs.

Reservations required for boat tour, leaving each hour. Please call (360)379-5610 x 200 to make a reservation.

wsufarmtour.com 360-379-5610

* Open for tour September 17 and 18, 2011 Directions: Take Center Valley Rd past Rte 104.

Take the first left on Dabob Rd, then to #1671 on the left.

Barry and Linda Taylor raise an assortment of sheep bred for wool and for meat on 10 acres of property that is shared with a horse and a llama.

Barry has had extensive experience processing wool in Australia and on the East Coast of the United States. He has used that experience to develop his own successful wool carding business. Visitors to Barry and Linda's farm will have the opportunity to view the processing equipment (Barry will be giving demos during the Farm Tour) and to learn more about how raw fleece is turned into beautiful dyed roving. Barry and Linda will have a wide variety of roving available for purchase during the Tour.

Barry and Linda Taylor 1671 Dabob Road, Quilcene, WA 98376 tayloredfibers@waypt.com tayloredfibers.com

15. Taylored Fibers

* Open for tour: September 17 and 18, 2011 Directions: follow Hwy 20 West to the intersection with 101. Turn left onto 101, travel 1.5 miles then turn right onto West Uncas Road at mile post 284. The farm is the 4th driveway on the right.

Compass Rose Farm is a beautiful 40 acre farm located in the Snow Creek valley. Kateen, her children and her parents, Robert and Bev, run the farm and have owned the property in partnership with the Jefferson County Land Trust since 2007.

In a few short years, the family has established an extensive market garden, an apiary, a herd of Icelandic sheep and llamas, a flock of chickens and extensive hay fields.

During the Farm Tour, Kateen and Bev will be selling raw Iceland Sheep fleeces in a variety of colors. They will also have roving prepared for spinning for sale.

Kateen Fenter with parents, Bev and Robert and family 360-379-1443 1463 West Uncas Road, Port Townsend, WA mkfenter@gmail.com compassrosefarms.blogspot.com

14. Compass Rose Farm

Farmer’s Markets bring it in fresh

By Will O’Donnell Jefferson County Farmers Market Director

T

he Port Townsend Farmers Market will celebrate 20 years of operation in 2012. When it started, downtown, all those years ago, I am not sure if anyone would have guessed what the market would grow up to be: one of the largest most vibrant small town markets in the nation and Washington State’s 2011 Large Market of the Year; with over 70 vendors a week taking up a whole block, an average of 1500 customers weekly, over 25 farmers, lots of food, great art, music, a park next door, and sales nearing a million a year.

It’s an incredible achievement, for us and for our community. But in this town it’s almost de rigueur. Our Food Co-op has experienced a similar if not more dramatic curve. Look at the Maritime Center, the Film Festival, Centrum, Fort Worden – our town is full of state and national gems. Of course it is. We live in one of the most scenic counties in the nation. The mix of natural beauty and temperate climate has attracted all kinds of folks who want to preserve and enhance and celebrate

Colinwood Farm sells organic produce at the market.

8 WSU Farm Tour 2011

it. For a place so small and remote we have a heck of a lot of interesting people and culture. If we didn’t have a great farmer’s market too than we’d be doing something wrong.

Fortunately we at the market mostly have had our acts together. It’s been easy in some ways. In the last ten years there has been a fantastic growth of farms and food in Jefferson County.

Despite a near absence of broad agricultural valleys, or maybe because of it, we have seen a surge of small and innovative food producers sprout up all over the county. For the most part all we had to do was make room for them to show up and do what they do. In other cases the market itself has played a more direct role in help launching its vendors. Red Dog Farm got off the ground through assistance from the Landworks Collaborative, of which the market is a member. Many of our food producers, Mt. Townsend, Pane D’Amore, and Finnriver, were able to incubate their businesses at the market and use it as a launching pad to grow into award winning regional endeavors.

This last spring the market, after many years of work, achieved federal non profit (501c3) status. That designates us as a charitable and educational endeavor.

This has confused some people; some of whom wonder why we weren’t a nonprofit all this time, and others who wonder why a market, which exists to sell stuff, would ever be a charitable organization at all. In August I talked about this with some high school students. They wanted to know about the differences between a farmer’s market and a grocery store, which though seemingly obvious, illuminate why we sought and achieved non-profit status.

When it’s nice out, there is no better place to shop than the farmer’s market.

We often have the freshest, best tasting produce that can be found, but it’s not easy. Unlike a grocery store, we hustle 3 times a week to setup and takedown impromptu stores in three different locations. We sell outside in all kinds of weather, which impacts the people and the profits in equal measure. On the plus side, customers get to meet the producers and build relationships with the folks that feed them. When customers come to the market, the bulk of their dollar goes right to the farmer. Grocery stores can buy direct from farmers too, if their corporate

The Port Townsend Farmers Market – Washington State’s 2011 Large Market of the Year. policies aren’t too complex, but they only pay the grower 40-60% of what they charge the customer. The rest goes to overhead and/or profits. If it’s a large corporate chain store a portion of the money the farmer doesn’t get will leave the community, never to return. At the farmer’s market almost everything the customer spends stays in the farmer’s pocket and stays in the community.

It sounds simple but it’s not. Our market has some of the lowest fees in the state. Our board and staff work hard to keep our costs low. We have to muster over 800 volunteer hours a year and fundraiser for almost a quarter of our budget just to run our makeshift stores.

Our operations budget is less than a tenth of gross sales. No grocery store in the country could survive that – yet we do and we thrive. We thrive because our three farmer’s markets- Port Townsend Saturdays and Wednesdays, and the Chimacum Sunday Market, are community endeavors. We all give something to make them happen. Our city and county and local businesses donate space, time and services. Our customers, especially on Saturday, forgo the normal conveniences of easy parking, open aisles, and super-saver club pricing to be able to eat better and make a financial difference in the

lives of some of their fellow community members. Our farmers and vendors take the time to sell the produce directly, to meet their customers, know their children, or dogs, or relatives from out of town. It’s this kind of connection, and community that really separates the market from a grocery store, or another shopping endeavor, and that defines us as a nonprofit. The Jefferson County Farmers Markets ( JCFM) mission is not to sell produce. Our mission is to support local sustainable agriculture through the community gathering place that is our market. Our mission is to provide access to fresh and healthy local food.

Made up of local farmers, vendors and community members, the JCFM works to maintain as little space as possible between people and their food. And that is why we strongly support the 2011 WSU Farm Tour and encourage you to come out and visit as many of our fabulous farms and cideries as you can. At the markets you can shake the hand that feeds you, at the WSU Farm Tour you can walk a while in their shoes. Make our county a better place, support and celebrate local food and farming in the Jefferson County Farmer’s Markets and the WSU Farm Tour.

September 14, 2011

Enjoying animals at the WSU Farm Tour.

Let’s support the fiber Learn to farm of our community The people of Jefferson County have done a wonderful job supporting the vegetable, fruit, berry and cheese businesses that have taken hold in our area over the past several years. It is now time to come out and support our sheep farmers as well.

One way to do that is to take the Fiber Farm Tour, a loop on the larger WSU Farm Tour in Jefferson County. The Fiber Farm Tour is open to the public on both Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. This year, five farms are opening their gates to welcome you for a visit and to show you what can be done with the wool manufactured by their sheep. Each farm is a little different and we encourage you to visit all five.

Spring Hill Farm on Beaver Valley Road is the oldest sheep farm in the area.

Margaret and Gary Walters raise Romney Sheep and have focused on raising breeding stock while using the wool to create many different products of value to the whole family: comforter batts, socks, sheets of felt, several different weights of yarn in natural colors and spinner’s roving. Margaret and Gary will have shearing demonstrations on both Saturday and Sunday at 11:00, 1:00 and 3:00.

Compass Rose Farm is a more diverse agricultural enterprise. Kateen Fenter and her mother, Bev Fairing, have a large market garden and keep chickens and honey bees as well as maintain a flock of Icelandic Sheep, a primitive breed that produces a doublecoated, long stapled fleece in many different colors. So you don’t know what a doublecoated fleece is? What is staple?

Go ask Kateen and see the beautiful fleeces September 14, 2011

and the wonderful spinner’s roving that she produces.

Ananda Hills Farm, owned by Jennie Watkins, is a farm with a strong commitment to organic and sustainable agriculture. Jennie raises both chickens and Shetland Sheep, a small breed with naturally short tails that also grows long-stapled wool in many different colors. (Did you know that most sheep are born with long tails?)

Come and see how Jennie has connected the different elements of her farm to enhance each other.

Jacob’s Fleece is a wonderful farm in Quilcene owned and operated by Jan Gillanders. Jan specializes in Jacob Sheep, another unique breed with multiple horns and black and white wool. All of her sheep have names and their own distinctive personalities. Jan takes her wool from raw form to creative finished products that she has hand-spun and hand-knitted herself.

Karen Rose of Rose Bud Farm in Port Townsend will be joining Jan with her beautiful products made from her own llama and alpaca fiber. Come and support their efforts.

Taylored Fibers is also in Quilcene. Barry and Linda Taylor have a few sheep and a very friendly llama, but their biggest focus is on processing fiber for other shepherds.

All of the other farms on the Fiber Farm Tour have used Barry’s services to wash and card their wool into spinner’s roving. Barry will demonstrate how the machinery works while other folks will be spinning the roving into yarn. So please, come and visit these farms. Pet a sheep, stick your hands into some beautiful wool and support your local shepherd.

with us!

The Farmer Innovation, Education, & Leadership Development (FIELD) Program is an on-farm based internship in sustainable agriculture located in Jefferson County.

This collaborative educational program was developed by local farmers and Washington State University (WSU) Extension and provides interns the opportunity to study sustainable agricultural enterprises and community-based production systems at several diverse

farms in the Chimacum area.

Interns are provided formal instruction, field-based application of information, and involvement in projects on farms that produce and market vegetables, fruit, small berries, field crops, poultry, and livestock.

Each intern is based on a host farm that provides a home base with weekly opportunities to observe and engage in different business and marketing approaches through activities at different farms and community resources throughout the season.

The FIELD program takes place in segments of three months. While interns may stay longer, they must participate for at least 3 months. The sessions are March through May, June through August, and September through November.

For more information, go to http://ag.jefferson.wsu.edu or email fieldinternship@gmail.com.

Field interns and their mentors celebrate their graduation during a potluck at Sunfield Farm.

WSU Farm Tour 2011 9

Supporting the needs of farms, fish & families

T

ake a good look at Al Latham and it will tell you a lot about this man, who found his life’s niche, working outdoors, supporting the health and success of the farms, forests and streams of Jefferson County. Al’s beard has a bit of grey in it now, but he is as fit as a teenager from years of climbing fences, building bridges, installing livestock pumps and more. He says he’s looking forward to retirement soon, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he jumps up eagerly to go visit a farm or survey a field.

Al started his career after high school when he attended the New York State Ranger School, in northern New York State. There he studied to become a forest technician. Next he came out to Washington State because he wanted to “see the big trees” and worked in the Shelton Ranger District, surveying roads.

You get the gist of the impact of the next period of his life when Al shares that he next spent, “One year, eleven months and 18 days in the Army, 88 days in Viet Nam ” After he returned from the war, Al took a two-year international trek that covered multiple continents. First he went to New Zealand to work at the Forest Research Institute for a year and then traveled to Australia where he worked in mineral and oil exploration in the outback to save some money. Then he bought a motorcycle in Singapore and along with a friend they traveled through Malaysia and Thailand, sticking a toe into Burma. Eventually, his friend and he parted ways, but Al continued by boat to India and then traveled to Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Europe. When it was all over, Al was 26 years old and had learned two important life lessons, which were that, “People are fine everywhere and we have it easy.”

Al returned to the states and was in Minnesota when he met his wife, Susan at an environmental camp. She was working in a school. She had also previously lived in Washington State and so they decided to move back to the west together. They bought their home south of Chimacum or as Al likes to put it, “located slightly off-Center.” Initially, Al worked as a farm hand for the Short’s Family Farm. He then started an herb farm and sold through the Pike Place Market in Seattle. They tried to start a farmer’s market in the Kively Center in Port Hadlock. By 1991 he began his work with the Jefferson County Conservation District, doing construction projects related to farming. Bruce Marston was

10 WSU Farm Tour 2011

Al Latham has been instrumental in helping farmers install and maintain solar-powered water pumps to keep livestock out of local streams and protect salmon habitat in Jefferson County. one of his colleagues at that time and they worked “grant to grant” for a number of years. Examples of projects at that time include channeling Leland Creek, water quality protection/improvement and stream fencing. This evolved into more focus on salmon habitat projects on E. Jefferson Co. streams in collaboration with the Wild Olympic Salmon, North Olympic and Hood Canal Salmon Coalitions. One of the gratifying aspects of Al’s work was that he worked with landowners as willing partners to protect habitat rather than as a regulatory agent.

He could advocate for landowners at the same time as he could help them understand more about what they could do to help protect and maintain habitat and critical areas.

Al has a high respect for landowners as he believes they know and appreciate their land more than anyone else can. He believes that as a rule landowners want to be good stewards. Of course, most think that they are good stewards – his challenge over the years was to help them become even better at caring for their lands. Early on Al worked with Ray Lowry and his Chimacum High School Fisheries class on improvements to Puttaansuu Creek in Chimacum.

A number of those “kids” are now local contractors who construct the stream projects.

In Al’s assessment, fencing and tree planting has made the biggest impact on salmon habitat restoration in Jefferson County. Keeping farm animals out of the streams and creating ways for them to access water without wading into the streams has been highly beneficial for salmon habitat. He worries that with budgets becoming tight, some of the incentives that have assisted landowners to voluntarily comply with salmon habitat needs will disappear.

“Incentives help,” Al emphasized when asked about the most effective practice that was used during his career in working with landowners.

Programs like the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) that help finance the voluntary protection of critical areas by compensating landowners for removing stream buffers from agricultural production are seeing dramatic decreases in funding. Al also shared that permits are becoming more complicated to obtain even for beneficial projects and maintenance of existing projects with less funding will be a challenge.

Along the way in this work Al has

enjoyed helping develop pieces of equipment, including the Kerry Perkins designed “Perkins trough” and solar powered pumps. He is proud of the riparian restoration work he has helped lead in Jefferson County and seeing the positive changes over the years. He also appreciates the willingness of landowners to voluntarily help restore habitat for salmon and other wild life.

Amy Rose Dubin and Bruce Gleeman of Chimacum Valley Dairy shared that, “We have worked closely with Al to traverse the challenges of developing a farm and to overcome some of the pitfalls related to various regulations, permits and such. I don’t believe we could have succeeded without his help and guidance and diplomacy - he is outstanding and we are sorry to see him retire. I think we are going to name a cheese for him!”

When asked about his upcoming retirement, Al quickly offered that, “I don’t want to go to any more meetings.”

Al’s wife, Susan Latham, has a long list of things for him to do when he retires.

Perhaps most compelling is the project they are working on with friends to establish a Camphill community on land next to Sunfield Farm in Port Hadlock.

Camphill would create an intentional community for their son, Jesse, and other developmentally disabled adults and help fill the void left by the closing of the Skookum Jumprope Company. Al tells people that he will continue to freelance on various projects during his retirement and that, “My advice is free and worth every penny of it.”

Thank you, Al, for all your service to Jefferson County over the years – we greatly appreciate what you have done to make our community and our environment a better place for farms, families and fish.

Al Latham and his son, Jesse, enjoy a sunny day at Sunfield Farm.

September 14, 2011

The “Good Food” Revolution

Sarah Spaeth, Executive Director of Jefferson Land Trust, with Karyn Williams, owner of Red Dog Farm, a Jefferson Land Trust Protected Property.

Jefferson Land Trust At Jefferson Land Trust we are working with the community to preserve open space, working lands and habitat forever.

Jefferson Land Trust is a private, nonprofit, grass-roots organization. Our mission is to help the community to preserve open space, working lands and habitat in Jefferson County on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Landowners work with a Land Trust when they wish to permanently protect wetlands, floodplains, farmlands, wildlife corridors, and scenic areas from inappropriate development.

Jefferson Land Trust provides many services to landowners throughout our area.

We help choose protection strategies that meet landowners’ conservation and financial needs.

The Land Trust may become the owner of a particular piece of property, or we may hold the development rights transferred by a conservation easement. Through transferring ownership or development rights to the Trust, a property owner may gain access to reductions in both federal and state taxes.

We work creatively with local residents, governments, agencies, and community groups on numerous collaborative projects. These include the Quimper Wildlife Corridor, a greenbelt of wetlands; Chimacum, Salmon and Snow Creeks, salmon habitat protection; and the Food Farm Network, promoting local sustainable agriculture.

Perhaps most importantly, our responsibility as a Land Trust obligates us to maintain a vigilant watch over these protected lands forever. Serving the east side of Jefferson County, Washington on the Western Shores of Puget Sound.

September 14, 2011

Her window panes are thick with dust, Her hob is black with grease, For she’s the kind who couldn’t bide Between four walls in peace.

She gives her house no time at all, But when the wind is loud She roams the cliffs and open hills As carefree as a cloud.

By Brwyn Griffin, Outreach/Education/Marketing Manager Port Townsend Food Co-op

Saturday, September 17 from 7-9 pm at McCurdy Pavilion, Ft. Worden State Park, the Port Townsend Food Co-op is sponsoring a talk with urban street farmer, Will Allen. Son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player, ex-corporate sales leader and now farmer, Will has become recognized as among the preeminent thinkers of our time on agriculture and food policy. The founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Will is widely considered the leading authority in the expanding field of urban agriculture.

At Growing Power and in community food projects across the nation and around the world, Will promotes the belief that all people, regardless of their economic circumstances, should have access to fresh, safe, affordable and nutritious foods at all times. Using methods he has developed over a lifetime Will trains community members to become community farmers, assuring them a secure source of good food without regard to political or economic forces.

In 2008, Will was named a John D. and Katherine T. McArthur Foundation Fellow and was awarded a prestigious foundation “genius grant” for his work — only the second farmer ever to be so honored. He is also a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and in February 2010, he was invited to the White House to join First Lady Michelle Obama in launching “Let’s Move!” her signature leadership program to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity in America. In May 2010, Time magazine named Will to the “Time 100 World’s Most Influential People.”

Tickets to the event are available at the door or at ww.brownpapertickets.com for $12 general admission. Food Co-op owners can purchase tickets for $10 at the store. All proceeds benefit Northwest Earth Institute.

We hope to see you join the Good Food Revolution!

She gives no thought to those dour things Her betters fret about; She’d rather watch the wheeling gulls And see the ships go out.

She loves the little paws of moles, The paths that field mice run, The flash of pebbles in deep pools, And sea foam flecked with sun.

Kateen Fenter of Compass Rose Farm.

The Cruach Woman

by Arthur Stringer (from the King Who Loved Old Clothes) She never scours her copper pot, Nor hangs it in the sun; She never sits beside the hearth To sew when day is done.

Her garden is a crazy thing Of twisty paths and trees Where kale and thyme and docken burs Stand almost to her knees.

She loves rain shadows on a moor Where clouds make blue more blue, And the smell of wood smoke after frost, And footprints in the dew.

She loves the touch of thistledown, the feel of furry backs; She’ll watch a red fox for an hour And flair a badger’s tracks.

For she is wild and elfin brown, And when a killdeer calls Or when at night the wild geese honk, She can abide no walls.

But should she mate and bear a child (As with a wife is meet) ‘Twould be a brown hill-loving thing With little hoofs for feet.

And should she die, she’ll laugh and dance And toss her wind-blown head Between the tombstones and the sun and shock the ancient Dead.

WSU Farm Tour 2011 11

Buy LoCaL

eat seasonaL

suPPort our farmers three times a week at the

Jefferson County farmers markets saturdays sundays wednesdays

Uptown 9-2 thru Dec 17th Lawrence and Tyler www.ptfarmersmarket.org

Chimacum 10-2 thru Oct 30 Rhody and Center

M K 2010

Uptown 3-6 thru Sept 28 Lawrence and Polk

info@jeffersoncountyfarmersmarket.org

(360)379-9098

www.jcfmarkets.org

Where farmers and locals come to swap food and tall tales since 1972 THE

L

LOCAL

12 WSU Farm Tour 2011

ood fCO-OP PORT TOWNSEND www.foodcoop.coop

Open Everyday 414 Kearney Street

360 385-2883

September 14, 2011