Clallam Extension Co-Hosts the 2023 Tilth Alliance Conference, adding a Science Symposium
The WSU Regional Small Farms Team was proud to co-host the 2023 Tilth Conference along with Tilth Alliance and the Washington Organic Recycling Council, held in Port Townsend, October 26th to 28th. The Small Farms Team created a Science Symposium on the first day of the conference, a special two-part workshop for meat producers over the weekend, helped to select farms for the farm walks, plus offered scholarships to local farmers to attend the conference. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE
Head, Heart, Health, & Hands = Resiliency
October is Resilience Month, so it’s a good time to reflect on what resilience is. Resilience is the ability to withstand a shock or recover from it quickly. Resilience is the process and the outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially those requiring mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility, and adjustment to external and internal demands. Resilience is often looked at on the individual level, does that one person have the skills to overcome adversity on their own? Yet resilience more often comes from community connections and infrastructure helping the person overcome hardship in a network of support. Read the whole article here!
Getting to the Clallam County Waste Prevention
In the past, the Clallam County Waste Prevention Program focused heavily on recycling and solid waste management education, in an effort to decrease public confusion around recyclables and contamination. Now its efforts span food waste recovery, reallocation of farm food waste and plant starts, plus supporting education in the schools, including hands-on composting and more.
Elevating Youth Voices to Decision Makers in Clallam County
The Clallam County Prevention Summit was a gathering collaboratively created by WSU Extension Clallam County’s 4-H and Youth Empowerment Coordinator, Melanie Greer and our three local Community Prevention & Wellness Initiative Coalitions or CPWIs.
The three youth coalitions in attendance were the Port Angeles Healthy Youth Coalition, Crescent United Coalition, and Forks Community Coalition. CPWI’s are funded by the Washington State Health Care Authority to address youth needs as determined by the WA State Healthy Youth Survey.
Farm to School Thriving in Port Angeles Schools
With fresh energy in the gardens of the Port Angeles School District from WSU Extension’s new full-time Farm to School coordinator, Amelia Depue, things are a buzz.
As the spring weather warms up, students from all over Port Angeles School District have been working and learning about seed germination, soil and plant health, composting and all the creatures that help in creating healthy soil!
A New Class of Master Gardeners!
Every other a year a new class graduates from WSU Clallam County Extension’s Master Gardener Program. This is a rigorous 12-week course for people who love learning about all things garden plus community service.
This year’s class was the largest class ever, almost twice the average size. Laurel Moulton, the program coordinator, shares that every class is excited, but this one seems extra enthusiastic. Learn about the class and why people love it! Read the whole article here
3 Ways We Support Farms
The Regional Small Farms Program is a robust branch of WSU Extension. Their hub is in Port Hadlock, the team serves Kitsap, Clallam and Jefferson farmers. From livestock to vegetables, pest management to farm business management, the Regional Small Farms team brings a lot to the table to support, network and educate local farmers. Learn about their 2023 offerings to enrich our farmers.
Read the whole article here
The New Way of Banking Food for Wellness
If you haven’t been to the Port Angeles Food Bank within the last two years, you would likely walk through their doors today without even realizing you’re in a food bank. The shelves are stocked with an array of choices, the refrigerated section is full of local and organic fruits, veggies and proteins. Smiling clerks greet shoppers as they grab shopping carts and again as they arrive at the check-out counter, where food is weighed up but not rung up. Like many food pantries across the country, the Port Angeles Food Bank has undergone a cultural restructuring. Read the Whole Article Here!
Clallam’s Livestock Specialist, Supporting Youth Development & Regional Small Farmers
Large or small, there is a Livestock project for everyone. Read about our Livestock Specialist here!
Tending to Resiliency in a Changing Climate
For WSU Clallam Extension, working with the changing climate and community resiliency means supporting policies, systems and on-the-ground efforts. With programs serving youth, homeowners, farmers, food systems and food access facilities and more, our breadth is wide and interwoven. This article offers a window into a handful of our efforts, as each program is deeply committed and engaged towards supporting our peninsula to be resilient and well-resourced as we move forward into a hopeful future. Read the Whole Article Here.
3 Ways to Engage with Gleaning in Clallam County
Have you been wondering what to do about all the dropped fruit in your yard? Do you drive by unharvested fruit trees and cringe when you think how many people they would feed? Get ready to onboard with our Gleaning Program.
Learn all about the Gleaning Program and how to get involved as a harvester, a host of gleaners or become a farm gleaner. This is about building community, sharing the harvest and reducing food wast.
To learn more, read the full article here.
Digging into the relationships of 4-H, County Fair & the Junior Livestock Auction
While 4-H has expanded beyond agriculture and homesteading, traditional project areas continue to be foundational and the fair is where the showcasing, competing and auctioning of all the hard work culminates! Interested in purchasing some tasty, locally-raised meat? Auction info here.
The Regional Small Farms Program
Serving the tri-county area of Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap, this team covers a lot of ground with a tremendous amount of expertise, passion and breadth of resources. Since 2015, the Food & Farms team across Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap Counties have worked closely with farmers and community members to provide a wide array of educational and networking opportunities, support a profitable agricultural economy, promote land and water stewardship, and to ensure that members of our community have access to healthy food.
How Food Access, Community Health and Farmers Markets are Interwoven
Farmers Markets have been an access point for fresh farm foods and artisan goods for over five thousand years. Pikes Place Market is the oldest in Washington, having started in 1907. The Sequim and Port Angeles Markets have both been open for more than 20 years.
Also true is that WSU Clallam Extension has been providing support to help our local markets all the while. WSU Extension serves as a science-based resource for community health, agricultural practices, and economic development. Sharing many overlapping goals, farmers markets and WSU extension offices have long worked collaboratively. Let’s spotlight the Community Health side of farmers markets!
This Article includes the 5 Ways Farmers Markets Champion Community Health
Artwork courtesy of Sequim Farmers & Artisans Market, artist Sarah Necco
Clallam Master Gardeners Spring Plant Sale
Joyfully In-Person May 7th, 2022
Having creatively kept the plant sale alive over the past 2 years of the pandemic, there is great joy in returning to an in-person event. The Master Gardeners love this day and can’t wait to see the Woodcock Garden abuzz.
For at least 20 years, the Master Gardeners have been hosting this spring plant sale to raise funds for the operation of the Woodcock Garden, the 5th Street Community Garden in Port Angeles, the Youth Enrichment Programs in our local schools plus other educational programming. Read the full story here.
Eat Local First, Win $100 & the Symbiotic Nature of CSA’s
Eat Local First was created in response to the loud and clear message coming from consumers and farmers alike that the demand for local farm-fresh products has never been greater and that a need for a state-wide directory was outstanding. The result is that partners from around the state began working together to create a comprehensive online Washington Food & Farm Finder which continues to develop in breadth and scope.
Vicki Zmuda, Native Harvest Gleaning Coordinator
The Positive Trajectory of Gleaning in Clallam County
Gleaning is the practice of harvesting unused or surplus produce and distributing it to those experiencing food insecurity. It reduces food loss, provides access to fresh produce and builds community connections. This practice has long historical standing and is mentioned in many religious texts from around the globe, when farmers would intentionally leave produce in the fields to be harvested by the hungry. Today, gleaning occurs on small farms, commercial farms, at farmers markets, in backyards, and from urban fruit and nut trees. Read the whole article here.
SNAP-Ed in Clallam County
We at SNAP-Ed recognize that the causes of poverty, poor health and limited food access are systemic and often insurmountable. Through partnerships with community organizations and service providers such as schools, health care and food banks, SNAP-Ed targets the structures and systems that prevent people with limited resources from accessing nutritious, wholesome food and opportunities for physical activity. SNAP-Ed employees and their partners work to remove the barriers people face.
Four main topics addressed in the SNAP-Ed program are:
Native Pollinator Corridor
Native pollinators need more than native flowers, they need uninterrupted corridors and appropriate housing. Each native pollinator has a unique way of nesting, this can take place deep in a grass tuft or inside a particular hollow stem of a native plant. This sort of detail drives the passion of Cathy Lucero, a group of Master Gardeners and various volunteers connected through the Clallam Conservation District to recreate roadside management teams that care for our native flora and fauna. Read the whole story here.
4-H Looks at Clallam’s Opioid Epidemic & Takes Steps
How 4H teens from Peninsula College’s Upward Program took action
Read the full article on this unique research team and what they learned
A Farmer’s Seed Pinning Meeting
What does your garden have to do with seed saving?
For seed production, the overwintered plants are left to bud and bloom, allowing for spring pollination followed by seed formation and seed harvest. When you go to the garden centers in spring to purchase seed packets, you are partaking of that harvest. To ensure accuracy with all the different varieties that are out there, the pollination needs controls. The seed must be accurately pollinated and this takes planning because pollen travels with bees, other pollinators and winds over miles.
Read the full article on Pinning and Seed Saving in Clallam here