South Whidbey Tilth

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.

In The News ...

Scroll to the bottom of this page for the latest South Whidbey Tilth Newsletter and archives of earlier issues. Paul Belanger has written about BioChar. He has contributed a link to a lecture on Soils and Geology by Michael Machette for the Master Gardeners on October 8, 2020. Find it on the Garden page. Also in this issue is news of Tilth's new neighbors, the Agrarian Trust; seed ordering advice by Anza and more.

Look what we've done! Donations to match Nancy Nordhoff's challenge gift of $15,000 to pay off South Whidbey Tilth’s mortgage was reached on November 10; well ahead of schedule. See how we did on our Mortgage Lifter site.

This will relieve Tilth of $5,400 annually in mortgage payments that can be used instead to deepen our impact through educational programs and support for local growers and producers. For those new to Whidbey Island, Nancy, a lifelong philanthropist and longtime Tilth supporter, came to South Whidbey in 1985, when she founded Hedgebrook, a retreat for women writers. Since then, making her home in Langley, she has been instrumental in many community causes, including the creation of Goosefoot, a nonprofit that supports the community in growing local businesses. Thank you to Nancy and everyone who chipped in to put us over the top!

Please consider donating to the South Whidbey Tilth general fund for educational programs and facility maintenance or to the Farm stand. We need another $2,000 to $4,000 to for the roadside farm stand with a cold room to keep produce fresh. Donate here.

Get Old School Market Farm's (OSM Eats) take-out: pizza, soups, salads, muffins, cookies and more every Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the pavilion at South Whidbey Tilth. Café Mam coffee by the cup is also served.

Smoothies by Taylor Moore of Southend Blends are available Fridays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Contact Taylor for details.

Lunch and Dinner fare can be had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. by Trap Landry of the South End Kitchen. Find his menu on his website and place an order, 425-238-0762.

Look for the signs on SR 525 and Thompson Road (2812 Thompson Road, Langley 98260). Please wear a mask and maintain a distance.

There are still opportunities to spend time outdoors and help Tilth! There is much outdoor work to be done around the campus at this time of year, and we welcome you to come work independently or in small, informal groups, if you are feeling well and would like to get out of the house and spend time in a peaceful setting. Please contact the land steward, Ida, for a list of tasks that can be completed independently on the beautiful Tilth campus.

The 2020 members of the governing council of trustees are President Gary Ingram, Secretary Janet Richards, Finance chair Edward Hueneke Vice President Don Krafft, Membership, Community Relations and Development chair Andréa Linton, Education committee chair Anza Muenchow and Market committee chair Prescott. The council had a special planning meeting on December 3, see notes. The next regular business meeting is Thursday, January 21, 2020, at 6 p.m. conducted virtually using the Zoom application. Members are welcome to connect and participate in either meeting. Questions? Contact the President or Secretary for information or leave a message at 360-321-0757.

Find us on ...and like us! Please look for both South Whidbey Tilth and South Whidbey Tilth Farmers' Market.

South Whidbey Tilth depends on its volunteers. Please download a volunteer form as a pdf file. Keep track of your time all year. Mail to South Whidbey Tilth or email to the Treasurer.

Our Organization

Enjoy the Sustainability Campus

The South Whidbey Tilth 11-acre Sustainability Campus is at 2812 Thompson Road, Langley, WA 98260 and 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 use the poop bags in the recycling area by the restrooms. 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.

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 at the Tilth Producers Conference in November 2014. Mary Berry, Wendell’s daughter, was a keynote speaker.

See our chapters at:

Oregon Tilth www.tilth.org

Tilth Alliance www.tilthalliance.org

Sno-Valley Tilth www.snovalleytilth.org

Vashon Island Growers Association www.vigavashon.org

Online newsletters

Winter 2020-2021 South Whidbey Tilth Newsletter

Contents