THE SAMMAMISH VALLEY IS RICH IN FARMING TRADITION

Photos courtesy of Sammamish Valley Alliance

By Laura Guido

Although Woodinville is known for its abundant winery tradition, the area has much deeper roots as a rich and fertile land for farming.

Thousands of years ago, a huge glacial ice sheet – known as the Puget Lobe – cut into the hillside to create the Sammamish Valley, according to the online state history encyclopedia History Link. The lobe deposited in its wake clay, sand and till, which remains one of the reasons the valley still has some of the most fertile soil in the state.

“It’s just fabulous,” Sammamish Valley Alliance President Thomas Quigley said of the soil.

The nonprofit alliance was created to increase education about local, sustainable agriculture in the region.

Quigley said the richness of the ground is also thanks to past seasonal flooding of the Sammamish River. Native Americans, including a subgroup of the Duwamish Tribe, successfully farmed the river’s bottomlands for years, according to History Link.

Non-native settlers eventually began heavily logging the area, leading to an economic boom in the 1880s. However, by the 1920s, the old-growth forests had been destroyed, and the local timber industry dwindled away.

One wealthy Woodinville resident, Frederick Stimson, had profited in logging and later began a high-tech

agricultural project called Hollywood Farm. Stimson’s operation included dairy cows, poultry, Duroc-Jersey swine and used some of the more advanced scientific methods of the time, History Link states.

Eventually, growth in the region threatened the agricultural economy, and thus the 1979 Farmland Preservation Program designated the Sammamish Valley as a first priority for protection from urban encroachment. Further protections were provided in the 1985 designation of the valley as a King County Agricultural Production District. The district spans about 1,000 acres along the river and boarders Woodinville, Redmond and Kirkland.

Farming lost some of its foothold for a time, Quigley said, probably with the emergence of large grocery store chains.

“Now, it’s having a great resurgence again,” he said.

Today’s farming community around Woodinville is characterized by smallscale, sustainable and mostly organic operations, he said, many of which are run by young farmers. There are many potential growers who graduate from accredited agricultural programs at local universities, he said.

“They’re anxious to put their skills to the test,” Quigley said.

Many of these recently established farmers are using newer technologies and environmentally friendly practices, he said, such as regenerative planting, which calls for the rotation of crops to nourish the soil naturally.

Farming parcels in the valley average about 18 acres in size, according to History Link, but many growers use 5-acre properties or smaller. They’re able to do this, Quigley said, largely because of the desire for fresh, locally sourced produce from those who live in and around Woodinville.

“I think they’re encouraged by the support they see in the community,” he said.

The valley is home to one of the first community supported agriculture (CSA) programs in the state, according to the Sammamish Valley Alliance. Now, there are many such programs in the region, as well as nurseries equestrian businesses, among the many farms.

Several of the farms are open to the public to visit.

“It gives people the opportunity to get their hands back into soil,” Quigley said. “… Connecting to farms is so good for family health.”

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