When I read ARC (Agricultural Resources Committee) Farmland Preservation Coordinator Tim Clark’s article “Mapping our Foodshed” in last July’s Project Home, it was busy mid-summer so I put the article aside. Still, the idea of making maps that tell us what is grown in San Juan County, where it’s grown, and how much farmland is left intrigued me, so this winter I called Tim to find out more. He arrived with maps and data and optimism for what the project can contribute to preserving farmland and sustaining our farmers and food supply.
Ever wonder what happens to all the wool from Lopez sheep? For the past year and a half, a lot of it has ended up with Maxine Bronstein and Debbie Hayward at their Lopez business Island Fibers.
If you’re spending some of these winter days pouring over fruit tree catalogs, imagining new plums and cherries, pears and apples, maybe you should add grafting to your studies. Learning what it is, how it’s done and why people do it may inspire you to graft some new varieties onto your existing trees or start some new trees that strike your fancy.
Bite into a slice of apple and ask yourself: crisp or soft; sweet or tart; juicy or dry; fresh or in pie, sauce, juice, or cider? That’s what small groups of Lopezians have been doing at November evening apple tastings hosted by Elf Fay and Eric Hall at their Crowfoot Farm.
One challenge to an all-island diet is finding locally grown grains. With this challenge in mind, 30 islanders, many with experience growing and harvesting grains here, met in Friday Harbor in late September for a WSU Extension workshop titled “Growing Grains.”
Honeybees are a presence in many Lopez gardens. I’d noticed them most recently in my mid-September garden, busy on the purple blooms of anise hyssop and summer savory. Wanting to know more about bees and beekeeping, I called Kevin Murphy and Mary Hayton, whose hives I’d noticed in their garden off Farm Road.
How do you learn to farm? If you didn’t grow up with farmers, you could apprentice yourself to some. That’s what Eleanor Burke and Andre Entermann have been doing with Ken Akopiantz and Kathryn Thomas at Horse Drawn Farm on Lopez since March and plan to continue doing for another year and a half.
“I know it’s spring when I can buy Christine’s greens again,” a friend said at the end of last winter.
The self-serve bins of Christine Langley’s Local Harvest Lettuce Blend and Island Greens appear in early April at Blossom and Lopez Village Market, and the greens keep coming until November.
Drive along Baker View Road on Lopez toward Spencer Spit and it’s likely that you’ll see a car or two pulled over and people taking pictures of Ken Akopiantz leading a team of oxen yoked to a cultivator and Kathryn Thomas sitting on the cultivator guiding it through the rows of vegetables.
Have you ever thought about raising a few chickens in your backyard? Talking with Todd Goldsmith and Diane Dear of T&D Farms, who have 88 Barred Rock laying hens, I learned that raising chickens is one part worry, one part daily chores and one part entertainment.
Why am I writing about cider in May? Because, as Rich Anderson of Westcott Bay Cider explained to me, “It’s a perfect summer drink. It’s a little lighter than beer and has less alcohol than wine.”
Baby goats, baby animals of any kind, are so cute. Watching them frolic about this time of year, it’s easy to assume that everything else about them is just as carefree.
We can eat fresh, local, seasonal meals by buying food from Lopez farmers and spending some time in the kitchen….
