NW Farms & Food

In a promising development for the agricultural economy, an up-and-coming Washington start-up company, is turning the dairy industry’s huge manure waste problem into a renewable energy solution. After a successful debut with a farm-based anaerobic digester in Rexville, Washington, Farm Power Northwest, with its prime contractor, the Andgar Corporation, is constructing a second methane digester near Lynden in Whatcom County.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted $200,000 to Bellingham Technical College to train technicians to operate anaerobic (methane) digesters. The College will develop a curriculum in the first year of the two year grant (2010-2011), and train the first six students in the second year. Washington State University received $99,000 to provide expertise and support for the project.
In December 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) signed an agreement with the dairy industry to reduce greenhouse gas methane emissions
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Canning is “hot,” according to Master Food Preserver, Susy Hymas. And we’re not just talking “hot pack” canning. In the past two years she’s seen a surge of interest in canning, pickling, jam making, and food preservation that isn’t simply explained by tough economic times. The trend in home gardening, a greater awareness of local foods, the desire to know what is in our food and where it comes from are spurring a new generation to learn how to can and pickle their own.
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Just about anyone will tell you that fresh local foods preserved now will taste better than what you can buy in the store next winter. Canning, pickling, and making jam from freshly harvested fruits and vegetables is something our grandmothers knew well. Today, with an interest in local produce and the desire to know what is in the foods we eat, home food preservation is making a major comeback. So is the can-do spirit. People want to learn practical skills, and home canning is one of them.
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RECIPE
Roasting is a way to infuse tomatoes with the flavors of garlic, olive oil and spices. This versatile recipe from Master Food Preserver Susy Hymas freezes well and can be used for everything from sauces to bruschetta.


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RECIPE

These delightful zucchini pancakes will not last long! Flavored with sweet onions, hot out of the pan, they are a scrumptious accompaniment for grilled meats or spaghetti. In addition, these savory hot cakes freeze well and are an excellent way to preserve zucchini long after the summer season.

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RECIPE

This cake freezes well and is a tasty way to preserve the zucchini harvest. No icing required. Zucchini, applesauce, cocoa and melted chocolate chips make this a moist and delicious treat for snacking or a dressed-up dessert.


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When Diana Ambauen-Meade began raising backyard hens she never imagined she’d someday trade in her job as a mortgage banker for chicken feed. “I was mixing up my own feed, because I didn’t like what I was finding in the stores,” said Diana. She wanted non-soy, non-GMO, organic, Washington- grown whole grains for her chickens. And soon, her friends who had chickens saw what she was doing and wanted some too.
Happy to oblige, Diana borrowed her neighbor’s cement mixer and blended a variety of ingredients into a ton of feed. Over time, by carefully researching commercial and academic information and experimenting with her own pastured flock, Diana developed a high protein mix of organic whole grains, peas, sunflower seeds, kelp, and fish meal. The chickens and their eggs flourished, and the Scratch and Peck Feed Company was born.

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Dr. Stephen Jones, director of Washington State University Agricultural Research Center in Mt. Vernon, has a vision and a goal. The vision is to reintroduce medium and small-scale organic grain farming in Western Washington. The goal that will make this happen is to develop wheat and other grain varieties that provide good protein yields, require minimal amounts of fertilizer, resist most common grain diseases, have good harvesting qualities, and are adapted to the wet coastal maritime climate with its short growing season.
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At a time when industrial farms grow most of the grains in the Northwest, and centralized processors convert the harvest into flour, the Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill is a reminder of what used to be and what could come again. Traditionally, before the rise of industrial agriculture, small farms grew the food for nearby towns and local processors transformed it into finished products. Today, the Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill is the only organic flour mill in the entire state of Washington—an area twice the size of the country of Portugal.

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