By Dana Zia

Contributor

San Juan Island farm tour took place on Sept. 24 and 25 with 7 farms and one distillery delightfully represented. This autumnal event was sponsored by the San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild, Island Grown and San Juan’s Agricultural Resource Committee (ARC) that have a mission to protect and restore agricultural resources in SJC by fostering a vibrant, resilient and sustainable local food system. They did a great job of putting together fascinating weekend tours that showed that their mission is alive and well on SJI.

All the farms on the tour sparkled with enthusiasm and most likely a generous amount of elbow grease. Chickens, goats, horses, sheep, sheep dogs, flowers, grains, fruit and colorful vegetables all rounded out the farm tour experience but in the cornucopia of all of this the one element that shone brightest was the abundance of passion.

At every farm that was visited, there was a tangible feeling of excitement and a pure enthusiasm to be doing this back breaking work. San Juan Islanders are so lucky to have this kind of passion growing our food in back yards and farms. A bumper sticker that was on one of the farmer’s truck sums it all up with “No Farms, No Food”.

This is the issue that the ARC and Agricultural guild are equally passionate about addressing through education, collaboration and farm tours. The evening of the 24th the representatives of San Juan Preservation Trust, SJC Land Bank, WSU SJC Extension, SJC ARC and SJ Islands Agricultural Guild gathered with over 30 members of the community to discuss the challenges and opportunities of farmland conservation. The event was held at Red Mill Farm in San Juan Valley. This 700 acre farm, previously owned by Ernie and Dodie Gann, and donated to the Trust, is the largest farm in SJC. Participants engaged in a lively discussion about how these conservation organizations are working to balance conservation goals and encouraging sustainable farming of conserved farmland.

Make sure and support our local farms by getting to the farmer’s market or the Co-op and buying their produce. Also look for the sticker “Island Grown” in your favorite market’s produce isle to know you are buying locally, because this kind of great passion need to be supported or it drains out into the Salish Sea just like the rains.

If you missed the San Juan Island’s farm tour, don’t fret as it was just the beginning of the Savor the San Juan’s Farm Tours that will be going on into October. Orcas Island’s farm tour will be on Oct 2nd and October 8 and 9th for Lopez Island’s tours. These farms tours are an excellent opportunity to get out there and see your farmer’s passion and enthusiasm up close and personal. Get your tickets at http://sjcfarmtours.eventbrite.com . Profits from the farm tour will go to participating farms.