Special Sections - Harvest Festival, 2014

HARVEST CELEBRATION 2014

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014 • 1

18th Annual Clallam County Farm Tour Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visit 8 Great Farms on the Tour!

Lazy J Tree Farm • Freedom Farm Jardin du Soleil • Dungeness Valley Creamery Nash’s Organic Produce • Five Acre School Annie’s Flower Farm • Lökalie Gaare Hayrides, demonstrations, great food, live music, and fun for the whole family!

Event Sponsored by

2 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Welcome to the

18th Annual Clallam County Farm Tour

One hundred years ago, on May 8, 1914, Congress signed the Smith-Lever Act, establishing the Cooperative Extension Service across the country. As the front door to the University, WSU Extension engages people, organizations and communities to advance knowledge, economic well-being and quality of life by fostering inquiry, learning and the application of research.

As part of our year-long celebration of the 100th, we once again partner with North Olympic Land Trust and our farm sponsors to bring you the 18th Clallam County Farm Tour. The Farm Tour is an opportunity to celebrate our county’s rich agricultural heritage and showcase our thriving agricultural communities. This year, ROME we are excited to feature eight farms that capture the diversity, innovation and spirit of farming here in Clallam County.

As we celebrate 100 years of WSU Extension here in Clallam County, we are looking toward the future of sustaining a vibrant farm community in our area. The theme of the tour this year, “Farming for our Future,” explores the challenges that farmers will face in the next 100 years, including global competition, a changing climate and rising energy and land costs.

Available

• Apples (many varieties) • Asian Pears • Potatoes & Garlic • Mixed Vegetables • Certified Organic

Clea Rome,

Available Later

U-Cut Christmas Trees Christmas Greenery Boughs and Wreaths

225 Gehrke Rd., Port Angeles

Despite the many challenges that modern farmers face currently and in the decades ahead, the future of farming in Clallam County is bright. Farms play an important part in our local economy and contribute to the health and beauty of our natural landscapes. The demand for locally and regionally produced food continues to rise every year, and the three thriving farmers markets in our county reflect this.

Through our WSU Small Farms Program, we work with farmers to help them meet today’s agricultural challenges, fostering profitable family farms, land and water stewardship, and access to healthy food.

In addition to our work with farmers, we offer a wide variety of resources on gardening, health and wellness, community and economic development, and more. Come visit the WSU Extension office in the Clallam County Courthouse, on the web at clallam.wsu.edu or stop by our Farm Tour booth at Jardin du Soleil to find out more about our many Extension programs. Also, be sure and pick up a copy of our newly produced 2014-2015 North Olympic Food & Farm Guide at numerous locations throughout the tour. The free guide boasts over 130 descriptive listings of family farms, local food restaurants and supporting businesses and organizations throughout Clallam and Jefferson counties, acting as a comprehensive resource for all things local food- and agriculture-related on the Olympic Peninsula.

Join us as we celebrate Extension’s past contributions and look forward to the next 100 years of servicing Clallam County’s thriving farms.

WSU Clallam County Extension Director

Selling compost, mulch and topsoil too!

STEVEN JOHNSON

HARVEST CELEBRATION 2014

(360) 457-5950

Direct Farm Sales

Farm open to the public during regular business hours

HARVEST CELEBRATION 2014

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014 • 3

Keeping Farmland for Farming

By Tom Sanford Executive director, North Olympic Land Trust Driving or biking across the Dungeness prairie and delta, I always am awed by the open and beautiful farmlands, historic barns, rolling landscape and wildlife habitat. It’s impressive: peaceful, calming and idyllic. I silently give thanks that somehow, as if by magic, the wonderful rural character of this place remains intact. Since working with North Olympic Land Trust, I’ve learned that this beautiful rural landscape has not been preserved by magic, but by the purposeful and hard work of a community of passionate local citizens, landowners, farmers, nonprofits and government agencies including groups like WSU Extension and North Olympic Land Trust.

In 1995, John Willits took his “Quacker Farm” in the midst of the Lower Dungeness basin and entered a land preservation agreement with North Olympic Land Trust. This agreement states that these 42 acres will be managed solely as prime waterfowl habitat into perpetuity – forever. With this first land preservation agreement, or conservation easement, John also began to form a vision for the lower Dungeness that would ensure that the lands best suited for farming would remain as farmland, those best suited for wildlife would be left for the wildlife and that all of this area would retain the rural character that is so valued by our community.

Since, thanks to the vision shared by John and many others, over 1,200 acres of land north of U.S. Highway 101 between Sequim Bay and Siebert Creek have been conserved for farmland and wildlife habitat by local landowners, agencies and nonprofit organizations, much of it by the Land Trust. Across Clallam County, that tally approaches 3,000 acres.

On Oct. 4, you can experience the magic of the Dungeness prairie and our wonderful agricultural landscape. Farm Tour is an excellent way to celebrate the harvest with family and friends.

While out on the farms, you’ll discover that four of the farms in this year’s Farm Tour have been

• • • • • •

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permanently protected as farmland through private land conservation.

Dungeness Valley Creamery is one of the two remaining dairies in Sequim. The 38-acre creamery and its herd of Jersey cows are protected by a North Olympic Land Trust conservation agreement finalized in 2009.

Freedom Farm, in Agnew, features a 44-acre agricultural easement with the Land Trust that is bisected by the Olympic Discovery Trail.

This farm is a perennial favorite on Farm Tour for its pony rides and equestrian demonstrations.

Lazy J Tree Farm, renowned for its Christmas trees and produce, includes a 19-acre Land Trust land preservation agreement along Siebert Creek that helps protect salmon habitat and is a connecting link in a wildlife corridor that stretches several two miles upstream from the mouth of the creek.

Of the 700 acres Nash’s Organic Produce actively farms, over 200 are permanently protected by a variety of groups including PCC Farmland Trust and North Olympic Land Trust. In 2013, Nash began farming on the 24-Carrot Farm immediately following a community effort to purchase an agricultural easement through the Land Trust.

Yet another Farm Tour site, Jardin du Soleil, is a wonderful location to look north upon Habitat Farms and its 250 acres of prime farmland and pristine waterfowl habitat conserved by North Olympic Land Trust and private landowners over the past two decades.

Though great strides have been made, the work conserving the remaining rural landscape from Agnew to Sequim Bay is not yet complete. Thousands of acres of rich fertile soils and critical habitat remain unprotected. The Land Trust is proud to be a part of a community that works together to conserve the characteristics that make this area a great place to visit and live!

Tom Sanford is executive director of North Olympic Land Trust. To date, the Land Trust has conserved almost 3,000 acres of land for farms, fish and forests across Clallam County.

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Well, we are mostly new. If you are not familiar with your Clallam County Agriculture Commission, you are not alone. The commission is a volunteer advisory committee that serves as a liaison between the public and the County Board of Commissioners.

The committee just reconvened after an idle period of several years. The committee is fresh and eager to be of service to farms of all sizes within the county.

Committee members are co-chairmen Kia Armstrong and Jennifer Bond, Grace Bell, Leslie Bergman, Paul Forrest, Ben Smith and Lauren Turner. Susan Lundstedt, of the Assessor’s Office, is our resource for property tax policy information. Clea Rome, director of WSU Clallam County Extension, provides oversight and advice to the committee. We will be sharing biographical information in the near future.

The commission’s main charge is to provide recommendations on the update of the county’s Comprehensive Plan. The committee will work closely with the county’s Planning Department to help ensure that the Comprehensive Plan is helpful to farmers.

The new committee is energetic and interested in broadening the scope of our role to include activities that will assist farmers to maximize their success. We recognize that farmers do vital work that is critical to the food security of all of us. To that end we plan to gather information from farmers to learn from them what their needs are and what we may be able to do to influence meeting those needs.

The new Ag commission plans to have a presence at Jardin du Soleil, one of the featured farms at the upcoming Farm Tour, on Saturday, Oct. 4. This year’s theme, “Farming for Our Future” is right in line with kicking off the new committee’s work.

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4 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

HARVEST CELEBRATION 2014

2014

Farm Profiles

Come join us for farm fun at one of the jewels of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley!

Nash’s Organic Produce

1865 E. Anderson Road, Dungeness Nash Huber and Patty Huber-McManus

Lazy J Tree Farm

225 Gehrke Road, Agnew Steve Johnson

In 1955, Steve’s parents George and Eloise Johnson bought 20 acres and started a berry farm on Gehrke Road in the Agnew area. More acreage was added and in 1960 the family changed the focus of the farm from berries to Christmas trees and Lazy J Tree Farm was born. Steve took over management of the farm at age 16 after the death of his father and has built Lazy J Tree farm into the diversified operation it is today. While the primary enterprise on this farm remains Christmas trees, the farm also features a certified organic apple and pear orchard and organic potatoes and garlic. In 2007, the farm expanded into a composting operation, which receives yard waste and other organic materials, and now sells finished compost and other side products.

Youngsters will love the large grinding machine and excavators that move the compost piles around, as well as a hayride through the beautiful apple and pear orchards and rows of Christmas trees. Members of the North Olympic Peninsula Beekeepers Association will be on-hand to demonstrate how to keep bees and harvest honey, and there will be a display of cider-making equipment for fruit harvested from the farm’s certified organic orchard of various apple varieties.

Local musicians will play through the day: Mike Kamphaus from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., then a surprise musician from 1-3 p.m. Lunch prepared by Steve McCabe from several Lazy J Tree Farm products will be available for purchase. Enjoy your lunch while listening to music and watching the children play in a giant sand pile with buckets and trucks and of course, shovels to dig with!

The Farm Store will be open featuring Lazy J organic vegetables, triticale gain, garlic, potatoes, apples and apple cider. Other products will be available too; local honey and jams, handmade soap and gifts.

Take a stroll down to Siebert Creek and see some of the projects that the farm and the Lower Elwha and Jamestown S’Klallam tribes have worked on to restore this part of the creek for salmon. This portion of the creek and part of Steve’s farm are protected by conservation easements by the North Olympic Land Trust, preserving the creek for salmon habitat and a section of the farm for agriculture in perpetuity.

Dungeness Valley Creamery

1915 Towne Road, Dungeness Ryan and Sarah McCarthey

Jeff and Debbie Brown started their first dairy in 1971 here in their hometown of Sequim. In 1973, they moved to Whatcom County where they farmed for 16 years. Homesick, they came back to the area in 1989 and built their current dairy farm and home from the ground up. The farm is home to 38 acres of lush pasture, 60 milking Jersey cows and the creamery building which also houses their lovely gift shop. Jeff and Debbie’s son-in-law and daughter, Ryan and Sarah McCarthey now own and run the dairy and creamery. This, along with the preservation of the land through a conservation easement with the North Olympic Land Trust, ensures fresh dairy products and more from Dungeness Valley Creamery for years to come!

In 2006, the farm became a certified raw milk dairy. The milk and cream from cows grazing on pastures in the Dungeness valley was famous for its high butterfat content ever since the European-Amer-

Cows overlook their lush fields at the Dungeness Creamery. Photo credit: Wendy Yada icans recognized the Sequim Valley as a rich agricultural region back in the 1800s. The McCartheys’ cows are grazing on some of the best and most abundant grasses in Dungeness where they spend seven months of the year. During the winter, they are fed alfalfa hay and treated to a small amount of corn and soy-free grain when they are milked. Each cow is named and registered through the American Jersey Cattle Association. Their milk and type performance records are carefully kept and the milking facility is immaculately clean. No rBST or any growth hormones are used.

Farm Tour day at the creamery buzzes with fun and activities. Guided hayrides visit the farm’s pastures and grazing milk herd. Feel free to tour the barn, calves and milking parlor where the creamery’s delicious raw milk is produced. Interactive classes including butter-making and yogurt-making will be given throughout the day as well as food vending from Curbside Bistro and Viking Ice Cream. Don’t forget to visit the petting zoo, a favorite of youngsters of all ages. Lots of fun and learning to be had by the whole family awaits. The McCartheys welcome you!

Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm

3932 Sequim-Dungeness Way, Dungeness Jordan and Paul Schiefen

Sequim prides itself on being the “Lavender Capital of North America” and Jardin du Soleil is one of the most beautiful lavender farms in the area. The certified organic lavender farm was planted in 1999 on land that was part of a dairy farm established in the 1880s.

Thousands of lavender plants on 10-plus acres create a wonderfully fragrant vista at the farm. Join owners Jordan and Paul Schiefen for a tour of the farm, including its Victorian gardens, ponds, fruit trees and fields of lavender.

Learn all about how to care for, harvest and process the lavender, and see demonstrations of the distillation of fragrant essential oil of lavender. Children will have fun finding hidden treasure and making farm crafts to take home. WSU Clallam County Extension, Master Composters and Olympic Climate Action will have resource booths to explore.

Dr. Laura Lewis will be giving a presentation on the changing climate of the Olympic Peninsula at 11 a.m. at this location. Maggie May Espresso and Outfitter will be providing food and drink. Photo credit: Jardin du Soleil

Since 1979, Nash Huber and his team of young farmers have cultivated delicious, fresh, organic produce in the fertile SequimDungeness Valley and brought it to the local community via farmers markets and Nash’s Farm Store. Over the years, new products, like organic grain, pastured pork and eggs and organic seed, have been added. Currently the team is farming about 700 acres, making Nash’s one of only a few organic, highly diversified, family farms in the nation of its size. Nash’s full-grocery Farm Store in Dungeness (4681 Sequim-Dungeness Way) features the finest organic and local produce on the peninsula, an extensive line of organic and GMOfree grocery items, local wine and beer, bulk items, gluten-free items and household products.

Nash’s Organic Produce was the first farm in the valley to participate in the Harvest Celebration starting in 1996.

This year at Nash’s there will be a fabulous line-up of children’s activities, including pumpkin sculptures, veggie block printing, and a fun Kids’ Zone. Food made from Nash’s farm-fresh ingredients prepared by Oven Spoonful will be available for purchase and there will be live music. Don’t miss the Community Potluck at 6 p.m. and a foot-stompin’ Barn Dance at 7:30 p.m.

Freedom Farm

493 Spring Road, Agnew Jerry Schmidt and Mary Gallagher

Jerry Schmidt and Mary Gallagher have turned this 120-acre former commercial dairy into a diversified operation that raises beef cattle and hay. The herd frequently can be seen from Old Olympic Highway, grazing on the rich grassy fields just south of the Agnew Store. In 2004, Mary Gallagher and her husband Jerry Schmidt protected 44 acres of that field for agriculture through a conservation easement with the North Olympic Land Trust, ensuring it would remain farmland forever.

Mary and Jerry also have developed Becca Manson enjoys a pony ride at Freedom Farm.

Photo credit: Wendy Yada an amazing equestrian center at Freedom Farm. They believe that horses should live in as natural an environment as possible so all 60 horses on the farm live in herds and work barefoot. Mary is the primary instructor for dozens of youth and adults who come to Freedom Farm to learn everything from basic riding skills to dressage, jumping, bareback riding and Western riding. The farm hosts many clinics, shows, summer camps, parties and horse play days for children.

During this year’s Farm Tour there will be pony rides for the youngsters, carrot pieces to feed the horses and you’ll also have the chance to decorate the tails of some of the farms’ horses and ponies. The Freedom Farm Riding Team will perform some “horse skits” and also will feature several other fun demonstrations of horseman-

HARVEST CELEBRATION 2014

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014 • 5

ship and various games on horseback. Some of the farm’s many beef Lökalie Gaare cows and calves will be in a special exhibit area, and of course there 702 Gunn Road, Agnew will be horses of all sizes, shapes and colors to see – everything from Patricia Pedersen tiny miniature horses to donkeys to giant draft horses. So, if you’re Pronounced “Lurk-a-lee Gore,” the name of this farm is Danish a horse lover, or just want to learn more about horses and how they interact with their human friends, make sure to visit Freedom Farm! for “Lucky Sheep Farm.”

This is a 5-acre sheep farm owned by Patricia Pedersen Five Acre School who uses working border 515 Lotzgesell Road, Dungeness collies as shepherds! You’ll Brian Walsh and Autumn Piontek-Walsh be amazed at the intelFive Acre School is an independent school serving students ligence, energy, discipline pre-K through Grade 8 located on five acres adjacent to the Dunge- and enthusiasm of these ness Wildlife Refuge in Washington’s first commercial straw bale working dogs as they deftly building. We pride ourselves on our child-centered approach to maneuver sheep around education focusing on the whole person with an emphasis on the the pastures during regular outdoors, community stewardship and sustainability. Created and herding demonstrations Pat Pedersen of Lökalie Gaare discusses sheep herding. Photo credit: Wendy Yada founded by Bill Jevne and Juanita Ramsey-Jevne in 1994, Five Acre throughout the day.

School is celebrating its 20th year with new owners Brian Walsh and A second featured herder, Suzanne Anaya, will demonstrate Autumn Piontek-Walsh. alongside Patricia. Suzanne recently moved to Sequim from southern We invite you to visit our beautiful school grounds. Take short California. She competes with her dogs in the border collie trials walks through the Wildlife Refuge led by our student naturalists. and also has trained her dogs for agility and tricks.

See our elementary and middle school agricultural projects in acArea spinners, weavers and other fiber artisans will be on hand tion. Experience our newly renovated playground and preserved to show you all about the many different ways that fiber can be wetland. On Farm Tour day, enjoy arts and crafts and live music utilized. This stop on the farm tour is guaranteed to be a fun and throughout the day. educational experience for the whole family.

Lazy J Tree Farm * 225 Gehrke Road

2014

T M OUR FAmR o r u o f r Futu ing

Hayrides, bee-keeping demonstrations,

Anderson Rd

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Stop by Agnew Feed Store to see antique tractors!

Highw ay 101

*Pony rides, horse skits, riding demos, horse tail

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See all sizes and shapes of horses, from minature horses to giant draft horses!

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Dungeness Valley Creamery 1915 Towne Rd. Come visit a raw milk dairy

Hayrides around the farm, tours of the milking parlors, butter and yogurt making demos, and a petting zoo!

Great Food and fun demos!

Tours of the beautiful lavender fields, lavender processing and distillation demos, treasure hunts, and food by Maggie May Espresso and Outfitter.

Enjoy a scenic lavender farm!

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Olympic

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Discovery

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Featuring a farmland conservation project in partnership with North Olympic Land Trust/ Friends of the Fields

Trail

North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival 175 W. Cedar St., Sequim

Stop by the Fiber Festival and Museum & Arts Center in downtown Sequim to see fiber artisans in action.

The fiber festival runs Fri-Sun.

The

Please leave your dogs at home !

Nash’s Organic Produce 1865 E. Anderson Road

Pumpkin sculptures, veggie block printing, a fun Kids' Zone, live music, and delicious farm-fresh food

Visit the area’s largest organic farm!

ABC s

of Preserving Our Local Farm Culture

A to climate change dapting

Decreasing supplies of water, new pests, and changing weather patterns present challenges to future farmers. Stop by the Olympic Climate Action booth at Jardin du Soleil to find out more.

B Fostering

eginning Farmers

In 2012, the average age of farmers was 58.3 years, continuing a 30-year trend of steady increase. Who will be our future farmers?

Find more Stop by 5-Acre School and the 4-H petting Farm Tour info at: zoo at the Dungeness Creamery to see clallam.wsu.edu future farmers in action.

Grab a locally-grown snack at Red Rooster Grocery!

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Jardin du Soleil 3932 Sequim- Dungeness Way

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Freedom Farm - 493 Spring Road

decorating, saddle and bridle exhibits and more!

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Annie’s Flower Farm 6871/2 Woodcock Road- New Location!

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Spring Rd

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Woodcock Rd

Future farmers in action!

Featured in Sunset Magazine!

Woodcock Rd

Carlsborg Rd

9 Wild Current Way

Finn-Hall Rd Gunn Rd

Kitchen -Dick Rd

Gehrke Rd

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5 Acre School 515 Lotzgesell Rd

Sequim- Dun ge

Clark Rd

5-acre sheep farm using Border Collies as shepherds!

Flowers add magic and joy to our lives. Seeing them brings back vivid memories of flowers grown by people we have loved. Their scents are also evocative for us since scent is processed in the same part of the brain as is our intuition and our feelings.

We have moved! Last summer Annie’s Flower Farm took over The Cutting Garden’s one acre U-cut field, learning the ropes from Tom and Catherine Mix. Now the Mixes are selling the infrastructure and the plants to us and we are moving about three miles farther west on the same road, Woodcock. Our new location has the same beautiful Olympic Mountain views and peaceful setting. We are busy preparing the soil to receive all the plants this fall. We have been growing flowers this summer for our weddings and customers in three separate locations so we’ve kind of been all over the county. We are looking forward to getting settled at the new farm at the intersection of Woodcock and KitchenDick! Our U-pick cut flower field will be open again next summer!

For the Farm Tour, watch us create our future as we build up the soil with Entre Manure compost from Leilani Wood. Watch us plow using the sun’s energy supplied through draft horses and scatter seeds that we have saved for next spring’s flowers. We will have the perfume making activity again this year for children. Bring your own perfume bottle! Other activities will include a flower pressing demonstration and a seed saving demonstration, and live music by Jim Faddis.

Perfume making for kids, flower pressing, draft horses, and live music throughout the day.

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Herding demonstrations by Border Collies, sheep shearing and fiber processing demos.

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Lurkalee Gaare 702 Gunn Road

New Location: 687 1/2 Woodcock Road, Sequim Sid Anna Sherwood

Visit student agricultural projects, a natural playscape, arts and crafts, and paths through the preserved wetland.

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onservation

of farmland

Clallam County has lost over 70% of its farmland during the last several decades.

Visit the Farm Tour Info Hubs at each farm to learn about conservation efforts in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.

6 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

HARVEST CELEBRATION 2014

Olympic Climate Action supports Farm Tour

By Ann Soule

Olympic Climate Action

and Cristina Airado

Small Farms Assistant, WSU Clallam County Ext.

The grass-roots group Olympic Climate Action (OCA) has a mission to “seek a safe, prosperous, sustainable future for residents of the Olympic Peninsula by addressing the threat of climate change.”

OCA hosts a number of different educational events throughout the year and saw a great opportunity to participate in the 18th Annual Clallam County Farm Tour.

The theme of the tour this year is, “Farming for Our Future”; adaptation to climate change certainly will be among local agriculture’s next big challenges.

In efforts to reduce the excess carbon and air pollution emissions generated by vehicles on Farm Tour day, OCA is encouraging tour-goers to bike from farm to farm. Biking the Farm Tour has many great benefits: it eliminates your personal Farm Tour carbon

OCA member Tracy explains how the air is warmer inside his terrarium than outside, a parallel to warming of the atmosphere from greenhouse gases. Our Oceans in a Changing Climate Event, Summer 2014. Photo Credit: Ann Soule

footprint, keeps you fit as you cycle through the scenic Dungeness Valley, and – above all – it means you get in for FREE! While free admission for bicyclists has been offered in the past, OCA is making this option even more attractive by generating a downloadable Farm Tour bicycling map showing easy-to-bike routes for novice and expert cyclists alike.

Visit the OCA website for the downloadable bike route map: www.olyclimate.org Another simple way to reduce emissions and get the most out of your $10 per carload admission ticket is by carpooling. OCA is encouraging carpooling by contacting a number of groups to inform them of the event and help them plan accordingly. Check with your favorite club, church or organization to see if they might Farm tour is a bike-friendly event. Photo be offering a free or low-cost ride for members or the public. Or, credit: Clea Rome

check with your friends and family – they might want to join you for the tour!

As part of its educational mission, OCA also is hosting WSU Jefferson County Extension Director Dr. Laura Lewis, a regional agricultural systems expert, to speak about “Agriculture in the Pacific Northwest’s Changing Climate.” Dr. Lewis will present a brief introduction to this subject and be available for discussion at: • The OCA Booth at Jardin du Soleil from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., presentation at 11 a.m.

• Farm Tour Info Hub at Nash’s Organic Produce from 1-3:30 p.m., presentation at 1 p.m.

Last but not least, OCA will have a table with displays and information related to Dr. Lewis’s talk at Jardin du Soleil throughout the day (10 a.m.-4 p.m.). Stop by, learn something new and let us know your thoughts!

A changing climate across the peninsula

By Ann Soule Olympic Climate Action Hurricanes and drought are becoming more common around the globe, but climate change may have a silver lining for farming in the Dungeness. Reports from multiple agencies confirm that the global warming trend is occurring across the Puget Sound region. An extended growing season could be a boon to farmers and gardeners here … so long as they beware of water-thirsty crops.

A longer growing season is great news to everyone with fruit, vegetable and flower patches. Unfortunately, the extra heat also means that our Olympic Mountain snowpack is melting — very rapidly in some cases (see the Olympic National Park website on the wasting of Lillian Glacier, just over the ridge from uppermost Dungeness watershed). Mountain snowmelt in summer has historically kept the Dungeness River flowing cold and replenished groundwater supplies that residents depend on for drinking and irrigation.

With steady growth, struggling native salmon populations and a strong agricultural tradition in the Dungeness watershed, water is in constant demand. But no season is more critical than late summer when snowmelt diminishes, the rivers run low and farmers and gardeners still need to irrigate. That is why August and September are good months to conserve water and let your lawn go brown — for the benefit of local farms

and wildlife.

So, is the climate glass of water half empty or half full? There will be challenges, yes, making it appear half empty … but cooperation and ingenuity have brought the health and strength of the community great distances in the past.

For example, the Dungeness River Management Team, a stakeholder group of individuals and organizations with often-competing interests in local water resources, has shared both the wealth of abundance and struggle of shortages over its 25-year history, working together to find ways to manage water effectively in the SequimDungeness Valley.

Looking ahead, a cooperative attitude will continue to go far in meeting the needs of farms, fish and people. It seems that for the peninsula, the glass is clearly half full.

For more information, visit: • WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources: csanr.wsu.edu • UW Climate Impacts Group: cses.washington.edu/cig • Washington Department of Ecology, Climate Change Program: www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange • Olympic National Park glaciers research: www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/glaciers.htm • Dungeness River Management Team: home. olympus.net/~dungenesswc • Clallam Conservation District, water and soil conservation: www.clallamcd.org

Recent data shows that air pollution in Sequim tends to spike on weekends, even more so during festivals.” Photo Credit: Odelle Hadley, ORCAA

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HARVEST CELEBRATION 2014

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014 • 7

Ninth Annual North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival, Oct. 3-5 Celebrating our ninth year, the North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival has been an ongoing annual interactive fiber arts event the first weekend in October connecting to the community with activities like a museum exhibition, educational demonstrations of fiber processes, hands-on projects with children and adults, sale of local artists’ work, workshops, lectures, wearable art shows and information about local fiber activities, groups, businesses, and instructional resources. The North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival always is free to the public and more information can be found at our website FiberArtsFestival.org.

Each year there is a special theme used for the festival and exhibition at the Museum & Arts Center juried and curated by the festival director, Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond.

For 2014 the theme is “Parallel Patterns – Significant Schemes, Seams & Symbols” that reveals meaningful themes, designs and relationships through fiber, fabric and fashions with creative consideration that reflects and sometimes repeats imaginative motives, motifs, lines and serendipity.

The exhibition is open to all fiber arts media and encourages works that are old, new, collaborations, fine art, and functional crafts.

The festival has entwined partnerships starting with the North Olympic Shuttle & Spindle Guild and Museum & Art

Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley, while each year it grows to partner with more educational and arts nonprofits and organizations like the Clallam County Farm Tour, Strait Knitters Guild, Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club, Sequim Farmers Market, Peninsula College, and many more during this three-day celebration including the First Friday Art Walk, Fiber Arts Extravaganza and workshops.

Friday, Oct. 3, launches the “Parallel Patterns” art exhibition opening at the Museum & Arts Center at 175 W. Cedar St. in downtown Sequim from 5-8 p.m.

Starting at 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 4, we invite you to participate in our Fiber Arts Extravaganza that includes demonstrations of different fiber art methods, a Fiber Arts Market with local artists selling fiber to finished products, and meet the creators of the “Par-

allel Patterns” art exhibition Artists’ Reception from noon-3 p.m.

The Fiber Arts Extravaganza happens at the Museum & Arts Center inside and out. Sunday, Oct. 5, welcomes visitors to the exhibit and for small fees you can learn new fiber art techniques at our workshops offered at the Dungeness Schoolhouse.

Looking ahead to inspire your creativity, the themes for the upcoming North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival are: 2015 – “Fostered Fiber – Remembrance, Remnants & Mentors” 2016 – “Material Measurement – Magnitude, Meaning & Makers” 2017 – “Threads Count – Textiles, Technology & Tales”

Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, director of the North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival

Enjoy Farm Day! We invite you to learn about farming in Clallam County as you experience the great local family farms on tour. We’re in our fourth generation and still committed to farming.

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