Washington Grown Magazine - March 2023

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Timeless the Palouse

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History of the Palouse

A spicy Ethiopian stew from Feast World Kitchen

Five generations growing on the Palouse

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the

Timeless Palouse

A rich history of agriculture and education in the Palouse has created a thriving community filled with farmers, scientists, engineers, artists and scholars.

Rolling hills, sweeping vistas, towering buttes and low-lying creek beds all teeming with life, no matter the season; these are just a few of the things you can observe on the Palouse. Whether you call this region your home, you fondly return to visit your alma mater, or you simply have had the pleasure of driving through, you know the Palouse offers so much more than beautiful views. An agricultural hub and educational destination, the Palouse plays a pivotal role in the production of food, research and technology.

The Palouse region of Washington state and Idaho covers over 4,000 square miles of rich loessy hills with an even richer history. At the heart of the Palouse, the City of Pullman flourishes at the junction of three small rivers and creeks flowing through the ancestral homelands of the Upper Palouse and Nez Perce tribes. Settled by nonindigenous communities

in the 1870s, the Pullman area quickly became home to a few hundred small farmers and ranchers. The first train arriving in 1885 kicked off a century of continual growth and the establishment of the Agricultural College, Experiment Station, and School of Science of the State of Washington in 1892. Artesian wells were also discovered in the Pullman area, which fed the growing city until they went dry in the 1970s.

Pullman drew in more farmers as word of the darkly colored, nutrient-dense soils spread towards Walla Walla and the Columbia Basin. The bunchgrass prairies had served as excellent pasture lands for several generations prior, but now, the rolling hills of the Palouse were growing wheat and other

Nobody is quite sure who should get credit as being Pullman's first settler. One popular story goes like this:

In 1875, a man named Bolin Farr, in search of a homestead site, camped beside a Palouse meadow where three creeks were joined together. All night long, the gurgling water lulled his sleep. “Here,” said he, “is where I’ll stake my homestead, and call it Three Forks Ranch."

Farr set aside a tract of land and platted it to town lots, after which he cast about to find a name befitting such a place. George Pullman of the Pullman Company chanced to be a friend, so in his honor, Three Forks was renamed Pullman.

In 1890, the state legislature picked Pullman as the location for the new state college.

The decision followed a lengthy and controversial site selection process lasting more than a year.

In 1941, near Palouse, Washington, Raymond A. Hanson conceived of a self-leveling mechanism for hillside combines. Tiltinghead hillside combines had been invented in the 1890s, and leveling was absolutely necessary on the steep hills of the Palouse. But before the Hanson invention, manual leveling required a person to stand on the combine platform and adjust the machine to the lay of the land – a tedious, dangerous job.

Innovations like this have helped to unlock the Palouse hills as the best land in America for growing dryland wheat.

1889 1941 2015 1910 1980

In 1889, workers drilling a well for the Palace Hotel on Main Street struck liquid gold when they discovered a pressurized water supply and dug the first of several artesian wells.

Every home in Pullman had clean running water by 1891, according to the Pullman Herald. Pamphlets touting Pullman’s “everflowing springs of pure, abundant cold water” were distributed to lure potential residents to the area.

By 1910, the college had more than doubled its enrollment, developed its campus, and continued to widen its offerings in both liberal arts and the natural sciences. Pullman, with an additional 2,600 permanent residents, was decidedly a college town. An influx of new residents came to join the growing faculty and administrative staff.

As the population grew, the town experienced an unprecedented boom in residential and commercial construction, which resulted in several new neighborhoods and the development of Grand Avenue, Pullman's main drag.

The lentil industry peaked in 1980, when 163,000 acres were harvested, yielding 163 million pounds of lentils, worth about $43 million. That constituted 98% of the nation's lentil crop. Since then, due to the introduction of additional rotation crops and increasing lentil acreage in other states, Washington's lentil production has steadily decreased.

In 2015, Washington State University celebrated its 125th anniversary.

grains as well. As the 20th century progressed, pulses, like peas and lentils, also gained popularity.

Lentils have ancient roots stretching back thousands of years to the Fertile Crescent. First cultivated by J.J. Wagner near Farmington, Washington, in 1916, the success and value of lentils was well known to Palouse farmers and seed companies alike. Production increased further with the introduction of new technologies developed by the Hume-Love Company in 1932 making it easier to harvest the lentils. By 1937, the first commercial crop of lentils was harvested and sold for $30,000. As prices and global demand fluctuated over the years, the lentil industry on the Palouse ebbed and flowed. Reaching its peak in 1980, 160,000 acres of lentils were cultivated.

Meanwhile, the City of Pullman continued to grow alongside the now named State College of Washington. World Wars I and II both slowed progress in the area, but after the introduction of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, or G.I. bill, hundreds of veteran students came to the campus in Pullman. By 1959, the school graduated to the title of Washington State University (WSU) through technological advancement and expansion. WSU graduate, Edmund O. Schweitzer, made Pullman his lifelong home and founded Schweitzer Engineering Labs. After the tech boom of the 1980’s, Schweitzer Engineering has grown to employ nearly 2,000 Pullman residents, making digital relay equipment for power companies. By 2022, Pullman’s

population clocked in at nearly 33,000 residents.

Although technology and research have become a driving force in the development and growth of the region, the agricultural roots of the Palouse have created a patchwork of color and culture across Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. Pullman has always remained true to its agricultural history and celebrates one particular pulse each year. Since 1989, Pullman has hosted the National Lentil Festival. Although the region no longer produces 98% of the nation’s lentils, the community continues to come together and appreciate the agriculture around them. The Lentil Festival falls on the first weekend of the WSU academic year, bringing together all parts of the Pullman community.

It’s indisputable that the Palouse is a magical place. Few places can compare to the beauty, abundance and culture of the Palouse and Pullman. From an agricultural settlement in the late 19th century to a booming college hub, Pullman has not lost its small-town feel. Farmers, scientists, engineers, artists, scholars and countless others call the Palouse their home. Wheat, lentils, chickpeas and many other crops are sowed and harvested on the rolling hills of the Palouse. Washington State University continues to bring in thousands of new students and conducts invaluable agricultural research each year. While all of these unique aspects are special on their own, it’s the culmination of all of them that make the Palouse what it is today.

Pullman experienced unprecedented growth after the college was established, resulting in the construction of new neighborhoods and businesses along Grand Avenue.

Meet the Mader family: committed to quality crops and sustainable farming.

five generations one

The rolling hills of the Palouse are world renowned for their loamy soils, perfect for growing a variety of crops. In the late summer, you can drive through Palouse country and find golden green fields of wheat, garbanzo beans, and peas. The wheat’s whispy heads blow in the wind while bushy pulse crops stand solid. Have you ever wondered why and how farmers choose to grow one crop instead of another? We took a visit to Mader Farms in Whitman County to learn more.

generations one dream

Kevin Mader has been passionate about agriculture since the beginning. “I love it. As much as I love my parents, my first words weren’t ‘mom’ or ‘dad.' They were combine and tractor,” said Kevin. He is the fifth generation on the family's farm to dedicate his life to growing food. As times change, so, too, do the Maders' farming practices. Steve Mader, Kevin’s father, reflects on how the operation has evolved over the years.

“The land is in better condition now than it was in the 1900s. It’s been a pleasure to watch them take their passion and go with it and change it and do more with it,” said Steve.

The Maders have definitely done more with the farm over time. They grow a wide range of crops, which play a key role in implementing regenerative farming practices. Regenerative agriculture aims to take a holistic approach, so the Mader farm uses crop rotations to benefit soil health and maximize crop yields. For example, lentils have been worked into the crop rotation to help regenerate soils.

Lentils are a legume, making them excellent for incorporating into a crop rotation. Legumes form a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in their root systems. These bacteria form nodules on the roots, which fix nitrogen in the soil and make it available for plants to use. Nitrogen is a key component for not just lentil production but also the production of any crops grown on the Palouse. A field planted to lentils one year can be planted to wheat the next. The wheat crop then can reap the benefits of the nitrogen left behind by the lentil crop the year before.

Once the Maders harvest their crops, they are then sent to the Maders' own cleaning facility, where they are processed and cleaned for direct to consumer sales via e-commerce, managed by Kevin's wife, Sara Mader. "From here, we clean the products from the field, and they work their way through all our systems and down into our small bag line so they can be purchased through our e-commerce site, www.palousebrand.com." said Sara.

It’s a family effort to get their products successfully from the field to the consumer’s table. The quality of the product and care for the customer are most important throughout each step of the process. “Quality is what this processing plant was designed for in the beginning, and quality is at the top of our minds,” said Sara. “We've changed our farming practices over the years based on consumer feedback, and the heart of the brand was really born to connect the consumer to the farmer.” The Maders want consumers to feel good about using Palouse Brand products because they know the crops were raised locally and responsibly. Consumers can put a face to their farmers and be confident that the lentils they are eating are not only beneficial to their own diets but also the land they were grown on.

The Maders grow lentils as a way to reintroduce nitrogen to their soils between wheat harvests. Kevin manages the farm (below, with Washington Grown Host Kristi Gorenson), while Sara manages the processing facility.

KSPS (Spokane)

Mondays at 7:00 pm and Saturdays at 4:30 pm ksps.org/schedule/

KWSU (Pullman)

Fridays at 6:00 pm nwpb.org/tv-schedules/

KTNW (Richland)

Saturdays at 1:00 pm nwpb.org/tv-schedules

KBTC (Seattle/Tacoma)

Saturdays at 6:30 am and 3:00 pm kbtc.org/tv-schedule/

KIMA (Yakima)/KEPR (Pasco)/KLEW (Lewiston)

Saturdays at 5:00 pm kimatv.com/station/schedule / keprtv.com/station/schedule klewtv.com/station/schedule

KIRO (Seattle)

Saturdays at 7:30 am and Mondays at 2:30 pm or LiveStream Saturdays at 2:30 pm on kiro7.com kiro7.com

NCW Life Channel (Wenatchee) Check local listings ncwlife.com

RFD-TV

Thursdays at 12:30 pm and Fridays at 9:00 pm (Pacific) rfdtv.com/

*Times/schedules subject to change based upon network schedule. Check station programming to confirm air times.

Feast World Kitchen in Spokane offers a taste of global cuisine through dishes prepared by immigrant and refugee chef partners, showcasing the rich and diverse flavors of their home countries.

Discover

with

the rich flavors of Ethiopia

Doro Wat

Feast World Kitchen in Spokane serves as a phenomenal example of how delicious an experience it can be to support immigrant and refugee neighbors. The nonprofit restaurant’s chef partners come from a rotation of dozens who represent the cuisine of their home country when they are in the kitchen. The menu on any given day might feature dishes from Syria, Sudan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Kenya or Senegal (among many other countries). As co-director Maisa Abudayha notes on Episode 7 of the current season, “It’s like traveling all over the world in this small kitchen.”

On the day that Washington Grown visited Feast World Kitchen, host Kristi Gorenson cooked alongside chef Beity, who shared one of the most beloved recipes from her native Ethiopia: doro wot. It may translate directly as “chicken stew,” but that hardly reflects the richly fragrant – and sometimes rather spicy – character of this iconic dish. This is quite a distinctive chicken stew.

A generous amount of chopped red onion serves as the foundation for a long-cooked mixture that simmers with chicken legs and, later, hard-cooked eggs. Chief among the seasonings added is the quintessential Ethiopian spice blend berbere, which can be made with many

The nonprofit impact of Feast World Kitchen in the past year

31,143 $343,755.07

How many meals were served in the past year via restaurant and catering program

How much Feast chef partners were paid in food sales revenue

30+

How many chefs from around the world have engaged in business training events

different spices. Among those commonly included in berbere are chiles, ground ginger, black peppercorns, cardamom and cinnamon. It can be quite spicy, depending on the particular blend used, so the heat level of the resulting doro wot can vary too.

Once the foundation of onions cooked with spices is made, chicken drumsticks are added to the pot, along with some liquid, and the mixture cooks slowly for a couple of hours until the liquids are reduced and the flavors are well developed. Toward the end of cooking, hard-cooked eggs are added as well.

The distinctive bread of Ethiopia – injera – is, of course, served alongside. Guests tear pieces of the tender, spongy bread to use for picking up portions of the stew for eating. The bread's tangy flavor is an ideal complement to the robustly flavored stew. Lentils are among common accompaniments that might be served alongside doro wot and similar stews. Beity’s version cooks the lentils with onion, garlic, ginger, cardamom, and – little surprise – some of the berbere spice mix that is so prevalent among the vivid flavors of Ethiopian cooking.

The menu at Feast World Kitchen on any given day might feature dishes from Syria, Sudan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Kenya or Senegal (among many other countries).

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In southeast Washington, Clay Hutchens soaks in the vista from his green pea field. Here at Hutchens Family Farm in Columbia County, it feels like you’re floating in a sea of farmland.

The view captures many reasons why Clay and other farmers value sustainability. Yes, part of it is about preserving beautiful scenery. But, as a farmer, Clay sees other things worth conserving, too.

He sees a landscape rich with productive soils. He sees crops that feed a growing population. And he sees agricultural and natural resources that future generations will need.

“We want our soils to be productive for a long time because, ultimately, we produce a lot of food,” said Clay. “We've got a responsibility to take care of it for future generations.”

That responsibility is something that farmers take very seriously. Washington's farmers step up and face that challenge every day, in order to steward their resources well while providing a safe and abundant food supply. Clay partners with the Columbia Conservation District to build sustainability into his operation.

Aneesha Dieu, Columbia Conservation District manager, helps connect farmers with the Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP), a program that empowers farmers to take actions that sustain agricultural and natural resources.

“The landowners get to really own the projects because they feel like they have the freedom of being able to do that project on their own,” said Aneesha.

One of many VSP-eligible projects is soil testing. It’s been a help for Clay, and other farmers benefit from data captured from his fields.

“We've got a field where we've taken many soil samples. The conservation district can take that compiled data and see what we learn,” said Clay. “Hopefully, we can find where the economic thresholds of applying some of these products are to help other farmers besides just us. That's the ultimate goal, to help not just this farm, but to learn so we can continue to try to find better ways to produce food.”

While valuable, the cost of these activities can be prohibitive. Through programs like VSP, the Columbia Conservation District offers cost-share, meaning they cover a portion of the cost of eligible activities.

“The amount of money it would take to do some of these trials on our own is — if not cost-prohibitive — it's at least daunting,” said Clay. “That's really the only way that I would be participating in something like this, is because of that cost-share.”

The farm-friendly nature of VSP helps preserve agricultural land that’s increasingly under threat. In fact, American Farmland Trust reports that Washington lost 98,000 acres of farmland to development between 20012016, and we’re projected to lose much more by 2040.

Q&Awith

Mike Dodds and Brian Meiners

Basic American Foods

A few years ago, we toured Basic American Foods in Moses Lake to see how they're turning fresh Washington potatoes into dehydrated mashed goodness. This year, we're back again, only this time, we're talking about Washington-grown beans. We talked with Mike Dodds and plant manager Brian Meiners about the process of making dehydrated refried beans.

How do our locally grown beans get from the field to our plates?

Mike Dodds: We work with growers to get pinto beans to make into refried beans for restaurants. We bring these raw beans in. We run them through our process and basically do what you do at home. We soak them, we cook them, and then we form them. Then we take all the water out of them. When you get it home, you get a bag of dried product, and all you have to do is add water.

Brian Meiners: I tell my friends and family that any restaurant taco you can think of, we're behind them, usually, with the refried beans, because they want to be quick service. There's probably not a Mexican fastfood restaurant out there that is not using our beans. Even in the little town of Moses Lake, it's very hard to

drive down any street in town and not go by our customers.

Beans from around the U.S. are used, but what is so special about Washington’s crop?

Brian: What our teams notice is that the beans that are growing here in Washington are usually a brighter, larger bean than what we get in other regions. The beans are washed and then go through a process to remove debris. We work really hard to make sure they are clean, clean beans. After they are cleaned, the beans are cooked, formed and then head into a dryer. They're close to the consistency of a can of refried beans. They're about that same moisture when they come out of here. Now, we're going to take them down to a shelf-stable dry moisture, and we'll get a year of shelf life out of these beans.

Mike: People, for some reason, think that anything dehydrated is not real, and that's not the case at all, right? If these are real raw materials that are going in, we're not altering them. All we're doing is taking the water out of it and making it more convenient for people to use.

The Washington Grown project is made possible by the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant program, through a partnership with the state’s farmers.