Seattle Really Loves Its Dirt

March in Seattle has historically been notoriously wet and gray. This past Saturday was the perfect cloudless day to enjoy Seattle Center's International Fountain and lawns.

This past Saturday a diverse audience enjoyed part of their day at the free Community Cinema Seattle premiere screening of Dirt! The Movie at Seattle Center. On an unusually gorgeous sunny day in Seattle – especially odd for early March – the audience was eager to discuss what was being done to help Seattle’s ecosystem heal itself and ways they could help. The speakers kept offering to move the discussion out to the sun-drenched lobby, but the entire audience stayed for the entire discussion.  Many stayed to ask questions and the topic quickly turned to chickens and worms, but more on that later.

Our panelists and local event partners are inovators in an already crowded field of bioneers in the Seattle and Puget Sound region. We were so fortunate to be joined by Kathryn A. Gardow, Executive Director of PCC Farmland Trust and Brad Halm, a farmer and co-owner of The Seattle Urban Farm Company, which has garnered quite a bit of press for its creative and friendly approach to urban gardening and farming.

Kathryn started by thanking the audience for showing up on such a beautiful cloudless day. She enjoyed the film and asked for a show hands from the audience if they agreed, and every hand shot up. She went on to explain what PCC Farmland Trust is and what it does. PCC Farmland Trust secures, preserves and stewards threatened farmland in the Pacific Northwest, to ensure that generations of local farmers productively farm it using sustainable, organic growing methods. The Trust takes its mission one step further than most land trusts by working to place farmers on the property, actively producing food for the local community. The PCC Farmland Trust is an independent, community-supported non-profit land trust. It was founded in 1999 by PCC Natural Markets as a separate, non-profit organization. Since inception, the Trust has saved four farms totaling 549 acres. What is now PCC Natural Markets began as a food-buying club of 15 families in 1953. Today, it’s the largest consumer-owned natural food retail co-operative in the United States.

Brad Halm (left) and Kathryn Gardow (right) spoke passionately about organic farming and farmland preservation after the Seattle Premiere of Dirt! The Movie

Brad Halm of The Seattle Urban Farm Company is a native of Ohio. He developed an interest in sustainable agriculture while helping tend a garden with housemates at Denison University. That interest has since grown as he has worked on a number of organic farms in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and was most recently employed as the manager of the Community Supported Agriculture program at Village Acres Farm in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. The Seattle Urban Farm Company uses only organic methods to manage their  clients’ gardens, so the soil will be healthy and productive for years to come. Vegetables will be free of herbicides, synthetic pesticides, and genetically modified organisms. By bringing farmers into a yard, it helps share the risks of growing food. If the weather is poor, a garden is not as productive as it might otherwise be. If the weather is good, a garden can produce a bumper crop of delectable vegetables. And your chickens and worms can eat the rest, but more on that later.

The first question was to Kathryn about some of the requirements for selecting future projects and what are some upcoming projects. Kathryn explained the many criteria that go into their decision to preserve and revive farmland. She also shared the geographical diversity of their projects. They serve to protect farmland throughout the entire Pacific Northwest. She explained that the produce and products from their farms do not necessarily end up on PCC shelves. Almost all farms in their program serve their local communities. They have 6 upcoming projects in various stages of completion all over the region including Eastern Washington and the South Puget Sound.

Both panelists mingled and educated the audience before and after the film. PCC Farmland Trust presented information on all of their projects including maps and photos.

Brad was asked about the synergy between an urban yard garden that includes chickens. He explained a variety of ways that chickens can help eat garden scraps (Mmmm!) and pests. At night, the chickens must be secured from urban predators. In most places, the hens can roam your garden during the day scratching your soil and chowing down on pests and insects. As the seasons change, the role of the chickens in the garden changes.

Brad was asked, “What are the best worms for worm composting?” Drum roll, please… Red wigglers! Another supporter of this event, Seattle Tilth, has information about worming your garden on their web site. In fact, they have information on just about everything having to do with gardening. In addition, there was a rumor that Seattle has the most urban pea-patches in the country. The P-Patch programs serve all citizens of Seattle with an emphasis on low-income and immigrant populations and youth. Their community gardens offer more than 3800 urban gardeners 23 acres of land throughout the city.

Finally, Kathryn was asked if local public schools have access to dirt on their campuses. She told a story about one school in north Seattle where the recent addition of a “dirt pit” is a huge success. The school provides pails and little shovels. Seattle Parks cover 6,200 acres – about 11% of the Seattle’s total land area. Seattle really loves its dirt.

Tags: chickens, farming, organic, pcc farmland trust, seattle, seattle tilth, seattle urban farm company, worms