PORT HADLOCK — The next step in cultivating a 50-acre, youth-run, community-supported organic farm can be taken thanks to a $234,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant.
The grant was awarded Thursday to the Port Hadlock-based Sunfield Food and Farm Project.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced the grant award last week. It is part of $4.8 million in competitive grants given to 27 organizations in 19 states.
The grants are intended to provide nutritious foods for low-income people.
That is largely what the Sunfield Food and Farm Project is all about, said Project Director Christine Nock, who wrote the Sunfield grant application for the farm near Anderson Lake State Park.
“It was a perfect grant for us,” Nock said Friday.
She said the farm’s infrastructure — fences, irrigation system and farm animals — can now be acquired and installed.
The grant must be matched 100 percent by community dollars or in-kind volunteer work or materials donations by year’s end.
Nock said she was confident that deadline could be met.
“We have a local farmer who has contributed a lot of tractor work,” said Nock, adding that Port Hadlock-based Washington State University Extension Service’s contribution is a big part of the match.
The Extension Service is donating office space for staff, and has enlisted the assistance of Harvindar Singh, Port Townsend Farmers Market manager.
