Speaking at a SSCFLT Annual Meeting I come from a farm background in rural west-central Minnesota (Alexandria). My parents adopted organic agricultural practices in the early 1950s, accepting the Natural Food Association’s slogan - “better foods from living soil.” In my pre-school years, my parents farmed 80 acres of rented land and 80 acres they purchased from dad’s mother at the end of WWII. They grew hay, corn and grains and raised cattle. In times of good returns for grain, milk or beef production, my parents purchased the rented land and rented more, eventually farming about 300 acres as the primary income for the family with six children.
In years with poorer returns on farm products, Dad spent the winters selling seed corn and Mom created and expanded an organic market garden to supplement farm income. Long before the existences of “natural food” or “health food” stores in in Minnesota, their farm was a key source of organic products for families in a five state area. My family sold Selkirk wheat (Canadian bred wheat resistant to wheat rust and ideal for bread making), grade-A milk, and pastured chicken and beef as well as a wide variety of fruits and vegetables from their farm store. We owned a commercial-sized stone mill to produce wheat, rye and barley flour. From the farm grown wheat my mother baked and sold dozens of loaves of whole wheat bread each week. Years before any governmental approach to organic certification, our family farm was accepted as an “organic farm” through a farmer run certification process.
Talking oysters with John Adams of Sound Fresh Clams & Oysters at a Greater Olympia Slow Food Farm to Table Dinner Living and working on that small, diverse, central Minnesota farm I grew to cherish the work of nurturing the soil and the dedication of farmers who grow our food. Today, I especially hold dear farmer families who see themselves as stewards of the living soil on which we all depend, including those who farm and steward tidelands. I feel blessed to live here, south of the sound, where more than a hundred farm families hold commitments like that of my parents.
At this stage in my life, I choose to use my time and resources to support the farmers that grow food for our community. I am motivated more than ever to work to protect the rich, abundant soils that, when farmed with care, absorb carbon and protect our water quality and will continue to produce abundant food in the future.
At this stage in my life, I choose to use my time and resources to support the farmers that grow food for our community. I am motivated more than ever to work to protect the rich, abundant soils that, when farmed with care, absorb carbon and protect our water quality and will continue to produce abundant food in the future.
Helping start heritage plants to be shared with community gardens around Olympia. I enjoy organic gardening and preparing local food for family meals but, like my siblings, I opted to explore my talents off the farm. I had a career in higher education, including about a decade as a faculty member in my Ph.D. field of Speech Communication and three decades as an administrator (four year at a community college in Anchorage and 25 years at the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges). A year before retirement I attended an annual meeting where I signed up for membership in SSCFLT. I was elected to the board of directors in 2012 and became the chairperson in April of this year. Through this volunteer work I have found a link back to my heritage on that Minnesota farm with its focus on the food from the living soil.
Hear more from Loretta and the original purchase of the Scatter Creek Farm and Conservancy in this 2013 video from The Chronicle.
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