SEQUIM — Participants should reserve tickets by today for the PCC Farmland Trust of Seattle and Tilth Producers’s tour of Nash’s Organic Produce fields outside Sequim from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
To make a reservation, phone the PCC Farmland Trust office at 206-547-9855.
Cost is $40 for adults. Children are $15. Patron donor tickets are $80.
Tickets include lunch, a seat on buses that will travel from field to field during the day and participation in a discussion of sustainable farming Saturday evening.
The event, titled “Farmer 2 Farmer 2 You,” is open to the public as well as to farmers across the Northwest, said Kia Armstrong, Nash’s outreach coordinator and vice president of Tilth Producers, a statewide organization promoting sustainable farming.
During Saturday’s tour, Nash Huber, honored as the American Farmland Trust’s Steward of the Land in 2008, will guide guests among some 400 acres of organically grown crops spread across the Dungeness Valley.
Huber will talk about why many vegetables flourish here year-round and about his use of organic farming practices.
To cap the day, local farmers will gather to share their views on the trends and challenges of the present and future, during a panel discussion at 7:30 p.m. at Nash’s farm store.
For more information, see “Growing crops in the winter? Public can see how it’s done on the Peninsula” in Thursday’s PDN and at www.peninsuladailynews.com, or click on www.pccfarmlandtrust.org.
The tour offers a rare chance to glean wisdom from one of the best farmers in the country, noted Kelly Sanderbeck, spokeswoman for PCC Farmland Trust.
Both she and Armstrong are also encouraging farmers from across the region to come to Dungeness to share information and ideas about their sustainable practices.
The tour is part of a collaborative effort by Nash’s Organic Produce and PCC Farmland Trust to raise awareness of the need to preserve farms in rural areas such as Clallam County, Sanderbeck added.
This county once had 76,000 acres of farmland, according to the local preservation coalition Friends of the Fields (www.FriendsoftheFields.org).
Seventy-five percent of that land has been sold for housing and commercial development.
In addition to PCC Farmland Trust and Tilth Producers, KUOW 94.9 FM and Friends of the Fields are cosponsors of the tour.
