Pending outcomes of the local study on Lopez and across Western Washington, best practices for creating a locally sourced “complete” soil amendment could be scaled regionally, minimizing “external inputs” on a growing number of small-scale organic farms. The goal of minimizing external inputs extends from farmers to others in the food supply chain, including island bakers of Barn Owl Bakery. Rather than purchase bulk inputs like sugar and wheat for their baked goods, Sage and Nathan are actively pursuing the local cultivation of grains and sugar beets to create their own 100% organic island grown products– sprouted Lopez wheat locally milled into flour for wild leavened breads, fruit scones, flat breads, and weekly specialties incorporating other island grown ingredients. Their work is also supported by local researchers from WSU Extension and a Western SARE grant to understand the impact of seeding rate and fertilizer application on the agricultural performance and baking quality of land race wheat. The goal of local input sourcing is also local waste management and reuse of waste as inputs into other ecological processes. Outputs from some farms become inputs for others, in a cost-minimizing closed-loop cycle for those involved.Transitioning food systems to agroecological practices will not be possible without investing in the “re-skilling” of an agroecological workforce. Lopez has a series of educational offerings in place to reach a variety of audiences from K-12 students to beginning and current. At the farmer-to-farmer level, Lopez farmers engage in regular meet ups and events, including the monthly farmer coffee. On the second Wednesday of each month, Lopez farmers gather at the Lopez Grange for an hour of information and resource sharing. Organized in 2019 by Faith Van de Putte, the forum is a meeting of the minds and transactional space for connecting problems with solutions, questions with answers. Where do people get good,procona buckets affordable organic chicken feed? Who has straw for goat bedding? How do you get rid of persistent weeds like thistle and morning glory? Do deer get into the grain fields through the electric fence? How can we arrange for annual small animal vet clinics to provide appropriate care for our sheep, goats, and pigs?

Disease and pest identification and management topics swirl around room, some finding mostly empathy, and others finding a speedier resolution. At a September 2019 coffee, several farmers shared positive results from experimenting with a new Organic Materials Review Institute -approved herbicide called “Weed Slayer,” said to be effective against the pernicious thistles. Underlying these informational exchanges is the challenge of continuing to run the iconic, diversified small farms of Lopez, lauded as beacons of sustainable agriculture and agritourism, yet requiring countless hours of hard work, determination and passion. Lopez farmers recognize that they cannot “go it alone” on their small farms and rely on the support of other farmers as well as researchers from WSU Extension. Two county extension agents were present at a recent coffee gathering to generate a list of future workshop and clinic topics to offer for farmers, as well as to gauge interest in collaborating on planned future research experiments, grants, and educational demonstrations. In addition to educating each other, Lopez farmers educate aspiring farmers primarily through the Lopez Community Land Trust Sustainable Agriculture internship program. Each year on average five interns live and work on one of the islands six main educational farms, learning from the farmer how to seed, transplant, weed, water, and regeneratively farm diverse vegetable varieties and care for animals such as chickens, sheep, pigs, and cows. These interns select several readings and a documentary to discuss with other interns under supervision from Land Trust staff. Interns complement the practical and hands-on skills of farming with bigger picture reflection and dialogue about ideal vs. real food systems, connecting the production element to all the other moving parts of the system. According to the internship program director, the three biggest takeaways for participants are 1) importance of good local food, 2) basic life skills and 3) the experience of living in community. It is an “empowering experience;” however, it is not a formal or comprehensive beginning farmer training program and has thus far not led to the transition of farmland from an aging farmer to a former agricultural intern. There are additional opportunities for young farmer mentorship through a Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development grant where more experienced farmers receive funds to support and mentor younger farmers as they begin their own operations. This is geared towards new farmers who have already taken steps to start up operations on Lopez or other islands.

All farmers, new and old, have a recurring opportunity to learn more about evolving farm practices at the annual San Juan Agriculture Summit , which rotates between Lopez, San Juan, and Orcas Island, and is held in February each year. The Ag Summit began nine years ago at the impetus of the Agricultural Resource Committee and now WSU Extension has taken on the primary organizing role. Topics presented are wide ranging, from soil health to business and marketing to climate change, and feature speakers from all over the Western United States. The Ag Summit is a social as well as educational event, bringing farmers together for dining, dancing, and community building. The education of young people is a crucial opportunity for scaling agroecologial practices. On Lopez Island, farm to school programming is run through the Lopez Island Farm Education program. It began as a collaboration between LCLT, the Lopez Island School District, Lopez Island Education Foundation, the Family Resource Center, S & S Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the SJI Conservation District, WSU SJC Extension and the Heller Family. The program uses an “integrated systems approach” to delivering hands-on education in nutrition, ecology, sustainability, and land stewardship . In practice, this consists of educating students in a garden classroom elective for elementary and middle school, hosting a high school farm elective course where students visit local farms, and preparing and preserving food from the school farm in the cafeteria, where local scratch-cooked meals are served year round. Part of the growing national movement around improving the quality of school meals through locally sourced produce, the LIFE program takes advantage of the exceptional quality of both locally produced foods and farm-based educational opportunities on the island. The LIFE program has been funded by a combination of a large private foundation and smaller donations, fundraisers, grants, and in-kind contributions. It is currently working towards a more sustainable, diversified finance model that will expand those invested in the program’s success as well as allow the educational activities associated with LIFE to grow. LCLT coordinates interns to support the LIFE program in the summer , and staff at the Family Resource Center run a volunteer-based gleaning operation on island orchards that yields up to 5,000 lbs. of fruit for the school cafeteria.

Production has grown steadily at the ½ acre school farm, from 1,400 to over 6,000 lbs. between 2009 and 2016 . The program is currently fundraising to purchase two beef cows raised by island teens for the cafeteria meat supply.Midnight’s Farm, a 100-acre property located near the center of Lopez Island, heralds the diversity of its operations from the initial entry point down a gravel driveway. A signpost indicates the direction of the compost operations, yoga studio, farm stand selling beef, pork and vegetables, and wood-fired bakery . In the words of the farm owners, “we farm to steward this wonderfully beautiful piece of earth and for the tangible,procona florida container hands-dirty love of connecting people to the soil and storing a little bit of carbon there, too.” The land was purchased with savings from a previous career as an Alaskan salmon fishing captain, and the past 20 years have seen a progressive investment in land restoration and diversified agriculture operations. From the establishment of hundreds of trees at the property border to rotational grazing plans for cows on pasture and marshland, to fruit trees and ¼ acre home garden with greenhouse, to a blueberry patch being prepared for planting in 2019, biodiversity continues to grow. Revenue streams are accordingly diverse, with the compost and wood chips bringing in the most revenue annually, followed by Field House vacation rentals, beef and pork products, and vegetable sales. The Field House, available for short term farm stays, hosts visitors year round and is booked throughout busy summer tourism season, capitalizing on the growing market for agritourism opportunities. The farm has typically provided housing for another couple in a barn apartment, in exchange for regular workdays or some combination of paid labor and housing work-trade. Sustainable Agriculture Interns coordinated by LCLT help out during summer months, and the farm is a popular destination for “WWOOFers” as well . Other Lopez Island youth work on the farm several days a week during the summer. At maximum capacity, the farm hosted nine farm employees during the summer 2019 season. Farming practices are the product of decades of experience, and soil fertility is the product of countless yards of compost and mulch application. In the vegetable garden, dozens of crops feed the farm families and neighbors each year. From spring seeding to bed preparation and transplanting, to weeding, irrigation, harvesting, cover cropping and winter greens cultivation in the greenhouse, every activity has its seasonal rhythm. Several planting strips are gradually converting to no-till farming, with compost, mulch, and broad-forking substituting for the mechanical mixing of the soil. Tilling is associated with carbon release and disturbance of the soil biota, so reducing or eliminating tillage is an effort several farmers are working towards, in balance with weed management. Irrigation ponds, dug on most farm properties, fill up with rain in the winter, and provide water to crops through the dry summer months.

It is amended with lime and seeded with beneficial plants to boost nutrient quality of forage materials. The cows contribute to the regeneration of pasture soils, providing aeration from their hooves, growth stimulation from grass consumption, and fertilizer from their manure. David and Faith, the owners of Midnight’s Farm, are passionate about researching and implementing agricultural solutions to climate change on their farm. Their bookshelves are filled with books such as Grass, Soil, Hope; Dirt to Soil; and Growing a Revolution: Bringing our Soil Back to Life, and their social calendar is filled with attending climate talks and hosting climate researchers from University of Washington , WSU, and other institutions. Most recently they are engaged in a carbon footprint analysis of their compost operation, land use, and cattle herd, in order to understand highest impact opportunities for emissions reduction and carbon removal. The results show that currently the farm is contributing to the sequestration of approximately 250 mtCO2e, via forest cover, marshland, managed pastures, compost production and application, which together more than offset emissions from farm machinery, diesel use, and cattle as shown in Figure 9. David and Faith advocate for a “big tent” approach to food systems transition where many different people and groups can see themselves in a process of growing food with a lighter climate impact, and better human health impact. Their vision rests on a premise of developing strong interpersonal relationships, infusing the work with joy, humor, social connection, and opportunities for personal growth. An onsite yoga studio offers space for interns and farming friends to stretch and reinvigorate bodies feeling the effects of hard physical work. David and Faith continue to articulate better and brighter ideas for the future, such as finding long-term land partners and helping launch a climate farm school on the island, pushing forward the vision of a truly regenerative agroecosystem on Lopez. Orderly rows of greens and vegetables lend a sense of efficiency and purpose to the fields of Lopez Harvest. Successional plantings of diverse lettuce varieties march westward across the field, with the largest plants cut for weekly harvests while each neighboring row showcases one fewer week in the field. 500 lettuce plants go in the ground on Wednesdays, and plants are harvested on Tuesdays and Fridays for twice a week deliveries. The humming schedule of running a successful greens production farm serving the two island grocery stores as well as 5-6 island restaurants and food businesses creates a strong weekly rhythm for farm owner and farm workers.