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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. In The News ... Organic Food Growing Course Starts February 9 2010 Market Season The South Whidbey Tilth Family Farmers' Market opens May 1, 2010. Vendor information to be posted soon.
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 ongoing projects can be viewed: the 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.
Volunteer Opportunities South Whidbey Tilth has opportunities for you to help with the Organic Growing Class registration, farmers' market, P-Patch, Native Plant Stewards' plant rescue and forest restoration projects. Work parties are often held on Thursdays and Saturdays at 10AM. Tasks include plant rescue, restoring native plants to Hwy 525 corridor, landscaping, painting, helping getting the farmers' market ready. See recent newsletters below for more information.
Tilth History Thirty-two years ago, 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.
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.
See our chapters at: Everett Tilth www.tiltheverett.org Oregon Tilth www.tilth.org Seattle Tilth www.seattletilth.org Sno-Valley Tilth www.snovalleytilth.org Spokane Tilth www.thefutureisorganic.net/spotilth.htm Tilth Producers of Washington www.tilthproducers.org Vashon Island Growers Association www.vigavashon.org
Online newsletters Current newsletter The current Newsletter is February 2010 IN THIS ISSUE
Tilth Market Garden review.....1
Follow links to issues from the past year:
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