READ THE FULL LETTER

Dear Valued WSU Extension Volunteers,

We appreciate the hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours you have given to Washington State on behalf of WSU, and want to make sure you are aware that WSU is required to comply with Governor Inslee’s recent vaccination proclamation requirement. This health and safety proclamation that has been ordered by the Governor includes employees, contractors and volunteers. WSU Extension is aware of the challenges and frustrations this imposes. Clearly defining the processes volunteers will need follow to verify vaccination or seek exemption in order to maintain volunteer status is high priority.

Below are a series of references, deadlines and explanations that provide further details.

1. The Proclamation (21-14.1) can be found HERE
2. Deadline: All current WSU Volunteers are required to be fully vaccinated or exempted by October 18th. Volunteers who are not fully vaccinated or who do not have an approved exemption on file by October 18 will be put on inactive status. They will not be able to engage in any volunteer activities with WSU Extension until proof of full vaccination can be observed or until an exemption request has been reviewed.
3. Proof of vaccination: WSU Extension will announce a county-level process for observing & recording documentation of vaccination status for volunteers. See page two for examples of
   appropriate documentation.
4. Exemption process: WSU Extension will seek to implement a state-level exemption process (for religious or medical reasons) for volunteers and will announce details on that process shortly.
5. All other ongoing protocols for health and safety remain in effect and should be followed.

Thank you in advance for your understanding, cooperation, and patience in helping us navigate this situation. We intend to develop a smooth process enabling us to comply with the proclamation efficiently and then, as WSU Extension volunteers and staff, continue the work about which we are all so passionate!

If you have any questions, please email them to extension.vaccinepolicy@wsu.edu.

Email Vicki McCracken

Email Mike Gaffney

– September 3, 2021

Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) is hosting informative webinars over the coming months on regulatory changes occurring within the Pesticide Management Division. These webinars are open to all our stakeholders and the public. These changes will have far-reaching impacts and your input is valuable to us.

Pesticide License Fee Increases (SB5317)

September 9 – 10:00 am-11:00 am
September 9 – 5:30 pm-6:30 pm (repeat)

Rulemaking Updates – Testing Fee/Penalty Matrix

The WSDA Licensing & Recertification and Compliance Programs will cohost these two webinars.

September 16 – 10:00 am-12:30 pm

• 10:00 am – 10:30 am – Testing Fee (Licensing)
• 10:45 am – 12:15 pm – Penalty Matrix (Compliance)

September 23 – 2:30pm-5:00pm (repeat)

• 2:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Testing Fee (Licensing)
• 3:15 pm – 4:45 pm – Penalty Matrix (Compliance)

C&T (Part 1: Competency Standards and Categories)
October 21 – 10:00 am-11:30 am
October 21 – 5:30 pm-7:00 pm (repeat)

C&T (Part 2: Direct supervision of noncertified applicators, miscellaneous updates)
November 4 – 10:00 am-11:30 am
November 4 – 5:30 pm-7:00 pm (repeat)

For more background on each of these webinars and links to the events, please see our Pesticide Licensing Webinars page.

Contact Christina Zimmerman, program manager, at CZimmerman@agr.wa.gov, with questions or comments.

Being offered online, statewide, and with Spanish interpretation
Course runs from September 21st through December 7th, 2021.
Cultivating Success™: Whole Farm Planning will walk you through a step-by-step process, to help you prepare a well thought out plan for your land, life, and farm business. Learn how to use a whole system lens to create a living plan for your small farm future. Classes will meet weekly through Zoom, in an online classroom environment and you will be able to connect with a statewide community of other aspiring farm planners. Leave with tools for decision making and a road map to plan for your farming endeavors. Includes many opportunities for networking and community building in smaller breakout groups too! Come build a solid plan for a farm or food business that suites you.

Register Now!

Ofrecido a nivel estatal, en línea y bilingüe en español
El curso comienza el 21 de septiembre y termina el 7 de diciembre de 2021. Cultivating Success ™: Planificación de toda la granja le guiará a través de un proceso paso a paso, para preparar un plan bien pensado para su tierra, su vida y su negocio agrícola. Utilice una lente de sistemas completos para crear un plan de vida para el futuro de su pequeña granja. Las clases se reunirán semanalmente a través de Zoom, en un ambiente de aula en línea. Usted podrá conectarse con una comunidad estatal de otros agricultores principiantes. Salga con herramientas para la toma de decisiones y una hoja de ruta para planificar sus esfuerzos agrícolas. ¡También incluye muchas oportunidades para la construcción de redes y comunidades en grupos pequeños! Venga a construir un plan sólido para una granja o negocio agrícola que se adapte a sus necesidades.

¡Regístrate ahora!

Gardeners can donate produce NOW at the Bremerton Farmers Market (Thursday 4-7), Port Orchard Farmers Market (Saturdays 9-2) and Poulsbo (Big Valley Road – Mondays before 5:00 PM). And we now have two Neighborhood Captains hosting donation stations in Bremerton on Sundays! Check out the map on the Kitsap Harvest website to find these and other donation stations opening soon near you.

– August 6, 2021

The Kitsap Juvenile Department Howe Farm Garden Project is a court ordered restorative program providing year-round services to youth under court supervision who live in Kitsap County. This program is designed to offer a variety of different learning possibilities to youth. The Howe Farm youth garden project brings youth under court supervision into the garden. At the garden, youth learn how to cultivate, plant, grow, and harvest. They work with and receive instruction from different volunteer master gardeners. The volunteers are very much like gardening mentors – educating and teaching youth on gardening practices, sharing their experiences, perspectives and telling stories. Youth not only learn about gardening, but they also learn about work ethic, teamwork, pride, and accomplishment. The goal at the end of the season is to have the youth share with their families both the pride in what they have learned and the success of what they have grown. All extra vegetables are donated throughout our community by South Kitsap Helpline and Kitsap Harvest.

For more information, contact Paisley Gallagher.

– July 30, 2021