Featured farm of the month: Carnation Farms

December 12, 2018

Carnation Farms was established in 1908 near its namesake town in the Snoqualmie River valley as a flagship dairy and genetic research center for decades. The farm was purchased by Nestle and converted into a corporate retreat center. Descendants of the original owners purchased the farm back from Nestle in 2010 and created Carnation Farms as a nonprofit organization in 2016.

The new owners’ mission aims to go back to the farm’s roots and transform the way that people want to eat. They intend to share the 818-acre organic farm with the community and celebrate delicious and nutritious food produced in a sustainable manner by providing inspirational and educational experiences that positively affect health, the environment, and local economies. Carnation Farms develops the next generation of food citizens and grows new farmers. Find out more about Carnation Farm’s story and mission here. … More Featured farm of the month: Carnation Farms

Food Rescue Innovation Lab: Collaborative efforts to address hunger in Seattle

December 7, 2018

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), which manages garbage, recycling, and food and yard waste in Seattle, sees an opportunity to address these two issues—uneaten, surplus food and food insecurity—together, through food rescue. As part of its community-centered approach to tackling difficult issues, SPU partnered with Mary’s Place to convene its first Food Rescue Innovation Lab in early November. The event brought together a diverse group of innovative thinkers to discuss opportunities and solutions for rescuing safe, edible food from garbage and composting streams and diverting it to address hunger in Seattle. We interviewed Liz Fikejs, SPU Senior Waste Prevention Program Manager, to learn more about the Food Rescue Innovation Lab and SPU’s efforts around food rescue. … More Food Rescue Innovation Lab: Collaborative efforts to address hunger in Seattle

Farm King County Data Center now live!

December 7, 2018

Farm King County recently launched its Food Systems Data Center, which combines an interactive mapping platform with information and data on local agriculture to tell the story of King County’s farm and food system. Farm King County is a one stop resource for information and assistance for farm operations, and this data will be useful to better understand, analyze, and measure the healthy and viability of our food system. The major components of the data center include the King County Farm and Food System Map and food system indicator progress metrics. … More Farm King County Data Center now live!

Holiday grease disposal

November 20, 2018

Whether you’re roasting a Charles Dickens style goose or a tofurky, keep the holiday grease out of the drain. We know we sound like Scrooges—but the buildup of fats, oils and grease is a major problem for home plumbing as well as our regional sewer system. Here’s a video for holiday stormwater pollution prevention inspiration: Environmental … More Holiday grease disposal

CDFA and King County partner to explore innovative funding for food system infrastructure

November 9, 2018

A new partnership between King County and the Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA) aims to identify innovative solutions for funding food system infrastructure projects in our region. Unfortunately, much of the regional infrastructure needed to grow our local food economy no longer exists or is not appropriately scaled to meet the needs of small producers. To meet the growing demand for local products, farmers and food entrepreneurs require appropriately scaled food system infrastructure. … More CDFA and King County partner to explore innovative funding for food system infrastructure

The essential ingredients for growing farms: collaboration and getting to know people

November 2, 2018

In early 2018, King County and its partners launched the Working Farmland Partnership (WFP) to connect farmland owners with farmers looking to establish or expand their business. We interviewed Melissa Borsting, King County Project/Program Manager focused on the WFP, to better understand what the WFP means for local food, how the partnership works, and the successes and challenges faced by this project so far. … More The essential ingredients for growing farms: collaboration and getting to know people