The Dirt Issue 17 – Sheep and Goats and Alpacas…Oh My!
Driving around the Skagit Valley, you’re immediately struck by the sheer number and diversity of crops grown. But for a more complete picture of Skagit agriculture, we must include a look at livestock....
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 18 – Slow Flowers
Slow down and savor the difference! Delicious food, freshly harvested and eaten while still in the perfect flush of ripeness, is a taste explosion often worlds away from everyday fare. To achieve it,...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 19 – Skagit Valley Ag Outside the Ag Zone
We’re all familiar with the lush, abundantly-productive farmland of the Skagit Delta. Zoned Ag-NRL (Natural Resource Lands), it is comprised of world-renowned prime farmland. But, you’d be wrong if you...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 20 – Food Hubs
It’s what we all want, and here’s one way we get it In the last few years, there has been a market-changing shift in what consumers want to eat. The interest in food, its source and how it’s grown have...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 21 – Northwest Agricultural Research Foundation
Agricultural Research from the Ground Up From its earliest days as a World War II-era response to severely falling cabbage seed production, the then Northwest Seed and Truck Crop Laboratory, Inc. has...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 22 – Farming in December
A Different Kind of Busy: Farming in December As day length dwindles and all the winter prep appears to be done, you might be led to believe everything is “easy going” for a farmer in winter, but not...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 23 – Farming & Flooding in the Skagit Valley
It’s hard to imagine a livelihood more governed by the effects of weather than farming. For a farmer, the weather dictates when a crop can be planted, where it can be planted, and whether successive...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 24 – The Case for Conventional Farming… and Organic… and...
Conventional, organic, sustainable—these are just three of the many terms used to characterize twenty- first century agriculture. Each has its champions, but what is becoming increasingly evident is a...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 25 – Voluntary Stewardship Program
Farmland preservation is a complicated issue. It’s more than removing development threats so farmland can keep functioning as farmland; it’s also the necessary measures required to keep farming viable....
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 26 – Fully Functioning Agriculture
Ask any farmer in the Skagit Valley what makes this area so special that it’s known as the Magic Skagit and you’ll hear answers like the soil…the climate…the topography…and, very probably, the farmers....
View ArticleSpring/Summer News Bulletin
Check out our Spring/Summer News Bulletin here: Spring-Summer 2018 News Bulletin The post Spring/Summer News Bulletin appeared first on Skagtonians to Preserve Farmland.
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 27 – Agricultural Support Businesses
Last month The Dirt explored the meaning and importance of fully functioning agriculture. This month we want to delve more deeply into agricultural support businesses and their vital role in Skagit...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 28 – The Bread Lab
A Mighty Driver in a Thriving Local Economy It’s been said that plant breeding operates at the intersection of production, processing and consumption. Here in the Skagit Valley is a revolutionary model...
View ArticleFrom Allen’s Desk Issue 1 – July 2018
Welcome to our inaugural semi-annual update “From Allen’s Desk”—a look at what’s happening in the world of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland. At a community forum we hosted last year, it was brought...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 29 – The Skagit County Fair
Time for the Fair! A highlight of our summers for well over a hundred years, the Skagit County Fair is set to delight, excite and educate again this year. Running from Wednesday, August 8 through...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 30 – Dikes & Drainage
Any drive along Skagit Valley farmland features the ubiquitous roadside ditch, but did you know that it’s part of a vast interconnected system that does more than anything else to make the Skagit...
View ArticleOur Summer/Fall News Bulletin is out!
Check out the 2018 Summer/Fall News Bulletin here: http://www.skagitonians.org/wp-content/uploads/Summer-Fall-2018-News-Bulletin.pdf The post Our Summer/Fall News Bulletin is out! appeared first on...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 31 – Career Technical Education
Career and Technical Education in Agriculture In our modern world, the need to develop and enhance work skills is constantly evolving. Rarely does anyone say anymore, “That’s a good job, a job for...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 32 – Collaborating to Preserve Farmland
Working Together to Preserve Farmland In 1989, an attempt was made to have a nearly 400-acre tract of prime agricultural land alongside I-5 rezoned for an amusement park. On the face of it, it may not...
View ArticleThe Dirt Issue 33 – Composting
The Practice and Remarkable Benefits of Composting Any good cropping system starts with the condition of the soil: its structure, its pH, its nutritional balance and how available those nutrients are...
View Article