Grow Skagit Fall 2018

QUINOA Project seeks to develop strain of the grain that will flourish in Skagit County â—— INSIDE: Putting Skagit County farms on the map and more A S U P P L E M E N T T O T H E S K A G I T VA L L E Y H E R A L D A N D A N A C O R T E S A M E R I C A N / We d n e s d a y, O c t o b e r 2 4 , 2 0 1 8

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Growing quinoa in Skagit Story by JULIA-GRACE SANDERS • Photos by SCOTT TERRELL • Skagit Valley Herald

THIS FALL, ALMOST EVERY VARIETY OF QUINOA AVAILABLE in North America and some from Europe and South America was growing at the Washington State University Mount Vernon Research Center.

The varieties, grown in 250 separate plots on 2.5 acres, are part of a project to develop a strain of quinoa that will thrive in Skagit County.

After five years of experimenting in Eastern Washington and on the Olympic Peninsula with mixed results, WSU’s Sustainable Seed Systems Lab transitioned the project to Skagit County, where research associate Dan Packer said higher humidity and lower temperature make the climate more conducive to the grain.

Among the trial plots planted in Mount Vernon this May were 20 experimental varieties developed in the university’s seed lab, said international seed and cropping systems professor Kevin Murphy.

By late September, the trial field was a sea of sandy-colored stalks, sprinkled with patches of

purple, orange and green.

The driest and brownest patches are considered the most successful, Packer said. This year, a European variety was quickest to mature.

The patches of taller, colorful stalks are mostly South American varieties.

They have a longer growing season and didn’t have time to mature in Skagit County, Packer said.

Based on what varieties grew well this year, Packer said the lab aims to breed a variety of quinoa with a shorter growing season so it can mature in the county. They’ll also use the results of the experiment to advise farmers on which currently available varieties have the best chance of yielding significant harvest.

Varieties currently available generally take six to seven months to reach maturity, Packer said.

He said he expects the

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Max Wood, field manager for Washington State University’s grain program, operates a harvester at the Washington State University Mount Vernon Research Center. experiment to go continue for at least two or three more years.

In addition to creating a variety of quinoa that produces a high yield in the county, the experiment will look at the nutrition quality in the samples through a partnership with

WSU’s medical school.

“We definitely know quinoa is a good food, it’s considered a super food,” said Dr. Glen Duncan, chair of WSU’s nutrition and exercise physiology program. “But if we can breed a healthier plant, does that actually trans-

late to more health for the human being that ingests that?”

If varieties of quinoa high in nutrition do in fact lead to health benefits, Packer said the seed lab will prioritize the nutritional factor when developing new varieties.

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Currently, there are about 5,000 acres of quinoa grown domestically, Packer said. The quinoa seen in grocery stores is generally from Peru or Bolivia.

In addition to having a climate preferable to Eastern Washington,

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LEFT: Researchers (from left) Cedric Habiyaremye and Dan Packer, along with field manager Max Wood, look over some harvested quinoa at the Washington State University Mount Vernon Research Center.

ABOVE: Quinoa harvested by hand sits stacked for processing. ing plants nearby — one in California and one in Idaho — so processing it locally would take an investment in equipment.

When the seed lab

began breeding quinoa seven years ago, Murphy said the program had thousands of experimental varieties, which the lab has since narrowed down to

the 20 planted as part of the Mount Vernon trial.

By the end of this experiment, he said the program will release two or three varieties to

market.

The quinoa experiment has the potential not only to create a new business market but help consumers better their health,

Duncan said.

“If (Skagit quinoa) has a better nutritional component it can be a real contribution to the health of the region” he said.

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Skagit County’s proximity to large cities makes it a better area to develop a market for quinoa, Packer said.

Though he said local quinoa may have trouble competing with imports from South America, there is the potential to tap into the specialty food market.

“For a medium- to small-scale grower, it’s an additional crop to market and it can also be used to diversify crop rotations that break disease and pathogen cycles,” Packer said.

Turning locally grown quinoa into what is generally seen in stores requires the grain to be processed.

Quinoa has a coating on the outside of the seed that must be removed, Packer said. There are very few quinoa process-

4 - Wednesday, October 24, 2018

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Putting Skagit County farms on the map Story by JULIA-GRACE SANDERS Photo by SCOTT TERRELL Skagit Valley Herald

A NEW ONLINE RESOURCE AIMS TO CONNECT CONSUMERS to local agriculture through an interactive map.

The map shows residents of Skagit and Whatcom counties where nearby farms are located and what they offer.

Launched last month, the “Eat Local First Food Atlas” is a tool created by nonprofit Sustainable Connections.

Through the map, users can search farms by product or features such as U-pick options or whether they accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

For example, a Skagit County resident hoping to find where to buy local dairy and eggs can select that category on the map to see several in-county options.

“People are looking for small farms,” SedroWoolley farmer Matt Steinman said. “They want to meet the farmer.

(The map) enables that to really happen.”

Steinman said the map allows customers looking for sustainable food to find his farm based on its practices. By looking at the map, a customer can see his chickens are pasture raised and that he uses regenerative soil techniques in his produce garden.

“There’s an incredible interest growing in sustainable agriculture, especially in big cities,” he said. “Even more so than organic.”

Being listed on the map also brings credibility to his practices, Steinman said. Sustainable Connections marks farms with “sustainability indicators” such as energy efficiency.

Steinman said he believes the interactive, mobile-friendly map will appeal to younger generations.

“It uses a medium they’re really comfortable with,” he said.

Amy Frye of Boldly Grown Farms said she’s been surprised by how many customers find her farm online.

The map will be a great tool to help her farm stand out for its winter produce boxes, Frye said.

The map is intended to do more than connect consumers to local farms, said Sustainable Connections Food and Farming Director Sara Southerland.

Chefs, farmers markets, food banks, community gardens, commercial kitchens, training opportunities and more are included on the map.

Using the map, a community member could find a restaurant that sources food locally or a business could find a marketing service.

“It’s about finding everything in one place,” Southerland said.

Jessica Gigot of Harmony Fields in Bow said she hopes the map

Jessica Gigot of Harmony Fields in Bow shows a wheel of aging sheep’s milk cheese produced at the farm. encourages consumers to visit the farm.

“This is an easy way for producers to make their products visible in the region and attract new customers and welcome locals and visitors alike to on-farm opportunities and sales,” she said.

Sustainable Connections started expanding into Skagit County from Whatcom County this year, Southerland said, so there are fewer Skagit County organizations on the map.

“It’s our goal to add as much in Skagit as we can

over the next few years,” she said.

It is free for organizations to get listed on the map, but there are some criteria for those hoping to do so.

Gigot said she plans to use the map to reach out to more chefs and sell

more products.

“This is a great tool for us and we love the ‘eat local first’ mission and ongoing support of Sustainable Connections,” she said. “This atlas represents the vibrant food community in our region.”

Wednesday, October 24, 2018 - 5

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Volunteers take tree research into own hands

Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation volunteers Carole Jacobson (left) and Carol Butz weigh pears and record the results Sept. 6.

Story by JULIA-GRACE SANDERS Photo by SCOTT TERRELL Skagit Valley Herald

GROWING UP IN ENGLAND, CAROLE JACOBSON ALWAYS WANTED TO STUDY HORTICULTURE but ended up pursuing a career in education.

Now, the 71-year-old Bellingham woman is living out her passion for plants by doing volunteer research at the Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation.

The foundation members meet every Thursday at the Washington State University Mount Vernon Research Center and spends three hours maintaining 6.5 acres of orchard, which is home to 630 fruit-bearing trees.

Using three pear trees, Jacobson has set out to test a theory she has about how to increase the

trees’ productivity.

She said her theory is that removing buds so there is just one bud per branch will increase a tree’s fruit yield.

The experiment involves comparing fruit yielded by this method to fruit from two adjacent trees — one using conventional pruning methods and one that is left alone.

For the past three years, Jacobson and her friend, Carol Butz, have measured and weighed a sample of fruit from each tree at harvest.

The two are known as

“the Carols” by members of the foundation, and they’ve been coming to the orchard together from Bellingham nearly every Thursday for about a decade.

So far, Jacobson said the experiment’s data is inconclusive.

“It takes more than just a few years,” she said.

While she’s curious to have her theory proved or disproved, she said it’s really the company that keeps her coming back every week.

“This is a magnificent place and a wonderful group of people,” Jacobson said.

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Butz echoed her sentiments.

Fifteen years ago, Butz said she drove to the foundation in Mount Vernon to learn how to prune her apple tree.

“And that was the beginning of a very long relationship with this group,” she said.

The foundation was formed in the 1990s to help fund fruit tree research at WSU, said Gary Moulton, who ran the extension’s fruit horticulture program at the time.

Home gardeners, commercial growers and hobbyists all joined the

foundation to help support research advances in productivity and disease resistance, he said.

The fruit horticulture program was cut about 2009, Moulton said, and the foundation transitioned into a new role. It retained the 6.5 acres of orchard that were used to exhibit the extension’s research and began using the trees to educate the public.

The foundation has since used the orchard to demonstrate best practices, hold workshops and now conduct research.

While it’s not an official study, Moulton said

volunteer projects such as Jacobson’s can have merit.

“Usually people that have worked on projects like this have found things that don’t work and they can kind of give you a lead on which areas you can work with,” he said.

Even without a university-run fruit horticulture program, Moulton said the foundation continues to pursue advancement for Skagit County’s fruit tree industry.

“You can see the dedication,” he said. “(The foundation is) committed to it and not ready to give up. They’re quite a unique group.”

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S-W woman centers her business around chamomile Story by JULIA-GRACE SANDERS Photo by SCOTT TERRELL Skagit Valley Herald

STARTING A CHAMOMILE FARM WASN’T SOMETHING TERRY GIFFORD PLANNED TO DO. She had intended to prep her property, which is east of Sedro-Woolley and surrounded by the Cascade Mountains, to be a wedding venue.

After learning the property wasn’t zoned for such a venue, she had to change her plans.

That’s when she read a magazine article about a chamomile tea farm in England and decided it was the perfect crop to turn her old Englishinspired home into a profitable property.

“That’s when I went out and bought my first tractor,” she said. “What started out as a roadblock ended up being a road to a better place.”

In May 2017, Gifford and two others planted 2 acres of chamomile seed on her property known as Willowbrook Manor.

When the plants bloom, the tiny flowers, which look like miniature daisies, are dwarfed by the nearby mountains.

Turning the flowers into tea is a straightforward process, Gifford said. The flowers need to be dried, which she does

by placing them on trays and using her industrialsized oven. They can also just be picked and left out in the sun.

Gifford doesn’t yet have the crop yield to serve her own chamomile tea, so she said she instead offers a selection of specialty teas to visitors.

Gifford’s vision for Willowbrook Manor includes more than just growing chamomile. She said she wants people to come out to the farm and take in the area’s natural beauty.

“When you come to Willowbrook, time slows down,” she said. “So that’s what I invite people to do.

Just slow down and take in the farmland and enjoy being here.”

Year-round, guests can reserve “tea time” at the farm, where they can enjoy tea and homemade scones in a variety of spots on Gifford’s property.

Terry Gifford serves home-baked scones and tea to visitors at Willowbrook Manor east of Sedro-Woolley.

While chamomile steeped in hot water is commonly referred to as tea, agricultural consultant John Vendeland said the drink technically isn’t tea.

Tea itself is a specific plant called camellia sinensis.

“Everything else, when you get around a tea purist, is called an ‘herbal infusion,’” he said. “But from a consumer perspective, it’s a distinction without a difference.”

True tees — green, black, white and oolong — all stem from camellia sinensis, but are processed differently.

As far as Vendeland is concerned, he said herbal infusions such as chamo-

mile and mint are “tea for all intents and purposes.”

In addition to serving tea on her property, Gifford also offers “tea and tour,” an experience that includes tea and scones as well as a bike rental to use for a self-guided tour along the Cascade Trail, which runs along the property, and through area communities.

In the spring, she offers “tea and tulips,” which promises the same tea and scones along with views of Gifford’s tulip beds.

Moving forward, Gifford hopes to develop her farm into an interactive experience, with guests picking their own herbs for tea.

“My goal is to have people come here and take tea home,” she said.

She said the future likely holds lots of trial and error as she learns the ins and outs of both growing chamomile and running her business.

“I’m just a girl trying to make a go with a farm of chamomile,” she said.

Gifford isn’t the first to try her hand at growing tea in Skagit County.

In the 1990s, Vendeland approached Richard Sakuma of Sakuma Bros.

Farms with a vision to create a tea industry hub in Skagit County.

Sakuma decided to give it a shot, planting 5 acres with about a dozen plant variations of camel-

lia sinensis to see which would survive the Skagit County climate.

Ultimately, the venture didn’t pan out, Sakuma said.

Today, there’s just over an acre of tea plants left on Sakuma’s farm.

They’ve grown wild, he said, getting taller and taller.

But he said the remaining acre gives him hope there’s a future for tea in Skagit County.

“There’s potential,” he said. “I don’t know any of the details or requirements for doing that but once you apply all this to marketing and sales it may add up to something that’s economically viable.”

Wednesday, October 24, 2018 - 7

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Bay Baby Produce bringing new value to pumpkins Story by JULIA-GRACE SANDERS • Photo by SCOTT TERRELL Skagit Valley Herald

IN 1999, MICHELE YOUNGQUIST STARTED WITH 30 ACRES OF PUMPKINS AT HER FARM OFF BEST ROAD. Now, her more than 300 acres of pumpkins span from west Mount Vernon to Fir Island.

Youngquist attributes the growth of her company, Bay Baby Produce, to filling a niche in the market for value-added pumpkin products such as painted pumpkins and do-it-yourself pumpkin pie kits.

Over thirty years ago, a family friend asked Youngquist and her former husband to help meet a large demand for painted pumpkins. That job led to a long line of value-added products.

Since then, Youngquist and her late business partner Elizabeth Kamb added other creative pumpkin products, all based on customer requests.

“We specialize in what the customer wants,” Youngquist said.

Kamb brought a background in marketing, while Youngquist

had experience with agriculture, she said.

“We just brainstormed based on what kids would love, based on nutrition and what would have educational value,” she said.

She said she and Kamb would spend hours testing ideas and researching markets to finalize new products.

Their mantra was to “spread the pumpkin joy,” Youngquist said.

Kamb died in 2012, but Youngquist said she has kept their creative process alive. In her office, Youngquist keeps an “idea corner” of potential new products.

Today, her products include various painted pumpkins, bulk pie and carving pumpkin kits,

Bay Baby Produce owner Michele Youngquist shows two popular styles of painted pumpkins in the company’s warehouse and production facility in Conway. decorative pumpkins, pumpkin paint kits and recipe kits.

Youngquist said her pumpkins and products are delivered as far as Taiwan and are sold in stores such as Safeway, Fred Meyer and Target.

At her 54,000-square-foot processing facility on ConwayFrontage Road, Youngquist said her employees can paint about 30,000 pounds of pumpkins a day.

The building was the realization of a vision shared by Kamb and herself, Youngquist said.

“It was our dream to have our

own building,” she said. “This is a good ode to keep it going, and I feel like she’s here with me in spirit” The processing facility opened earlier this year after facing permit appeals by a farmland advocacy group and Skagit County Drainage and Irrigation District 17.

Before building the new facility, Bay Baby Produce operated out of a 30,000-square-foot space in Burlington that was shared with other businesses.

In late September, Youngquist’s employees were

busy painting and packing pumpkins to be shipped off to Canada in time for Canadian Thanksgiving.

“The secret is that they’re all hand painted,” she said, examining a crate of miniature pumpkins displaying spider webs, silly faces and crows.

After the fall season rush, Youngquist said she plans to devote her time to researching and developing new products, marketing and meeting with new customers.

“I don’t quit working just because it’s offseason,” she said.

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