Tips, tricks, and a quick peek into the everyday life of the conservation district.
When Mark Batcheler was growing up in the Midwest, he swore he’d never have a career in farming.
“Everyone I knew had cows or worked on a farm,” Mark said. “As an adolescent, I thought, I’m never going to do that.”
Read MoreTrack paddocks are an excellent way to keep your horses moving and interested when they aren’t on pasture. Track paddocks can also help protect water quality by avoiding overgrazing and compaction of your pastures that may become vulnerable to mud and runoff during the wet season.
Read MoreSince our creation following the Dust Bowl, conservation districts have relied on partnerships with farmers to pioneer new ways of protecting our natural resources—and agroforestry is no exception. For the last several years, Snohomish Conservation District has led the region in agroforestry, working with farmers to integrate perennial trees and shrubs into their agricultural systems. Utilizing land in this way can help diversify income, sequester carbon, and improve productivity, water quality, and wildlife habitat.
Read MoreThe Sustainable Lands Strategy (SLS) coalition initially convened in 2010 to unite individuals and community organizations dedicated to improving the coexistence of farming and fishing in Snohomish County’s floodplain areas. Snohomish Conservation District has been involved in this collaboration since the start.
Read MoreOne of the many benefits of agroforestry—the integration of perennial trees and shrubs into agricultural systems—is its potential to mitigate climate change and increase resilience. Here are a few examples of how…
Read MoreFood forests are designed to mimic a forest ecosystem and are mainly made up of edible and medicinal perennial species, with some annual crops mixed in.
Read MoreIf you visit Niky Schultz’s food forest, you might get the sense she’s planting her own little Garden of Eden, an edible landscape where bees nap in her “Pollinator Paradise” and salamanders swim like little dragons in her pond. It’s hard to believe that she’s spent most of her adult life living in apartments with only enough space for a container garden.
Read MoreThrough an NACD grant, we were able to help underserved areas with their food security through garden installations and other support.
Read MoreReturning to Raising Cane Ranch for the second year yielded a new crop of 28 attendees curious to see alley cropping and other agroforestry practices in action.
Read MoreAlley cropping is an agroforestry practice where rows of trees are planted wide enough to create alleys where other crops can be cultivated.
Read MoreTwenty years ago, Eric Lee-Mäder found a strange-looking bottle in a wine shop that would end up changing the course of his life. The French cider inside was unlike anything he’d ever tasted.
“It was much more complex than sweet,” Eric said. “I got a sense of the whole orchard, from the bloom of the apple tree to the fungus growing in the understory.”
Read MoreAgroforestry can provide major benefits for farms—it also presents unique challenges. Unlike traditional monocultures, agroforestry requires farmers to understand the needs of multiple plants and how they interact with each other. It takes planning, adaptation, and patience to create a successful system. It also isn’t static. Many agroforestry practices incorporate trees that affect shade conditions as they grow. That means crops may need to shift over the years.
So why bother with all the trouble?
Read MoreLast week, we welcomed Snohomish County Council members Nate Nehring and Sam Low, Town of Darrington Mayor Dan Rankin, and Linda Neunzig, Snohomish County Agriculture Coordinator, on behalf of Executive Dave Somers, for a tour of three of our conservation projects throughout Snohomish County.
Read MoreNick Pate, owner of Raising Cane Ranch in Snohomish, has incorporated several agroforestry practices on his farm. His food forest also serves as a harvestable, multi-functional, or working buffer. The trees and shrubs in the food forest essentially act as a second layer to his native forest riparian buffer, which borders the Snohomish River.
Read MoreAre you interested in renewable energy for your farm or rural small business? Snohomish and Pierce Conservation Districts have teamed up with Spark Northwest to help farms and rural small businesses apply for grant funds for renewable energy and energy efficient projects through the Rural Energy Development Program.
Read MoreTucked towards the back of Raising Cane Ranch, beyond their farm stand and Highland cows, you’ll find a food forest filled with chestnut, walnut, and hazelnut trees, black currants, evergreen huckleberries, and aronia berries.
“It’s one of the most peaceful places on the property,” says farm owner, Nick Pate. “I just love working out there.”
Read MoreDuring the first winter of the pandemic, our Agriculture Resilience Team brainstormed ways to engage the public when we were unable to physically gather. The result was a Carbon Crushers series of workshops focused on ways to reach “drawdown”—the point when levels of greenhouse gases stop climbing and start to actually decline
Read MoreFall is officially here. Are you and your horses ready? Now is the time to prepare for the upcoming rainy season here in western Washington. Here are a few tips and tricks to beat the winter weather this year and establish more permanent solutions for next year.
Read MoreNick Pate of Raising Cane Ranch, in cooperation with Snohomish Conservation District and Washington State University, hosted a group of 33 people at his Snohomish farm the last week of September, to discuss agroforestry opportunities in Western Washington.
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Snohomish Conservation District | 528 91st Ave NE, Lake Stevens, WA 98258 | 425-335-5634
