|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
Among people everywhere there is increasing concern about the quality and safety of our food as well as concern about harm to the environment from ill-conceived agricultural activity. Tilth's mission is to promote environmentally sound and sustainable agriculture. We are devoted to learning about and promoting ways in which to raise food, ornamentals, other farm crops and farm animals without damage to the environment. Our group, South Whidbey Tilth, is part of the Washington Tilth Association, which is composed of several regional chapters.
Puget Sound is in Trouble! By encouraging local, organic agriculture and making green choices in our daily lives we can create a Puget Sound that continues to be one of the most fertile places on earth. Find out what what you can do and get started. Learn more here and on the Puget Sound Starts Here web site. Water Conservation in the Garden Workshop Installation of watering hoses and manifolds has begun in the pea patches. As a member of Whidbey ECO Network , South Whidbey Tilth is promoting “Whidbey Waters Are in Your Hands", a Puget Sound Starts Here collaboration. In The News ... Annual Membership Meeting, January 17 Join us from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, January 17 for South Whidbey Tilth's Annual Membership Meeting to elect members to the governing council of trustees, hear accomplishments of 2014 and plans for 2015, become inspired by a keynote address about the negative effects of genetically engineered food by Lori Taylor, a clinical dietitian at Whidbey General Hospital. Enjoy a delicious potluck with friends. Contact us if you are interested in joining the South Whidbey Tilth Council of Trustees. Starting in 2015, its only 10 more years to pay off the mortgage! Vounteer hours South Whidbey Tilth depends on its volunteers. Please download a volunteer form as a pdf file. Keep track of your time all year. Hours for 2014 are due by May 1, 2015. Mail to South Whidbey Tilth or email to the Treasurer.
Our Organization Enjoy the Sustainability Campus The South Whidbey Tilth 11-acre Sustainability Campus provides a unique, leisurely ambience and focus for learning. The campus is open for walking, and you can view our ongoing projects: demonstration field crops, community garden and orchard, forest trail and understory recovery project, native plant salvage beds operated by Native Plant Stewards, the highway vegetation management model, and bluebird nesting boxes established by Coupeville fifth-graders. Dog walkers, please usethe poop bags behind the restroom where the directional signs are. Use the trash can there.
Volunteer Opportunities South Whidbey Tilth has opportunities for you to help with classes, farmers' market, community gardens, facilities maintenance and improvements and forest restoration projects. Work parties are often held on Saturdays 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. See recent newsletters below for more information.
Tilth History On August 27, 1977, more than 70 people gathered at Pragtree Farm near Arlington, WA, to develop strategies for the sustainable agriculture movement in the Pacific Northwest. Known as the "Regional Planning Meeting," the gathering established the framework for the Tilth Association.
Recently the Berry Center in Kentucky posted a video of Wendell Berry's July 1, 1974 speech in Spokane. Wendell's insights are as powerful today as they were forty years ago. The full transcript of his speech is available on the Tilth Producers website.
The meeting at Pragtree Farm laid the foundation for organizing local Tilth chapters. The next spring the first chapters were formed in Seattle and in Southwest Washington, followed by Willamette Valley Tilth and Rogue Tilth in Oregon. By the summer of 1982 there were 15 Tilth chapters in California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, with an estimated combined membership of 2,000. At the Regional Planning Meeting three years later Anthony Judge's ideas were incorporated into Tilth's strategy of organizing autonomous local chapters empowered to respond to the needs of their communities. Over the past three decades the Tilth movement has ebbed and flowed, with the central organization dissolving into statewide organizations in Oregon and Washington, and local chapters forming and fading away. Because of its decentralized, ecological strategy, however, Tilth has continued to adapt, survive, and thrive. Today Tilth is experiencing a resurgence parallel to the growth of the organic food and farming nationwide. The complete story by one of the founders, Mark Musick is on the Washington Tilth website select History.
All the Tilth organizations celebrated the 40th anniversary this year at the Tilth Producers Conference, November 7 to 9 in Vancouver, Washington. Mary Berry, Wendell’s daughter, will be one of the keynote speakers.
See our chapters at: Oregon Tilth www.tilth.org Seattle Tilth www.seattletilth.org Sno-Valley Tilth www.snovalleytilth.org Tilth Producers of Washington www.tilthproducers.org Vashon Island Growers Association www.vigavashon.org
Online newsletters The current newsletter issue is December 2014/January 2015 Contents The Harm in GE Foods.............1 Spotlight on Tilth Gardens.......1
Follow links to issues from the past year: | ||||||||
