{"id":2020,"date":"2022-08-01T18:44:13","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T18:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/?p=2020"},"modified":"2025-04-04T11:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T18:05:09","slug":"wsu-regional-small-farms-debuts-dirt-talk-farm-walks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/2022\/08\/01\/wsu-regional-small-farms-debuts-dirt-talk-farm-walks\/","title":{"rendered":"WSU Regional Small Farms Debuts Dirt Talk Farm Walks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<p><em>&nbsp;<span lang=\"en-US\">By Jess Sappington, WSU Regional Small Farms<\/span>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">For the first time since COVID, the WSU Regional Small Farms program is hosting on-farm field days called Dirt Talk Farm Walks. These events are for farmers, led by farmers. The inaugural farm walk took place on July 15<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">th<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> at Chi\u2019s Farm in Sequim, Washington. A total of seventeen farmers took part from across the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas to visit the farm and hear farmer Scott Chichester talk about high tunnel production. Chichester touched on layout and spacing, pruning, and twining techniques, venting, resources for high tunnels and much more.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">\u201cThe farm walk was a tremendous success\u201d says Laurel Mouton, Regionals Small Farms Integrated Pest Management Specialist. \u201cScott spoke with a depth of knowledge and experience about everything from vegetable variety selection to disease management, the benefits and drawbacks of the different kinds of high tunnels and the economics of high tunnel culture&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2022 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/extension\/uploads\/sites\/55\/ChisFarm7-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\"><\/figure><p><span lang=\"en-US\">Chichester has been farming in the Dungeness Valley for over 20 years, including many formative years at Nash\u2019s Organic Produce. In addition to farming, he taught Agricultural Science and Biology at Sequim High School. He now works full-time at Chi\u2019s Farm, focused on growing healthy, delicious food for the local community and sharing his experiences with other farmers.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">The WSU Regional Small Farms Program, which serves Clallam, Jefferson, and Kitsap Counties, is helping farmers come together, network, and learn from one another through these on-farm field days. Farm Walk events were born out of the original online version of Dirt Talks that came about during their COVID programming.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">\u201cPrior to COVID we had been hearing from farmers for years about the desire to connect with other farmers, learn from their peers and exchange ideas in a less formal atmosphere\u201d says Jess Sappington, Food Systems Program Coordinator for Regional Small Farms. \u201cDirt Talks ended up being the perfect vehicle for this, both online and now in person, to allow farmers to share information and experiences with each other.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">The 5-acre farm, located in the fertile and sunny Sequim-Dungeness valley, was the perfect setting for the Summers late afternoon event. One attendee commented that, \u201cit\u2019s nice to have an in-person Dirt Talk and really be able to see what other farmers are doing and how their crops are responding.\u201d The program continues to engage farmers in the region who are interested in sharing their expertise with their fellow farmers.<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> The remaining 2022 Dirt Talk Farm Walks include: Low till for Small Farms,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">Cooperative Farming with Multiple Business Models, and Meat Goat Production and Pasture Management.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">To learn more about WSU Regional Small Farms programming and upcoming events visit <\/span><a id=\"LPlnk425499\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-safelink=\"true\" data-linkindex=\"0\"><span lang=\"en-US\">https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n        <div id=\"cahnrs-back-to-top\" class=\"cahnrs-back-to-top\" hidden aria-hidden=\"true\">\n            <a id=\"cahnrs-back-to-top-btn\" class=\"cahnrs-back-to-top__btn\" href=\"#product-top\" aria-label=\"Back to top\">\n                <span class=\"cahnrs-back-to-top__icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2191<\/span>\n                <span class=\"cahnrs-back-to-top__label\">Back to top<\/span>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;By Jess Sappington, WSU Regional Small Farms&nbsp; For the first time since COVID, the WSU Regional Small Farms program is hosting on-farm field days called Dirt Talk Farm Walks. These [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_external_link":"","_expiration_date":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2866,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020\/revisions\/2866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/regionalsmallfarms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}