The farms
- Current Farm Project: Orting Valley Farm
- Ames Creek Farm
- The Bennington Place
- Delta Farm
- Sunfield Farm
Current Farm Project: Orting Valley Farm
Orting Valley Farm, a 100-acre former dairy farm, is PCC Farmland Trust's newest project, located in the south Puyallup Valley, south of the City of Orting. The farm is bordered by the Puyallup River on the west, a tributary to the Carbon River on the east, and is separated by Orville Road.
The same family ran a dairy operation on the property for 45 years and used the dairy operation fertilizer for their hay fields. Recently, WSU took soil samples on the property and consider it prime agricultural land.
Up to five organic agricultural families could farm on the available parcels. Three of the parcels have a home and barn; one parcel has a mobile home; and the remaining parcel is vacant. The properties on both sides of the road are ideal for row crops, berries, and small animals, while the property on the west side of the road could also be used for a larger animal operation.
PCC Farmland Trust will hold the organic agricultural easements on the property and farmers will own their property. The price of the parcels will be reduced with funds from the Washington State Wildlife and Recreation Program—Farmland Preservation and Pierce County Conservation Futures, making the land more affordable for farmers.
We invite you to help us make the Orting Valley project our next saved farm: make a contribution today. If you are a farmer please check back, as parcel information is coming soon — or call the Farmland Trust at 206-547-9855.
Ames Creek Farm
The 178.5 Ames Creek Farm in Carnation was saved in 2006 by PCC Farmland Trust.
Three local, well known, and experienced families farm the Ames Creek Farm land organically: Andrew Stout and Wendy Munroe, of Full Circle Farm in Carnation, purchased 127.2 acres; Michaele Blakely, of Growing Things, is leasing, farming and living on 31.3 acres, and Fong Cha and Ma Thao are leasing and farming 20 acres for their Shong Chaos, or Children's Garden Farm, which is well known in the local Hmong immigrant community.
The Bennington Place
The Bennington Place, in the Walla Walla Valley, was purchased by the PCC Farmland Trust in 2003, and has since been leased and farmed by a nearby fourth generation farmer and became certified organic in early 2005. Joel and Cynthia Huesby (and their large extended family of parents and siblings) operate as Thundering Hooves, raising pastured, organic livestock and poultry in an open, natural and low-stress environment.
These 174 acres rise from the Oregon border southwest of Walla Walla to a rise looking east across the valley to the Blue Mountains. The land has ample water, an intermittent pond for migratory waterfowl and a well-kept house and outbuildings.
The Delta Farm
» Nash’s Delta farm tour report and video
The Trust's first purchase was the Delta Farm in Sequim in 2001. The Delta Farm is an established floodplain property in the fertile Dungeness Delta of the Olympic Peninsula. The land drains into the Lower Dungeness River, home to six salmon species, and hosts the source of Meadowbrook Creek.
In 2002, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) purchased part of the Delta Farm's wetlands and a conservation easement on the rest of the farm.
Today, 74 of the 97-acre farm continues to be leased by longtime farmer, Nash Huber, and is operated as Nash's and also as Dungeness Organic Produce. Huber also is widely known and respected for his apprentice program that trains a new generation of farmers.
Sunfield Farm
In 2003 the Trust made a one-year $10,000 challenge grant to Sunfield, a Waldorf school community working to preserve an 83-acre farm south of Port Townsend, in Jefferson County, for organic farming and agricultural education. Sunfield finished raising its $15,000 match at a dinner/auction event on Western Washington Harvest Celebration weekend that October. The Trust then presented a check representing gifts from 186 donors, to great enthusiasm and joy.