Our Current Projects

MOBILE CHICKEN PROCESSING EQUIPMENT

For many local farmers, raising pastured poultry helps diversify their farm income and fertilize the fields. For community members, it means access to local food. Although many farmers have successful poultry operations, they don’t have access to equipment to process the poultry and get it ready for sale.

To help overcome this barrier, we received a grant from Heifer International earlier this year. The award provided match funding for a collection of mobile equipment that farmers can use on-site instead of transporting their poultry or attempting to process by hand. The grant also funds a series of poultry processing workshops this summer at farms in Thurston, Mason, and King counties. Activities and additional grassroots fundraising for the grant have been a joint effort between the South of the Sound Community Farm Land Trust, WSDA Organic Program, WSDA Small Farms & Direct Marketing, The Evergreen State College, Homegrown Pastures, and the Mason Conservation District.

The equipment, which can be viewed at http://www.featherman.net/pluckers.html, is now available for rental from the Thurston Conservation District. Please contact them at (360) 754-3588 for details regarding rental and upcoming poultry processing workshops.

THURSTON COUNTY FARMLAND INVENTORY

How much farmland is left in Thurston County and how can we work together to protect it? These are the questions that helped guide our recently completed inventory of current and potential farmlands in the South Sound. We’re using the inventory to help us better understand local working lands and the risks they face. It will also help us develop strategies to protect them and help ensure that farming remains a viable livelihood for current and future farmers. Please click here to learn more, and view a summary of our findings.

BLACK RIVER RANCH

We’re working to protect 325 acres of beautiful farmland on the Black River in south Thurston County. The land is currently home to a commercial dairy farm, as well as rich upland prairie, riparian wetland, mature riparian forest, and instream habitat. It is one of the largest farmland parcels remaining in the county and a key element of the existing network of protected areas that surround it: the Glacial Heritage Preserve to the east and preserved lands of the Capitol Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to the west. Our vision is for the project to eventually become an outstanding example of the reciprocal benefits of agricultural and conservation lands. By partnering with Thurston County, The Nature Conservancy, and numerous state, national, and private funding sources, we aim to ensure the availability – and affordability - of this land for farmers who will steward it for the benefit of the whole community. Board member Russ Fox is our project lead and visionary for this project.

THURSTON COUNTY WORKING LANDS CONSERVATION PLAN

Sustaining the health of local agriculture in our region is a formidable challenge that demands an innovative approach. That’s why we are working with Thurston County to create a new Working Lands Conservation Plan that supports local farms and farmers. The plan will include economic support for farmers and tools – such as Purchase of Development Rights and Transfer of Development Rights – to permanently protect working lands. Our farmland inventory will be central to the process. Board member Pat Labine serves on the county’s Agricultural Advisory Committee responsible for developing the plan. There will be plenty of opportunity for public involvement before completion in June 2009, and we’ll keep you updated about how you can make your voice heard.

Past Projects

The project focus of our early work was to save the Evergreen Dairy Farm in Littlerock, an icon dairy farm in Thurston County for over sixty years. With bank foreclosure pending, we prepared a farm plan, secured commitments from several small farm enterprises to lease land and facilities on the farm, collaborated with The Community Foundation on a major grant application to the Hitachi Foundation, gained community support from dozens of local agencies and organizations, and made an offer to purchase the property from the Weiks family prior to foreclosure. We were unsuccessful - the project was too large and complex, the time too short, our organization too young - yet it enabled us to flesh out the details and feasibility of our vision and strategy of using the community land trust land tenure model to help preserve the economic viability of small-scale local agriculture.