PCC Farmland Trust

by Alicia Guy, Director, PCC Farmland Trust

This article was originally published in January 2007

Great year ahead for organic farmland

PCC Farmland Trust

Top right: Ames Creek Farm. Bottom left: Nash’s young farmers. Bottom right: Bennington Place.

The New Year always ushers in such a sense of hope and possibility. Farmers and home gardeners alike sit down at the table with a hot beverage and a seed catalog and planning for the new growth ahead.

Even the persistent rain that dominates Pacific Northwest winters can’t keep from us the knowledge that the sun grants a little more light every day and the warmth of spring is inevitable. In 2007, hope for the future will be evident at every farm purchased by the PCC Farmland Trust.

The seeds full of promise planted in the soil of Ames Creek Farm in Carnation will sprout and produce crops in late summer that have no memory of the great flood of 2006.

New calves will be born at Bennington Place in Walla Walla. They will be organically raised by the Huesby family and spend their days grazing in open pasture, never to set hoof in a truck headed for an Iowa feedlot.

A new group of interns will find their way to Nash Huber’s Delta Farm in Sequim. Their hopes for a sustainable, small-scale farm life will find roots in the education provided by a master farmer and stalwart supporter of tomorrow’s farmers.

And by the end of 2007, the PCC Farmland Trust will be well on the way to saving another farm in Washington state.

Please join the PCC Farmland Trust in making 2007 a banner year for local, organic farmland preservation.

  • Become a Seed Starter by signing up to make a monthly contribution to the PCC Farmland Trust. Every season of the year, your automatic donation will help us to save organic farmland.
  • Sign up for the PCC Farmland Trust email newsletter by sending us an email at farmlandtrust@pccmarkets.com
  • Look for PCC Farmland Trust tags when you’re shopping at any PCC store. Companies that sell tagged products give a percentage of every sale or make an annual donation to the trust. In 2006, vendors donated almost $40,000 to the trust.
  • Learn more about what’s happening on the farms with each new season by bookmarking our Web site www.pccfarmlandtrust.org.
  • Sign up to be on the PCC Farmland Trust volunteer team. We’d love to receive the gift of your physical help, technical skills or administrative forté. Email alicia.guy@pccmarkets.com if you’re interested in receiving volunteer requests.
  • Help us meet the challenge of our fundraising drive to pay for Ames Creek Farm by making a special New Year donation.

Fundraising progress report

graph

(Amounts represent thousands of dollars.)

As a community working together to save local farmland, we’ve made great strides towards meeting our fundraising goal of $250,000 by April 2007.

Since PCC members received a letter in November inviting them to support the PCC Farmland Trust, we’ve received 708 responses and $46,772 in donations. Thanks for your generous support.

As of December 15, we’ve raised nearly 20 percent of the funds we need by April 30.

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